iron oxide in rem 700 bore?

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evtSmtx

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I was looking at buying a pawn shop r700 and asked it i could run a patch through it. he said sure. it came out with reddish residue on it.

It sure looked like iron oxide but a r700 can't be more than 50ish years old so way past the corrosive powder era. The gun didn't look mistreated and the rifling was, by eye, distinct.

Am I being paranoid? Any idea what that was?
 
Unprotected steel rusts.

Did not have to be primers or anything more sinister than someone did not take care of their rifle. Probably more common than you think. Hope it is not pitted also.
 
My dad uses aerokriol when ever he long term store a rifle and it has a reddish tent to it maybe bit it also has a very very distinct smell

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no odor i could detect. dry as dust. maybe the rifle is from oklahoma or other red dirt area. Probably best that I passed on it
 
What caliber? I had the same experience with a Rem 700 Classic the rifle was made in 2004 in 8x57 Mauser. The guy who had it before me obviously shot the corrosive military stuff in it and left it. The bore in mine is absolutely terrible. I got it for little of nothing and surprisingly it shoots 2" groups at 100 yards. Not great but hunting acceptable. The bore sure does foul up quickly though.
 
^^^^^ What car junkie said; you didn't mention caliber, but old milsurp ammo could have been shot thru the rifle.
STW
 
A barrel that was used in the rain and not properly cleaned after will rust.
 
it was a 30-06. I"m told the us changed over to non corrosive primers after korea so it may be that corrosive milsurp stuff was still around around in the 70s
 
Condensation will do it. Hunt in the cold and then take the gun into a warm room. Most people will wipe down the outside of the gun but few run a couple patches through it. I run rust inhibitor through mine after cleaning.
 
Pawn shops generally have half the asking price invested, at most. The rust makes a good talking point for a bargain.

The rifling is sharp, so a good cleaning might well result in a plenty-good deer rifle.
 
I stored my favorite rifle at my father's house for two years while I was away overseas. When I came back, the bore was thick with red dust. I thought the bore had rusted and that I needed a new barrel. I cleaned and shot it. Accuracy was the same as when I left. Buy the rifle, clean the bore and shoot it. More than likely it's ok. Worse case, you agonize over what caliber your new barrel will be
 
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