Hello everyone! I was very happy to find this forum! I have been spending alot of time tonight reading posts, and thought I would ask a question, I hope it dosn't seem too dumb! I recently purchased a used model 15 Smith and Wesson Revolver. This gun was in terrible shape when I purchased it, but I figured that if I cleaned it, it would look alot better. Well, after spending the better part of the evening last night it is alot better, however the inside of the barrel is a little bit pitted. It almost looks like someone has shot alot of Plus P ammo through it, and this ammo has caused small burn spots on the inside of the barrel. It could be from rust, and these small pits are due to that alone, but nevertheless, they are there. Here is my question: without looking at it, are there any guidelines that I can go by to tell me wether the weapon is safe to fire with these very small pits in the barrel? And if not, is there a way to have the barrel re-rifled? (if that is indeed a word) Or should the barrel be replaced? And what might something like that cost? I know this is alot to ask, but any help would be greatly appreciated.PS This is a .38 caliber. and otherwise it is in pretty good condition. I have been considering sending it back to S&W for a factory restoration if it didn't cost too much. Anyways thanks again for any help!

I would take it to a competant gunsmith to inspect the pistol. Most will do it for little or no charge. Better safe than sorry. Then see what can be done to it after the initial inspection.

If pitting is the only problem with the gun I wouldn't worry too much. Unless the pits are halfway through the barrel metal, they aren't necessessarily going to make the gun unsafe to fire. The .38 is a low pressure cartridge, in comparison, think about how many rifles you've seen that have dovetails cut into the barrel for rearsights, or screws in the barrel to attach the magazine tube- in comparison, the pitting in a .38 revolver has removed a very small amount of metal.

Having a pitted barrel isn't necessarily a death sentence for the gun. At best, it will shoot normally with no problems, at worst it will foul up quickly meaning that you can't shoot it accurately for many shots before having to clean out the lead or copper from the barrel.

If there is nothing mechanically wrong with the gun, I would shoot it and see how well it shoots. If you get bad fouling, you could try using a mild abrasive like Brasso or JB bore paste on a tight patch to scrub the barrel until it smoothens out a bit- this will remove a bit of metal and change the bore dimensions slightly and can dull the rifling, but if the barrel is shot anyway you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

I have an old military mauser that had a bore that was so badly rusted and pitted, that you could barely see through the bore- it was a terrible shooter and shredded patches that I ran through the bore. I scrubbed the bore with brasso until the patches were able to go through the bore with no resistance from pitting grabbing the fibers, now the rifle shoots pretty decently. This is an extreme example, but goes to show that pitting though undersirable, doesn't necessarily kill a firearm.

Another thought:

Are you sure that the maks inside the barrel are pitting and not lead fouling? People who shoot .38's often shoot lead bullets through them. The stuff can be pretty tough to get out at times and makes the inside of the barrel look blemished. Try taking some COPPER wool- like the stuf used for cleaning kitchen pots and pans, cutting patches of it and scrubbing the bore out. If its lead, this will remove it.

Hey guys, thanks alot for such quick responses, keep 'em coming!

The Smith & Wesson Model 15, Combat Masterpiece is an old firearm. I carried them while in the Air Force back in the late 70's and early 80's. It would not surprise me if the barrel is pitted due to neglect. Even corrosive ammo won't harm most firearms as long as they are cleaned and taken care of. That gun is not rated for, and should not be shot with +P ammo!!!

A factory restoration will probably be more than you want to spend. But I'd definately have a good gunsmith check it out. More important (in my opinion) of an issue before firing it is the timing on the cylinder. If the cylinder isn't in time, it won't line up with the forcing cone into the barrel. This will cause lead/jacket shaving. This can be painful to the shooter's hands, and nearby shooters on the line.

One problem we had in the military was the plunger rod (forget the actual name for it) would unscrew and jam itself against it's stop under the barrel after a lot of shooting. This caused major problem because you had to screw it back in (while it's still under the barrel) in order to get the cylinder to open to reload. Major flaw!!!! It's not a gun I'd carry for self defense unless I used Lock-Tite on it to stop that.

One other caution. If it's a 2" barrel version, it could very easily be one like the pilots used to carry that had a very fragile aluminum frame. It was strictly meant for shooting a few desperation shots only and killing food in a survival situation. It will not take repeated shooting. Of course, that's IF it's a military version. There were no distinguishing marks making ours different than civilian versions.

Good luck! Regardless of your intended usage, it's a old classic. Hope you can restore it without too many problems.


I checked the S&W websight and they no longer even list the model 15. It's similar to the model 10, but less beefy, and the grip is smaller on the 15. They used to make a finger grooved aluminum thingy (forgot the name of it--been converted to semi-auto's too long) to add mass to the grip.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to respond to let you all know what ended up happening about my revolver. I took it to a local gunsmith, and he said it should be perfectly safe to shoot, but it might not be as accurate as factory...what I suspected. It is safe to shoot though, that's good, because all I wanted it for is home protection anyway. I also called Smith And Wesson, they no longer have a replacement barrel for this gun, and even if they did , it would cost far too much to replace.($200.00+) SOOOO, I've decided to just keep it as-is, and use it for the purpose I purchased it for, home protection. I only spent $150.00 for the gun, so I don't feel that I'm out anything, and I can't wait to get to the shooting range to see how accurate it is. When I do that I'll let you all know how it turned out. Thanks alot for your expert advice, It is greatly appreciated.
PS. I think what I'm going to get next is a .357 magnum. I used to have one, and I miss it. I've always been fond of revolvers, they never jam. Thanks again folks!

I had several model 15 S&W hand guns as well as most all the other handguns that they made. Yours should be a pretty good shooter. For home defense get some 158 SWCHP's. Fine revolvers. I share your thoughts about them for home defense.