bore restore

[ollie]

Hey guys

After reading some of the complaints about crappy bores ruined from not being cleaned, i thought maybe a discussion about how to clean up one of these disasters was in order. I have a mosin that saw hundreds of rounds of corrosive ammo and was never cleaned. Worse, it then sat for over 12 years. I thought it was screwed. I took a .410 bore brush and some "autosol" chrome polish(about 1200 grit paste) and scrubbed the inside of the bore till i though there would be no rifling left, and then cleaned it for an hour. Then I took it out and shot it. After another 1/2 dozen cleanings, it began to look pretty good! Eventually, after even more cleaning, it finally began showing some shine. And, as a few fellow gunnutz can attest, its a pretty good shooter too.

Thats how i brought mine back from the dead, hope this helps some folks in need. anyone else got a favorite method they'd care to share?

 

[Plinker]

I've heard similar stories of badly abused bores being brought back to life.

I have a problem bore that I need to work on, but it's got asymetrical wear at the muzzle due to cleaning without a guide (along with pitting, etc.). About four inches down from the crown, the rifling becomes sharp & shiney. I was thinking of having the barrel counterbored...

 

[josquin]

....I took a .410 bore brush and some "autosol" chrome polish(about 1200 grit paste) and scrubbed the inside of the bore till i though there would be no rifling left, and then cleaned it for an hour. Then I took it out and shot it. After another 1/2 dozen cleanings, it began to look pretty good! Eventually, after even more cleaning, it finally began showing some shine...

Hmmm..... I have a Martini-Enfield .303 that has what I think to be a shot-out bore; in any case it's somewhat pitted and I've been on the lookout for an SMLE Nº1 Mk111 barrel to use as a replacement. Maybe I should give your system a try as there is little to lose. So far I have run dozens of bronze brushes and Kroil through it, followed by patches- which came out black. I even made a "Foul-Out" type electronic cleaner and that removed even more gunk. I think it's down to bare metal now but the last time I had it on the range it only shot around 4" @ 50 yards, and that was after fire-lapping as well.

Stuart