jumping in vol 2 rusty .50

infideleggwelder

infideleggwelder

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Go east they said. it will be fun, they said
never owned BP gun til today. now have two. price was right in both. .32 cal CVA, never been fired.
italian made .50. different story. seems ridden hard and put away wet. 4 fifths of the way down in the the barrel, the cleaning jag with a patch hangs up. i can get it past, and out again, but it`s quite rusty. is this salvageable? and if so, gun oil and steel wool?
 
Don't give up on the .50 yet. Try some rust solvent product, there are lots of them out there. Let it soak, then, as you say, get at it with brushes, steel wool, etc. If need be, you can try lapping it. The rusty spot is just in front of the ball, when loaded, and may prove to be more of a pain than a real problem. If the rest of the bore is ok, it may still shoot not too bad, but you will have to be real careful that you get the ball seated right down on the powder every time. The rough spot will make it tough to get the ball seated correctly, especially if the bore is dirty after a few shots. If that is a problem, you can help yourself out by wiping between shots. One technique is to load your powder charge, then run a tight wad down on top of it. Then you wipe with a damp patch, followed by a dry one, then load the patched ball. OTOH, it may be screwed. Only one way to find out...
The CVA .32 is a fun little rifle, and not bad quality, IMHO. IIRC, you mentioned in another post that you are set up to cast, so you are good to go. I would buy a proper mold, rather than try to use buckshot. The buck will likely work, but I think, is almost exactly .32, so you would need to use such a thin patch that you would likely have trouble with burning through the patch. If you get a .31 or .315 mold, then Bob's your uncle. Have fun. I bet you'll have another ML before too long :-D
Check out this site. http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/ Dutch has a lot of good info that will get you shooting pretty well way quicker than you can figure it out on your own. Think about sending him $20 for his "book" ( actually it is a home printed pamphlet, but it is really, really helpful). As always, YMMV
Glen
 
To get at the rust try the following. Wash out the barrel with lacquer thinner 2 or 3 times to get all oil out. Plug the nipple-I use candle wax dripped into hole which cleans out easily later. Pour "E-Vapo Rust" down the barrel to just below the muzzle and let sit for 24 hrs. Don't get it on the bluing as it will come off in short order. After 24 hours or so-no set time, pour out into container and wash barrel out. Steel wool on cleaning rod should now give you a clean bore if not -repeat the process using the fluid you saved-keep using it till it turn black. Has worked very well for me on many projects and on originals has also served to unstick breech plugs. Great stuff but stay away from bluing or old patina with it. Make sure to oil after using as the steel is very clean and can rust up within 30 minutes. Welcome to the "dark side" it's more fun than you will imagine.
 
i took the rifle apart, and removed the breech plug. CLP, steel wool, Hoppes 9 solvent. (my brush is a lee enfield chamber brush, and not very effective.) repeat, and so on. bore is amazingly intact, all the caked up crap is gone. there is still some raised "islands" in the grooves, but pitting is very minimal.bore is actually very bright. ran a double patched ball thru a few times. kind of hung up a little, but did pass right on thru. oiled the bore until i get back to it. any ideas to get the "islands" out? also thinking of stripping the bad varnish job and going to linseed oil.

the .50 came with a Lee .49 ball mould, a minnie ball mould, 300ish caps, about 500 patches, 10 lbs lead, powder measure, and can of GOEX FFFG. traded a beat up mosin, and a hand forged knife for all that.
the CVA is brand new and never been fired. my 8 yr old lit up like a Christmas tree when i handed it to him after i paid the guy, and told him to take his gun to the truck.
 
i think so. have read up and drooled about these guns for a while now. the .32 was to be my first, but a day later the .50 came up and could not let it go by. i never fired the mosin, or even had ammo for it. my son keeps bugging me to take him out to shoot it. have to arrange that with my farmer neighbour. and its cold.
 
Evaporust would be my first choice - it's a chelating agent that preferentially attacks rust (including bluing so keep the outsides clean), and works like a hot damn. It degrades with use and time though so using old stuff doesn't work as well if you've had it sitting around in a tub for a while.

If evaporust doesn't get it, next choice would be a low volt/amp electro cleaner. They're simple to make and safe, and do a great job at removing heavy leading and major bore fouling from jackets, lead and rust. It's mildly more aggressive but on the guns it's needed for it doesn't do any harm... and really, it only does anything even vaguely noticeable if it's left running for days.
 
evaporust did the trick, just some minor pitting left in an otherwise shiny barrel. stripped the crappy shellac/varnish off the stock, looked like someone applied it with a paint roller. have some dark walnut dye on the way from lee valley, then will hit it with linseed oil. guess it will be about two weeks before shooting the .50. i will polish up the brass as well.
 
Glad it worked. I use it a lot on cleaning up locks and parts off originals to restore them to working condition. Have not seen it damage anything I used it on-also de-blued a new barrel going on an old Remington and with a little cold blue paste got an "old" looking finish. Cheers
 
infideleggwelder said:
kind of what i want to do. like the old "brown finish" on the steel. i really prefer that look on these, buddy of mine had one finished with brown instead of blue
Click to expand...

Browning is the correct finish for most all 18th/early 19th century North American percussion and Flintlock builds; or left "in the white". Bluing existed but Hawken and most Pennsylvania styles were typically browned or left "in the white" and they take on their own patina.

Birchwood Casey and Laurel Mountain Forge both make great browning solutions unfortunately getting them across the border now is getting tougher because of export/import issues. Wholesale Sports used to stock B/C "Plum Brown" but no longer because of those issues. The good news is, at the end of the day all you need to do is promote even rust - and there are DIY solutions out there if you're thinking of re-browning. Slower but they do work if you have patience and are good with building stuff. There is of course more to that process but if you are considering it then that gives you a basic idea of where to start your search.
 
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first five shots today from the .50. shot way to the right, so tapped the front sight a little, and was bang on at 50 yards ish. the wind sucked and temp dropped (or seemed to). lost the bottom of the powder measure in the snow, lots of dead caps, and otherwise fun.
the .32 got fired twice, both high, and then we said enuff and went for coffees. also picked up a small horn at a my favourite antique store on the way home, and have started my first powder horn build. will post pics if anyone interested.
 
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