Help on Neglected .45 ML Pistol

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luieb45

54 Cal.
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Over the winter my uncle decided to give me a .45 cal muzzleloading caplock pistol that he bought a couple years ago at an auction for $20. The exterior is decent looking and the barrel has an antiqued look. Now the bore on the other hand... it has some problems. When I first ran a patch through it the patch came out VERY rusty. Since it has been this rusty for probably 30 years since it has been shot and uncleaned by the previous owner. (my uncle never shot or cleaned this gun) So I cleaned it up with water and butch's bore shine and found the bore is pitted in a few spots and it appeared to have no rifling. Then I went out and shot it and it wasn't accurate or I can't shoot good or something. Then I cleaned it again and found in part of the barrel traces or rifling. How can I get this rifling back? I have also heard of something with steel wool to remove the pitting. Any help and suggestions would be helpful.
 
light oil and scotch guard patches will pobably get you thebest effort to remove most crud, then re-evaluate.
 
Another method is to wrap steel wool around a bronze bore brush. You will not eliminate the pitting, but hopefully you can get the oxidized metal out and smooth it enough where it may shoot OK. You may not end up with Target match quality but probably have a fun shooter that will hit in the general point of aim. It may or may not be rifled both models were made by various companies. Post some pics if you can.
 
And when you get done if you stil have little or no rifleing, and it shoots everywhere but where you want it to. Sell it to Civil war reenactor.
Why you ask? Well besides shooting my pistols I also do civil war reenacting. Most reenactors only shoot blanks through thier pistols, so no rifleing is needed. They load up with powder, and COW or oatmeal and go bang bang your dead. :rotf: and hide behind the big cloud of smoke.
 
I use bronze wool to remove rust on steel parts. It is hard enough to remove the rust but softer than the steel, so it will not damage the surface below the rust. Use it like steel wool, wrapped around a cleaning jag or bore brush. You can buy it at most hardware stores.

Good luck with that pistol.
Lobo
 
Like the others have said, you have a fun gun to play with even if it isn't a match grade target pistol. :thumbsup:

If the rifling is gone there isn't anything that doesn't cost a fortune that can be done.

On the other hand, pistols in the days of old were close range weapons and even smoothbores can group a series of shots pretty good if the patch/ball combination is fairly tight.

I'm not talking about the tight fit that is used in rifles because something like that is VERY hard to load in a pistol. I'm just talking about tight enough so that the patch doesn't burn when the gun if fired.

Have fun with your new used pistol. :)
 
Careful about using a brush in a muzzleloader barrel, they can and do get stuck.

There are a few preparations that will do the trick. There is a brown paste slightly abrasive bore cleaner on the market. Comes in a little jar. Can't recall the name off hand. J&B maybe. However, make a trip to the auto supply store and get some car polishing compound. I think the brand is Dupont. Comes in white paste or reddish brown. The reddish brown has coarser abrasives in it. should be about 4 bucks for a life time supply. Use the heaviest napped patches you can on a stoudt cleaning jag and work that stuff up and down the bore.

If you can't find the auto polishing compound, mix some comet powdered cleanser with a bit of motor oil to make a paste and use that. Even old fashioned white toothpaste or baking soda will work, but the abrasives are very fine and it will take more work.

Change patches when they start to wear through.The stuff is a PIA to clean out no matter what you use, even the steel wool lint.

also remember that shooting the gun and cleaning it also helps clean out some of the rust.
 


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