anybosy ever saved a gun like this????

[hillbill]

my gfren brought me a tc black diamond lr inline 50 cal that her previous hubby had givin her 13 yr old son. well it seems they been divorced a couple years and she was just now gettin it from him.well it had been shot with pyrodex and never cleaned. im guessing for a couple years.the 209 cap was still in it. i pounded out the bolt and the breech plug actually unscrewed easily. i can make it shoot im sure but the bore is pretty bad.i soaked it in deisel and brushed and swabbed it but still pretty rusty and pitted.as a last ditch im thinkin swabbin it with valve grinding compound or something to polish the pits and maybe make it a 50 yrd gun for the kid.any ideas?

[Forestclimber]

I would go very light on the valve grinding paste, re-clean the bore, and shoot it.  You might be surprised.   I like 300 grain XTP's in a sabot.  They seem to shoot better for me.  You won't know until you shoot it.

[mechanic]

Ditto on shooting it.  Don't get too carried away polishing until you do.  You might be pleasantly surprised!   or not.........

I had an old Kentucky that was given me years ago that looked like a minefield down the bore, but it would group an inch and a half.  Ya' never know.

[hunt-m-up]

If all else fails it might shoot conicals ok as the big chunk of lead, 350 grns+, tends to fill and seal a loose bore better, or at least it has for me. I'd shoot it before I tried anything else like the grinding compound.  

[Swampman]

I've used Brasso to clean pitted bores with good results.  T/C might rebarrel it for free.

[hillbill]

well i took a old shotgun brush and wrapped it in steel wool , soaked it in a mildly abrasive rem bore cleaner and by the time my arm wore out the bore didnt look near as bad as before.i shoved a bullet and sabot thru the bore and it seemed fairly smooth.ill set up a 50 yrd target this week and see what happens.

[anweis]

kid.any ideas?

Don't use any valve grinding compound. The rifling is still there, and you would ruin it. Clean as best you can and shoot.

[SHOOTALL]

Clean it with KROIL OIL . Soak it and use a brass brush covered with a patch . It works wonders !

[qajaq59]

Before you do anything drastic to it, just clean it and try shooting it. A guy I know picked up a rifle for smokless powder that looked like an absolute disaster. He shot it and got a really great group with it. You just never know until you fire them how good or bad they can be.

[hillbill]

thanks for the encouragement guys, ill try shooting it when i get time and definitely report back.if it will hit a paper plate at 50 yrds i think the boy will be pleased with it as will i.but from the way it cleaned up i think it may do better.

[hillbill]

shot it tonite and was really surprised! i was able to keep about a 3 in group with the first load i tried at 50 yrds. 80 grn of black and some old sabots i had and some 45 cal lead pistol bullets.im pretty proud of it considering how bad the bore looked. i think the boy is good to go with this load considering most of his shots will be less than 75 yrds. thanks guys for keeping me in line and all the advice givin.

[Semisane]

If he's going to go with lead pistol bullets (which work fine), they should either be soft lead or have a wide flat meplat.  Avoid round nose hard cast bullets.

[hillbill]

yup ,these are soft hornadys with the wide flat nose.next time we shoot we may bump the powder up to 90 grns and see what haqppens.

[d5nuke]

glad it shoots good. I use molasses diluted with water to clean old gun parts and bores. Soak the bore after plugging the breech plug with something. In 24 hours or depending on how bad it is as much as 48 hours the bore will be rust free just be careful to keep it off the blueing.

Pour hot water down the barrel to clean it out and do your normal wire brush and patch cleaning.Dilute the mixture 5 or 6 to parts water to one part molasses.

[qajaq59]

glad it shoots good. I use molasses diluted with water to clean old gun parts and bores. Soak the bore after plugging the breech plug with something. In 24 hours or depending on how bad it is as much as 48 hours the bore will be rust free just be careful to keep it off the blueing.

Pour hot water down the barrel to clean it out and do your normal wire brush and patch cleaning.Dilute the mixture 5 or 6 to parts water to one part molasses.

D5nuke, I would love to know what is in molasses that would do that? I'm definitely not doubting you, but now I'm really curious why that would work.

[SHOOTALL]

might be the sugar, when concrete gets in drain line like in floor drains when they pour floors the easy way to get out is pour sugar in them  and let it sit for a week . The sugar eats it .

[Swampman]

shot it tonite and was really surprised! i was able to keep about a 3 in group with the first load i tried at 50 yrds. 80 grn of black and some old sabots i had and some 45 cal lead pistol bullets.im pretty proud of it considering how bad the bore looked. i think the boy is good to go with this load considering most of his shots will be less than 75 yrds. thanks guys for keeping me in line and all the advice givin.

That's better than most folks can do with a good bore.

[indymadcaster]

yup look at the conicals thread and roll them in comet cleaner   shoot   shoot shoot some more   it will clean it up a lot     i was given a lone wolf?   did this to it and i have to shoot oversized conicals  in it   and it kills lots of deer @ 50-60 yareds