Cleaning pitted bore

[rdungan1918]

Awhile back I bought a flintlock Pistol at an antique store. The Pistol was a kit that someone had nought put together enough you shoot and never finished. I soaked the barrel in vinegar for 48 hours and ha a peak down the barrel. Looking for suggestions on best way to clean.

 

[ohio ramrod]

It appears to be a smooth bore pistol so you don't have to worry about the rifling. Just go at it with any method you chose, Scotch brite, lapping compound , or even a brake hone.

 

[22dr45]

It is already broke, so you can't broke it any worse. At a yard sale, I bought a .54cal cap lock Hawken that had many years ago been shot and never cleaned. Visually I could not tell if it was a smooth bore or rifled. The sensible part of me said walk away. I pulled the ram rod and it was so full of crud it would not go down the barrel. Guy had it tagged at $150, I said no, he said would ya give me $50 fer it. So another unloved rifle followed me home. It was worth the $50 for the wood and furniture. Never did get the breech plug out. Boiling it and scrubbing like an idiot. Bits of steel wool wrapped around a bristle brush. Eventually some JB bore paste once I confirmed not a smooth bore. My plan was always to just buy a green mountain barrel for it. Mess'n with this one was just to see how or if it could be cleaned up. Just remembered the gun was loaded when I bought it. Too fouled to get a ram rod down but a metal cleaning rod confirmed something was about an inch above where the face of the breech plug was. First trick was to clean it enough to pull the bullet and get the charge out. Very long story shortened was it came back to shooting quite well. Looked horrid but shot well with patched round ball. Boiling it on the wood stove did allow me to get the nipple out.

 

[Hawk54]

Birchwood Casey blue and rust remover. Degrease the barrel and rinse clean. Apply the rust remover with a patch or swab. Let it sit for a few minutes. Use steel wool or bore brush to scrub the bore. Rinse the barrel out. Repeat as needed. Dry the bore thoroughly and lubricate the barrel after you have got the bore as clean as you can. If you use a bore brush make sure you clean the rust remover from it before using on another firearm.

 

[KLH2632]

Been working on a TC .56 S.B. Renegade. Someone donated this to our BSA camp, it’s a milled out .54 cal rifled Renegade, for MA/RI only, a 1970-90 workaround for state hunting regulations that only allowed Smooth Bore (S.B.) black powder for deer season, rifled allowed after ~1990.

Scothbrite on the cleaning jag and steel wool on a 3/8” drill spun dowel.

First picture is muzzle, second is initial rust removal patches. Still working on her, but have fired 10 rounds .550 PrB with lubed .010 patch. Most patches came out whole with appropriate wear, some got ripped up, so more honing in my future.

Second photo shows blood red rags, through sort of almost clean rags.

 

[bang]

Scrub with steel wool. I use ospho to kill rust. It will remove bluing too.
Once scrubbed hit with some fine lapping compound. Clean thoroughly. Reblue and shoot it. I've seen barrels with land that almost look like pinking shears turn out to be nail drivers.