gotta vent a little, just wont come clean

ciphery said:
Uchi:" if i could get my hands on one 303 round id just see if i could yank the bullet out and slide that down the tube, from the looks of it it shouldnt have an issue going,
"
Good luck trying to swage a jacketed bullet down the bore by hand! That's why a pure lead fishing weight works best. Even a cast wheel weight bullet can be difficult.
Is your lee-enfeild a 2,4,5 groove?
There are different specks on bore size and different methods required to measure said bore dia. For the different configurations of barrel.
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i have no idea, didnt know there was even a difference like that.

i was gonna shove it in the vice and hope to jimmy it out with a pair of pliers and hope it didnt go off in my hand, lol.
ive got a missmash of cleaners right now o ill see how those work and if not ill look for something more specific, maybe the abrasive paste, but ill need to find some nylon brushes first, turns out crappy tire doesnt have any.
 
just a quick little update. my wife was sick on saturday so she didnt go to work so i didnt get around to this till last night. drown the barrel in brake clean, it came out clean, gave it a few good blasts. ran a patch through it, came out kinda clean. use some outters crud buster stuff on a couple patches, came out the same, not black but somewhat clean. cleaner than the last time i did it. ill have to run the brush through it and break some stuff apart. although the wife came home today and commented on the lovely aroma floating around the house, lol. ill keep plugging away at it
 
Best slugging method is to push a torpedo or bullet type lead fishing sinker down the bore with a cleaning rod or a brass/wood dowel. Then measure the sinker. If you have an odd number of grooves and lands then you will need to wrap the sinker with a piece of thin metal shim stock (pop can) then measure the Dia and subtract twice the thickness of the shim from that measurement to arrive at your bore Dia.
 
ciphery said:
Good luck trying to swage a jacketed bullet down the bore by hand! That's why a pure lead fishing weight works best. Even a cast wheel weight bullet can be difficult.
Click to expand...

I think he is assuming the bore is pretty corroded, to the point it is no longer going to be tight.

But you are certainly right. Anyone who has had to pound a squib out of a rifle barrel would agree with you. LOL
 
ciphery said:
Best slugging method is to push a torpedo or bullet type lead fishing sinker down the bore with a cleaning rod or a brass/wood dowel. Then measure the sinker. If you have an odd number of grooves and lands then you will need to wrap the sinker with a piece of thin metal shim stock (pop can) then measure the Dia and subtract twice the thickness of the shim from that measurement to arrive at your bore Dia.
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thats pretty simple to do, ill see if i can find a sinker at my dads place next time im over there.

i think tonight might be a good scrubbing kind of night. ill see if i can somehow snap a picture of the bore today, get you guys an idea of what im dealing with
 
ciphery said:
I got a decent bore pic of my Mosin-Nagant by shining a LED flashlight in one end and using the MACRO or SUPER MACRO setting on my camera.
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thats the same time i was thinking of doing to get a pic of my bore. ive got an led bore light, ill play with the position of it to see what works the best
 
got some pics, i used my cell ohone for these on its macro setting, i thought it made more sense than risking damaging the lens on my dslr camera. theres one spot that looks like a gouge or something in the bore. anyways let me know what you guys think.

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The bore shows rust pitting. The larger spot appears to be a larger pit. This isn't unexpected for an original barrel of this vintage with unknown use and maintenance over the years. The rifling is still fairly well defined, so it could still shoot acceptably well.

You cannot cure pitting as the surface is cratered by metal which has been lost due to rust/oxidization. A pitted bore will foul quickly as it tends to strip bullet jacket metal to a greater degree. This means that one needs to follow a copper removal regieme after shooting.

The only way to determine accuracy is to actually shoot the rifle after determining that stock fit is acceptably tight and that headspace is within parameters. The muzzle crowns on many old military barrels are worn which degrades accuracy. A barrel can be re-crowned to solve this problem.
 
purple said:
The bore shows rust pitting. The larger spot appears to be a larger pit. This isn't unexpected for an original barrel of this vintage with unknown use and maintenance over the years. The rifling is still fairly well defined, so it could still shoot acceptably well.

You cannot cure pitting as the surface is cratered by metal which has been lost due to rust/oxidization. A pitted bore will foul quickly as it tends to strip bullet jacket metal to a greater degree. This means that one needs to follow a copper removal regieme after shooting.

The only way to determine accuracy is to actually shoot the rifle after determining that stock fit is acceptably tight and that headspace is within parameters. The muzzle crowns on many old military barrels are worn which degrades accuracy. A barrel can be re-crowned to solve this problem.
Click to expand...

excellent thanks for the answer. how would i check to make sure the stock fir is acceptable and how would i check head space?
 
Headspace is checked with a set of "go" and "no-go" headspace gauges for the .303 British. Most gunsmiths would have these on hand. Does the serial number on the bolt match the one on the receiver? This will tell you if the bolt is original to the rifle. Lee-Enfield bolt heads are easily removable and can be swapped out with an effect on headspace due to the varying lengths of bolt heads. It is always prudent to check headspace on a rifle with an unknown history.

Is the forend original, full-length military or has it been cut down to a sporter lengtht As a minimum the front guard/action screw in front of the magazine should be tightened with a well fitting screwdriver.
 
When you are tired of buying brushes - just use extra fine steel wool around an old brush - wrap enough around the old brush make it nice and tight in the bore.

It will strip out the crud and loose scale much quicker.

Then you have reached the end point as you can do nothing about the pits. Your bore does not look have bad though. It still has prominant lands and gooves.
 
thats what i was thinking, it doesnt look bad but it surely wont be an accurate long range paper hole maker. but i love the historical stuff so itll be with me forever. unless i blow apare the barrel at which point it becomes a wall hanger, lol.

i didnt see a serial number on the actual bolt itself, but the two numbers i found were matching, how many places is it stamped on these things?
 
I'd recommend an electronic bore cleaner. Super easy to make, and work really well on "lost cause" barrels. Only complicated thing you need is an old cell phone charger so that it steps down the voltage to about 2-6 volts. Read up on them and it'll make sense. In one old winchester I have it actually helped me find the rifling.... I had scrubbed the gun for days, used solvents, brushes and cleaners and still hadn't worked through the leading, fouling and build up crud.... the electro cleaner freed all that cr@p up in 3 or 4 fifteen minute cycles.

http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy-a....,cf.osb&fp=ecf1f223b94770b7&biw=1278&bih=850

Disclaimer - this process is only really recommended for super dirty projects, as repeated use for regular cleaning could theoretically eventually start wearing down the rifling.... but it would definitely take some effort to do.
 
H Wally said:
I'd recommend an electronic bore cleaner. Super easy to make, and work really well on "lost cause" barrels. Only complicated thing you need is an old cell phone charger so that it steps down the voltage to about 2-6 volts. Read up on them and it'll make sense. In one old winchester I have it actually helped me find the rifling.... I had scrubbed the gun for days, used solvents, brushes and cleaners and still hadn't worked through the leading, fouling and build up crud.... the electro cleaner freed all that cr@p up in 3 or 4 fifteen minute cycles.

http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy-a....,cf.osb&fp=ecf1f223b94770b7&biw=1278&bih=850

Disclaimer - this process is only really recommended for super dirty projects, as repeated use for regular cleaning could theoretically eventually start wearing down the rifling.... but it would definitely take some effort to do.
Click to expand...

Does the electronic bore cleaner setup work better than foam like the CLP foam earlier in the thread?
 
H Wally said:
I'd recommend an electronic bore cleaner. Super easy to make, and work really well on "lost cause" barrels. Only complicated thing you need is an old cell phone charger so that it steps down the voltage to about 2-6 volts. Read up on them and it'll make sense. In one old winchester I have it actually helped me find the rifling.... I had scrubbed the gun for days, used solvents, brushes and cleaners and still hadn't worked through the leading, fouling and build up crud.... the electro cleaner freed all that cr@p up in 3 or 4 fifteen minute cycles.

http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy-a....,cf.osb&fp=ecf1f223b94770b7&biw=1278&bih=850

Disclaimer - this process is only really recommended for super dirty projects, as repeated use for regular cleaning could theoretically eventually start wearing down the rifling.... but it would definitely take some effort to do.
Click to expand...

Great advice. I would just ad that a 9 volt battery or an old 6 volt flashlight battery (the big square one ) will work in place of the charger. Make sure you have the polarity correct.
 
Then of course there is the commercial version,
Gunslick Foul Out III
Comes with two bottles of formula, one for lead and the other for copper. plus an AC adapter.
Keep in mind the rod inserted in the barrel must NOT contact it or it will short out. Rubber O rings and rubber chamber plug to isolate the rod. HOWEVER it ain't cheap!

there is also Sweets 7.62 bore solvent which is more agressive than Hoppes.
 
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