Barrel Troubles!!!!!

[ttank0789]

I was given a .54 CVA Hawken a couple years ago. The gun is ancient, was made from a kit, and was not taken care of.  The barrel is a rusty disaster! I figured I could just buy a new barrel but after doing a little looking I discovered that CVA doesn't make anything traditional anymore. Does anyone know where I can get a new barrel? Or does anyone know a way i can get my current barrel clean?

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

DeerCreek.  $85+ shipping.  I will try to find their phone number for ya.

[kevthebassman]

How bad is the barrel?  Can you get a picture of it?

[ttank0789]

I don't think I can get sufficient lighting to give you a good look down it. The problem with cleaning it is that I've spent hours working on it and have gotten nowhere. I ran patches down it and when they came out clean I put a wire brush through it and that scraped off a ton of rust. This process continues to repeat itself over and over. 

[longcaribiner]

The CVA Mountain rifle was a good gun.  Black powder barrels can be quite forgiving of neglect.  However, you need the proper equipment.  ie a medium fine abrasive polishing compound.  And good thick sturdy  patching, like well worn denim  As long as there are no deep pits that grab the patch, you should be fine.  First of all, use the denim or another  coarse patch material and the old fashioned white car polishing compound.  (don't use the red compound it is too abrasive.)   wet the patch and add some compound and run it up and down the barrel a couple dozen times.  Change patches to lighter patch material as you go and repeat for five or six patches.  Then give the barrel a thorough cleaning using hot water and finally dry pacthes and then oiled patches.  With each successive patch you should feel the roughness of the barrel getting smoother and smoother.  The white compound will turn black from all the gunk, old fouling and rust. It will take alot of cleaning just to clean out all the black gunk.  Then you can use J & B bore cleaning compound on a patch if you want or just go and shoot the gun with mild loads.  It may take a hundred shots to shoot it until most of the rust is wore away and the barrel 're-broke in"

CVA barrels had good rifling and it would have to be horrendous to be unsalvageable.  You ought to be able to get it fairly back to shootable in 60 to 90 minutes work.  And it will likely shoot better than new with a freshly polished bore.  Its a pain you know where, but worth the time.   

[kevthebassman]

I don't think I can get sufficient lighting to give you a good look down it. The problem with cleaning it is that I've spent hours working on it and have gotten nowhere. I ran patches down it and when they came out clean I put a wire brush through it and that scraped off a ton of rust. This process continues to repeat itself over and over. 

Does the rifling look to be in at least serviceable shape?

I've salvaged barrels that were in fairly rough shape and turned them into fairly decent shooters. 

Try this:  Plug up the touch hole/nipple, and then fill the barrel up full with a penetrating oil like Kroil or PB Blaster.  Lean it up in a corner and let it soak 24 hours or better.  Then use some of the green brillo pad or just regular steel wool around a cleaning jag, and set to work scouring that barrel.  It may take a bit of elbow grease, but it'll get much better results than the wire brush.  Keep the steel wool fresh and keep it well oiled.  Let the gun tell you how much scrubbing it needs.  Every once in a while flush out with more oil and run patches down to see if you're making progress. 

Once you've got it cleaned up to your satisfaction, clean it as normal, then go shoot it!  You may be surprised. 

Edit:  longcaribiner beat me to the punch.  His method is more hi-tech than mine, but mine has worked for me.  I'm sure that either method will be better than pulling your hair out trying to clean with a wire brush.