Slight pitting... To polish or leave alone?

Discussion in 'Browning Auto A-5' started by Wingman, Sep 12, 2016.

  1. Wingman

    Wingman .270 WIN

    The restoration on my recently acquired 50's auto-5 is progressing well. Finally received my order of spares from Brownells a little under 2 weeks to the UK isnt too bad. So I now have everything I need to complete the rebuild. The stock and forend have been refinished and I am happy with the results I have attached a pic below for you guys to see.

    My question is about the barrel, its in great condition externally with probably around 90% original bluing intact but there is some light pitting towards the muzzle end. I have considered having it professionally honed but gunsmith services are pretty steep on this side of the pond so wondered about giving it a go with scotchbrite pad and some oil in a power drill. I'll be honest I havent had a great deal of luck doing this in the past I tried on an old spanish double I had a wile back and it didnt seem to do anything really apart from make the bore look a little dull (rather than polished). So I was hoping to get some views from the gurus on this forum on whether its worth a try and perhaps to share a technique that would work in this situation.

    Thanks All!

    20160905_183725-600x1067.jpg
  2. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    Great looking furniture...

    Not sure about the pitting restoration procedure...I'll leave that to the experts here.
  3. Wingman

    Wingman .270 WIN

    Thanks Shooter13, turned out a little darker than I wanted but overall finish is good..
  4. Rudolph31

    Rudolph31 .30-06

    Looks nice, Wingman. I don't know what to tell you about the pitting. I just had Art re-choke 2 barrels for me @ $100 each. I believe he used a hone for that. If it were mine, and I liked how it was choked, I'd leave it alone. But you might try 0000 steel wool in your drill instead of Scotch Bright. Guys recommend that for sticky chambers.
  5. Wingman

    Wingman .270 WIN

    I took it to my local gunsmith in the end. He is a great guy proper old school London trained and hs done lots of work for me. He gave the barrel a good check over and honed 99% of the pitting out. It still has loads of "meat" left and is well in proof. I also had the 3/4 choke changed to 1/4 (imp cylinder) all for under 100 pounds cash. Picked it up today and it looks great mirror smooth. Planning to take the gun hunting on the farm Sunday morning we have loads of pigeons on the land this time of year so looking forward to that!
    Rudolph31 likes this.

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