barrel pitting-accuracy?

[ratherbefishin]

I see a 22 hornet advertised -the chap claims to have only put a few rounds through it-but neglected it and it now has some minor pitting just ahead of the chamber-he says it still shoots well.How serious is this-can anything be done about it?-he claims it doesn't affect the accuracy-the rest of the barrel is fine

[moxgrove]

I have seen pitted bores that shot fine and some were horrible. I have had them shoot okay with jacketed and poorly with cast, increased leading etc. Sometimes with very superficial pitting you can polish it out. Or as a buddy of mine had a Mosin that was pitted, we lapped it and used oversize cast bullets and it shot well. I definitely would hope it is bargain priced. Apitted bore is never a favorable thing.

[LaOtto222]

I think moxgrove nailed it.

[PartsMan]

Only if you can buy it cheap.
You may never have a problem with it, but the pits won't likely get smaller.

The plus side is it's a 22 hornet and could be re-bored to something else.

[ratherbefishin]

he says it still shoots 1'' at 1OO Yards

[LaOtto222]

If possible go along with him to the range and have him shoot you a 1" group, then you will know. I have found that when people say they are shooting 1/2" groups they really are shooting .75" groups, same with 1" groups in reality they are 1.25 or 1.5 inch groups.  If they shot 1 group at any time that is .5 MOA then they imply it shoots .5 MOA all of the time. Just because you hit it once does not mean you can do it on command. But that will still not tell you if it fouls up quickly and needs cleaned after five shots to maintain it. It is a crap shoot. It maybe all he says it is, maybe not. I guess you can say that about any rifle being sold. Buyer beware.