It is largely the location of the pitting that determines the severity or whether its time to reline a barrel. if it was a rifled bore, as opposed to a smooth-bore, the pitting might cause leading in the barrel and a drop in accuracy because of it. But as a smooth-bore, as long as the pitting is not such as to weaken the walls of the bore, as John Holland has often suggested, relining a barrel is simply a restoration. So long as you can keep it clean and the roughness of the breech area doesn't cause the cleaning patches to hang up, the bore may be fine. You might find someone with an optical inspection scope and check out the rest of the bore, not just what you can see or feel from the muzzle, and evaluate it for yourself. Even relining the bore won't make it safe it if it has any metallurgical flaws, but at least the liner would be much higher quality steel than the quality of the original iron used to make the barrel. But I think you already know the answer as to whether relining the barrel makes sense. Both Hoyt and Whitacre can reline the barrel to the original specs.
First Cousin (7 times removed) to Brigadier General Stand Watie (1806-1871), CSA
1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles | Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation 1862-66
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