Old barrel

[Maineshops]

I have an old 40 cal barrel.rusty, pitted, rifleling deep, at what point do you decide what needs to be done with it? I understand that shiny condition is the ideal goal. Dan

[Metalshaper]

In the old days you'd just "freshen" the barrel... Nowadays, most people say contact Bobby Hoyt !! Depends on how bad the rust\pits are and if it will clean, to load and shoot decently ' as is'?

Not trying to be that guy??? But have you tried to clean it up?? A green or maroon scotchbrite,  worked through the bore, will tell you where your at I'd think???  I have wound some 4\0 steel wool onto an undersized cleaning brush and worked out the junk my nephew left behind in my St Louis hawken after he borrowed it 

Let us know and maybe one of the others will chime in with a solution...

Oh and if you are not worried about the outside patina??? Get some PVC tubing ( long enough ) and an end cap.. glue them together and soak the barrel in Evaporust!!! Soak about 2 hrs, and then run a brush through the un-breached barrel.. the crud shud come out fairly easily.. soak, brush repeat... Rinse and oil...  Evaporust attacks the oxides ( rust\bluing\browning ) but doesn't harm the base metal.. then you should really be able to see how bad the pitting is??

Ok, got long winded

Respect Always
Metalshaper\Jonathan

[Black Hand]

I have an old 40 cal barrel.rusty, pitted, rifleling deep, at what point do you decide what needs to be done with it? I understand that shiny condition is the ideal goal. Dan

Is the bore rusted and pitted?

[Hungry Horse]

Is this a modern barrel, or an antique? Depending on how deep the pitting is, you could lap it with a casting made from the existing rifling, fresh it out with a freshening rod, or have it reamed out, and rerifled. Antique barrels are generally pretty soft, and any of the repair options mentioned can be done with a little studying and elbow grease. Modern barrels can be a lot harder to clean up with primitive tools.

 Hungry Horse

[Maineshops]

Yes barrel is rusted and pitted. I did some cleaning with break free ,steel wool ,brush etc, but not real aggressive. I pushed a 45 cal ball through it more to confirm the caliber.
The breach, breach plug and drum were not salvageable so I cut 2 inches off and redid everything
I ordered a cheep bore scope to take a look if the work ok.
My thinking is to smooth it up the best I can and see if it loads and shoots and go from there??? Dan


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[Metalshaper]

Don't be afraid to get a bit more aggressive, with the cleaning.. if the pitting isn't too bad, it could shoot ok as is? Maybe even put a bit of polishing compound on some tightly loaded patches... And you could fire polish the lands and grooves??

Respect Always
Metalshaper\Jonathan

[Maineshops]

Thanks Metalshaper . I only spent 20 or so minutes on it. I have to find a rod of some kind that is long enough and make some ends for it that I can work with. Dan

[Bigmon]

I have an old Douglas barrel, 40 cal from the early 70's.
My brother left it dirty for years.  And when he was shooting it he was actually breaking of pc from a rat tailed file in the muzzle and shooting them out.
NO LIE!, then left it dirty and it sat for years until I found it in a corner at my Dad's.
I cleaned it up best I could with a wire bore brush on a drill and allot of liquid wrench, oil etc.
Point is, it shoots great groups and shoots better than I do?
It is a 15/16" heavy barrel and I figured now that I have a little cash I'd get it re bored, but why, it shoots better than I do.

[flinchrocket]

Not long ago there was a thread on freshening a barrel. Didn't look all that hard.

[Maineshops]

Thanks for the encouragement bigmon. It don’t take much to shoot better than I do these days. Still having fun though. Dan