Rusty Bore was my NASCAR name
Rusty Bore was my NASCAR name.
Hello folks,
I posted a request for advice on how to recover a friends rusty 54 cal TC New Englander, that was a year ago!
Back surgery, PT!, old age, and all the usual distractions aside, I can finally report some progress..!
Two weeks ago, we finally got the rifle in my shop. Externally it looks nice, nice bluing, wood is okay etc.
I have an el-cheapo Amazon bore-scope… well almost… sadly the bore was a mess.
There was surface rust on the bore, but oddly, that varied on about a 4-5” basis… rusty, not bad, rusty etc.
The rust was bad, surface pitting, and patchy erosion and pitting of the lands…
Many of you recommended various means of rust removal, from 0000 wool to Evaporust.
After removing the hooked barrel / breech… I considered removing the breech. I tried, a lot!
It’s on there tight, despite my attempts to remove it.
The rust runs from the patent breeches to the muzzle… grooves and lands, but patchy, sadly quite deep, 2-3 thou?h
We decided that as it shot 24” “groups” at 50 yds, anything was better than status quo.
So began a long and tedious day of cleaning, lots of BP residue… previous owner likely put away dirty…
I built a sort of mandrill with Nylatron guides to protect what was left of the bore, then proceeded to use scotchbrite in ever finer grades…
I used a power drill on slow… and doused the Scotchbrite with Kroil… Slowly pushing and pulling, change the scotchbrite, add Kroil.
Swab barrel, use bore scope, rinse and repeat… From rough green to 2000 grit equivalent grey, for many hours.
After some three hours, and a good cleaning, I had removed 95% of the surface rust, with just a bit left in the roots of the lands…
I then moved to using 0000 steel wool, on slow with a power drill. I know many will scream! The bore was dead, this was a last hope.
Another hour of slow rpms, 0000 wool, then adding Flitz metal polish… a cleaning, I had a bore with bright lands, okay grooves, and the repetitive 4-5” but rust free pitting.
I then tried longitudinal bore wipes with 300 grit carbide paste… to remove any sharp land / groove edge roughness. Don’t want cut patches!
Again, more cleaning and another polish with Flitz… I think it’s as good as it will get.
My neighbour has a 100 yard range, a good neighbour to have! So we shot the rifle, PRB, 0.530, 223 gr, with a 0.015 wad, and Bore butter to season the bore.
Load was 70 grains Goex 2Fg… loading was fairly easy, no rough spots in the bore to hesitate the ramming motion. Unlike before this work…
The results were encouraging, 70grs, 2Fg, PRB 223 gr, 0.530 ball, at 50 yds, 3” triangle for three shots, off of a bag rest, irons…
Repeat for 100 yds, and three shots in 7”, centering on the 50 yard shots! Minute of Bambi!
Serendipitously, testing at 50 /100 yds showed same impact… Some examination of ballistics on the Ballistics Pro app, showed I had “somehow” set the rifles zero to 125 yds..
Or + 3” at 50 and 100yds! I’ll take that! That much better than missing a barn from the inside!
Next week, we test with LEE 54 cal, 300gr REAL conical, a mix of Alox, SPG, and Borebutter lubes. I cast pure lead, and 20:1 and added various lubes…
A Uk interior ballistics app, modeling the bore volume, 100 gr charge weight 2Fg, 54 cal, barrel 26” and a REAL 54cal 300gr projectile, give 1700fps
The BC of the REAL, doubles the energy over a PRB at 100 yds, and 4x at 200!
If the conical doesn’t work… another rabbit hole… why? , Plan B is PRB at 80 grains of FFg, more than enough.
Apologies for the hiatus… hopefully more and better results soon!
Best,
Steve 1
Florence, Montana.,
!
