Finally got a 3 band Enfield

[mk434]

Ok, so I went to the gunshow today and spotted a 3-band Enfield made by Euroarms. I decided to buy it for about $425. The only thing is that it is used and the Ramrod has rust on it, and the bore has some rust on it and the barrel has some surface rust on the outside. Other than that it looks like a fine shooter. So my question is is what would be the best way to remove the rust from the inside of the bore, the ramrod ,and the surface rust on the outside of the barrel. Is there any special mixture or chemical that ya'll use to do this?? Also, I noticed that the rear sight leaf starts at 5 (I assume this means 500 meters??) If so, then what would I use from 100-400 meters?? Do I just keep the sight folded down?? Thanks for all your help :thanks:

 

[Zonie]

Steel wool on a cleaning jag should clean up the bore (with a lot of arm motion) and the ramrod.

Fine (0000) steel wool will also remove the rust spots on the barrel but it will also remove the blueing if your not careful.

The rear sight for closer ranges is used folded down but the position of the sliding blade deteremines the range setting.

The base of the sight should have three humps on it. By sliding the sights sliding blade forward, it will ride up on these humps.
This will raise the sight notched area at the very front to the correct height for the distance.
With the folding blade down, and the sliding blade all the way to the rear, it is sighted for 100 yards. Slid forward to rest on the first hump is 200 yards, the next hump is 300 yards and the most forward hump is 400 yards.
For ranges beyond that, raise the blade to the vertical position and slide the sight to the 5,6,7 or 8 position for 500,600, 700, 800 yards.

 

[fatboy]

When I work on rust I like to set it somewhere and soak the rusted areas down with some good penetrating oil like Kroil for 24 hrs . Then use a steelwool 4/0 I belive Brownells sell bronze wool that would even be better you can use a pc of copper tubing flattened to make a scrapper this works nice and does harm the bluing or metal because it is soft.

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

4/0 steel wool with a jag, some oil, and a lot of elbow grease. You'll be amazed! ::

 

[mk434]

Okay, I know what a jag is but I am not sure how to exactly use it. For ordinary cleaning (or in this case with the steel wool), do I just wrap the patch (or steel wool) around the jag and use it just like I would any ordinary cleaning rod?? Please excuse the noobie question.

 

[Gary]

They tied tow to the jag to clean the guns in those days. I use a modern ramrod (3/8" thick brass) with the right caliber jag and a patch.

BTW, to remove surface rust, use an old ('82 or older) copper penny. Apply some oil and scratch away. Rust will be gone (but not any pitting) and since you're using copper, it won't harm the rest of the bluing like steel wool would.

 

[Zonie]

I wrap the steel wool around the jag just about like a cleaning patch.
After 5 or 10 trips up and down the barrel, the steel wool should be removed and re-wrapped so that fresh material is rubbing against the bore.

 

You'd be surprised what a 1.5"x1.5" square of scrounge pad can do when used like a patch with a little water based machine oil. Be sure to go with the 3M stuff. The imported stuff isn't as good.

Just :m2c:

 

[Okwaho]

I restored an old 1863 Springfield a few years back which had been in a closet for years and had a frozen rear sight and a lot of surface rust including some deep rust on the heel of the butt.The gentleman who owned the gun just wanted it to look "decent"I used 4-0 and 3-0 steel wool and reconstituted lemon juice from Krogers.I couldn't do anything about the butt, but after I disassembled the gun I was able to get rid of all the surface rust and get the leaf sight to function perfectly.The patina wasn't affected on the metal or the stock around the butt piece which I couldn't remove.I'm a reenactor and I always carry lemon juice with my cleaning gear to remove the rust film which seems to occur overnight down South with our high humidity.BTW I cleaned the stock with a soft rag,warm water, and a mild dishwashing detrergent to take off surface dirt. I do this on the old guns that I have cleaned and it works really well without harming any patina. On the old guns I follow up with hand rubbing to restore patina I just got through following this procedure on a French fusil Ca.1715-1730 which hadn't been touched in about 30 years when it was bought in semi wreck condition.On the 63 Springfield I used an old fashioned polish of boiled linseed oil,turpentine,and vinegar in equal portions because I didn't have time to really hand rub.One little trick is that on narrow areas such as a barrel tang surround or around the guard molding I use ear and nose grease and apply with my finger then rub.The cleaning and hand rubbing procedure also works well with old horns.Both old guns and old horns should be handled because that is the way {albeit over a longer period of time}these pieces accumulated patina in the first place.On your gun there's not much you can do with the abominable wood finish that you see on these import repros.Kit Ravenshear once converted my son's 2nd model Bess to a first model and among other things he removed that polyurethane{?}garbage and used a simple oil{I think} finish.I have my son's three band Enfield to play with this winter and I'm going to take off all that crud and probably scrape the wood rather than use sandpaper then use some kind of linseed oil finish and a helluva lot of hand rubbing.Since I'm retired and retarded,I will have the time to play with it,I may even use a French polish.

Tom Patton :thumbsup: :m2c: