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Posted: 8/29/2007 6:22:03 AM EDT
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Been shooting corrosive Bulgarian in my new Tantal. About 220 rounds through the tube so far. I've cleaned the bore with Windex sprayed straight down the barrel while turning, and ran soaked patches with an Otis kit within 10 minutes of each firing session of about 90 rounds. Then followed with bore scrubber within a 30 mins of shooting...and I see my bore is pitted. I've been fanatical & paranoid with my cleaning and I still have a pitted bore. Pitts are worse 1/4" into the beginning of the lands. I ran some Flitz on a brush and then patched the bore. Mirror finish on top of the bumps. Damn! I didn't inspect the bore for pitts prior to ownership, just saw that it was bright and shiney when I received it, then I promptly went out and shot it. Either my meticulous cleaning regime is flawed, or I had a pitted bore from the shop. Either way, it sucks. It shoots damned good, I've got a range report on it, just wonder how its going to hold accuracy after 90 rounds into a hunt or range session. |
Because it pits the barrel worse than a bolt gun?  I had some rust problems with my guns a couple of months ago, but it was even occuring in guns I've never even shot corrosive ammo in! Luckily, I inspect my guns fairly often and was able to remove it before any pitting occured (that I could detect, anyway). Make sure wherever you're keeping them has low humidity, it may not even have anything to do with corrosive ammo. It should take quite a bit more neglect to rust up a chrome lined bore than a non-chrome lined. I bought a large silica gel box to keep in the safe, and within 24 hours the thing was saturated and has to be "re-charged" in the oven. Keep your humidity under control! |
| Hell, I shot corrosive Chinese LC 52 in my M1 Carbine years ago (before I knew it was corrosive) with no problems, but I always clean after any firing. There is no way the AK could have been pitted since he got it considering his cleaning regimen. It obviously was pitted before he got it. Shooting corrosive can be a little more trouble, but there is no reason to dismiss it outright unless you are not willing to clean/oil within hours of a firing session. I recommend for the initial cleaning a light Ballistol emulsion, about 20:1 with water. The Windex will neutralize the corrosive salts but will leave no protection when it dries. The Ballistol emulsion has a high ph and also neutralizes the salts, but leaves an oily/waxy protective film behind when the water evaporates. After that, the straight Ballistol is fine as a CLP all over the gun, including any wood or plastic. |
| Like Mak said it was probably pitted to begin with especially if it was built up from a used kit. Is it the throat that is pitted or the muzzle end? Sometimes full auto fire(which is what it may have seen before being demilled and shipped over here) can wear down the throat and cause the first inch or so to be more susceptible to corrosion. |
Where is the pitting located? It wouldn't happen to be directly under the gas block, would it?  I've seen more than a few people on these boards think that they have pitting (in a chrome lined barrel no less) only to find out that they thought the gas port hole was a pit. Just checking.
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Understood, but nope. I stated its 1/4" into the rifling from the chamber. ETA: All this talk about it has driven me to schedule a range session tomorrow! |
My bad... I missed that part. You know, the Poles weren't the best at chrome lining their barrels. There's been more than a few cases (myself included) of people getting the PKMS kits where the chrome was flaking off the barrel. On mine, there was some flaking right around the location that you mentioned where the pitting is. I've haven't seen anyone mention this issue with the Tantal kits but being that they're also Polish, it wouldn't seem unreasonable that some of them had the flaking too. This combined with corrosive ammo is likely the reason for the pitting. Assuming that you cleaned the bore in a timely fashion, I doubt it was caused by you. More than likely it's from it's last user in the Polish military. |
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