Major Cleaning question

[IATRKYHNTR]

OK...  was just our shooting with a buddy of mine, we where getting our muzzys ready for this years deer season. I was shooting ok for not having shot my muzzy since the last day of season last year. But my buddy was shooting all over the paper, no group what so ever. he was all mad, so I told him to tear down his gun and we will clean it. He just laughed and said "I never cleaned it before, why do it now?" :shock:  When I got his gun tore down I was upset to see that he wasn't joking, he has had this muzzy for 3 years now, and the bore was just full of crud and rust. I brought it home with me to clean for him, but after a hour of brushing and patching it with every cleaner I have it still isn't the best in the world, so I thought I would pop in here and ask all of you what you would do? Other then kick my buddies butt! :twisted:  Any help would be nice. I don't think it is pitted all that bad, the rifling still look good, just has a lot of crud in the groves. This is a CVA Hunter Bolt Magnum, if that makes any difference.

Thanks,
Nathan

[quickdtoo]

Fill the bore with Wipe-Out and let er sit overnight or longer, its supposed to be the best there is. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's more rust than you think in there. :cry:

[rickyp]

After I cleaned the barrel I would get some blue and rust remover ( or very very good penetrating oil) and use that as well. If  it has never been cleaned I am surprised you could get the breach plug out
I have seen barrels start to rust pity good  in only a few days when out in the hunting woods from just one shot and then just whipped down

[sabotloader]

Deleted - this was a copy of the message below

[sabotloader]

What a co-incidence - I went to the rock pit this weekend to get some target practice in, needed to complete fine tuning my new Remington, well a fellow teacher said he would like to go also - so I say you bet.

Well, when we got out there, he pulls out this old TC Hawken and says he hasn't shot it in quite awhile.  In fact he informs me that the thing is a smooth-bore and really doesn't shoot that well.  When I looked at it, it was definitely a Hawken 50 and if you looked through all the RUST in the barrel it did have riflings.  I asked him about cleaning and he says he has had the thing since he was 19 (he 27 now) and never remembers really cleaning it.  Just running patches down after shooting and sticking it in the closet.

Now i mean this thing is rusty inside, has not been shot in 2 years.  I didn't want to hurt his feelings and maybe he knew something I didn't, so i went about my business loading up my ML.  After a few minutes I looked at hime and he had the ram-rod and a patch stuck solid in the bottom of the barrel.  I poured some water down the barrel let it set for a few minutes, got some pliers and we pulled the patch out - Oh MY God! - 12/15 patches later we were still pulling rusty patches out.  I told him I think I would take it home and clean - really clean it, before shooting it.  He decided against that - popped 3 caps on it loaded it up with powder and a conical, touched the whole works off and tagged the target. He was happy as punch, but i wasn't impressed because we were shooting a 50 yard target.  He and I shot a couple of shots and then I shifted my attention to a animal sized rock 134 yards away (range finder).  He said he was going to try it also with that rusty tc 50.  Well, he nailed it not just on the edge but dead center - he did 3 times in a row.  I looked at the barrel again after we down shooting, dropped a bore light down the barrel - it was terrible - but man does that thing shoot - really makes you wonder, how much rust can those things really take?

Maybe the old MMen new something us modern guys don't.  I recall reading a passage where Jedadiah Smith just threw his rifle in a creek, sloushed it around a bit, wiped it down, dryed it, and called it clean.

I am amazed!!!