Bent Barrel and rust in bore man i need help verry confused

[Darrell Maxwell]

My W Lamb & son  was bent  and rusty in the bore what do i need to do ?

[nord]

So just what confuses you? Bent barrel... Pretzel bent or slightly tweaked? Rusty bore... So?

Old time gunmakers dealt with slightly "bent" barrels on a regular basis. I'd get a hold of the Fox Fire series. They go into detail about the procedure as I remember.  And rust is just one of those things. If bad enough you can line the bore or rebore.

[Acer Saccharum]

Rifle or fowler?

[Dennis Glazener]

Here is a link to "Flintriflesmith's website where he has a good article on freshing out a barrel: http://flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/freshening.htm

I guess it depends on how bad it it. If its too bad to fresh out then I would contact:
 Robert Hoyt at the Freischutz Shop,
 700 Fairfield Station Rd., Fairfield, Pa. 17320

 Shop # 717-642-6696 He doesn't have a website or email - you have to use the phone.  Be
 prepared to wait for him to shut down a machine and walk to the phone - let it ring. . .

 Bobby can do whatever is needed, re-bore/re-rifle it or re-line it if needed.

 Dennis

[Longknife]

There is a very nice tutorial about straightening barrels just posted recently on this website...

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=19603.0

[Dphariss]

My W Lamb & son  was bent  and rusty in the bore what do i need to do ?

It is very likely you need professional help.
Or leave it as is. It only needs to be straight and have a good bore if its being used.
If you plan to build it into a rifle then it needs to have professional barrel work done.
Dan

[JTR]

Darrell,
If you just inherited this barrel, and it's only a barrel, maybe the bend is the reason it's no longer in a rifle.

As for the rust in the bore, just take a regular ram rod with a wire brush on the end, squirt some WD 40 or some other bore cleaner of your choice down the bore, and wire brush the rust out as best as possible. If you're not planning on using this old barrel in a rifle, there's not much point in re-boring, lining, or re-rifling, or even straightening the barrel. Just oil it up a bit to control the rust in the bore, and on the exterior surface until you pass the barrel on to someone else.
Look at it this way, that the barrel has been around for 150 years or so with minimal care, and it'll be around for another 150 with continued minimal care.

John

[Dphariss]

We should also remember the barrel might still be loaded.

Dan

[Bob Roller]

Dan is ABSOLUTELY right when he said,"The barrel might be loaded". NEVER,EVER assume that just beause a gun has been in storage since the Revolutionary War that it doesn't have a long forgotten load just waiting to be set free. Our art museum here had a percussion revolver that had 6 charges in it but wasn't capped.
Years ago,before the Saturday Evening Post became little more than a pamphlet,there was an article about a man who bought a CW rifle with a Maynard tape priming system that still worked and he was showing some people how this thing worked with a roll of cap pistol caps and it fired,hitting his wife in the belly and she died before getting to the ER.
I have unbreeched old rifles and found long forgotten loads in them so remember,never too cautious,never too sorry.

Bob Roller

[Darrell Maxwell]

Thanks for all the help .I am planning on building a rifle with the barrel as soon as i get it fixed . the barrel was bent by one of my cousins, he has been long gone.  don't know where the breech plug or stock parts went but rear site and under rib and lugs are usable .will have to make a front site .i have been working on the bore with wd40 and a brush . this barrel means a lot to me. my only memento from my g g grandad .Again thanks for all the help and patenice and may god bless all . thanks Darrell

[Belleville]

Darrell,

Consider using Gunzilla for cleaning light rust out of the bore with a brass or copper brush, it will work better than WD-40 for this purpose. But do not use it on exterior browned surfaces.

I have no invested interest in this product but have used it with success after trying a lot of products. I have invested a lot into purchasing these sorts of products and Gunzilla comes the closest to living up to the ads.

http://www.topduckproducts.com/

For bending a barrel I use a solid work bench top, 2-blocks of wood and a pipe type screw clamp.

Doc S.