Old barrel

[Maineshops]

I have a old barrel that I am working with. It has good rifeling but is rough,rusty, what is the best approach to smooth the bore out thanks Dan

[Clowdis]

I have used steel wool and penetrating oil to break the rust loose. Too much of this can be a bad thing though so be careful. After this you can pour a lead lap and use a polishing compound on it to freshen up the bore.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

If the barrel has enough meat (walls) if is best to have it reamed and re-rifled.  A rusty bore will always be rough, hold fowling making it difficult to clean, be a bugger to load, and not be especially accurate.

[Hungry Horse]

 I think we need to know just how rusty the barrel is. Is it a light surface rust, or is it badly pitted? Is this an antique barrel, or is it a modern barrel?
  I used a modern barrel that was thrown in the landfill, by family members that didn’t realize their elderly relative was building a muzzleloading gun, from a new old stock Douglas barrel, that had some  outside surface rust. By the time it was discovered in the landfill, and given to me, it had rust in the bore as well. I scrubbed it with an undersized jag, and a cleaning patch made from a piece of fine Scotchbrite pad, saturated with Evaporust. It removed 90% of the rust. The rest was removed by fire lapping the bore with a maxi ball impregnated with fine valve lapping compound. The gun shoots better than I do, as was proven to me by one of my gun clubs junior members I let shoot it.

  Hungry Horse

[Hemo]

A couple of years ago, I cleaned up an old-ish Getz .54 caliber swamped barrel that had been given to me many years before. The bore had a fine covering of orange rust throughout, but no obvious pitting. Don Getz, shortly before his death, posted here that it would probably be salvageable. Here is his response:

"Here's how I would scrub the bore using scotchbrite.  I would use either the green stuff
 that you can get in a grocery store, or maroon from whereever.   You said it was a 54
 I believe.   Cut a piece about 2" x 3".   Tape the 3" side to a 3/8" ramrod, wrap it
 tightly around the rod, and push it in.  If it's too tight, trim it with a scissors until it wil
 go in the bore.  I normally used the stuff dry, but you can add some oil.   It will not
 remove metal, but you will be amazed at how well it will shine that barrel.......Don"

I did as he suggested, going through the bore a couple of hundred times with the Scotchbrite, and the bore cleaned up very nicely and shoots well. Again, this was fine surface rust only with no pitting.

Gregg

[Elnathan]

I've had good success cleaning out some vintage breechloader-types with J-B Bore paste. A squirt of penetrating oil/kroil equivalent left to soak for a few minutes followed by the J-B paste worked wonders. I've never tried it on muzzleloaders but that would be my first step before moving on to more aggressive procedures.

[Maineshops]

Thanks...it is pitted old barrel,but I’ll try your suggestions first. Nothing lost in trying. I just didn’t want to build a rifeling machine for one barrel. Dan

[sqrldog]

Send it to Bobby Hoyt he can bore it out and rerifle it.

[JCKelly]

"Old barrel"

Just to be the P.I.T.A. metallurgist I am, what does "Old" mean to you?

Old hand-forged wrought iron? Private barrel makers rarely proof tested to ensure the weld was sound

I realize this is Unforgivable, but Douglas Barrel Co. went out of the muzzle-loading barrel business in the 1980's. After a thoroughly crippled (former) union pipe-fitter won his case. I might have been acquainted with the expert witnesses, metallurgists, involved.

Green Mountain barrels, New Old Stock, are available.

[Robby]

Depends on how in-depth you want to get.
http://flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/freshening.htm
I have done this to a couple barrels and was very impressed, The first was a .50 that I sold to a fellow who apparently didn't know how to clean it, I made it into a .52 caliber and it shot one ragged hole at fifty yards, the second was a .54 that requires a less radical removal but the results were the same, one ragged hole at fifty yards.
Robby

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

In the period, 18th - 19th century, such barrels were often re-bored as shown it this thread:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=42251.msg411430#msg411430

Jim

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

If you do not wish to rebore the barrel smooth and then re-rifle.  The freshening process may be a solution.  Here are some photos of the Fry brothers freshening rods.  There are still well over 100 of them remaining with the Fry brothers gunsmith tool collection.  Freshening actually recut the rifled bore, probably increasing the caliber by a few thousandths of an inch.  Apparently it was a very common gunsmith task in the period.

Jim

[Maineshops]

Thanks for the input...I will try to fresh out the barrel but first I need to clean out the rust and crud. I’ll search the forum for the process. Dan