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I wonder if a well used revolver would have some of the rifling worn off? Hmmm...”
That was my thinking. It’s my observation that these 22 plinkers don’t get much serious cleaning. So, between wear and leading, many are probably for all practical purposes smooth bores. I have an old 22 remington bolt action that I bought when I was about eleven or twelve back in the late 50’s and the gun was old then (I’m old now). It was my constant companion when out and about in the nearby fields and woods. It got shot a lot, no sparrow or turtle was safe. I don’t recall ever having cleaned it. May have but doubt it.
Here’s a question (veering back OT!) for you, or anyone else:
Is it possible that .22 shotshells would produce a tighter pattern out of a handgun with, say, a 4” barrel, than a rifle?
I know that seems counter-intuitive, but I’m thinking that the rifle barrel would impart more spin to each pellet, therefor the pellets from the rifle would (mostly) curve more, producing a wider, more scattered pattern. For any given pellet, sort of the difference in flight path between a ball thrown by me and, say, Bert Blyleven. :-)