Small bore restoration

[lbothell]

So a couple weeks ago I was working on getting a little .32 Cherokee shooting, the barrel was AWEFUL! Couldn’t run a patch down it without tearing it up. Anyway I asked what you all would do and we didn’t really come up with an answer, mostly being the bore is so small your kinda limited. So I’m going to share what I did, now I wouldn’t do this on a normal gun but this one was beat and the only other thing I could have had done was have it rebored so I was willing to try something. I found some 250 sandpaper in the drawer, this stuff didn’t have a paper back but more of a rubbery type of back, hadn’t seen it before but I must have bought it at some point hahah. So I cut off small patch size squares so it would fit down the bore with the jag. The main reason I wanted to try this is bc I already broke a ram rod in barrel trying to use a wire brush, so sand paper was the only other alternative. It worked great!! Very surprised how effective it was and only had to fish one out with a patch puller. I did this till it seemed to smooth out. Next I got some fine steel wool and torn patch sizes of it off and used them the same way, I torn enough off so it was snug and did that for a while as well. Next I used the Remington cleaner that has the abrasive beads in it to finish things up, cleaned up with bore cleaner and then oiled. I can now run patches down and not tear em up also the ram rod doesn’t get stuck anymore which is great. Seems to have plenty of grove left, I’m going to shoot it tomorrow to see if it’s going to be accurate. Hopefully it saves a rusty old bore and make the gun shoot able

 

[Bassdog1]

Hope it shoots well!

 

[lbothell]

I do too! Figured I would share and hopefully if it works well it will help someone else, those small bores are HARD to really clean haha

 

[Grenadier1758]

Your effort was certainly worth doing. I hope it works out for you. If you are feeling the patch twist as you run your cleaning patches through the barrel, I have great hopes for your success.

 

[lbothell]

Your effort was certainly worth doing. I hope it works out for you. If you are feeling the patch twist as you run your cleaning patches through the barrel, I have great hopes for your success.

I can but definitely not as much as some of my other rifles, BUT shooting it will tell the true story! Hoping to get out today for a little but that can always change for a married man haha

 

[hanshi]

For sure, the only way to find out is to shoot it.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

If that don't work you could send it to Hoyt to have a liner put in it. You can keep the same size bore that way.

 

[deerstalkert]

i have a barrel that looks like a sewer pipe after a chili cookoff. i treated it like you did just so i could get a load down its throat. that rifle is one of the most accurate i have!
i shoot it, clean it, then run some scotchbrite down it a half dozen times. it is slowly getting where i can run a tight patch to the breach without tearing it to shreds.
can't tell you what gun it is or the forum respected mods will give me a demerit.

 

[lbothell]

Well I did a little shooting but it was cut short bc the already broken ram rod broke yet again hahaha work in progress but yes I agree If it doesn’t shoot I can send it to Hoyt

 

[lbothell]

It also makes me appreciate my 40 a gun that I haven’t shot enough. I love the 32s and this one will probably go back to the shop but I will own a good one someday. My first BP gun was a 32 a traditions crockett it was a great shooting gun wish I wouldn’t have sold that one