Care of old barrels?

[Whiteleather]

Hi, folks. I am new to this type of firearm.

I was given an original Smith carbine (.50 cal) and an original Burnside carbine (.54 cal). After a lot of work and sweat and calloused fingers from picking the flash paths clear I have gotten them both to shoot.

My question is about how to treat the bores. The Smith is freckled over about 60% of its surface. The Burnside is mint. I have put about 10-20 rounds of soft lead through each using Pyrodex (relax, relax...I need advice not contempt).

I cleaned with Butch's bore shine before reading that soap and water will do the trick. I scrubbed each with some sort of stiff nylon bristle brush, ran tons of patches, and finally topped it off with Ballistol.

The bores still look great, but I thought I should run the process past you fellas who have really old steel barrels.

The biggest pain is that the Smith bore just never comes clean. There is always a hint of rust on the patch. Should I worry about that, or just let it go?

BTW, group size at 50yards will not win any awards yet, but I did manage, in 5 shots, to hit 5 of 5 bowling pins off hand with the Burnside and 4 of 5 with the Smith.

I will put them up on the wall for now, but want to make sure I am done cleaning and protecting them first.

Regards,

Kris in NY

 

[Tracy]

Welcome to the forum.I am no gunsmith but maybe a few more shooting sessions and a few more cleanings will take care of the rust problem.

 

[Dave K]

Them old barrels can be a PITA. The metal seems to be more porus them modern barrels and moisture seems to get trapped in the pores. Good cleaning and follow up bore protection is the only way I have found. I use Ballistol and have been happy with it. I can't say I EVER, get a perfectly clean patch from the old barrels.

 

[gordy]

You might want to try the water cleaning system,Remember to flush out with boiling water after the cleaning routine,the barrel shoud be so hot you can't hold it, without a glove.also tey a brass bristle brush instead of the nylon.After the bore dries run several dry patches through it,the patches may come out nearly black.then use Breakfree,and scrub with more patches.The heat from the water bath will open the pores in the metal and release more crud.You may have to do the process again in a few days but it should get the rust problem fixed.Rem-oil or any good gun oil should protect the bore once its clean.The metals used were a little more porus then the alloys used later on. :thumbsup:

 

[olgreenhead]

Well i can cure problem . Just send the old rusty to your dead eye buddy in oswego county and he,ll take care of them for you . PS your forgot to tell everybody you are shooting that nasty stuff called pyrodex in them . :blah:

 

[Whiteleather]

Hi, Art (Olgreenhead). No, I did NOT forget to tell them I was using Pyrodex. You're skimming articles again, and missing the important stuff.

BTW, folks, OlGreenhead is the young man who told me to come here for all my questions. His cro-magnon tendencies finally paid off.

Kris in NY

 

[olgreenhead]

Well i hope to see you at the elbridge shoot next weekend so i can shoot them things .

 

[54JNoll]

You can coat a patch with JB paste and run it in and out several times. That should help with the residual rust in that gun.

As far as storage goes ... I have an oringinal flinter that is stored using ballistol or other type oil/preservative. She seems to be doing fine. The old iron in that barrel tends to make the patch appear dingy but there is no rust.

I'd say you are going fine. The small amount of rust would bother me some too. Sometimes it takes a while but she should eventually cleanup.