Best way to plug a barrel for immersion

[user 34300]

The air between the grains would expand. The plugs will blow out. The water would mix with the sand. You would have wet sandy mud. Walnut media will swell when wet. Neither will not pour out. Getting it out will scratch the bore.

We would then have a 10 page thread about how to get a sand or walnut grit obstruction out of the bore with lots of misinformed and ill conceived theoretical solutions.

Excluding water from the bore is unnecessary, really, it is OK.

If it really really bothers anyone swab the bore with lacquer and let dry. Remove it with lacquer thinner. It will not do any good, but there you go.

 

[sdilts]

I use a piece of galvanized fence post with an end cap to seal one end. Got it at Lowe's. File a notch in the other end to accept a round rod. Hang your barrel from this and pour boiling water over it. Then use a propane torch to heat the pipe to keep the water boiling for however long you want. I do 10 -15 minutes.

 

[j.scotto]

when my arm comes out of this cast, I've got a 54 barrel I'm going to rust blue. my idea was to seal it with an old nipple plugged with jb weld, and on the muzzle end a rubber stopper as col batguano suggested above. I think a 1/2 inch dowel just short of bore length will displace most of the air and minimize the expansion issue. pardon the lack of punctuation, typing this with 1 finger.

 

[BJHabermehl]

Coming up on my underhammer project will be a hot rust blue treatment for the metals. I have never immersed a barrel in boiling water and want to make sure my plugs and precautions will be 100% effective against water entering the bore. I am thinking about using a rubber cork for the barrel ends and also for the nipple placement. The fact that the bore has rifling, and the nipple has threads makes me concerned about getting a total seal. What is the best material to add to the rubber cork to complete the seal? I am thinking maybe pipe dope? Am I starting with the wrong material? What is the best way to go?
Thanks in advance
Larry

I never have plugged a barrel to scald the brown rust blue, plugs will either pop out or leak. Water does no harm. I do plug the muzzle to give me a handle for application of the rusting chemical. I wiggle the plug out before I scald the barrel. My scalding “ tank “ is simply PVC drain pipe with a cap on the bottom lashed to a post on my deck. There is a large bell reducer. On the top end to act as a funnel. The cap on the bottom is not sealed in any way. After rusting and carding the barrel is lowered into the pipe. No plugs. Then boiling water is poured over the barrel and filling the pipe. Top off the hot water as it leaks out the bottom cap. If it doesn’t leak fast enough drill a 1/16 hole in it before you do the next scalding. Mine does just fine no hole. I boil two good size pots of water for this process. Easiest way I’ve found to get a nice rust blue. BJH

 

[user 34300]

"I think a 1/2 inch dowel just short of bore length will displace most of the air and minimize the expansion issue."

A dowel tight enough to seal the muzzle will swell in the hot water. IT will seize in place. If 40" of dowel in there you will have a serious problem. If you pull the breech plug to drive it out it will likely break in the bore and wedge tighter.

I have done this job dozens of times, I know what I am talking about. I do not understand the stubborn determination to reject the solicited advice given by those who know what they are doing.

 

[Valkyrie]

"I think a 1/2 inch dowel just short of bore length will displace most of the air and minimize the expansion issue."

A dowel tight enough to seal the muzzle will swell in the hot water. IT will seize in place. If 40" of dowel in there you will have a serious problem. If you pull the breech plug to drive it out it will likely break in the bore and wedge tighter.

I have done this job dozens of times, I know what I am talking about. I do not understand the stubborn determination to reject the solicited advice given by those who know what they are doing.

If no water gets inside the bore, how would the dowel swell? These are methods to displace enough air to negate a pressure point that dislodges a plug. Just curious. Sand is used in many applications to displace atmospheric and other gases in vessels, notably when drilling propane cylinders.

While the result may be negligible the method is worthy of discussion at some point or not?

 

[Cpt Flint]

No further discussion is necessary because sealing the bore is simply not an issue. It is not necessary. The discussion now is between stubborn people who have decided to defend a totally useless non issue. Next you can consider which pig flies the fastest while the rest of us have a pig roast.

 

[j.scotto]

well fwiw remember my barrel is a 54 so a half inch dowel will be rattling around loose. we'll see, I'm not so stubborn that I discount any advice I get here. got to regain use of my arm first.

btw that pig just flew over northbound, must have been doing 150 knots