How much shooting would it take to wear the jeweling off of the bolt?? I'm looking at a winchester m70 sporter varmint in .223 that is subject to this condition. It didn't shoot that well with only a 1.5" group at 85 yards. I'm worried its a little shot out and my money would be better spent elsewhere. I found a good deal on a savage m25 lightweight varmint in .223 that is tugging at me a bit.
thanks guys

Jeweling on the bolt is very thin and it's being worn isn't at all necessarily a prediction of how much the gun has been shot...it is rather an indication of how much the bolt has been activated and some folks play with their bolt a lot....some even lap the lugs by cycling the bolt thousands of times.

I had one of those guns and they are quite hard to find....Mine was wonderfully accurate! I'll bet yours is too and just needs glass bedding or barrel floating..... A worn out .223 is not a common item....however it's good to check for throat erosion!

If you're not interested in it I'd be interested.....please let me know where it is if you don't want it!

I had figured that the bolt was cycled for the purpose of loading or unloading of the chamber, thus representative of the use the barrel has seen. I shot the first group with 55 gr fmjs and the second group with 55 gr vmax. The frist group was 1.5 and the second with the hornadys was about an inch. I do realize that I may have to play with a few different loads to find the optimal one. I did not mention the rifle has a trigger job and is extremely light, to the point where you may not want to shoot it with a glove. I probably should buy it since he (my old man) only wants 350 for it with a scope.

What is throat erosion??

Throat erosion is caused by the blow torch effect of powder gasses and solids striking the throat. Large amounts of unburned and burning powder travel down the barrel at the bullet's speed and at the gas pressure. These particles act as a sanding compound against the throat. The throat also gets the heat first, and for a longer period of time each shot. These factors (gas speed and pressure, particulate speed, and intense heat) cause throat erosion

How is the bluing on the bolt handle knob?

Jewelling is only a fancy polishing (if done properly) and readily wears, no affect whatsoever on what the barrel is. Be sure the barrel is properly cleaned and scrubbed, and all copper residue removed. Amazing what a thorough cleaning will do. Are you sighting it from good padded rest? Quality ammo? Action, scope mounts and bases properly tight? Quality scope? No caffeine before shooting?
Many things add up to accuracy, and all need to be proper before a call can be made the gun isnt accurate.

My experience with FMJs has been even worse.....and the V-Max even better.

Get that barrel free floated and you'll open your eyes and have a smile on your face!

Clean it really good first, Get all the copper fouling and carbon out. You can’t tell how much it’s been shot by wear of any type other than looking in the throat with a bore scope. You would have to shoot a lot to wear out a 223 barrel, like 4 or 5 thousand rounds a lot. Clean it and try it, if your going to bed it and float it yourself I would do that too. If you have to pay someone and funding is limited shoot it after it’s real clean and see how it shoots.