Model 65-8

[matgo]

Greetings- first post on this forum (or any gun forum for that matter), so I apologize if I'm not following proper etiquette.

I picked up a Model 65-8 earlier this week via armslist. She looked nice in the pictures. It was described as in excellent condition-- paid 470 for it. When I met the guy in a Home Depot parking lot, it was crowded and externally the revolver looked good, and so did a quick glance down the bore, forked over the cash and left.

Yesterday I took it out and put 50 rounds through it. Shot fine. However, when I got home to clean it I noticed the bore was a mess. Rifling seemed to to torn up the whole way up and down the bore, and what I thought was just some debris actually turned out to be pitting. The tearing has a silver color to it, like the lining of the bore was ripped and its uneven.

I definitely screwed up by not taking a better look at it when I bought it. No question there. I still reached out to the seller via email to see if he would take it back. I've heard nothing from him yet. Caveat emptor.

Having said all that, does anyone have any suggestions with what to do with this thing? It seemed to fire OK and externally it looks great-- the stainless steel looks nice. Short of getting a new barrel, which I imagine will be very hard to find and I'll have to pay someone to put it on (I'm not that great at those things), do I have any other options (besides selling w/ full information to the buyer?)

Thanks guys.

 

[Warren Sear]

I am willing to bet the bore is just fine, but is leaded. This comes from firing lead bullets that were not properly sized or lubricated. It is easy to remove.

Get a cleaning kit and a spare bronze bore brush. Also get some copper scouring pads (I use "Chore Boy"). Pull some strands from the scouring pad and wrap them around the bronze bore brush until you get a tight fit in the bore. Then, using no oil or bore solvent (in other words, dry). run it through the bore a few times. You should notice small flakes of lead falling out of the barrel. Check the bore, and if it is not clean, apply more copper strands if necessary, and brush some more.

When the bore is clean, apply a thin coat of oil to it.

Done.

 

[matgo]

Thank you so much for the fast response. I'll do that.

I'm guessing this used to be an old security guard gun or something like that and was never cleaned before I got to it.

 

[KLYDE]

I'd bet it is exactly what Warren said. The leading will look like the bore is pitted. Whatever you do, DON"T use steel wool. It will embed in the stainless and rust. It has to be copper. Chore Boy if you can find some. Keep us filled in.

 

[Warren Sear]

Please let us know how it turns out. I think it will be fine.

 

[matgo]

Thanks guys. I just ordered some chore boy online. Didn't see any at the local walgreens. It should be here Tuesday. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.

 

[Hapworth]

I'm with WS and KLYDE on this but will add that if it does turn out to be pitting, it's probably nothing to worry about -- you fired the gun and it sounds as though it performed properly and accurately. If so, best as you can ignore the pitting, enjoy your shooter and don't go chasing aesthetic perfection when you have a revolver that shoots well -- it's a wast of time and money.

Ask me how I know.

 

[ColbyBruce]

This S&W 66-2 had no rifling showing when I bought it used in 2011, yet it locked up tight and had few signs of heavy use. The barrel was severely leaded. I got it clean with a Choreboy pad wrapped around a brass brush and Kroil.

 

[matgo]

It worked

Guys- I did as you suggested and it worked! Wrapping Chore Boy strands around a brush caused little silver lead flecks to come out everywhere. Bore looks great now-- can't tell it looked badly before at all.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Warren Sear]

I'm glad to hear that, Matgo!

I had to do the the same thing this evening to my Model 66-1 after shooting it yesterday.

 

[S&W SS Revolvers]

These guys on here are a WEALTH of information. I never heard of ChoreBoy or many,many other great info until this place came into my life. Glad it worked out for you. There are some dead ones but it takes a lot to kill a Smith (especially the old ones).

 

[Warren Sear]

These guys on here are a WEALTH of information. I never heard of ChoreBoy or many,many other great info until this place came into my life. Glad it worked out for you. There are some dead ones but it takes a lot to kill a Smith (especially the old ones).

I suspect the currently produced S&W's are going to last even longer than the old ones.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Sounds like a great plan. They're good guns, not rare, why not make one better?

 

[m1gunner]

Chore Boy works great and is very inexpensive.

Used to be sold in most grocery stores. Today you can find it at most convenient stores .

It is used by druggies in their pipes.

There are some non copper type scrubbers that look like copper, make sure you read the label , you want the copper Chore Boy.