What to do about corroded barrel???

[no second shot]

I have a Knight Wolverrine that my wife bought me as a wedding present 13 years ago (man I'm starting to get old) and I lent it to a "friend" for a late season elk tag he drew.  Well long story short he has never used a muzzleloader and I told him numerous times while showing him how the gun worked too "make sure if you shoot this thing you clean it right away" well...He ended up shooting at an elk that was way out of muzzleloader range, luckily missing it and not wounding it.  He reloaded the gun and left it that way!!!

So that was a month and a half ago and I am at his kids birthday party and he informs me that he has ment to get the gun back to me but he still needs to "shoot the load out of it"....arrgggg.  I have not seen the gun as of yet and have a feeling that it is still not cleaned and that my barrell will be pooched...


What do you guys think will be the case?  Also can I still get a new barrel for this gun from Knight if it is indead wrecked?


Thanks,

Mike

[Bigeasy]

Hard to say.  A lot depends on whether it was BP or a substitute, whether it was stored in dry or humid conditions, was it a stainless barrel.  You might get lucky.  Give it a good cleaning, and check it with a bore light.  If there is rust, fine steel wool wrapped around a cleaning mop, along with some gun oil should clean it up.  If it is pitted, then test fire it.  It might still shoot well.  If not, you might want to try "fire lapping" it.  There is a kit you can get from Brownells that contains several grades of abrasive paste.  You apply it to a number of pure lead conical bullets, and fire them thru the gun.  It smooths the bore, and can restore the accuracy of a damaged barrel.

Larry

[SHOOTALL]

use a wire brush and Kroil oil . Been there done that . Might take several cleannings .

[no second shot]

Its a blued barrel and he was using Shockey Gold for the charges, i used to use pyrodex but found it made the gun filthy. The new powder does seem to clean up easier though.

thanks for the tips guys...hopefully its not big deal and the gun is fine.  Lesson learned i guess.

thanks,

Mike

[SHOOTALL]

I've cleaned 2 up that were shot reloaded and forgot for a year or so . Both were blue . The bbl will look "odd" in color after cleaning with Kroil but shoot it and then clean like normal and it will look ok in most cases . Good Luck.

[ourway77]

My son brought a guy to my house he had a ml'er that he said he couldn't get the breech plug out. I used break free and some heat And an extention pipe on the breech plug tool after several attempts it finally gave way. When I looked down that barrel it was never cleaned for a year after shooting it. You guessed it corrodid doesn't even come close. Well started with break free and a wwire brush after 200 times and a tee shirt full of cleaning patches it still looked terrible but some what better I then used a jag with JB's another 75-100 times  used regular bore cleaner and numerous patches I was amazed the barrel cleaned up as good as can be for as bad as it was. Well he used it this last season and he said it shot good. Go figure. Lou

[hillbill]

i recently cleaned up a rifle like this, and even tho the bore looked bad it shot pretty well.scrub the crap out of it and go from there.it may or may not be a tack driver.. mine was

[Lon371]

i recently cleaned up a rifle like this, and even tho the bore looked bad it shot pretty well.scrub the crap out of it and go from there.it may or may not be a tack driver.. mine was

^^ What he said. Been there done that. Still shoots very good. Good enough to put meat in the freezer

Lonny

[Empty Quiver]

I've wondered about this myself. I think the combination of the sabot, slower overall bullet and the large diameter makes them more forgiving of barrel problems.

I am about to loan my ML to a buddy, your story is exactly why I fear doing it. He really knows squat about blackpowder. He means well and takes good care of his own guns but, fear he won't be too thorough.

[1sourdough]

  Some guys don't have a clue when it comes to M-L care. Be careful when loaning out,if you do, & I'd want to check it soon after.