11-87 bore damage or nothing to worry about?

[Full_Fan]

I have a new used Rem 1187 SM SPS that came with a 28" VR barrel.  After pulling the barrel I noticed an area in the bore that is right in front of the chamber that does not have the same polished luster as the rest of the bore does.  It looks like its circularly scratched or something...?  It looks like about maybe 3 or 4 inches long.  I thought that the barrel was possibly damaged by somebody incorrectly polishing it or with some sort of tooling.  I then got a brand new 23" turkey barrel for it and noticed that this brand new barrel had the same thing but a bit shorter.  I tried to take some photos and show the area.  Does anybody know what this is?  I also have 6 other older Rem shotguns and none of them have this.  Just wondering if it's anything to worry about or if its normal?  I was planning on polishing both barrels and since this area seems to be just in front of the chamber it'll be exposed to the polishing... I don't want to damage the barrel.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[Skeeterbait]

That area is known as the forcing cone.  It is the area that reduces the chamber size down to the bore size.  It is cut thru the metal on a bias compared to the parallel section of the bore.  A difference in appearance in this area is not unusual but it can be polished and often a pattern improvement will result from polishing it.  The rings you describe are called tool marks.  Some barrels are better machined than others.  If you want to do more than a polishing will do, it requires a hone and I recommended that you have a gunsmith do that.  They can also lengthen this section which makes for a easier transition for the shot into the bore.  This can often improve patterns with lead shot but tends to not have a lot of effect on HTL shot.

[jhcats10]

That's the forcing cone. I've polished my 11-87 and still don't have the forcing cone as good as I like but will try again to get a mirror finish.


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[SumToy]

It is hard to get it out.  You can cut the cone out to a longer one and that will help.  You can take Scotch Bright pad BE VERY VERY VERY CARFUL and clean it up.  Now if the gun shoots I would not touch it.  Been good guns turned to junk from the I want to polish/clean. 

[Full_Fan]

Thank you!  I'll take that as great news then... I was worried I had a couple damaged barrels.  Interesting that it appears longer on the 28" barrel than the 23" and that I can't see it on any of my older rems.  Maybe because none of them have a 3 1/2" chamber?  Thanks again for the info guys!

[SumToy]

Some of the Remington's had longer ones. Some of them even came with a over bore barrel on them.