Browning on finish

[WALKERs210]

I picked up a beautiful Pedersoli Frontier 36 this weekend. The barrel is browned and looks flawless but on the muzzle of barrel the metal is in the white. Should this be browned also or just leave it alone?

 

[Zonie]

If you don't like it use some acetone to degrease it and buy some Birchwood Casey Plum Brown and a propane torch.

Small areas like this are easy to brown by using PB and if a little of it gets inside the bore it won't hurt anything.

Before doing this, look at the crown to see if there are any sharp edges where the crown meets the bore or the rifling.
If there are sharp edges, this is a great time to remove them.

To do this, buy a sheet of 320 grit black wet/dry silicone carbide paper. Tear off a small piece and use your pinky to poke it down into the bore.

Rotate your hand from side to side to cause the sandpaper to remove the sharp edges. While your doing this back and forth sanding, rotate the barrel so you will be removing material evenly around the bore. Change the paper often when it stops cutting.

When everything looks nicely sanded and all of the sharp edges are rounded off then use the Plum Brown to brown the muzzle.

Then again, a bright muzzle doesn't hurt anything so if you want to keep it then by all means do so.
Removing the sharp edges on the other hand can make a patch ripping poor shooter into a accurate gun that will shoot amazingly well.

 

[WALKERs210]

Thanks for the info. Color was not a real issue but just curious if it needed or not. Never thought about the sharp edge but going right now to check it out.
Thanks again

 

[Old Salt]

The muzzles on my rifles are "white" due to cutting patches on the muzzle.

Leo

 

[Birddog6]

That is not unusual. Seen allot of them made that way. I have had guys ask for them both ways, some want them white some want them browned. It is really just a preference.

Keith Lisle

 

[Tumblernotch]

I picked up a beautiful Pedersoli Frontier 36 this weekend. The barrel is browned and looks flawless but on the muzzle of barrel the metal is in the white. Should this be browned also or just leave it alone?

I wouldn't bother. After cutting patches at the muzzle for a little while it'll get polished down to bare metal before you know it. Unless you're one of those who don't muzzle cut your patches. I do and all my long rifles have shiny muzzles.

 

[Bill Hall]

Yep, even if you don't cut at the muzzle, you still get alot of wear there. I think they all turn white eventually at the muzzle. Bill

 

[WALKERs210]

Only in the last year have I used the pre-cut patches and then just because they were in a box of miscellaneous items. When I started shooting Black Powder in the 70's don't even know if the pre-cut patches were even available or not. Thanks everyone for replies.

 

[Birddog6]

Sure they had them. Pre-cut patches were avail from CVA, T/C, Navy Arms, Dixie & several other manufacturers back in the 70's.

Keith Lisle

 

[Bill Hall]

I remember buying pre-cut patches in the 70's.

My first rifle was a T/C hawken kit I put together in 1976 or '77. I didn't know what I was doing, so I bought a starter kit that included pre-cut patches, a mold, caps, and the cute little short starter.

I forgot to read the part about lubing the patches, so I loaded her up with a completely dry patch and fired. Went right through the door of the old rusted car I shot at, so I quickly started to load up another. The ball went about 6 inches down before it made a screeching halt, and no matter how hard I pounded, it refused to budge.

I took the rifle to my teacher's house (the same guy who started me into blackpowder) and asked him what was wrong with this stupid gun. He asked me what kind of lube I used, so I said "Lube? I oiled the hammer thingy, is that what you mean?"

Hey, we all start out at the bottom. Bill

 

[WALKERs210]

In defense about not remembering if patches were available or not I always fall back on an old saying "Hey I've slept since then". I do remember making all the newbie mistakes and somehow lived thru them. A friend loaded his rifle and ball stuck halfway down the barrel, we had no ball puller and I had enough smarts (something anyway) to know that was not safe. We wound up lashing the rifle to a truck wheel and tire then ran a long string to the trigger. It shot out OK but he learned about using lube and swabbing the barrel every few rounds.