Rust inside barrel

[CajunTim]

My friend has a little rust he says inside his barrel about 1/4 inch. I told him to lube it up then just shoot it out. Any ideas of what to do?

 

[Barney88PDC]

Use an oil such Break Free, Hoppes, WD40 or motor oil if that is all he has (anything is better than nothing) and run a brush throught it several times. Apply more oil and keep brushing until clear. Run a patch or hot water every now and again to flush out the rust that is removed. I would get all of the rust out before shooting. Any gun you do not intend on shooting within a weeks time should have a patch of oil run through the barrel to keep this from happening.

 

[tactical723]

I've aways heard using a steel brush (not brass) with Flitz or a quality metal polish on it, takes the surface rust off after several passes, when finished you can clean with mineral spirits use some cold blue to coat the grooves and then re-oil the barrel, of course will not help with pits, I actually tried it on a friend's Walther PPK damaged in Katrina and it worked pretty well on getting all the surface rust off the lands and grooves, we did cold blue it and oiled it, was 90% better than before

 

[dmiculek]

You may want to also try JB Bore Paste.

 

[Bearco]

I would not use steel on the inside of my barrel unless I did not like it. How about CLR on a patch? Then brass it.

 

[slinkyonrampage]

Oil, then brush. Rinse it out, then repeat the oiling and brushing. That should get it out.

 

[b00st3d]

i probably wouldnt shoot it with the rust inside? im no expert, but it may cause a missfire if the rust is built up too much?

 

[artabr]

You may want to also try JB Bore Paste.

+1 on the JB's Bore Paste. I would add a little Kroil or some other fine oil to it.
I would also stay away from steel brushes. Steel on steel ain't cool, you stand a chance of scaring your bore, thats why they make bronze/brass brushes, jags, patch holders and so on.


Art

 

[oldironsights]

My friend has a little rust he says inside his barrel about 1/4 inch. I told him to lube it up then just shoot it out. Any ideas of what to do?

Are you sure it is rust?
Copper fouling near the muzzle is of the same reddish color as rust.
I like to use Sweets 7.62 to remove copper. You can soak a patch with it, run it down the bore & let it sit. Run a nylon(not brass or copper) bristle brush down the bore several times to loosen the copper, then run another sweets soaked patch down the bore.
The patch should turn blue if copper is present.
If it is rust, cleaning & shooting will remove it.

 

[graymo2]

Are you sure it is rust?
Copper fouling near the muzzle is of the same reddish color as rust.
I like to use Sweets 7.62 to remove copper. You can soak a patch with it, run it down the bore & let it sit. Run a nylon(not brass or copper) bristle brush down the bore several times to loosen the copper, then run another sweets soaked patch down the bore.
The patch should turn blue if copper is present.
If it is rust, cleaning & shooting will remove it.

+1
I was thinking the same thing.

 

[scubasteve]

What kind of gun ? Riffle, pistol, or shootgun ? If it's a shootgun, chuck a cleanin' rod in an erectric drill with a bronze brush and go to work AT LOW SPEED. It it's a riflled barrel, work on it by hand with a bronze brush. If you have some lead bullets, fire a couple through it to fill in the pits. If it's a riffle where the rust effects the accuracy, cut it off and recrown.
Or as someone mentioned, it may be copper fouling.

 

[lpso708]

Cajin Tim I have the same problem Just got to my safe after 6 months it was in what was left of my home. All that was rusted was my enfield in the bore. I am going to try some of the advice given here an will let you know how I fair. This looks like a long job so good luck to you an your friend.

 

[Mr_Willson]

speaking of oil...I got a really old bottle of outers gun oil that im using....like about a little over 20 years old.

is it bad to use old gun oil?

 

[sksshooter]

speaking of oil...I got a really old bottle of outers gun oil that im using....like about a little over 20 years old.

is it bad to use old gun oil?

i think your ok oil doesnt degrade over time it may become contaminated with moisture so i wouldnt run 20 yr old oil in my truck but for this purpose your good to go. remember oil sat in the ground for no telling how long before it was taken out and put in that bottle.

 

[Mr_Willson]

i think your ok oil doesnt degrade over time it may become contaminated with moisture so i wouldnt run 20 yr old oil in my truck but for this purpose your good to go. remember oil sat in the ground for no telling how long before it was taken out and put in that bottle.

ok.

it says polarized and,contains silicone on it too.

im looking it up....and I think it may be more than 20 years old...

I think its from the 60's or 50's ...

so no matter how old it is ittl still be safe to use, got it

 

[kpm]

Ok, I just fixed this problem with my 870 build.

Just as someone said above, get a drill, a rod, a bronze cheap brush from Wal mart and some kind of fluid... I used break free. I essentially went down the barell a few times w. the bronze brush then once I got the surface rust out, I covered the bronze brush with fine steel wool. Un roll the steel wool then roll it around the brissels of the bronze brush. Now add break free and clean the barell some more. This only works on a shotgun barell. Also, throw that brush away after and make sure you get all of the steel wool out of the barell after.

good luck.

 

[littlebob]

Of course make sure it is unloaded and the chamber is empty first. I tended to one I neglected for about two months and paid for it. I usually try to clean with in a few days of shooting if not the same day, but realized Sunday I only got around to cleaning one the same day and put the other two in the safe(out of site out of mind).
I stripped the gun to the essentials and then sprayed some bore cleaner from the breach and rolled it around while keeping the muzzle pointed downward. Get a beer and relax as I know the stuff is doing its job. Blue/green stuff was dripping out of the muzzle
in seconds. Do it again and then run a brass brush through from breech to muzzle about a dozen times alternating a spray of penetrating oil or WD40 after each one. After the brush I ran a jag with a bore cleaner applied then a few dry ones to follow it up.
I repeated this process alternating between the brush and patches until it looked really close then sprayed some var sol to rinse it out and used a few patches to dry.
After the patches came out pretty clean I used some Flitz and ran one with a small amount for about five dry to polish it up. repeated the this process till it was shiny and
the patches were almost clean.
Finished up by running an oil preservative patch through that came out a little dark as it
replaced some of the Flitz I used to polish it.
Eight beers, four hours, 1/3 can of penetrating oil, 1/3 can of WD40, 8oz's of var sol,
numerous paper towels, patches and gloves I'm done.

 

[archull]

use a wire barrel brush on with with alot of oil, also run a good solvent through it. When done run a bore snake through it until the barrel is completely cleared and it will bring it to a near perfect polished finish.