rusty bore help

[A.Merrill]

A fellow came by the other day with a gun I built in the early 80's and asked if I would clean up the bore. He has not shot the gun in almost 15 yrs. It had some light rust in the bore so I got a rr an jag some polishing compond and went to work. (after the bore soaked in WD40 over night). After 4hrs of work it got a lot better, but some spots the patch still drags. I have never lapped a barrel before with lead, how do you go about it, or would it help. It's not so bad that it needs re-rifled. It's a 54 cal. Douglas.   Thanks for your help    Al

[Bill of the 45th]

Easiest way is to go shoot it.  I load at first with a loose patch/ball combo, and then tighten it up as I shoot.  I have used valve grinding compound as my lube.  Sure beats a thousand up, and downs with a range rod.  fire five or ten, clean and check, and repeat.  That's what I've done on two guns, and it worked for me.  Worked for me, but your results may vary.

Bill

[chuck c.]

Those green Scotch Brite pads work pretty good. You'll need a smaller jag and some WD or polishing compound. I used them on a rust ring that developed where the ball seats and they worked well.

[bob in the woods]

Is the gun a percussion? If so, did it get used with Pyrodex? If so,you have your work cut out for you.
My question is, why did he let it get so bad in the first place? Hope you're getting paid for this

[smylee grouch]

Did the same thing for a guy with a 54 Green Mt.  Cast some 58 round balls and drilled small hole through spru hole while ball was still in mold, screwed a 8x32 brass screw from front into range rod and swaged the ball through breech end with a well lubed bore and lapping compound swabed in front of ball before I hammered the thing through and through, back and forth, about 25 times and then cast another ball and repeted. It took about 4 balls but the job turned out great. Lots of work for fixing someone else's goof up.    Gary

[northmn]

Lapping a bore is not generally done just to remove rust, but to polish and remove any unevenness in boring.  Rust removal can be done easiest by some of the less drastic methods suggested.

DP

[bob in the woods]

That's why I figured that the bore is eaten up.  4 hours with polishing compound should take any light rust
away. If a patch still drags, there is pitting IMO.

[Don Getz]

Back to my old dissertation on scotch brite.   This will not remove metal, but will shine things up and smooth out rough
spots.    Get some of that green scotch brite at the grocery store.....pads are about 1/4"  thick, 3" x 5".   Cut a piece about
3" x 3".   Then using some good tape, tape one edge to your cleaning rod, then wrap it around the rod as tightly as you
can and try to insert it into the bore, trim with a scissors until it goes in.   Then run it up and down the bore about 100
times, should shine things up pretty well.  However, if the barrel sat for a long time with rust in it, it probably is pitted and
I don't know of any way to correct it, short of "freshing" it the old fashioned way.   That's a whole other story............Don

[Dphariss]

That's why I figured that the bore is eaten up.  4 hours with polishing compound should take any light rust
away. If a patch still drags, there is pitting IMO.

I suspect polishing compound is not going to do much in this case.
I had a lightly rusted 54 Douglas on a pistol that I acquired. I used a tight oiled patch with some 120 grit silicone carbide powder spinkled on it. I was somewhat apprehensive but it worked even better than I thought. Cleaned it up very well.
If its been shot with something other than BP  it could easily be pitted past fixing in 15 years.

Dan

[A.Merrill]

Thanks for the reply everybody. It's been soaking agian over night in WD40. I'am going to try the Scotch Brite thing first. I'll get back with you all in a few hours to let you know how it came out. It's a flintlock , no pyrodex ( ? ). I didn't ask why he let get so bad, I just shook my head.

[Skychief]

IF  a barrel is lightly pitted, will the use of valve grinding compound as a patch lube have any effect?

Are there any other suggestions for removing light pitting short of reboring/rifling?

Best of luck with the barrel!

[B. Hey]

A product that has worked exceptionally well for me is EVAP-O-RUST. I have used it on everything from barrels, to knives, to fly fishing reels. I am not sure it will meet your particular needs, but it has worked for me every time I have needed to "derust" something. Best of luck to you. Bill Hey

[Bill of the 45th]

Remember a pit is a divit in the bore, whether on the land or grove, so to remove it you would have to remove enough metal to get to the bottom of the pit, and it would be necessary to do it evenly from breech to bore and around the circumference, thus increasing the bore size.  Short of that you just need to feather out the sharp edges, thus the scotchbrite, or patches with some type of compound to smoothen it out.

Bill

[A.Merrill]

    WOW, wish you could see it. It looks almost new. There just above the breech is a gray ring where the ball seats and 2 small strips of gray about an 1 1/2 to 2 ins long, but you can't feel anything, the bore is like a mirror. Thanks for the help.               Here is how I did it            Didn't have a 50 cal. jag, 45 to small, 54 to big, (with scotch pad on it) so I took the 54 cal. jag and drilled 2-1/16 in. holes 2 1/2 ins. apart put a 4in. piece of soft copper wire thru both holes wrapped the Scotch Brite around the jag stuck the wire thru the Scotch Brite wrapped and twisted it tight, stuck the ends inside the scotch pad. Took some rubbing compound, thinned it down with water and soaked a few patches in it. Got a squeeze bottle put some rubbing compound in it ( had to thin it a little) so I could squirt some compound on the Scotch pad every now an then. Put a soaked patch on the jag an put it in the barrel, had to work the scotch pad in with a screwdriver it was tight but once it was in it was smooth working.  After the first 20 strokes I checked the wear on the patch it was OK and the scotch pad was good.  Changed the patch after every 20 strokes, the scotch pad after 60 ( wanted to keep it tight ) gave it 40 more strokes.        Had the barrel out of the stock an the touch hole liner out, so when I was done I put it in a bucket of hot soapy water to clean it. Flushed it in fresh hot water and then a oiled patch. WORE ME OUT            BOB, how much should I charge, .50 cents a stroke...LOL    DON and CHUCK, THANKS for the Scotch Brite tip.

[beleg2]

Good you can make it.
I was following this thread because I have a rusted on my old Tranter revolver.
I have also use Scotch Britte but without oil, with good success. It was incredible how much rust get out
Martin

[smylee grouch]

That sounds great a.Merril: shur wished I would have known about those pads 23 years ago when I went to all the work of lapping the bore I had talked about earlier, I found out about the pads last year at a shoot but thankfully havent had to try them out yet. Sounds like you have the process down pretty good.    Best wishes     Gary

[chuck c.]

I'm glad it worked out well for you, but all the credit goes to Don. I learned about this technique from one of his posts some time back! I'm sure he's forgot more about barrels than most of us will ever know.

[double hunter]

I got hold of one like that a while back, I used PB Blaster and that stuff really works, still very slight pitting but it shoots great

[Captchee]

 I also use evapro -rust  works very well  to remove all the rust .
 Once done you can then see and work on the pits .
 Mr Getz is dead on about the scotch bright pads .
 I would add to his comment that  there are different  grades of pads .
Green , Red and brown .  Brown being the coarsest
You can get these in 8 X 11 sheets at any automotive store that also sell paint supplies .

 I have also used fire lapping  to clean up a bore . This was described earlier in this thread, using a patched RB .
  I have found though that if a patched ball will not clean up the bore , I then move to a conical. Replace the lube in the rings with a mix of  lube and  valve grinding compound .
 The valve grinding compound is very aggressive  so  you  Then you then must come back   with the scotch bright and polish .

 Also as was said .  Fire lapping only works to remove what’s forward of the powder charge . If you have pitting clear down to the breech face ,  the only way I know to get at it is  to  do just as Mr Getz  described