Is a Corroded M44 Barrel Beyond Cleaning?

[taprackbang]

The title says it all. And I warned him after the Appleseed shoot to make SURE to clean your bore out at the LATEST tomorrow morning. We were both plumb worn out... I cleaned mine like a good little boy.

Well, 4 months later, friend says, "Ooops, I should probably clean my M44 bore out. I was at his house and had a look down the barrel. Yeah, you can imagine.
FILTH MUCK and RUST all in one place. I tried to help by using Windex, Hoppes #9, and a bore brush to rewind the clock.
Time just does not want to repeat itself!

Anyone here know what it takes to clean an M44 barrel out that has already accumulated possible 'rust' and muck left over?

Thanks for the help.

Homeland Security is a nation of Riflemen.

 

[SGW42]

About $100 and a trip to a gun show for a new one, methinks.

 

[Jeff F]

I shoot a lot of surplus ammo through my Enfields and living where I do I can get away with waiting a day, but usually they get cleaned that night or the very next morning. Once the rust sets in, well you can get it out but theres nothing you can do for the Pitts. If its real bad you can get after it with some navel jelly then just shoot it, the damage is already done. It may or may not shoot well. defiantly won't shoot as good as it did before the bore got corroded.

 

[dscottw88]

I remember hearing that if you shoot it out a little it might help. The friction and heat generated by firing can sometimes help, but not fix everything. Don't take my word for it though, I wouldn't personally do this because it sounds dangerous. The last thing you want is your round to get stuck and let the barrel go BOOM. Because that wont only make the barrel worth less than two cents, it will also probably take your hand off with it.

I think your only real option would be buying a completely new rifle.

 

[Jeff F]

No don't try and shoot it out without first giving it a good cleaning.

 

[alemonkey]

Give this a try, it worked wonders on mine.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews/copperout/index.asp

 

[wcwhitey]

Clean it the best you can and then shoot it. Mine looks like new from the outside but although far from being warn out the bore looks like crap. It's dark and pitted but shoots 3-4" groups at 100 yards with Bulgarian heavy ball. Remember why it was bought it in the first place, cheap and reliable. If it was a collector I would worry about how shinny the bore is but is is a Mosin, shoot it till it dies. Bill

 

[taprackbang]

Alemonkey, that is a very cool gadget.
Might just be easier for him to buy a new Mosin.
Total waste of a formerly perfectly good gun, though.

Thanks guys!

'Homeland Security' is a nation of Rifleman

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Get some J & B bore paste or something similar (mild abrasive) and get a new bronze brush and clean it till it's smooth. That has helped me in the past.

 

[AmishFury]

plug the muzzle with something like plumber's putty and fill the bore with hoppes (all the way to the chamber)

let it soak overnight place the muzzle over a bucket and remove the putty... marvel at the nastiness that came out of the bore and hit it with a .30 cal brush and a buttload of patches

with luck the pitting won't be so bad tell your friend to keep some water based solvent, a cleaning rod, and some patches in his range kit from now on and don't leave the range without doing a quick one wet patch one dry patch cleaning on any firearms shooting corrosive ammo

 

[Vaarok]

Soak the bore in solvent. Clean the bore. Scrub the bore. Shoot the bore hot. Scrub the bore. Shoot the rifle s'more.

It will either come out slightly hazy, or with some pitting. Either way, if you continue to shoot it it will eventually polish itself clean through normal wear. And a pitted bore DOES NOT equate bad accuracy, only more nooks and crannies to accumulate dirt and crud.

 

[Franco2shoot]

I made my own electronic bore cleaner and can attest to its effectiveness. Instead of batteries, I used an old HO train transformer keeping the voltage low. After two days of treatment, I used the J&B paste and got the bore looking pretty good.

KKKKFL

 

[66912]

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but I doubt these rifles were effectively cleaned during there use back in WWII. When they found rust in their bores back then, did they just throw their rifle away and find a new one? I doubt it. I doubt that anyone had to adjust their sight picture either for the change in trajectory due to rust in the bore. Anyway, it is a Moisin shooter, take it for what it is, clean it as best you can and take better care of it.

 

[Bezoar]

well i have read that the little piece of metal screen carried in the butt of a smle was used to clean the barrel out every 5,000 rounds or so to get everything out of the barrel, as well as screw the rifling up. SO i dont see careful cleaning to be a priority for hte average grunt.

 

[jonesy7605]

i had the same problem. i got a long cleaning rod with a wire brush and put it in a drill, and as i spun it in the barrel poured some sweet's 7.62 bore cleaner down the barrel. then i rubbed some J-B bore cleaner on the brush and ran that through it, and that worked quite well.

 

[briansmithwins]

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but I doubt these rifles were effectively cleaned during there use back in WWII.

Where do you think all those 'sewer pipe' Mausers and MNs come from? Lots of rifles had corroded bores during the war as they weren't always cleaned promptly.

There is a reason the Sov specced hardchrome bores and gas pistons on the SKS and AK.

BSW

 

[nathan]

An $8 tub of JB Bore Paste can do wonders. Shoot and clean .

 

[dogrunner]

Just because it's a 'dirt bag' as far as bore condition goes DOES NOT mean it won't shoot well. Per example, I've a friend that picked up an externally perfect Ruger Old Army........perfect till he got it home and checked the bore..........or lack thereof...now, when I say corroded I mean to the nth power.......rifling was almost utterly gone and there was absolutely no relief in sight by a vigorous cleaning. Still, he brought that thing to a private range we use and proceeded to print group after group of cloverleaves with it....That piece of junk would outshoot his brand new Glock (if that's saying anything) and would hold it's own with a nice .45 Colt series 70.

Moral: Sometimes you just get lucky......truthfully, tho I coulden't live with that thing!!

 

[Robert101]

If you need a little extra help on the bronze bush wrap some all copper Choreboy into the brush. It will work wonders. And clean from end to end. I would not recommend rotating a bronze brush in any firearm barrel.