roughness in bottom of barrel

[Sweeney]

Was prepping my .58 flinter, 31" Colerain D wt, round rifling for a deer hunt. In running a patch to clear out oil I hit a rough spot in the bottom 3/4 inch. Over fifty WD-40 - soaked patches later I was getting clear cloth but the roughness remains detectable. Is this a death-nell for this barrel or can I continue on blissfully? And apparently my cleaning regimen is inadequate. Perhaps old t-shirt cotton is not sufficient for cleaning patches? I fill the barrel with water and let soak as many on here do and then run patches through but never get past a dull gray color before coating with oil. Any advice?

[Stoner creek]

3/4” won’t hurt the way it shoots. There’s that much powder in the barrel. A patched ball probably won’t be that deep.  Does the gun shoot good groups? What you have may not be rust. It may be metal fatigue. Also, examine your shot patches. Look for tears or holes.

[Hungry Horse]

Was this gun ever shot with black powder substitutes? The perchlorate in this stuff can etch the bore, and provide a near perfect atmosphere for corrosion.

  Hungry Horse

[flinchrocket]

Troy your not snagging the vent liner are you?

[Daryl]

Sweeny- we try to use flannelette for cleaning. I buy it by the yard - it's cheap &  cleans exceptionally well.  I took a note from Taylor and size my jags to use doubled flannelette patches. I think these are especially important in rounded, deeper rifling as they more easily get to the bottom of the grooves as well as packing into the corners of square rifling.

[rich pierce]

I’d unbreech it, cast a lead lap, and lap it mostly at the breech.  That would slick it up.

[Sweeney]

The gun groups well, patches are good and though I know little about metal fatigue, its had only moderate use in the three years since built.

Never any powder substitutes, Goex black only, mostly FFg.

Given the nastiness of the early patches, then subsequently cleaner ones and the fact it never did this before, I suppose it would not be liner.

Flannelett? That is certainly worth a try. Have never felt the barrel is as clean as should be given my efforts. Hopefully I can blame it partially on the patch material!

I do feel great relief that y'all are NOT telling me the barrel is toast and can only be salvaged by reaming. Though I wouldn't mind a .62

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I'd pull the breech plug and examine the bore at the breech end.  That'll tell you once and for all what is the issue.  Sounds to me like the vent liner is interfering with the cleaning regime...needs a little round stone on a Dremel to reduce to bore diameter, from the threaded end of the barrel..

[Marcruger]

Since you know where it is in the bore, I’d wrap some bronze wool on a jag and polish it hard with oil. After that, a tight patch with Simichrome or Flitz might help. God bless, Marc

[Bob Roller]

What Taylor said makes sense and is easily cured.Removing the
breech plug WILL tell the story.
Bob Roller

[John SMOthermon]

Was the gun stored loaded?

What type patch lube are you using?

[smallpatch]

We can ALL speculate, but,....... till you pull the BP, you will not know for sure.

[Sweeney]

Was the gun stored loaded?

What type patch lube are you using?

The gun was not stored loaded. Using bear oil for lube. I am convinced it was inadequate cleaning of the breech area. I will pull the plug after this deer season and investigate as suggested

[thecapgunkid]

D Taylor...I'd pull the breech plug and examine the bore at the breech end. 

Unless there's a reason not to do this, it will facilitate all of the good advice you have here.  Cleaning up a liner burr is too easy a step to forget or overlook at first glance  in a build.

[Majorjoel]

Just make sure before debreaching that the T\H liner is not screwed into the breach plug!  Yes! Some plugs are notched and you will have to remove the T\H liner before pulling the B\plug.   

[Sweeney]

Got this doe yesterday, will now shoot out the reload and be ready to pull bp. But now am concerned about warning of TH liner being an issue. Any more specifics on this potential issue?

[Stoner creek]

Take your ramrod, drop it down the barrel and make a mark on the rod at the muzzle. Lay the rod on the outside of the barrel and make a mark where the breech plug should end. That should give you an idea whether the touch hole is threaded into the barrel or not. If it is you’re going to have to back the touch hole out. If not, proceed to unscrewing the breech plug. Go slowly and don’t “gorilla arm” that plug.

[alacran]

I know your rifle and seriously doubt that your liner is running into the barrel. However you will not be satisfied until you pull the breech.
I think you had it right ,it is your cleaning regimen.  I know you store your rifle horizontally.  One thing many of us neglect to do, is to clean out the liner.  Using a pipe cleaner doesn't really do the job.
After you clean the barrel and think it is all done. Take a discharger or use a compressor and blow through the touch hole. run a patch through the barrel. You will see all the crud that will slowly run into the bottom of the barrel. In your humid conditions it wont take long for corrosion to show its ugly face. I use a discharger though I have a compressor. The high pressure CO2 blasts clears any crud built up in the touch hole.
Congratulations again on your Christmas doe.

[smylee grouch]

If you do decide to remove the BP, make sure you clamp the barrel in the vice forward of the BP threaded portion lest you crush the barrel on to the threads.

[Waksupi]

Put some 0000 steel wool and some oil on your jag, and see it that cleans it up.

[Sweeney]

Finally removed the plug. Difficult to confirm but I think there is evidence of rusting but no pits. Any opinions? Should I sand or Dremel out? How aggressive should I get?

[LynnC]

If mine i would take a round file and smooth down the vent liner to the bore surface then wrap steel wool on a bronze brush and give it a good scrubbing with wd40 for lube. It ought to clean up pretty good.

[Hungry Horse]

 The touch hole liner is one obvious problem. I would treat the roughness with some Evaporust. IMO, nine time out of ten when you pick up a Dremel bad things are the results.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

When there is rusting, there are likely microscopic pits- however they will not progress unless you mis-use your rifle.(lack of good cleaning)
I would use a round file for the protrusion of the vent liner, then WD40 and steel wool or scotch-brite (reddish) on the 'rough' section & be done with it.
The rounded rifling, which is generally deeper than square bottomed rifling, will benefit from a double layer of cleaning patches when doing that.

[hanshi]

What Daryl said.  A similar situation developed with my .40.  I removed the breech plug and addressed the inch or two of roughness as stated above.  But in this case there was no issue with the th liner.