Pickling rifle barrel

[fat tony]

I'm almost to the point where I got all the parts together that I need to restore one of my Cooey 75's, I'm now starting  to think about putting some kind of tough finish on it, something that looks like parkerizing but is actually some kind of tough epoxy coat, the name of it escapes me right now. I'm pickling the outside of the barrel with hydrochloric acid, I just tried to wipe it on with a disposable foam brush, didn't work very well, the acid attacked the foam pretty aggressively, had to throw the whole issue in the sink and flood it for a little while. I'm thinking of getting some unlubricated rubbers(yes) putting a hole in one end and securing it with tape or something and pouring the stuff in the space, letting it work, dumping it out into a pail, moving up and repeat. Does this sound like a good idea? The only reason I'm doing it is it's got salt & pepper type pitting on the outside; the rifling is excellent. Looks like it might have been a farm gun as the front sight was filed down(100 yd zero)?

[corbanzo]

I find that elbow grease is the best way to get rid of rust and pit.  Bought a used mossy 500 20 gauge barrel a while back with some good rust and pitting on the outside, some rough steel wool covered with WD40 for the hard spots, and fine steel wool for the easy spots.  Cleaned up pretty good and quick once i got the elbow grease working.

[fat tony]

Thanks corbanzo, gone as far as  I could with the elbow grease, there's still this black crap in the bottom of the pits that I'd like to get the h. out of there before priming it. Maybe Vinyl plumbing hose, some electricians tape and hose clamps would be better. Thks for hte input.