are there any treatments or polishing compounds that can be done to improve patterns with a shotgun barrel ? I know that competition rifle shooters used to lap there barrels with some kind of compound to polish the rifleing in the barrel and this improves accuracy. seems to me we could pollish the barrel some how to improve patterns on a smooth barrel.

If you've got a shiney barrel, polishing it some more may not improve it much. It does help to have a clean barrel when you are patterning. My best pattern is always my first one.

there is a way to polish the bore of a shotgun. you might think yours is clean and shiny...till you polish it.

i cant remember the exzact directions...but you need green and blue (non scratching..i had trouble finding it..think i found it at lowes) scotch bright..and oil. i think i used wd-40..think it was recomended i cant remember..then you attach a cleaning rod and a bore brush(think i used a 20ga in a 12ga) to a drill. i put the barrel in a padded vise. left a choke in. oiled the green scotch brite(i think 1 inch square or so..and got it in the chamber and fired up the drill..i think you run the green for 10 minutes changing the scotch brite and keeping it really oiled every so often. then 5 minutes of the same with the green. cant remember if thats 100% right or not. someone should know...its supposed to help density..i dont know if it did or not..i bought a new choke after i polished the bore lol. but it was SHINY..chrome shinny..when i THOUGHT it was shiny before..

yes, this is what i was looking for. the person that told me about the rifle bore said that a rubbing compound was used with patches. any reduction in friction in the barrel has got to help patterns.

Check this site out!

http://www.nitrocompany.com/pattern.htm#advanced

more than what the average joe may want to get into but good info nevertheless!

most excellent site ive seen on the subject.

Indeed, very informative! Thanks for the link.