Author Topic: Voids in barrel? (Read 571 times)

beckerhead · « **on:** July 29, 2005, 04:21:22 AM »

What I thought was rust, and fought like crazy for 3 or 4 days is not. after soaking and patching, and lapping, and scrubbing with everything but grape jelly, I can clearly see that what I thought was surface rust on the barrel, are actually voids in the metal. I wondered why all my cleaning wasn't knocking this stuff off the bbl, now I know. What started all this was me reading about the outers foaming bore cleaner, and decided to try some. Man, I always clean thoroughly, I thought. This stuff pulled so much purple goop out of my barrel I thought it was a scam, and just turned purple on its own, but NO, after about 3 soaks of about 2 hrs. each, the foam was finally stayed white. That is when I saw the "rust". 400 words later, my question: should I start back with a basic break-in routine since I am now down to a clearly gravel road bore? I had another post about Penephite Kroil, a lot of benchrest dudes use it after cleaning, for cold shot consistency, and to reduce fouling. It's basically purposely carbon fouling your bore, with superfine graphite. Anyone know about that? Those guys do alot of voodoo and I don't want to be a hoodoo.

myarmor · « **Reply #1 on:** July 29, 2005, 04:24:36 AM »

Voids. You mean like pits inside your barrel?
How long have you had this barrel? Did you buy it new?

beckerhead · « **Reply #2 on:** July 29, 2005, 04:41:26 AM »

bought it brand new, and its about 8 yrs. old. When I got the gun I knew nothing about break-ins, lapping, or even copper solvents, so this baby had probably 250 rds. through it before it even saw anything beyond a #9 swabbing, and a gun case. since then, I learned about copper fouling, bore paste, etc. But I guess I never got all the way down! I can't really say pits, as in rust eaten corrosion, as I don't have a bore scope and its about 4" or 5" below the muzzle. but it doesn't look like it. I am thinking a shoot and clean routine may be best to try and smooth out the problem, I hope I haven't screwed up a very good shooter!

myarmor · « **Reply #3 on:** July 29, 2005, 04:49:29 AM »

A couple more questions- First off, what caliber is it?
Have you shot it since you cleaned it, or first found the spot?
How was it shooting before you found it the spot, or was it always there?
Sounds strange. I have only heard of something like this only when someone has been shooting corrosive ammo and then not clean properly with an ammonia based cleaner.

lostsniper308 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 29, 2005, 05:02:42 AM »

i have foaming cleaner but it siad it shouldn't sit in the barrel for more than 30min. Maybe this prolonged soaking did something, i think its Outers i have(red and white can i belive)

quickdtoo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 29, 2005, 05:13:14 AM »

Quote from: lostsniper308

i have foaming cleaner but it siad it shouldn't sit in the barrel for more than 30min. Maybe this prolonged soaking did something, i think its Outers i have(red and white can i belive)

The Outers instructions do NOT indicate a maximum use time, it simply states to allow 15-30 minutes for the foam to do its job!! Sheesh!! :roll:

I've been using it and WipeOut for over a year and I almost always leave it in for overnight, it has caused no damage in any of my bores!!!

Beckerhead, take it to a gunsmith to examine it with a borescope and have him give you his opinion on the defect in the metal.

Tim

beckerhead · « **Reply #6 on:** July 29, 2005, 05:18:38 AM »

Its a .308, all I've shot is mainstream factory stuff, Rem, Fed, Hornady, Win.
And even when I wasn't using other stuff, my bore was always coated with #9 which won't do that. Also, re: Lostsniper308, I used the exact same routine on my 30/30 marlin, and .25-06 with perfect results. I'm thinking that I piled copper and carbon onto a rough spot for 250 rds. and only now am I seeing the bare metal.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #7 on:** July 29, 2005, 05:33:50 AM »

Quote from: beckerhead

I'm thinking that I piled copper and carbon onto a rough spot for 250 rds. and only now am I seeing the bare metal.

The bare and "unpolished" spot.... maybe.....The borescope would let you know what's up..If it's shooting fine, I wouldn't worry about it, though. But if it truly is a rough spot, it's going to continue to build copper fouling until it's lapped out of there, one way or another.

Tim

Fred M · « **Reply #8 on:** July 29, 2005, 06:00:02 AM »

beckerhead

What I think you have are steel inclusions. They could be several things but mostly sulpher used in the production of steel for improved machinability.

A barrel with inclusions should never leave the barrel factory. But since we are looking at barrels that are offered at low prices, inspection and culling is expensive so the barrels leave the factory unchecked.

The barrel steel used by H&R is as good as any you can buy but the way the barrels are bored, contoured, rifled and chamberd are an ecconomy oriented process. You must relize that a good barrel chambered, threaded and fitted costs as much as two complete Handi's.

Send the barrel back for a replacement

jerkface11 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 29, 2005, 11:31:25 AM »

Does it shoot good? If so forget about it. The voids may bother you but if they don't bother the rifle they don't matter.

cheatermk3 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 29, 2005, 02:33:34 PM »

An older fellow once remarked to me, that if the last 4-6 inches of the bore were good, the rifle would shoot. He was referring to a 30-40 I was looking at. The price was right, and so was he-- there was a slight bulge in the barrel about 10 inches ahead of the muzzle; you could barely make it out looking down the outside of the barrel. The rifle was a 3-inch at 100yds shooter and worked fine for deer.

For $35 that old Krag put a lotta meat on the table.

If the inclusion, if that's what it is, were an inch or so from the muzzle...

I bought a Ruger M77 220 swift that I absolutely could not make shoot--it had a rough spot an inch long, 1/2" before the muzzle. I had it bobbed and the 2" piece cut in half lenghtwise--I still have it (the "sample") but I replaced the tube with a douglas blank chambered up for a fast-twist CHeetah (it's my online namesake). This was on a $600 rifle.