GunnerAces
32 Cal
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2021
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello everyone! My current project (among the millions of other things that one constantly has to deal with) is a passion project. I'm restoring an extremely rare rifle/smoothbore muzzleloader, pictured below.
I think she's certainly a beauty on the outside, unfortunately the inside is not so hot. I had problems immediately with the hammer refusing to go to full cock and falling randomly at half cock. It was an easy fix, just had to do some basic work on the tumbler and retaining spring. Got to brass brushing on some rust to save the patina on buttstock and trigger guard, no problems there. Barrel rotation is tight at the breech and needs no work. Not too bad, right?
But oh boy. The bore has me at a loss. I would like to clarify this first: I know some people value originality very much, but my motto is that if I can't see it I want it as perfect and new as possible. I intend to make these guns 'shootable' so that history might live on, but I preserve all original pieces (at least outwardly visible ones) and patina and such.
So anyway, I go to inspect the bore with my scope. Smoothbore barrel (16 gauge) is very nice. Very light rusting. Rifled barrel (.36 cal) is only slightly worse, light rusting most of the way, worse towards the breech but the rifling is clearly visible. Nothing I can't fix, I've done it before. But it is HELL in both barrels at the breech.
These were some of the best photos I could take. Firing channel from the nipples is not visible, this is a crud DAM. Best I can reckon is that this is built-up at least a quarter inch thick. Either that or the entire breech is just this gunk. Got some out, it's brown/red like rust but very soft and gooey like an organic compound. Nasty stuff. What the hell is this? Is there any way to remove it? My plan already included getting all rust out the barrel ASAP, evaporust and all (INTERNALS ONLY) but this is a roadblock. Tried pushing air from the nipples out the barrel with my compressor, no luck. There's no airflow at all.
And speaking of those bastards, the nipples are a disaster. They're both chewed up.
It's a shame because the rest of the rifle does really look good, engravings are still crisp, stock has great character and no cracks or rot, patchbox is a beautiful silver with no serious tarnish. Think my only chance with these guys is to drill them out and tap to a very slightly larger size with a modern nipple. I'd like someone else's opinion on this though before I go for it.
Well I just spewed a lot of problems out at you guys. There's a few other problems but nothing I can't handle on my own, but the bore issue and the nipple issue are new to me. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I look forward to (hopefully) hearing back from someone.
Very Respectfully, GunnerAces
EDIT: I apologize in advance, this is my first post and I'm sorry if I've misunderstood some of the categories or rules. I've been reading these forums for a long time but never interacted before. Thanks for your patience on that matter.
I think she's certainly a beauty on the outside, unfortunately the inside is not so hot. I had problems immediately with the hammer refusing to go to full cock and falling randomly at half cock. It was an easy fix, just had to do some basic work on the tumbler and retaining spring. Got to brass brushing on some rust to save the patina on buttstock and trigger guard, no problems there. Barrel rotation is tight at the breech and needs no work. Not too bad, right?
But oh boy. The bore has me at a loss. I would like to clarify this first: I know some people value originality very much, but my motto is that if I can't see it I want it as perfect and new as possible. I intend to make these guns 'shootable' so that history might live on, but I preserve all original pieces (at least outwardly visible ones) and patina and such.
So anyway, I go to inspect the bore with my scope. Smoothbore barrel (16 gauge) is very nice. Very light rusting. Rifled barrel (.36 cal) is only slightly worse, light rusting most of the way, worse towards the breech but the rifling is clearly visible. Nothing I can't fix, I've done it before. But it is HELL in both barrels at the breech.
These were some of the best photos I could take. Firing channel from the nipples is not visible, this is a crud DAM. Best I can reckon is that this is built-up at least a quarter inch thick. Either that or the entire breech is just this gunk. Got some out, it's brown/red like rust but very soft and gooey like an organic compound. Nasty stuff. What the hell is this? Is there any way to remove it? My plan already included getting all rust out the barrel ASAP, evaporust and all (INTERNALS ONLY) but this is a roadblock. Tried pushing air from the nipples out the barrel with my compressor, no luck. There's no airflow at all.
And speaking of those bastards, the nipples are a disaster. They're both chewed up.
It's a shame because the rest of the rifle does really look good, engravings are still crisp, stock has great character and no cracks or rot, patchbox is a beautiful silver with no serious tarnish. Think my only chance with these guys is to drill them out and tap to a very slightly larger size with a modern nipple. I'd like someone else's opinion on this though before I go for it.
Well I just spewed a lot of problems out at you guys. There's a few other problems but nothing I can't handle on my own, but the bore issue and the nipple issue are new to me. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I look forward to (hopefully) hearing back from someone.
Very Respectfully, GunnerAces
EDIT: I apologize in advance, this is my first post and I'm sorry if I've misunderstood some of the categories or rules. I've been reading these forums for a long time but never interacted before. Thanks for your patience on that matter.
