What is Acceptable amount of Pitting in a Used Old Handgun Barrel

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GeorgeJure

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Hello

Was curious to know if there is an acceptable amount of pitting in a 70 year old used handgun barrel with decent rifling. Have seen some for sale as a replacement drop in barrel and I expect for the age, history that the barrel will NOT be factory new.

Is there any pictures or description of how much pitting would be acceptable?

Thanks for the education.
George
 
If the gun is going to be a wall-hanger, then the pitting is only going to be a cosmetic distraction - if you plan on shooting it, then the condition of the steel becomes more of a safety issue. Light, surface pitting, is probably not going to be a problem, on the outside surface of the barrel - if it is inside the bore, it may affect accuracy. Deeper pitting would be more of a concern. Personally - none of mine have any pitting and I likely would not own a piece that did.
Sorry - not much in the way of "education" - more of an opinion.
 
Hello
Well I would like to shoot it occasionally safely of course. What exactly is pitting when talking about on the inside of a barrel and can anything be done to correct it?
George
 
Pits are little craters or rough areas where steel has been lost because of corrosion. May or may not affect accuracy. May result is faster buildup of fouling. There is no way of removing pits from a bore - apart from dressing down the entire surface until the pits are gone - and that is going to radically alter the bore.
How much pitting is acceptable is entirely dependent on the circumstances. There is no single answer.
How much pitting is acceptable to you? Only you can answer that question.
 
My concern is with a WWII Beretta and it was never know as a target handgun. So for the odd time at the range for fun, I think its still good to go.
Thanks to ALL for the lessons.
George
 
GeorgeJure said:
My concern is with a WWII Beretta and it was never know as a target handgun. So for the odd time at the range for fun, I think its still good to go.
Thanks to ALL for the lessons.
George
Click to expand...

Just leave that pistol as is and shoot it as is. A lot of those have pitted bores because of poor cleaning. That happened to many of them that came into the country AFTER the pistols were surplussed and sold with surplus corrosive ammo. Unless you're shooting cast lead bullets there isn't an issue. Now, seeing as that is a prescribed prohib there are OTHER issues to be taken into consideration here. Prohib barrels seem to have regulations on them as well. When I replace barrels on prohibs to bring them to restricted status, the prohib length barrels have to be turned in. I'm not even allowed to take them to the police station because I don't have the appropriate license for the prohib devices.
 
I have seen some old BP guns shot that look like sewer pipes, have to be cleaned more, light loads, a little to me may be different to some one else hard to tell with out looking at it, 9mm, .32acp??
 
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