Always gonna be a PITA to clean pulling up copper and powder fouling out of the pits. No way around it.
Shoot it and see how it does.
Might need to build up copper to "level" out the pits so to speak and group acceptably.
Then light cleaning with hoppes 9 for powder fouling and saving your copper fouling might be the way.
Or it might group acceptably at the baseline of clean you have it at now and maintain that.
A simple variable speed drill, round head brass bolt chucked in it, and valve grinding compound to recrown it might help it out with pits at the muzzle. You can Google fu vids on that.
Gotta shoot it 1st.
At least a box of shells to see how it does progressively.
If it starts shooting tighter as your put beyond say 5 to 10 rds thru it.
That might tell you a fouled barrel with some built up copper is the solution.
If it starts declining from your base line clean right now after those 5 to 10 rds that will tell you the solution
Especially those 1st 2 to 5 shots and then you see a drastic fall off or improvement from the barrel condition you have it at now.
You might not have to go the new barrel route with some range work feedback.
And if you are gonna use it just to hunt a few times a year with it. You might have a acceptable level of accuracy with it after some range work with it and know a baseline of barrel condition to hunt with it.
If you can get 2 MOA out of it at 100yds.
That might be acceptable for you.
If you get less, then it's bonus land considering the barrel pitting.
Nostalgia of the originality of it.
Or it might need a new barrel.....
Last edited by renegade50; 02/09/23.
