Rust In The Bore

[griffiga]

I use the hot water method followed up with dry patches then a light oil. I check it again in a day or two with another patch of light oil. I've also had good success with swabbing the bore with a light coat of liquid car wax (It can't be the heavy grit kind). A rag with some liquid car wax also is good for the outer metal.

 

[FishDFly]

That would be the peroxide dissociating into water and free oxygen gas.

Makes sense. What I could not understand was I had used it for years without that chemical reaction.

 

[Carbon 6]

Next time I may try hot water out of the tea kettle, rather than the tap.

Chlorine dissipates when boiled, but chlorides concentrate when boiled. Chloride easily forms into chloride salts like sodium chloride, potassium chloride and calcium chloride. All of which accelerate rusting.
Chlorides are often found in well water and can also be found in surface water.

Try distilled water instead.

 

[JeffG]

Man o live Jeff, if you can give your gun a "three month after" cleaning, that tells me you need to get out shooting more often.

Agreed, sometimes I don't get back to a particular gun until spring. I have picked up a gun I have neglected in the past, I don't want to go through that again. Usually when a start running patches, I do the whole collection anyway.

 

[Rudall]

I soaked the pan for an hour in oyx-clean. No change.
Then I decided to test hydrogen peroxide. I filled the pan with over the counter hydrogen peroxide and brought it to a boil. The carbon began to start lifting. About ten minutes later the pan looked new and the carbon was all gone. No scrubbing or anything.

I hate to say this, but that isn't a very scientific test. You changed two factors at once – the peroxide and the boiling. If you had boiled plain water in the pan that may also have worked.

 

[Carbon 6]

I hate to say this, but that isn't a very scientific test. You changed two factors at once – the peroxide and the boiling. If you had boiled plain water in the pan that may also have worked.

It's seems anecdotal, but it's not the only time or thing I have tried. It's just one example.
Notice what I tried first. What's the main ingredient of Oxy-clean ? the reason i tried oxyclean first was because I didn't want to deplete my supply of peroxide. Not my first rodeo.

Peroxide will dissociate readily into water and oxygen. When this happens doesn’t that simply leave water in the bore?

It would if there were nothing else for it to interact with.

Let's face it, it works, we can't deny that. 40 years ago when I started, we used peroxide to clean the carbon off our hands when we were done shooting because it worked better than plain water.

 

[FlinterNick]

I use marine grease in all my guns, thick blue grease. Marine grease is pretty tough on water displacement. I ram down a greased up patch to the bottom and let it stand there to block the moister in the vent area.

For extra dry I use a chamise patch.

For deep groove leaning, I jam down a magic eraser, unbreech (i have the tools to unbreech) and pushing it through from the breech end with a 1/4 dowel. This gets into the corners.

 

[griffiga]

Agreed, sometimes I don't get back to a particular gun until spring. I have picked up a gun I have neglected in the past, I don't want to go through that again. Usually when a start running patches, I do the whole collection anyway.

I was just trying to be funny. I'm the same way, I not only shoot muzzleloaders, but modern as well as BP cartridge and I will go a few months on rotation. It all depends on who wants to go shooting what. I do try to substitute a muzzle loader in whenever I can. It's a lot cheaper to shoot and a typical outing finds me shooting maybe 20 or 25 shots whereas the AR goes through at least a hundred +. My son an I went to a pheasant reserve and I took my BP double and got just as many birds as he did with his pump.

 

[Ben Meyer]

How, back in the 18th century, did the longhunters and frontiersman clean their rifles? They shot a lot, kept their guns loaded in all weather conditions imaginable, had dirtier burning powder than we have(homemade even!) and a very limited array of cleaning stuff, especially 2 months into a wilderness longhunt. They probably used linen patching and spit, obviously had hot water, and could preserve and lubricate with bear grease/oil, but seeing how we obsess about cleaning(I'm guilty too), how did Boone, Kenton, et al keep their guns clean?

 

[FishDFly]

They were probably not as anal as folks are today. Not really sure about the hot water. It seems to be more of an internet thing.

Would imagine a lot of animals fat was used to prevent rust.

You here a lot about barrels having to be refreshed. Some how I have a feeling that refreshing was needed more from poor maintenance than being shot out. You also hear abut a lot of ruined barrels, again poor maintenance.

 

[Carbon 6]

How, back in the 18th century, did the longhunters and frontiersman clean their rifles? They shot a lot, kept their guns loaded in all weather conditions imaginable, had dirtier burning powder than we have(homemade even!) and a very limited array of cleaning stuff, especially 2 months into a wilderness longhunt. They probably used linen patching and spit, obviously had hot water, and could preserve and lubricate with bear grease/oil, but seeing how we obsess about cleaning(I'm guilty too), how did Boone, Kenton, et al keep their guns clean?

A lot of truth in there.
A plow doesn't begin to rust either until you stop pulling it.

 

[Frontier's]

No hunter would ever use spit as a patch lube. Tallow, bear grease/oil and a loose fitting patch.

 

[FlinterNick]

Gunsmith

A lot of truth in there.
A plow doesn't begin to rust either until you stop pulling it.

Gunsmiths of the 18th century were kind of like auto mechanics of today, they performed all kinds of services on the guns including cleaning, and lapping with a late and tow.

For the hunter and soldier, it was simply tow or some type of fiber on a worm, hot water and then whale or coal oil was used to lubricate the bore and displace oil.

 

[Boomerang]

I use hot tap water from the tub and fill a small bucket. I have a GPR so I remove the barrel and sit it in the bucket. I use a couple of patches and pump the semi hot water through the bore with the breech setting in the bucket with the nipple removed. I then use my bathroom towel to dry off the outside. (SHHH, don't tell my wife.) Then I use a couple of dry patches to run down the bore. Then I stick the breech end in a coolwhip container with a rag in the bottom and squirt a liberal amount of WD-40 down the barrel until it runs out the snail. Then I soak a patch in WD-40 and run it down the bore and wipe the outside down. That is all I do if I plan on shooting it in the next few days. If I don't plan on shooting it for 2 or 3 weeks, then I'll use a heavier oil on the inside and outside. I just leave the barrel out of the stock laying on a table until I'm ready to go shoot again and when I'm ready to shoot, I squirt carb cleaner down the barrel and on a patch and that takes out all the oil inside the barrel and I never have to snap a cap before loading. It has been 100% reliable and rust free.

 

[Bent Sight]

Boomerang,

Do you use non-chlorinated carburetor cleaner?

 

[Boomerang]

Boomerang,

Do you use non-chlorinated carburetor cleaner?

I'm not sure if it is non-chlorinated or not. It is the regular Gum-Out brand that you get at walmart.

 

[oldwood]

In the early 1970's there was a product imported to the U.S. from British sources in brown one pint cans called "Young's Black Powder Solvent" . The directions called for mixing the product w/ warm water and pumping it through the barrel , for instance , my suggestion , from a coffee can through tubing and into the bore making "the pump" the cleaning rod. When warm water was added to the oily black colored fluid , the fluid turned almost white. In using this compound, the water rinsed all the ash and fouling out of the bore and left a rich coating of oil inside the bore. A knowledgeable WW II vet. told me the "Youngs" BP solvent smelled like COSMOLINE , which was the "pre-Vietnam" standard cleaning /lubricating compound used by soldiers to keep weapons functioning. Even the mixing it w/warm water part was the same. A trip to the local Army-Navy store found they were awash in COSMOLINE @ 50 cents a quart. Too bad for "Young's" sales ,most shooters went to the COSMOLINE. This stuff really works. .oldwood

 

[Sam squanch]

Cosmoline is a dirty word in some circles........

 

[renegadehunter]

I've had rust one single time after storage for a couple of months in my TC Renegade. I'd done everything the same, except I'd changed from using Hoppes gun oil as a rust preventative to straight Ballistol. I've stored with natural loob, Hoppes gun oil, Ballistol, and now Barricade. Being human, it's possible I screwed up and didn't get the bore completely dry that one and only time I tried Ballistol as a preservative...but I'm pretty OCD about getting the bore dry.
I have though, every single time, gotten flash rust in my Renegade if I use water any warmer than room temperature. Boiling, hot out of the tap, or warm out of the tap (city water). I keep saying I'm going to try heating up some distilled water to try, but haven't gotten around to it. I initially use water with a couple drops of dish soap, and then rinse with plain water. No matter how fast I get a patch down the bore after rinsing, it will come back out with flash rust on it if the water was warm or hot. Never happens if water is tepid or cold.
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned an old CVA Mountain Rifle after it had been shot for the very first time in its life. I believe I had gotten all of the factory preservative out of the barrel beforehand, and had then put Barricade in it. The Barricade was not stripped out of the bore before shooting it. I was at hunting camp so cold water was used. It had flash rust show on the first drying patch even with the cold water. Haven't ever seen that in my TC. I dried it out with dry patches and denatured alcohol. No rust showing on the patches after running the first two drying patches. Treated it with Barricade after done. Three days later i ran a patch down it and it showed a hint of rust again. I ran some modern Hoppes through it several times. Wet patch, nylon brush, dry patch, repeat. Then several patches of denatured alcohol, another couple dry patches, and then Barricade. It's been 3 weeks and so far I haven't seen rust again.
No idea why it is having a problem.

 

[FlinterNick]

I've had rust one single time after storage for a couple of months in my TC Renegade. I'd done everything the same, except I'd changed from using Hoppes gun oil as a rust preventative to straight Ballistol. I've stored with natural loob, Hoppes gun oil, Ballistol, and now Barricade. Being human, it's possible I screwed up and didn't get the bore completely dry that one and only time I tried Ballistol as a preservative...but I'm pretty OCD about getting the bore dry.
I have though, every single time, gotten flash rust in my Renegade if I use water any warmer than room temperature. Boiling, hot out of the tap, or warm out of the tap (city water). I keep saying I'm going to try heating up some distilled water to try, but haven't gotten around to it. I initially use water with a couple drops of dish soap, and then rinse with plain water. No matter how fast I get a patch down the bore after rinsing, it will come back out with flash rust on it if the water was warm or hot. Never happens if water is tepid or cold.
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned an old CVA Mountain Rifle after it had been shot for the very first time in its life. I believe I had gotten all of the factory preservative out of the barrel beforehand, and had then put Barricade in it. The Barricade was not stripped out of the bore before shooting it. I was at hunting camp so cold water was used. It had flash rust show on the first drying patch even with the cold water. Haven't ever seen that in my TC. I dried it out with dry patches and denatured alcohol. No rust showing on the patches after running the first two drying patches. Treated it with Barricade after done. Three days later i ran a patch down it and it showed a hint of rust again. I ran some modern Hoppes through it several times. Wet patch, nylon brush, dry patch, repeat. Then several patches of denatured alcohol, another couple dry patches, and then Barricade. It's been 3 weeks and so far I haven't seen rust again.
No idea why it is having a problem.

Well first off, small amounts of rust is the natural occurrence of metal aging and erosion, so I wouldn’t get too much heart burn over a small amount of rust, if your patch is thick rusty then I’d be concerned and spend the night clearing out the bore.

When I find small amounts of rust I just jag it out until its clear or I will lap the bore. The re-oil.