brasso down the barrel

[pghrich]

after cleaning all my brass furniture on my cabelas kentucky flintlock with brasso[i ran out of fritz]itried it down the barrel.the barrel shines like it never did before. did i do a good thing or a bad thing.if bad why.....

 

[buckknife]

Dont know but on the can it says ok for stainless steel. Your barrel isnt stainless steel so I would keep a close eye on the bore.On the ph scale if brasso is too basic or too acidic it will rust the bore real quick.Run a white cleaning patch down the bore after a couple of hours,if ok do it again the next morning.If you get any red or brown wash it with soap and cold water,followed by a good rinse with straight cold water.Dry and lube.Thats what id do anyhow.

 

[bart_anastasi]

I believe that Brasso has some abrasives added to the stuff.

Left in the barrel it may not be a good thing in the long run.

You might end up putting a lot of wear on the bore over time.

Your gun may not be stainless but the bore is probably chrome lined hence the bright shine.

I think brasso also contains petrolium distilates and solvents.
Normally we try to stay away from those products as not natural to shooting BP.

Some people feel otherwise.

 

[buckknife]

msds shows some ammonium hydroxide,which if too much could cause it rust up.Also has silca cyristal or some thing which would be a abrassive.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I figger you did much more good than harm. maybe got some crud and/or burrs.

 

[ChrisPer]

Brasso IS abrasive. Doing one polish of the bore may do no harm, may reduce toolmarks, but don't make a habit of it.

 

[MSW]

by way of merely adding my voice to the already formed consensus, i thing that the only possible benefit of brasso is the mild abrasive it contains (which, in combination with the chemistry, is why it works well on brass, but only in the short term). but then, if you wanted to do that, you probably should have gone with a product specificly designed for that purpose. (there are some lapping compounds from Brownells, for instance).

in any event, i'd make every effort to get the residue out of the bore as soon as is practical.

"crud" (aka BP fouling) is best removed with plain old soap and warm (not hot) water.

one guys opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[rabbit03]

after cleaning all my brass furniture on my cabelas kentucky flintlock with brasso[i ran out of fritz]itried it down the barrel.the barrel shines like it never did before. did i do a good thing or a bad thing.if bad why.....

Hola amigo,

I can only give my opinion and my observations for you here since I am not a chemist.

I have done what you have done for years now on my own rifles. I have rifles that have and will put the ball through the same hole if I am doing my part. Normally I would say that I will clean my barrel out with the brasso patch and 0000 steel wool about 3 or 4 times over a period of years. I believe this helps remove some of the imperfections in the barrel and also it polishes the bore up so that the fouling comes out easier when you clean the bore. As for harming the bore, I can not say that the chemicals in Brasso will hurt or not but I can attest for there being no harm in accuracy. I do not have any problems with rust either in my bores that I have used this method on. After I finish cleaning and polishing with the Brasso I will follow that up with a good cleaning with W-40 and then RIG Grease to finish.

The other day, for an experiment, I left my rifle dirty for several weeks :shocked2:. I did this to see if the bore would rust or not, it did NOT. I left it dirty again for an even longer period of time, over a month, and still the same result, no rust!

Was it because of the polishing with the Brasso? Who knows. There was a hard build up of powder residue at the bottom that had to be gotten out but no rust whatsoever. The hardened spot came out with little effort while using the Black Solve I use as a cleaner between shots, it works great for disolving blackpowder residue.

I don't think you have hurt your barrel and these barrels are alot more forgiving that some might think they are. Of course there will be others who feel I have violated the secret oath of Black Powder Rifle Cleaning but I am not too worried so long as the balls keep going in the same hole. Not sure what anyone else is trying to do but that is what I aim for!!!!!

I use the correct size brass loading/cleaning jag for Big 58 and place a cleaning patch over that jag and then take a small layer of 0000 steel wool and lay it over the patch. I then pour about an ounce or so of Brasso in the bore (barrel is in the vise and slightly tilted down at the breach) and also saturate the patch/steel wool with the Brasso. I will then insert this into the bore and if done right you will have to use your hand to bump it into the rifling as it will conform to the lands and grooves. Then work it in and almost out of the barrel about 8 or 9 times within about 8 inches of the bore, then I will completely take it out on the 10th stroke. I will generally work this same patch in and out as described above for about 15 minutes or so. You will see that the yellow Brasso liquid has now taken on a black color which indicates that there is a minute amount of metal being taken out of the bore. This method will take off much less than if you would use some grinding compound or any other compound specifically made for lapping a rifles bore. (My opinion only) I do this to maybe keep a little choke in the last 8 or so inches of the muzzle. I might add that I also use a neoprene bore guide (you could use brass)all the while I am doing this and the rod I use is a stainless steel rod too with the pool ball type round head on it for a handle.

Again I have done this on all of my rifles and see no decrease in accuracy and in fact I would have to say that they shoot better than they did when first purchased. I expect that the barrels life and accuracy will excede my own life and remain accurate long after I am not!

Good luck and don't worry about it!

rabbit03 (Molester of the status quo)

PS the brasso will squirt out of the nipple hole or flash hole so take care to protect the wood and or surrounding area from the squirting brasso. You might use a bit less down the barrel too.

 

[Runner]

To do it right, a bore sized lap should be made before hand. Wood works and so does lead. Once they are formed to the bore, when you lap using them, they do not round over the corners on the tops of the rifling the way patches and steel wool does. A new gun polished using something like a good chromium polish should take no break in afterwards. I would use diamond 250,000 grit, but I am afraid it would stick in the soft steel and never come out. I rub it into polishing laps so that it embeds in the steel to polish gemstones with. The point is to keep the surface of the lands the same shape that they were when you started and to polish. The patch/steel wool method causes rounding/flatting of the tops of the lands.
Hammer a 54 ball into a fifty and ram it full length. Start your ball puller firmly and pull the ball. You now have a lap. Coat it with a fine polish and start to work the rough stuff out by feel. If it gets too loose in the bore, tighten you ball puller another turn. The polish will embed in the softer lead and polish things out really well, including the grooves.
Hope that helps.