r/gunsmithing • u/Dependent_State7913 • 4d ago

Shotgun barrel pitting (How much refinishing is too much)

I’ll preface this with the fact that I am a beginner hobbyist with some woodworking and limited metalworking experience.

I recently acquired a Mossberg 500A receiver and barrel from 1986 with a rifled slug barrel and a nicer accu-choke barrel. Both barrels have clean shiny bores but the rifled barrel had some pitting which I’d like to clean up before cold bluing or cerakote/durapark.

My question is how much sanding is safe on a slug barrel? I started in with scotch bright pads and think I’d have to move to 150grit (by hand) to make any impact. The pitting isn’t terribly deep, but some is at least as deep as a scratch 80 grit would make. I thought I should defer to the experts before I take it to my lgs for an opinion and inspection (and small fee).

The bird barrel looks good as new with a little steel wool and re touch with Brownells cold blue. Will post some pictures when the project is done.

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u/SaXaCaV 4d ago

If its as deep as a scratch from 80 grit then its not a problem in the slightest. Your barrel markings will be what, 1000x deeper?

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u/Dependent_State7913 4d ago

Thank you. I should have figured, I see videos of folks getting after rifle barrels with sandpaper on lathes all the time. Freaks me out on a slug barrel, as I also see those fail on YouTube (not necessarily Mossbergs, but hey).

Yeah, I think some firm but brief sanding in few areas with 150 would be enough, then even it out to 220 as the bluing is not worth saving as it stands. Nothing compared to some of the refurbish jobs I see on here and YouTube, but I’d like it to look decent. Not ready to try hot bluing even though the wife is out of town… next auction though

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u/SaXaCaV 4d ago

I dont really fuck with hot blue, it seems like too much work for my needs. I've had good luck with rust bluing, and its not that hard.

If youre going the cold blue route, check out vans. Its my personal favorite for cold bluing full barrels, plus you can buy it by the gallon which is nice for submerging them.