Rusty Barrel

[Michael76]

Hello Guys ,

What is the best way to clean a rusty barrel ? Is there any solvent that I could fill the barrel up with and leave it over night to help get rid of the rust ?

Thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

Kerosene and oil do a pretty good job of helping to weaken the rust. Use some of the rust dissolving oils like Liquid Wrench, Break free, Kroil, or a new product call Evaporust to dissolve the rust. It really depends on how much rust is in the barrel as to how well any of these products will help. None is going to give you a NEW barrel back again. If the rust is light, you should be able to remove it with some of these products, and a bit of elbow grease, with some lapping compound. ( auto parts store sell this.)

Then, shoot the barrel. If it shoots okay, you are in business. Just remember to clean it after every session, and then use a good oil( non-petroleum based oil) or a long term storage product like Birchwood Casey Barricade(formerly called Sheath) to protect the bore. Store the gun in a cool, DRY location, and check it once a month to be sure you didn't miss something. :thumbsup:

 

[Rogue River]

I have used Evapo-rust a very good product. I just plugged the nipple with a tooth pick and carefuuly filled the barrel and let sit for 2 days. Then take a brush and steel wool to it and it should come out pretty shiney. Be careful w/your finish you might have to refinish the outside which is no problem if you can save the barrel. The pits you have you will still have but it might just shoot OK!

 

[rtdoug]

I don't know what condition you have in yours, but I found that you should't give up on 'em.

Regards

 

[ohio ramrod]

I just salvaged a mountain rifle that was so rusted up you could not tell it had rifling in it. What I did to salvage the rifle was to 1. Soak it over night with a lot of Kroil. 2 Use a bronze bore brush and a lot of wd 40 to wash out all rust loosened by the kroil. 3. Oiled the barrel well then ran an oily patch down and back up.4. poured a lead slug and used a medium lapping coumpound to lap the bore. 5. Cleaned well with murphy's oil soap 6. oiled and poured a second slug. 7. lapped with a fine polishing coumpound. 8. Cleaned with a mixtue of Go Jo with pumice and murphy's oil soap. . 9. Forced three double patched balls down through the barrel to remove any left over lapping coumpound. ( I had pulled the drum and breech plug to check for damage to the threads and the breach plug was still out ). After reasembling the rifle the barrel shoots with out tearing the patches even though the grooves still look rough.I haven't had any range time to check for grouping but since the six shots I put through the rifle did not tear the patches I assume the gun will group well. :hmm: :hmm:

 

[catman]

If it's ONLY surface rust your OK, if not there WILL be pitting under the real bad rusted areas, I'm pretty sure on this..Bad for patches & any accuracy. I know, I have a very old from the 70's 4 digit TC .54 1:48 that I tried to make it do something, & couldn't. Big bore time I guess for me.

 

[Michael76]

Thanks for the replies , I poured a bottle of Hopps down the barrel and attached a bore brush to my drill and "drilled" out the barrel . There is alot of piting in the barrel and I am concened about the rifleing. This was my first BP rifles and I didn't clean it very well, it was a real mess. I'm just trying to see if it is salvageable.

 

[Jayhem]

Sounds like you need a new barrel or to have it rebored to a larger caliper. Black powder rifles have to be cleaned diligently and oiled well if you want the bore to last.

 

[walruskid1]

try it at the range before you give up. i've seen bores that look like sewer pipes still group quite well at 50 yards. just harder to clean when you are done shootin'. what have you got to lose?

 

[hanshi]

I just finished cleaning up an old USA made CVA barrel. I used a Scotchbrite patch & oil and it cleaned up really nicely, bright and shiny. It just depends on how rusty the bore actually is.

 

[nkvd]

Hello All

Like Paul I have used evaporust on a smoke pole
I picked up,bought me a gallon at harbor
freight for about $20 should last forever since
you can reuse the solution. I didn't have any
outer finish problems. I did clean and rinse
out barrel good then finished up with a
layer of ballistol.

Rob

 

[Michael76]

How hard is it to have the barrel changed from a 50cal to a 54cal are there any issues such as barrel strengh that would make this a bad idea? the barrel is currently 50cal,1-48 twist , 24inches long, the rifle is a Traditions whitetail whitch they don't make any more.

 

[Zonie]

If "changed from a 50 cal to a 54 cal..." means having it rebored it isn't hard. It is slow and quite expensive.

The barrelmakers who are willing to rebore a barrel charge a hefty price for the service and they have large backlogs, sometimes as much as a year long.

Whether the cost and wait is worth it is a matter of opinion and mine is if the gun was a custom made rifle it might be but with a Traditions it is probably not.

You might be better served to see if you can find a replacement barrel on the web but be very cautious about this. Make sure the seller is willing to take the barrel back if your not happy because there are a lot of really crappy rusty barrels that are advertised on the web as being "almost new".

 

[PaulN/KS]

I have been thinking about having a Traditions barrel bored/reamed out to a smoothbore to make it a smooth rifle. Anyone have any experiance or suggestions on getting that done? :hmm:

(And believe me, I have tried to get this rifle to shoot... :shake: )

 

[BrownBear]

One thing to know about those pits. It might very well shoot well in spite of them (I'm betting it will), but the pits will always have a tendency to collect and hold fouling. Just one more thing to pay attention to while cleaning, but you do need to get the fouling out of the pits with each cleaning.