Could someone tell me what they think this is?

[Boston123]

I can tell you what *I* think it is: surface rust.

I just dont know how it is getting there. I keep the gun well-oiled with Barricade.

You can only see these spots when viewed at an angle (like in the picture), not when looking down the bore. In addition, any patches I send down the bore dont pick up any brown (from rust)

How should I go about removing this?. I've got some Ballistol, and I've been reading about how it can "get under" surface rust and make it easier to remove. Should I soak a patch in the Ballistol and run it down the bore a few times?

 

[Boston123]

So, I saturated a patch with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and swabbed the bore (to remove any "old" oil), followed by a dry patch, then ran a patch saturated with Ballistol up and down the bore. I then saturated another patch in Ballistol and let it sit in the mouth of the muzzle, right over that weird spot, and put my gun back up on the hooks (where it lays slightly muzzle-down, so any excess oil can just run out rather than puddling at the breech).

I'll see what happens later tonight

The weird thing is is that those "rust spots" are only on one "side" of the mouth, where if the gun was held 'normally' with the top of the barrel at North, the spots are only at East

 

[andy52]

I could be very light surface rust or possibly it's just dried oil.

 

[Boston123]

I could be very light surface rust or possibly it's just dried oil.

It very well could be. Barricade is supposed to "dry" into a film on the surface of metal, according to both the packaging and the testimony of users here.

But I have been using Barricade for a few weeks now, and haven't seen anything like the picture above until now. Since I live on the ocean-coast, I would reapply a new coat of Barricade every week or so (since the packaging said it protected for 'over 7 days in saltwater-air'), maybe I was just putting too much?

But, again, its in a weird spot for oil-film. Based on how I store the gun, that part of the bore is 'vertical" (that is the left side of the bore, not the bottom), so any oil shouldn't have a chance to dry there before running off

 

[andy52]

I feel for you on the coast thing, humidity that carries salt is heck on metals.
When I was in the Navy stationed in Florida it was extremely hard to keep cars from rusting everywhere.

 

[deermanok]

I bought a used rifle recently that had some bit of rust in the barrel.
I got it all cleaned up nice with Evaporust.
I fired a few shots with it, cleaned it all up again, put it on the rack and a few days later it looked like what you have in your picture.
I took a cleaning rod with a bore brush, chucked it in a cordless drill. I dunked the brush in the Evaporust and spun the brush up and down the barrel for a few minutes. Dry patches pulled out alot of black stuff.
I sprayed some WD40 down the barrel, mopped it up and down with another dry patch.
It's been staying clean since.

 

[Boston123]

I bought a used rifle recently that had some bit of rust in the barrel.
I got it all cleaned up nice with Evaporust.
I fired a few shots with it, cleaned it all up again, put it on the rack and a few days later it looked like what you have in your picture.
I took a cleaning rod with a bore brush, chucked it in a cordless drill. I dunked the brush in the Evaporust and spun the brush up and down the barrel for a few minutes. Dry patches pulled out alot of black stuff.
I sprayed some WD40 down the barrel, mopped it up and down with another dry patch.
It's been staying clean since.

I have this bore-brush. Would it be suitable?

I dont have any Evaporust. Ive got Ballistol, Barricade, RemOil, and some WD-40.

Could I dunk the above brush in any of the above substances and clean out the bore that way?

The brass bristles of my brush wont scratch-up the steel of the barrel, im assuming. Since steel is harder than brass...

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I can tell you what *I* think it is: surface rust.

I just dont know how it is getting there. I keep the gun well-oiled with Barricade.

You can only see these spots when viewed at an angle (like in the picture), not when looking down the bore. In addition, any patches I send down the bore dont pick up any brown (from rust)
View attachment 92011
How should I go about removing this?. I've got some Ballistol, and I've been reading about how it can "get under" surface rust and make it easier to remove. Should I soak a patch in the Ballistol and run it down the bore a few times?

I have this bore-brush. Would it be suitable?
View attachment 92024

I dont have any Evaporust. Ive got Ballistol, Barricade, RemOil, and some WD-40.

Could I dunk the above brush in any of the above substances and clean out the bore that way?

The brass bristles of my brush wont scratch-up the steel of the barrel, im assuming. Since steel is harder than brass...

Brass will clean some crud, but will not take the steel. Do not be afraid to put the brush on a electric drill motor and spin the living manure out of it. Use your cleaner/degreaser/rust remove while being aggressive with the brush. Clean all residue, with cleaning patches, then oil well. If you are still not happy, polish the bore, or consult a barrel smith.
Larry

 

[deermanok]

I have this bore-brush. Would it be suitable?
View attachment 92024

I dont have any Evaporust. Ive got Ballistol, Barricade, RemOil, and some WD-40.

Could I dunk the above brush in any of the above substances and clean out the bore that way?

The brass bristles of my brush wont scratch-up the steel of the barrel, im assuming. Since steel is harder than brass...

I got the same brush. I didn't see any scratches in my barrel after using it.
There's a product called Montana Extreme bore polish. Not expensive and easy to use if you're reluctant to use a bore brush.

 

[Boston123]

Alright, I brushed the bore with the bronze bore-brush. The bottle of Barricade said it could be used to remove light surface rust, so I squirted some Barricade into the bore and brushed away. I didn't have a drill handy, so i had to do it by hand, but it looks like I got it out. My hands are sore and tired for now, so I will check again tonight.

After brushing, I ran some dry patches down the bore, and as deermanok said, I got a lot of black crud. I ran these dry patches until they came clean, then ran a patch saturated with Barricade down (Interestingly, the Barricade-soaked patches came out light-brown, even before running them down the barrel, so I am wondering if the brown spots in the first photo aren't just dried Barricade). I also soaked a patch in Ballistol and snugged it into the muzzle using a spare 20Ga jag, since Ballistol advertises itself as a penetrating oil and I want to see if it will lift anything I may have missed.

I'll check again later tonight

 

[Sidney Smith]

I've had surface rust form like that in my smoothbore. I don't think you can ever truly eliminate the possibility of it happening. Just keep the barrel old when stored and it will be fine. That minute an amount of surface rust won't hurt anything.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Sidney Smith, oiled?

 

[Boston123]

Well, I don't know what the hell the spots are, but whatever they are are capable of resisting bronze bristles saturated with Barricade, Ballistol, WD-40 and even Hoppes #9.

I would saturate a patch with the above (not all at once), let it sit on the spot for a few minutes, then brush at it with my bronze brush dunked in the same. Never got anything off, apparently, even though when I would swab the bore with dry patches afterwards, I would drag out black on the patch.

I oiled the entire bore with Barricade, then saturated a patch with more Barricade and snugged it onto the spot with my spare jag. I'll let it sit overnight and look into getting some Evaporust tomorrow.

I've had surface rust form like that in my smoothbore. I don't think you can ever truly eliminate the possibility of it happening. Just keep the barrel old when stored and it will be fine. That minute an amount of surface rust won't hurt anything.

My main concern is how it formed in the first place. I've been reoiling the barrel once a week pretty religiously, so it is making me doubt that routine, as well as the possibility of more surface rust like that up in the bore where I can't see it.

That, and the fact that it isn't coming off no matter what I do to it. Brushes, oils, nada. Makes me wonder just what it is, because if it was rust I would be expecting to pick up streaks on patches, and I am getting nothing. Nice, clean oiled patches, up and down the bore, nice bright shiny bore afterwards, with no dark spots (at least that I can see holding my eye and a flashlight to the bore. I don't own a borescope)

@Sidney Smith, oiled?

Yup. Since I live right on the coast in New England, I am concerned about salt-water air, and have been applying Barricade to the bore about once a week for a month now. No issues whatsoever, until I bent over to insert the jag into the mouth of the bore today and noticed those spots. They are nowhere else in the barrel (if the top of the gun, where the sight is, is North, this spot of spots would be West, opposite the lock on the East), and it looks like they only extend down the bore an inch or so. I'm not feeling any roughness when I send a patch down the bore, wet or dry, so if it is rust it isn't very extensive.

 

[user 48679]

IMO your issue might be due to the products you're using.

I've never used ANY products meant for modern arms, beit cleaners or rust preventatives, in my blackpowder guns, - period.

FWIW, doing so has prevented me from having ANY "issues", such as rust/etc, in over 60 years of hunting/shooting with BP guns.

 

[Boston123]

IMO your issue might be due to the products you're using.

I've never used ANY products meant for modern arms, beit cleaners or rust preventatives, in my blackpowder guns, - period.

FWIW, doing so has prevented me from having ANY "issues", such as rust/etc, in over 60 years of hunting/shooting with BP guns.

Track of the Wolf, the premier Black Powder site on the Internet, sells both Ballistol and Barricade for preventing rust in Blackpowder firearms. Rust Preventatives, oils, greases, solvents - Track of the Wolf

In addition, several respected members of this forum swear by Barricade. The builder of my gun also said that was their personal choice of rust preventative.

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/birchwood-casey-barricade.109970/
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/barricade-use.93424/
Up until now, I have been using only water, Ballistol, and now Barricade, on this smoothbore gun

 

[Brokennock]

I dont have any Evaporust.

Get some.
Stuff is great. You will use it for more than just projects like this.

 

[Carbon 6]

I'm more concerned about the tooling marks. Remove them and the rust will be gone too.

 

[JCKelly]

After shooting, it would be interesting to know how you clean the bore. I used to get this light surface rust, think it might have been from the wee amount of salt (sodium chloride + acid) I put down the barrel in whatever soap-stuff I was using. Yeah, I knew ALL "soap" has had a little acid salt in it, since the 1960', but I wasn't thinking.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I am a fan of a green scotch bright pad cut to patch size, oiled and given about 100 strokes down the barrel, this will remove some of the milling marks and polish the barrel. You will need a smaller cleaning jag for your scotch bright pad to fit in the barrel. If you use a maroon pad it will definitely remove the milling marks so use less strokes and monitor closely. I follow the scotch bright pad with JB bore paste on a tight cleaning patch and another hundred strokes.

 

[Boston123]

After shooting, it would be interesting to know how you clean the bore. I used to get this light surface rust, think it might have been from the wee amount of salt (sodium chloride + acid) I put down the barrel in whatever soap-stuff I was using. Yeah, I knew ALL "soap" has had a little acid salt in it, since the 1960', but I wasn't thinking.

Just water. I run water-dampened patches down until they come up clean, then dry patches until they come up dry, then oil.

I haven't shot in months, though. The gun has just been hanging on hooks on my wall for all that time. I would apply fresh oil about once a week.