HELP..HELP..Rusty bore in TC

[bigbore442001]

I need the advice concerning a small crisis right now. Gun season will be opening in one week and I use a TC blued Black Diamond .50 caliber in-line.

I should have looked earlier, but I noticed that there was some rust in the bore. I decided to shoot the gun after work and discovered it was shooting poorly. I found that loading the sabots were tough. You could feel the bullet/sabot skip down the bore as you loaded them. I was figuring that some shooting would help clean it out.

I would like to know what would be the best way to clean the rust out? I was thinking of using some Scotch Brite and scrub it out as much as I can. I was wondering if there are any good chemicals that would help? I really need some good advice now. Thank you.

[daddywpb]

If it's just light surface rust, you can use a metal polishing paste on a patch and jag, and it should come right out. Don't scrub too much, just enough to shine it up. If it's heavy rust, much bigger problem. Just be patient, and polish it out.

[quickdtoo]

After a thorough scrubbing with a bronze bore brush, wrap the brush with a patch slathered with JB Bore compound and polish the heck out of it with full bore strokes, exiting the muzzle each stroke, starting in the breech with a bore guide on the rod to protect the bore from the rod. Replace the patch and JB frequently. You could use a tight jag and patch also on just the bad spot if it's just one for more concentrated polishing. JB Bore compound is sold at Sportsmans Warehouse and at lot of gun shops. If you can't get it in time, you can also use flitz or maas metal polish.

[Mark whiz]

What quickdtoo said.

J-Bs, Flitz, Iosso, Semi-Chrome, Mothers    are all ok for this process.

[savageT]

I need the advice concerning a small crisis right now. Gun season will be opening in one week and I use a TC blued Black Diamond .50 caliber in-line.

I should have looked earlier, but I noticed that there was some rust in the bore. I decided to shoot the gun after work and discovered it was shooting poorly. I found that loading the sabots were tough. You could feel the bullet/sabot skip down the bore as you loaded them. I was figuring that some shooting would help clean it out.

I would like to know what would be the best way to clean the rust out? I was thinking of using some Scotch Brite and scrub it out as much as I can. I was wondering if there are any good chemicals that would help? I really need some good advice now. Thank you.

bigbore,
I wish you much luck in polishing out your bore with J-B Compound.  I got mine (together with Kroil penetrating oil) from Brownell's @1-800-741-0015, for my Swedish Mauser that was heavily gunked up with copper and powder fouling.  I would recommend the use of an electric drill to spin the rod and bronze brush.  It will really help clean the bore in a hurry and as they said earlier, run the patch clear of the muzzle each time.

p.s.  Don't forget to coat the patch first w/Kroil before J-B compound. It will help in spreading out the polishing compound and in the bore.

Jim

[Longcruise]

If you can't lay your hands on any of the fancy (and effective) compounds mentioned above, then wrap some 0000 steel wool around a bore brush or wiping jag and work it in long full strokes with a bit of very light oil on the steel wool.  Get it tight enough that it follows the rifleing.

Don't worry about it ruining your bore, it won't.

You need to consider your maintenance program too and figure out why the bore rusted :shock:

[bigbore442001]

I think I know why the gun rusted up. I clean the guns religiously, but I have a tendency to forget about some when they are stored for a long period of time.

I live on the shores of a large freshwater lake and it tends to be more humid and that is what more than likely caused the problem. I hope that the accuracy hasn't been ruined.

Just my luck, a week before the season.

[savageT]

I think I know why the gun rusted up. I clean the guns religiously, but I have a tendency to forget about some when they are stored for a long period of time.

I live on the shores of a large freshwater lake and it tends to be more humid and that is what more than likely caused the problem. I hope that the accuracy hasn't been ruined.

Just my luck, a week before the season.

bigbore,
How'd ya make out cleaning up the bore?  I would suggest looking into  your long term storage methods.  I believe that so many people are concerned about NOT using petroleum products that they end up with rusted/pitted bores.  I would really recommend you look into using RIG or Vasoline petroleum jelly to store your muzzle loader after getting it cleaned up for the long-term storage.  I make it a habit to run a dry patch down the bore every month or so just to check for rust.  I also have found those inexpensive silicone gun-storage socks to be a great for storage.  Now as to the humidity issue, pick up a jar of de-humidifier crystals from a local marina dealer and place them in the storage closet/cabinet with the guns.  When next season rolls around, just swab out the bore with some rubbing alcohol and you're ready to rock & roll.

[bigbore442001]

Well. I am glad that you are wondering about the gun. It seems to be pitted soemwhat in the area where the powder is located and a little up from that in a couple of spots.

I shot it today at 50 yards and it seems to be a little sporadic in its grouping. I will guess that the group is around 3" at 50 yards with 120 grains of H777 under a 300 grain TC sabot round.

I will do some more shooting with a 150 grain load to see what it does. I'll let you people know what happens.

[savageT]

bigbore,
Just a suggestion..........Aren't those pretty heavy powder loads?  I get excellent accuracy with 80-90 grains of triple 7 and 295 gr. PowerBelts.  Magnum loads really don't do anything but burn up expensive powder faster and bruise your shoulder.  The reason I went to PowerBelts was because XTP sabots were killers to load!

Jim

[bigbore442001]

I had two bad experiences with the powerbelts. One was when I hit a button buck in the rear quarter( believe it or not, the screw that held my rear scope ring on was broken and very loose) and it seemed to cause an inordinate amount of meat damage.

A second time was when I shot at a deer with the 295 grain hp and it hit a sapling the size of my thumb right in front of the deer. Well, the bullet disintergrated. I found bits of the bullet scattered 20 yards over the snow where the sapling was "trimmed".

I am tempted to use the heavier ones. Maybe that would work better. I use the sabots because I got them on sale. But I have time this week to play at the range. I'll look for the heavy powerbelts.

[Keith Lewis]

I just cleaned up a rifle that was so rusty the muzzle had pits at least 1/32 inch deep completely through the lands of the muzzle at several points. I used some JB Bore paste and after 100 passes up and down (100up-100down) I shot some 50 yard groups with 80gr of Black Mag3 and 295gr. Powerbelts that were about 1 1/2 inch. That was with 66 year old eyes and open sights. I'm sure the rifle will shoot better with better sight situation. I just shot an Elk with my Omega (not the rusty gun) and two shots went completely through the chest cavity and exited with an 80gr. load of Black Mag3 under 300gr. Hornady sabot and 295gr. Powerbelt. I usually shoot the first shot with a Hornady sabot then follow up with a Powerbelt as it loads easier in a hurry for second shot. I agree that the 120gr. of 777 is way more than you need unless you are trying for game bigger than Elk. Black Mag3 makes more velocity at the same volume measurement as 777 ffg and the felt recoil is less. I shot 100gr. of 777 under a 348gr. bullet ONCE-ONCE! Painful and never again!! 777 lights off faster than most synthetics which results in a sharp slap similar to a smokeless magnum rifle. Black Mag3 apparently accelerates the bullet more smoothly as it travels the bore and builds more velocity.

[riddleofsteel]

I used to buy, clean up, and shoot a lot of old junker guns. My uncle and I used to prowl the pawn shops and gun shows back when a good deal was somewhat easier to find.
Most of the time if the rust pitting is not at the muzzle crown it does not affect performance that much. Now I am not talking about sob MOA benchrest acuracy here. If the edges of the rifling is still crisp enough to grab the bullet or sabot and spin it and the crown is good enough the rifle should still shoot tolerably well. I have had good luck with old military rifles with rusted-dark bores. Clean them as good as you can. The tips above are sound. I might mention that particles of steel wool can become embedded in steel and actually encourge rust. After my best cleaning efforts I had sveral rifles that responded well to steel jacket ammo. That's right, forcing the steel jacket down the barrel actually seemed to cut a lot of the rust, crap and powder residue that the brush did not touch.
With a muzzle loader old gunsmiths actually used to use a cutter with blades that fit into the old rifling. They slowly pulled/pushed the cutter down a barrel until the rifling was deep enough to grab the patch/ball combo and spin it for accuracy. I have seen gunsmiths at a local historical village perform this task. After "chasing" the rifling and "freshening" the barrel the rafle ahd a new bore diameter because the lands hand worn down with use. The smith would drive a lead slug down the barrel, measure it and cut a new ball mould to match the barrel. Often these muzzle loaders were now odd calibers but since almost everyone cast thier own balls with thier own molds this did not matter. Over the years .36 or .32 muzzleloaders increased in bore as they were "freshened." I guess since most of the rifles, from .32 to .50 were made from the same size blanks they had plenty of wall thickness to play with.

[Pugsley]

I just completed installing a 209 primer conversion kit in a friend's CVA Eclipse muzzleloader.  I noticed that the bore was quite rusty, as my friend is not an avid muzzeloader fan, and does not understand the intricacies of muzzleloader maintenance.  However, I took the rifle to the range, and simply shot several Powerbelt projectiles thru the bore, with H777 charges.  The majority of the rust was shot out of the bore, and I then took the rifle home for a thorough scrubbing.  The bore is pretty much restored, except for some minor fouling/pits in the grooves.  BTW, the groups were around 2-4", offhand, at 50 yards.  Good enough for an Eclipse, and for deer hunting (at limited ranges).