Salvation of a very rusty bore ?

[RU shooter]

So my buddy who had the 1849 pocket pistol tells me he has another gem he wants me to go over to see if it's in good enough shape to shoot . This time it's an original small bore percussion long rifle I haven't seen it yet but by the discription and area we live it's possibly a Bedford Co style said it's covered in scroll work and inlays. Any ways he told me the bore is pretty "crusty" his words ! I told him I'd do my best to clean it up just to fire a few shots and then display it . Is there any "magic solution" along with brushes and elbow grease that works good on very rusted barrels ? I don't plan on taking the breach plug off and not sure I even want to take the barrel out the stock as it's an original gun . Any ideas ? I was thinking a good soak in atf/ acetone then brush as much out as I can and see what it looks like . I know it's probably gonna be pitted but want to make it best shape I can

[KCSO]

If it won't lap out then you are stuck recutting the barrel. Cast a lead lap and do it right.

[Edward]

Try water ,works every time . Then what’s left valve grinding compound and patches

[Rich/WIS]

Have had several like that, if you want to salvage it and it is bad only real way to do it is to pull the breach plug and rebore/rerifle it. If you have the skills and material casting a lap is an option but may not be possible if the bore really bad. If not interested in it being a shooter easiest fix is to plug the nipple/touch hole and pour the bore full of a rust remover. Have done this with Birchwood Casey blue and rust remover, fill bore and let set for an hour and pour out and flush with water. Scrub with an appropriate sized brush wrapped in course steel wool and oiled. At some point it will start feeling smooth, or at least not super rough. Try a few oiled patches and if any rifling remains it might be shootable. This may seem a bit aggressive but if the bore is really bad you won't make it worse.

[LAGS]

You can remove the rust by Electrolysis.
You use water a plastic tub and Arm and Hammer Washing Soda.
Not Baking Soda.
That with a car battery charger and some steel plates will remove the rust so you can see what you have.
There are lots of things on You Tube that explain the exact procedure.
I have done it many times on guns and old tools.

[waksupi]

I would shoot it first. Some of those old sewer pipes shoot just fine.

[LAGS]

Those old Sewer Pipes will still Shoot.
And some pretty good.
But I think you should try to evaluate the extent of the damage , and stop any of the Active Rust so what you have now , will not continue to get worse.

[indian joe]

So my buddy who had the 1849 pocket pistol tells me he has another gem he wants me to go over to see if it's in good enough shape to shoot . This time it's an original small bore percussion long rifle I haven't seen it yet but by the discription and area we live it's possibly a Bedford Co style said it's covered in scroll work and inlays. Any ways he told me the bore is pretty "crusty" his words ! I told him I'd do my best to clean it up just to fire a few shots and then display it . Is there any "magic solution" along with brushes and elbow grease that works good on very rusted barrels ? I don't plan on taking the breach plug off and not sure I even want to take the barrel out the stock as it's an original gun . Any ideas ? I was thinking a good soak in atf/ acetone then brush as much out as I can and see what it looks like . I know it's probably gonna be pitted but want to make it best shape I can

Wrap steel wool round a worn brass bristle brush - tight as you can get in the barrel then a bit more - I use Brasso polish on the brush at the start - at the same time as you scrubbing the rust off you wanna polish the edges off the pits as much as ya can. I finish up with jewellers rouge on fine steel wool then on a tight patch - take maybe an hour and you will be sick of it at the end but can feel it coming along. Have done about six clunkers like this and got em all back shooting ok.

Why Brasso and Jewellers rouge? It was there on the shelf and I reckon most guys that use valve grinding paste would be too agressive for my likes. he very finest grade .....ok maybe.

[ScrapMetal]

Electrolysis, as mentioned before, is a good option but (especially if the barrel is not removed) I would just get some Evapo-rust, set the gun pointing upright, fill the barrel, and let it sit over night. If the rust is bad it might take a couple of repeats.

FWIW - Long term exposure to Evapo-rust will also remove bluing (don't ask how I know). It will probably leave some black residue in the barrel that can easily be brushed/shot out.

JMHO

-Ron

[Theditchman]

What about JB Paste ?....anyone tried that?

[RU shooter]

Those old Sewer Pipes will still Shoot.
And some pretty good.
But I think you should try to evaluate the extent of the damage , and stop any of the Active Rust so what you have now , will not continue to get worse.

Thanks all , this is basically what I'm gonna try to do . My friend just wants to shoot a few shots out of it just to say he shot it clean and put up .

[Buzzard II]

What about JB Paste ?....anyone tried that?

I've used JB Bore paste after much cleaning with bore cleaner on a patch on a brass bore brush because that was what I had. After the bore cleaner on a brass brush with a patch, I used JB Paste on a oiled patch on a jag and changed regularly. I'm guessing Sweets 7.62 cleaner would be good too but follow directions as it's strong stuff. Helped a lot on a sewer pipe barrel. Not perfect but a lot better. Anything is better than what I started with on someone's "cared for barrel". Yeah, there are lots of chicken chokers out there.

[toot]

the older tried en true method of cleaning a sewer pipe is if it is deamed safe to shoot, is take it to the range and shoot it out! be surprised some times it works wonders!

[yeahbub]

Make sure it isn't still loaded from way back when. Breech thread integrity can be checked via X-ray/CT measurement by one of these outfits that does industrial X-ray measurements. Any voids or gaps between male and female threads will be visible to the CT operator and photos can be generated to show the extent of any corrosion.

For the rust, how about Evaporust? Or phosphoric acid, but with acid, it will have to be thoroughly flushed to prevent damage over time. The active ingredient in naval jelly is phosphoric acid, but it's a gel and won't move around to all the nooks and crannies. Lime-Away used to have phosphoric in it and I cleaned many a rusty mold cavity with it, but I think the formulation was changed a while back. If you find a product with phosphoric acid in it, keep it off the outside of the metal parts because it will remove blue or rust brown finish in a hurry.

I second the idea of a tight wad of oiled steel wool on a rod to round off any lunch grabbers in the bore which will tear up a patch. Even on new or freshed out barrels, there are tiny burrs and wire edges which cut through patches and make loading difficult. Fifty or a hundred strokes with medium steel wool and some 30-weight would smooth/polish them off and make cleaning only an occasional necessity when shooting.

[cwlongshot]

Electrolysis, as mentioned before, is a good option but (especially if the barrel is not removed) I would just get some Evapo-rust, set the gun pointing upright, fill the barrel, and let it sit over night. If the rust is bad it might take a couple of repeats.

FWIW - Long term exposure to Evapo-rust will also remove bluing (don't ask how I know). It will probably leave some black residue in the barrel that can easily be brushed/shot out.

JMHO

-Ron

Id plug the barrel and fill with evapo rust. Just be careful of the bluing as stated its corrosion and evapo rust will remove it too!

Cw

[OverMax]

Something you might want to consider/try.
Quite some time ago I cleaned up a friends {sewer piped flinter.} Was surprised how well several lucy goosey swabbings of Naval Jelly worked. {I chose not to remove the breech plug also.} When finished with my cleaning or my attempt too. I dropped a bore light to its breech for a look-see. Quite noticeable the barrels bore was, full of pits and even some missing rifling. Even so the rifle shot except-able at all target distances.

[LAGS]

Naval Jelly does work very food to remove the rust.
But it takes bluing off right away.

[fiberoptik]

Naval Jelly does work very food to remove the rust.
But it takes bluing off right away.

Very food???


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[uscra112]

Electrolysis needs a "line of sight" relationship in the solution between anode and cathode. Won't do much of anything for your situation unless you put a rod down the bore, using o-rings to prevent metal-to-metal contact. This is the Outers "Foul-Out" system that was popular a decade or so ago. I bought one; it was too darn much trouble to use, so it's been packed away somewhere. Meanwhile I use the electrolytic method for external rust on lots of stuff, tractor parts, motorcycle parts, even an occasional gun part.

[dikman]

I believe Naval Jelly is phosphoric acid, which is often used as a "rust converter", it actually chemically converts the rust to a metallic coating that doesn't rust (it's also used in Parkerizing solutions). This may not be what you want initially as you really need to polish out as much as possible, to smooth out the bore, then perhaps use it to try and seal the remaining pits. The funny thing about patched balls and muzzleloaders is they often still shoot pretty good with an imperfect bore.