Severely neglected CVA .45 caliber Kentucky half stock

[TNBandit]

Did some trading with a friend of mine and ended up with an older CVA Kentucky half stock rifle. Missing the nipple but the threads are fine. The biggest issue is the bore is fairly rusty. What do you folks use for derusting a rusty bore ? Can't tell at the moment if it's pitted or not until I get the rust out. It's been a wall hanger for many years. Like to get it back up & running. It's an older "Made in USA" rifle.

 

[rafterob]

If it says made in USA on it, then it is a CVA Mountain Rifle. Others may pipe in on a chemical product you can use. But manually, I suggest a brass bore brush wrapped with steel wool and a lot of stroking action.Make sure the brush you use is the style with a wrapped wire attaching it to the jag, The brushes that are crimped in are notorious for coming apart in a muzzleloader.

 

[hawkeye2]

Evapo-rust. Remove the barrel and plug the nipple hole. It's metric and you can find a bolt that will fit. Use teflon thread tape so it won't leak. Stand the barrel in an old coffee can or whatever in case it leaks. Fill with Evapo-rust and wait. The instructions are on the bottle and you can find it at hardware stores, Harbor Freight, Lowes, etc. It won't hurt the metal and is easy to clean up. It will however remove any blueing or browning from the outside of the barrel if you get it on it. Inspect and move on to lapping the bore or whatever is called for. A pitted barrel can still shoot good but will foul faster.

 

[TNBandit]

Evapo-rust. Remove the barrel and plug the nipple hole. It's metric and you can find a bolt that will fit. Use teflon thread tape so it won't leak. Stand the barrel in an old coffee can or whatever in case it leaks. Fill with Evapo-rust and wait. The instructions are on the bottle and you can find it at hardware stores, Harbor Freight, Lowes, etc. It won't hurt the metal and is easy to clean up. It will however remove any blueing or browning from the outside of the barrel if you get it on it. Inspect and move on to lapping the bore or whatever is called for. A pitted barrel can still shoot good but will foul faster.

Thanks I'll give that a try. Not real worried about the Browning. It needs to be redone anyway.

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

+1 on the Evaporust. I just used it on some badly rusted chain, and it did wonders. No metal removal, just "evaporated" the rust. Should take less than a day.

Good luck on your project and let us know how the bore looks after the yuck is gone.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[TNBandit]

Been working on fixing other issues first. This thing was a mess. Trigger spring was missing so the only way to get it to hold was to push the trigger forward while pulling the set trigger to the rear. Not all that easy unless you have 3 hands. It's just an L shaped bent wire spring and not available anywhere so I made one from an old carburetor return spring since small parts for these old CVA rifles are non existent. Bought a nipple to replace the missing one and it sat too far forward for the hammer to hit it squarely. So I made up a shim to go between the barrel & the nipple drum and got that squared away. Couldn't **** the hammer unless I set the trigger first but I got that figured out by adjusting the screw behind the set trigger that adjusts tension on the long flat spring. Now everything seems to work as it should so I'm moving on to cleaning the barrel. The previous owner never could have shot this thing the way it was so I'm assuming once he got it all screwed up he hung it on the wall and forgot about it. I refuse to own anything I can't shoot including the 240 year old Brown Bess I just finished.

 

[Ricochet]

Careful with the Evapo-rust. It will take the finish off the outside of the barrel if it leaks on it. I have a 5gallon bucket of it and it and I sat a barrel down in it and came back to a half finished barrel. I went ahead and stripped the rest of the barrel, it saved me some work as I was wanting to brown it anyways. It will remove the rust from inside the barrel, you will just have to deal with the pitting afterwards.

EDIT: Just saw Hawkeye's post, sorry for the repeat

 

[TNBandit]

Thanks guys. It's finished as good as I can get it. Plugged the nipple hole and filled it with Vinegar for a couple days and then scrubbed it out. Whatever rust I may have missed will have to get shot out.

 

[azmntman]

Another ol ***** trick.......8-1 water and molasses (field stuff at feed store for $2.50 a gallon). Mix it up and fill the barrel and in 2-3 days its got no rust Did it on an old ROA cylinder that wife left in a box in the rain for a summer. It was unbelievable, I woulda bet the house it was ruined. Came out as new EXCEPT BLUING WAS FADED, not gone but uniformly faded badly. Looks like its an original 1800's cylinder now (but NO RUST). I believe the molasses is a lot cheaper than the Evaporust?

Give us a range report!

 

[Heelerau]

I too have used vinegar, to clean up an old English Bore Rifle, then lots of shooting did the rest. You may need to lap, or if it is .50 a thick greased felt wad over powder will greatly help, I do that with my .72 Bore Rifle and an original Baker sporting rifle that has some pitting. A bit of the finer grade of valve grind paste on a few patches can help as well.

 

[TNBandit]

Another ol ***** trick.......8-1 water and molasses (field stuff at feed store for $2.50 a gallon). Mix it up and fill the barrel and in 2-3 days its got no rust Did it on an old ROA cylinder that wife left in a box in the rain for a summer. It was unbelievable, I woulda bet the house it was ruined. Came out as new EXCEPT BLUING WAS FADED, not gone but uniformly faded badly. Looks like its an original 1800's cylinder now (but NO RUST). I believe the molasses is a lot cheaper than the Evaporust?

Give us a range report!

Molasses is something I've used in the past and I agree it works great. I use it in a 5 gallon bucket, about the same ratio to water as you posted. Here are some railroda lanterns I cleaned that way. They were covered with surface rust.

 

[Ricochet]

Those lanterns look great. I don't think the Evaporust could get them any cleaner and I guarantee it was cheaper.

 

[TNBandit]

Those lanterns look great. I don't think the Evaporust could get them any cleaner and I guarantee it was cheaper.

They are tin plated as well and I was afraid anything stronger might attack the Tin or at least discolor it.

 

[Eutycus]

How does feed store molasses compare with the grocery store stuff? Is it stronger maybe?

 

[bang]

Thanks guys. It's finished as good as I can get it. Plugged the nipple hole and filled it with Vinegar for a couple days and then scrubbed it out. Whatever rust I may have missed will have to get shot out.

I just did a refurbish on 2 rifles. Lapping is good but I went a step further. Took a dowel rod.
, 1, .5 for 50cal and 1, 7/16 for 45cal. Cut a groove at angle to match twist and same width of groove. Cut a bit for each from a file. Put a piece of leather in the dowel groove to act like spring tension. Ran the bit 100 plus strokes in all grooves. Polished with steel wool. Produced very nice defined deeper grooves an land edges. Both rifles shoot markedly better than before.
Here ya go.

One other thing. When you make the first few strokes go slow and make sure the dowel is turning. I found that once I was accustomed to it I could turn my hand with the twist. When it's all sure hold a marker inline with the bit and stroke to make spiral line on dowel. This will let you know if the bit jumped out of the groove. Really nothing you can do but pull it out but it helps to know that you get total number of strokes per groove. The bit I used cuts both directions. So if it jumped 2 times toanother same groove thats one stroke for that groove.
I also removed barrel and clamped on a table with cushion under it that way I could use the wall or cabinet to create a backstop so the dowel would stop right at the bit just protruding at the muzzle. Before I did that it was difficult not to pull the dowel all the way out then the bit would fall out and of course would go under anything just to piss me off. Made keeping up with which groove was in work too. Figured out putting tape around barrel and numbering the grooves helps a lot. But making abackstop was the best because you can really get after it when it's all working right, along with spiral mark. You may have to remark the spiral occasionally.
To get the bit angle I lightly oiled about 2 inches of the barrel then put a narrow piece of paper, about 1/4 barrel circumference, in the barrel then slid something that would lightly press the paper against the bore without moving the paper to get imprint. Important to keep paper centered inline with bore. Graphite the back of the paper. Put the paper on the dowel centered inline. Mark over rifling lines leaving transfer on dowel. I used a dremel but an exacto and a jewelers screw driver the right width and sharpened is easier to control to get snug fit groove. The bit doesn't have to be more than 1/2 inch long. Too long and it will be difficult for it to follow the groove. If there is roughness a few drops of oil will help. Once the roughness stops you shouldn't need oil.
I recommend doing 50 strokes per groove then clean. Then repeat. The build up of loose metal will start wearing on the dowel rod thus why you will need to remark the spiral.
Let me know how it goes.

 

[azmntman]

How does feed store molasses compare with the grocery store stuff? Is it stronger maybe?

Feed store is 3 bucks for a gallon. Not sure the smallest they got at grocery store is that cheap! Other than that I dunno

 

[Zonie]

How does feed store molasses compare with the grocery store stuff? Is it stronger maybe?

As you know, molasses is made by boiling sugar cane or sugar beets. Sugar cane is more commonly used.

The first boiling of fully mature sugar cane results in a molasses with a high sugar content and a fairly light flavor. This is the common unsulfured, "light" molasses found in many stores and it is the most expensive kind.
The second boiling makes a molasses with a lower sugar content and more flavor. It is often seen in stores labeled as Dark Molasses. It can be either sulfured or unsulfured.
The third boiling makes a molasses often called "Blackstrap Molasses". It is high in iron, calicum, magnesium and vitamin B6. It has the least sugar in it and has a strong, rather bitter taste. This blackstrap molasses is the stuff sold at feed stores and it is usually used as a supplement for animal feed although it is often sold in health food stores because of the mineral and vitamins it has.

The sulfured molasses is made from partially ripened sugar cane that has been treated with sulfur-dioxide gas to prevent its spoilage. This can add a slight flavor to the end product and it is almost never found in the expensive, first boil type molasses.

Molasses is slightly acidic and it is this acid that slowly attacks the rust on a steel part. Because the acid content is low, it takes several days for it to remove the rust.
The acid in molasses also will cause it to react with baking soda so it is commonly used to make make cookies and things like Irish Bread rise while it is baking. (yum)

 

[jim bowie]

Just used evaporust on motorcycle tank, the stuff is amazing, it cleaned a badly rusted tank in 3 hours. Had the bike running that evening. Saved the used product and poured it down the barrel of an old CVA Kentucky I had little hope for , left it overnight poured it out and cleaned the barrel with some alcohol. Looked brand new but a little gray. Great product.

 

[Eutycus]

While thumbing through this thread both vinegar and molasses were mentioned as a rust remover. A light went off in my head that said "acid". Which sort of strikes me as odd. Seems like acid would cause rust instead of help remove it.

 

[TNBandit]

While thumbing through this thread both vinegar and molasses were mentioned as a rust remover. A light went off in my head that said "acid". Which sort of strikes me as odd. Seems like acid would cause rust instead of help remove it.

My understanding is that it's Phosphoric acid which is the same reason Coca Cola works to remove lots of nasty stuff.