Larry Hughes
Pilgrim
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Best product to clean a severely neglected 50 Cal Hawken
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Best product to clean neglected Thompson Center Hawken 50 Cal
- Thread starter Larry Hughes
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Your going to get a lot of answers based on supposition because others do not know what the issue is.
Is it the wood, is it the metal, inside the bore, just the finish.....
I am going to ASSUME your just worried about the bore (it's just a TC) and recommend a cheap bore scope from Amazon some evaporust and some scotchbrite pads and lots of elbow grease.
The thing about "bad bore's" is you never know until you clean 'em up and shoot them. You could have one ugly looking bore after using scotchbrite\steel wool\etc and it will still shoot great. OTOH....you know the opposite could be as well.
But work to smooth it up....then to the range!
But work to smooth it up....then to the range!
Even if some rust on the blued exterior piece, that Frontier 'Big 45' monel cleaning pad is the bomb! It removes rust without removing a blued or browned finish. Needless to say, some wrapped around a brush is awesome in the bore too!
See here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/big-45-frontier-metal-cleaning-pads.167852/
See here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/big-45-frontier-metal-cleaning-pads.167852/
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Good information! Now was that hard?
The first few passes can be done with soapy water to get the dirt out. Then advance to the more aggressive cleaners to attack rust to finish with the bore clearing Scotch Brite pads or steel wool.
You may never get the pits out, but the gun will be shootable.
You may never get the pits out, but the gun will be shootable.
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I just got a CVA plainsman in a trade with a trashed bore, and a few hundred strokes with some polishing compound on a under size jag with a small square of green scratch pad. The bore still looks like manure but it shoots good. I really was thinking about boring it smooth and still mite but it is usable as is. Metal can be cleaned up with some hoppes and 0000 steel wool.
I tell you ... buy these $6 cleaner pads and you'll never use steel wool again. In fact, I NEVER use steel wood in my machine shop or for any wood work. (Note the Big45 cleaner is for metal only).
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Evapo Rust.
i've cleaned up a bunch of neglected muzzleloaders.
First thing i do is pour the bore full of Evapo Rust and let it sit over night. Rust is gone.
Then the bore is polished up using a green scratchy pad with valve grinding compound. then its finish polished using a patch and jewlers rouge.
https://www.evapo-rust.com/
yooper2
32 Cal
I'll second the Big 45 Frontier scrubby pads for rust. I like to run a patch sopping with a good penetrating oil down the bore and let it sit for a day then go to town with pieces of the pad wrapped around a bore brush. Makes pretty short work of what can seem to be a daunting job. It is amazing how well a ratty looking bore can shoot.
For stocks my first move is generally to wash them with diluted Murphy's oil soap (about 4:1 water to soap, don't use it straight!). Incredible how much grime and darkness can be removed from a 150+ year old firearm without effecting the patina or character of the stock. Often times that's as far as I'll go and just rub a bit more of whatever oil I think is appropriate into the stock after everything is dry.
Eric
For stocks my first move is generally to wash them with diluted Murphy's oil soap (about 4:1 water to soap, don't use it straight!). Incredible how much grime and darkness can be removed from a 150+ year old firearm without effecting the patina or character of the stock. Often times that's as far as I'll go and just rub a bit more of whatever oil I think is appropriate into the stock after everything is dry.
Eric
