Rust in Barrel?

[anythingelse]

My father just handed down to me a TC Hawken Cougar. He said he bought it in the late 80s, shot two deer with it that season, cleaned it then never touched it again. So I'm thinking it's going to be a basket case by now...

Much to my surprise the thing is beautiful. Not a speck spot or hint of rust on the outside. However I ran a patch down the barrel and got some brown. Not a lot but it's there. It's either some form of ancient dried lube or rust, and I'm pretty nearly positive it's the latter.

Shone a small light down the barrel and best as I can see it shines and there's no obvious oxidation or pitting. Also the nipple came out really easy. I thought for sure it'd be welded in there after getting brown on the patch but it was laughable how easy it was to get out.

The only indication that anything might be bad is toward the very end, when the jag is getting down toward the last few inches of barrel, it starts to feel a little rough. For the first few strokes I thought the rod was brushing up against the bore -- that's exactly what it felt like -- but I'm positive it's going in straight unless the thick brass rod is somehow bending toward the end which seems unlikely.

Either way I hope it's not too far gone. Like I said the outside of the rifle is beautiful and there are no external indications the barrel is bad...

What do you think my next step should be?

 

[PapaG]

JB safety paste on a tight jag. Fifty strokes, full length. Clean. You will be amazed. I have brought many barrels back from the precipice with that, or four/five f valve grinding compound.

 

[LAGS]

All you can do is clean the barrel real good, and have it inspected with a Bore Scope.
Otherwise, you have to pull the Breach plug to see if there is indeed pitting in the chamber area, and how bad it really is.
To get the Breach plug out , you need a barrel Vise and a wrench head that they make to fit your breach plug.
A regular vise and a big cresent wrench will surely damage your rifle.

 

[BowerR64]

I have a BP pistol that looks as its been sitting dirty or with rust in it for many years. Ive tried to clean the pits several times with a gritty bore cleaner and its so pitted that running a dry patch back and forth you can feel the snags in the rod.

After a few passes it starts to tear a hole in the patch.

It still doesnt shoot that bad though. It doesnt group as well as my other pistols with better barrels but it stays within a 4-5" area at 15 yards.

Ide run the jb stuff down it a few times and then go and shoot it. It might not be as bad as you think.

 

[Pancho]

There is available a very small LED light that you can drop down a bore to be able to inspect almost all of the barrel.
Sounds to me that you might have some pitting near the breech which is very common and not much of a problem unless there is a build up of corrosion and spent powder residue.
In other words you probably were given a good shooter.

 

[LAGS]

I made a bore light for Muzzle loaders with a closed Breach.
I took a LED bulb out of some Key remote, put it on the end of a length of speaker wire and it has two button cell batteries in the other end.
You can run the LED down into the bore by using a cleaning rod.
Then you turn on the lite and see the whole bore.

 

[gunner69]

Listen to PapaG and you can't go wrong. After you are done use a bore light to check things out.

 

[Nappers]

I have a .50 cal muzzleloader, very rusty. The gun was given to me by a buddy at work. He says it was stored in his gun safe for 15-20 years.

I used Naval Jelly on a patch heavy saturation and one of those stainless steel scrubbers (for pots and pans) wrapped around a jag. I used Ballistol with patches until I was knee deep in patches. Afterward I finished off with dish soap and the hottest water. I dried the best I could, used de-natured alcohol and lubed and although not perfect, it shoots fine. I just need to brown the barrel seen as the Naval Jelly stripped whatever finish was on it, at which time, I'm not sure!

 

[anythingelse]

Hey thanks all for the advice. I hit it with some CLP and patches, dried it, then coated the bore in bore butter. Let that sit for a few hours and went at it with a bronze brush and CLP. Believe that loosened up some residual crud as the patches came out blackish. Probably not the best sign but as luck would have it the gun has been in a low humidity environment all these years, which may have prevented serious damage.

Proceeded to run patches down until they came out clean, then coated in bore butter again. It no longer feels scratchy toward the end so it may have just been some gunk stuck in there.

I have that bore paste on order and when it comes I'm going to do like PapaG says. That's about all I can do here as an end user. Then we'll see how it shoots...

 

[LAGS]

@ Nappers
Yep, Naval Jelly removes rust real good. And Bluing or Browning just as well, because that is what Bluing or Browning is, RUST, but just in a stabilized form.

 

[gibble888]

If its not hanging up when you are scrubbing the bore you will be just fine.

 

[Nappers]

@ Lags "@ Nappers
Yep, Naval Jelly removes rust real good. And Bluing or Browning just as well, because that is what Bluing or Browning is, RUST, but just in a stabilized form."

yeah, I knew that, but it was so rusty, wasn't sure if it was browned or blued!

Anyways, was warning OP that the Naval Jelly will remove the finish, regardless of what it was. I am going to have it browned. The shiny blueing is too shiny for my eyes and my need for bi-focals soon.....

 

[anythingelse]

Hey guys wanted to give a quick update. Got an el cheapo bore light and Iosso bore paste from Midway. The iosso should be similar to the JB from what I'm reading.

Anyhow I shone the light down the barrel before doing anything and it looked great. Removed the bore butter, hit the barrel with about 30 passes of paste changing patch frequently then swabbed out the bore with dry patches followed by ballistol patches.

After I was finally finished I put the light down there again and I can practically see my reflection in it. Granted I can't get a clear view of the breech from up at the muzzle but everything looks good.

When I get a chance I'm going to take it out. I'll report back when I do.

 

[OcelotZ3]

I just picked up a Kentucky rifle from an attendee at the gun show yesterday. We didn't have a drop-in bore light, but he said "there's a little rust but the rifling is good".

When I got it home I put a light in and the bore looked not too bad. After a simple cleaning with water & oiling (and many black then brown patches), the bore looks great. There was no rust, just fouling. I suspect that many people might think a bore is rusty when it is just dirty.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

A little bit of J & B bore paste or similar will work wonders. You can feel the difference when you are done.