Renegade Barrel Question

[JonnyReb]

  Have a question and know more than a few of ya'll have the answer. The .50 renegade i have in the classifieds is a very nice rifle, literally just fired once about 20 years ago but it was never cleaned and the rusty bore is ruining much chance of resale. Yes i could part it out and get close to what i'd like out of it but that ruins all the fun. If i decide to replace the barrel, low cost is a consideration. I can wait for one to run through the classifieds or i can order a blank from TOTW and figure out the breech and ramrod thimbles. I'm assuming too, that i can send this otherwise very nice barrel off and have it overbored or maybe even make it a 20ga, how would costs add up if i went this route? Anyone in particular you'd recommend to do this work? Thanks,  Jeff

[JonnyReb]

 Guess i shoulda just done a search as it was pretty easy to find Mr Ed Rayl, he picked up his phone on the 2 or 3rd ring and said for 100 bucks he'll make it a smoothbore rifle for me, done deal and .54 it'll be. Am gonna get it mailed off tomorrow and is a good way to go so far as this rifle is concerned. Was gonna sell it but i don't know now..a fullstock sure would look nice...

[Winter Hawk]

You could also get a liner for it from TOTW.  The only "tricky" part would be drilling out the bore to accommodate the liner.  I have heard of folks doing this with a hand drill once they have a l-o-n-g shank drill made up.   

-WH-

[spooked]

Guess i shoulda just done a search as it was pretty easy to find Mr Ed Rayl, he picked up his phone on the 2 or 3rd ring and said for 100 bucks he'll make it a smoothbore rifle for me, done deal and .54 it'll be. Am gonna get it mailed off tomorrow and is a good way to go so far as this rifle is concerned. Was gonna sell it but i don't know now..a fullstock sure would look nice...

  Dern!! I recently passed up a nice .32 squirrel rifle cause the bore looked like fertilizer had been stored in it...For a hunnert bucks it could've been converted to the .40 I've been a jones'in fer!

[JonnyReb]

 Thanks for mentioning about those barrel liners WH, i did briefly consider them but after looking at cost, the reaming made the most sense, plus i'd probably screw up the install ,,  Also i just love a smoothbore, for the possible versatility although truth be known i don't need much versatility... also realized this rifle is !" across the flats, it can be bored to .62 and so it will.

  Is good to keep in mind spooked when we run across nice old BP rifles with bad bores,, i won't hesitate to pick em up at good prices and just send them off to Ed(or the shop of your choice) to rebore. I look forward to seeing how this will turn out. Thanks fellas, for the comments.  j

[SHOOTALL]

Get a brass brush and some Kroil oil and work on it I have seen some bad ones clean up and shoot well.

[JonnyReb]

Get a brass brush and some Kroil oil and work on it I have seen some bad ones clean up and shoot well.

  You know Shootall, it can't hurt anything.. haven't sent it off yet, no big plans for the evening, might just do that. J

[theratdog]

try a little flitz on your bore brush first. work it back and forth 60 or more times then use kroil works for me.

[JonnyReb]

 Thanks RatDog, i used jb paste and did remove 75% of the staining, still have a bit more to go but thought i'd shoot the rifle and see how it patterns, then go back to scrubbing. I appreciate the tip and will see if my wife still has some flitz, if so i'll give it a try.  Thanks!   J

[theratdog]

a lot of times a rusty bore is not bad i have cleaned some real bad ones and they shoot real good i had an old 22 lr that the bore looked like the face of the moon i cleaned it with hopees#9 it was real accurate.

[JonnyReb]

 I've heard time and again that a rusty bore in a black powder rifle using patched rb's doesn't hurt a thing, and i don't doubt it. Most of the rust came out however now i'm looking forward to getting back a smoothbore though, a nice shiny one . I decided to let Mr. Ed Rayl do his thing.  j