Black Powder

[thebigmac]

Grandson to be ??? pesented me with his BP in line---STILL LOADERD--RUSTED TO THE POINT THAT THE TRIGGER IS FROZEN--Haven't looked down the barrel yet- -- almost 'fraid to. Bolt is also frozen. Breech block locked up with rust. Only good thing he got for the trate is the scope whick is on it. It's a "Traditions" QUESTION--IS IT WORTH TRYING TO SAVE IT???? I THINK I CAN REMOVE MOST OF THE OUTSIDE RUST with some effort. Don't know about the inside of the barrel 'til I remove the breech plug tomorrow...:Fire:

[Flinchrock]

Grandson to be ??? pesented me with his BP in line---STILL LOADERD--RUSTED TO THE POINT THAT THE TRIGGER IS FROZEN--Haven't looked down the barrel yet- -- almost 'fraid to. Bolt is also frozen. Breech block locked up with rust. Only good thing he got for the trate is the scope whick is on it. It's a "Traditions" QUESTION--IS IT WORTH TRYING TO SAVE IT???? I THINK I CAN REMOVE MOST OF THE OUTSIDE RUST with some effort. Don't know about the inside of the barrel 'til I remove the breech plug tomorrow...:Fire:

I doubt it.

[twotoescharlie]

get it unloaded and make a lamp out of it.

TTC

[mooman76]

I have brought back guns that bad or worse. The main thing is are you willing to put in the hard work and time to do it. I'm thinking the inside may not be bad unless they fired it and didn't clean it. I found a shotgun that was in a field once. You couldn't even read any identifying marks on it until I got the rust off it. The barrel inside was almost rust free because it takes more for a smooth surface to rust than a not so smooth surface. I'd see what the inside looks like before making a final say. It also depends on the make and model. Some are pretty cheap and some arent.

[Old Ironsights]

Sounds like a modern dime-a-dozen Walmart inline.

Pull the bullet and powder and make a tomato spike out of it... you might be able to sell the stock somewhere though.

[thebigmac]

Well, I'm into it now. I have the time, no problem there.. The outside cleaned up pretty good. Used brass wool dipped in motor oil. Old trick I learned many, many moons ago. Since I soaked the chamber in cleaner, water, cleaner some more, more hot water, Im not worried about it going off. Put a bronze brush down the barrell with some Hoppes bore jel, wow that stuff is good. Plenty of scrubbing later I removed a lot of rust From what I can see, It has done a marvelous job..Only used about 80 or 90 patches so far... Yea, It's got me a little.

[WickedGoodOutdoors]

Strip it down and take a piece of 1/2inch Rebar chuck it into your electric drill. Fill the barrel with Bon Ami and a little water to make a slurry. with the barrel in a bucket run the drill until the barrel is scored smooth inside.

You now have a smoothbore .500 cal or 32 gage shotgun.. You will enjoy the economics of being able to shoot both roundball or birdshot.

Take the outside of the barrel and Stock and spray paint them with Rustoleum Camo spray paint . For a real life pattern, use leaves and twigs as stencils. Apply a base coat of color. Lay the leaves and twigs randomly over the object you are painting. Spray over the items using three or more colors

Take the lock and trigger assembelly and soake in Scalding hot water with a cup of Simple Green. Let it sit for a couple weeks and sand everything smooth with 600 grit and then lap it down on a wet stone to smooth.

[riarcher]

Being new here, I assume my ideas don't count too much, But, bottom line.....
nice thing about muzzel loaders is,,, "think kit".
You've got the major componants. Clean. polish, modify anyway you see fit that works.
As for the bore,,,, the availability of mold sizes helps, add that to assorted patch thickness,, and you'll have a shooter.
How good a shooter? Anyones guess.
Worst case,,, make her a smooth bore with drilling and ream.
For a died in the wool, top + 1 shooter,,, probably not.
As a shooter and something to brag (or not) about, why not?
Nothing wrong with a 50 cal. smooth bore for rabbit / squirrel hunting. Maybe even jump shooting of pheasants and such.
As long as you're looking for something to do and learn with,, go for it.
I live in New England and as such anything over 30 yards in the swamp is questionable. For the range, any rifling is a plus,, but not required.
You've already got it. Didn't need to pay for it. Why not just "tinker" and see what it'll do?
Fire lapping cures a lot of mistakles in muzzle loading. Everything else is cosmetics.
I'd say go for it. Nothing to loose but you're sanity. If you're into real muzzele loading,,, it's questionable to begin with. :drinks:
I'm a swamper. Hunt everything with a .75 cal Bess, and loving it!
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d103/riarcher/Bess/PICT0007.jpg

[bobk]

riarcher,
Well, I don't know as I would assume your ideas don't count for much, but I do know I'd sure be proud to hunt with that outfit in the picture. I want to get an honest longgun like that some day, with blued or better browned metal, and walnut or maple wood.

Bob K

[mooman76]

Riarcher
Big welcome to the board. You will find this is not like most other boards. No one puts anyone down here for being new to this board. Just because you're new here doesn't mean you're new to shooting MLs or whatever. There's enough experience here, we kno when someone is BSing us or when they know something! Great looking outfit by the way!

[riarcher]

Thanks Bob.
Made everything pictured except the musket. ( and the barrel is browned)http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d103/riarcher/Bess/PICT0001.jpg
I'm quite happy with it. (S)

Skin is the first Bambi slayed by it in '86.
Not a good skinning job by any means. Failing light and all. But I'm still happy.

[waksupi]

Nice gear, and welcome aboard. :drinks:
As was already stated, everyone is on an equal footing, regardless of how long they have been here. And as was also stated, we have a finely tuned BS detector, so we all throw the flag when we see it. :Fire:
Looking forward to your contributions!

[riarcher]

Nice gear, and welcome aboard. :drinks:
As was already stated, everyone is on an equal footing, regardless of how long they have been here. And as was also stated, we have a finely tuned BS detector, so we all throw the flag when we see it. :Fire:
Looking forward to your contributions!

I participate on a few BP boards. The BS meter is well understood.
I tend to refrain from posting much on several because of the Book Reading / Armchair Gospels.
Sometimes simple things seem to get over "thunk", and the meter sounds.
I'm a very firm believer in K.I.S.S., and the elusive "F.M. factors. :mrgreen:
Anyways, thanks for the welcome.

[ddeaton]

old barrels make good forged pipe hawks!:drinks:

[John Taylor]

If it were an antique it would be worth installing a barrel liner or having it bored to the next caliber. Most of the time Gun Parts Corp has very inexpensive 50 cal stainless barrels for inlines. May take a little machine work to make it fit. I think I paid $25 for the last one.