How do I clean up this old rifle?

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Jeff000

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It's my old mans gun from when he was a kid, it's sat for 30 years in a closet. The bore looks good, and it cycles sticky. I'd really like to clean up the rust and stuff off it though. What do I need to do this? And is there a finish I can put onto it myself?


Damn, this was supposed to be in the gunsmith section. Any nice mods out there able to move it for me please?
 
Take it out of the stock and bath it in oil and a light scrubbing with steel wool. You can then see what is surface rust or damage rust , if any.
 
What kind of oil? What would constitute damage rust? And if there is damage rust is there anything I can do, or just prevent it from getting worse?
 
Any decent penetrating oil will do for a clean up. ( WD 40 ) but others can make suggestions as well. As for the rust.

Surface rust will come off and the steel will still be smooth. However, damaging rust will leave pits in the surface of the steel. There isn't much you can do other than keep the gun clean and oiled to prevent it from getting worse. However, pitting does not mean the gun cannot be used. Have a gunsmith check it over if you feel it is unsafe to shoot.

Even guns with pitted rifling can shoot well so clean it up and enjoy shooting it.
 
I often use "hoppes" gun oil and 0000 steel wool to polish up the oldies. Don't try to scrub the rust off, just give it a light shining motion and the oil will break down the rust. If there is pitting, you can use blue and rust remover to strip it down, sand from 150 through 400 grit paper to buff out the rust and even out the entire finish, and then re-blue it. It sounds like a lot of work (which it is) but it's very satisfying to see the finished product.
 
The "hut" in Anschutz in the first pic is damage rust, along with the area of the bolt by the right extractor (pic 3). Take it out of the stock, the area below the wood line may be worse yet (or better, who knows?).
I would definitely spray it with oil and let it sit for a couple of days. Come back to it with some 000 steel wool and progress to 0000 steel wool with more oil. It will clean up, but have pitting. It would be a great candidate for a Dura or Cerra-kote.
 
Thanks for all the help :)

snoopycda said:
I would use brass as well over steel wool myself. steel wool can promote rust itself.
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How come steel wool will promote rust? Would would I find brass wool? I'm not sure I have ever seen it.


gunrunner100 said:
The "hut" in Anschutz in the first pic is damage rust, along with the area of the bolt by the right extractor (pic 3). Take it out of the stock, the area below the wood line may be worse yet (or better, who knows?).
I would definitely spray it with oil and let it sit for a couple of days. Come back to it with some 000 steel wool and progress to 0000 steel wool with more oil. It will clean up, but have pitting. It would be a great candidate for a Dura or Cerra-kote.
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I'll take it out of the stock today and have a good look.
With the coating like armacoat or duracoat or whatever would it hide some of the pitting but still leave the engravings visible?
 
Take the wood off, lay out some newsprint and spread the metal out on it, soak in WD-40 overnight, re-soak before you leave for work the next morning, and after work, go at the metal with an old toothbrush and some fine steel wool (and more WD-40) and see what the real damage is.
 
Worry first about giving it a good scrub and see how it turns out.
Take the bolt apart to clean up the firing pin, extractor etc. As others have mentioned oil
or some gun solvent with steel wool.
 
I have a Mossberg 640 that spent an entire summer in a river bottom in the '60s.... I lost it beaver hunting at break up and found it again in the fall at low water. It looked a LOT worse than yours!

After taking the stock off, I put it in a bath of diesel fuel for a couple of weeks before I was able to take it apart. After that, it was just steel wool, oil and elbow grease. Diesel fuel is nasty stuff, but it sure got between the rust and the fresh steel. Nowadays you can buy those nitrile gloves, which might help. Or they might just melt...but they're worth a try.

The only damage to the bore was at the crown; after re-crowning it shoots as (very) well as it ever did. It took the stock a year or so to shrink back to it's original dimensions, however, and it still looks like hell.

Face it - your Anschutz is never going to be a beauty queen any more, but it will probably shoot as well as ever. The battle scars are just part of the story. Get the rust off, carefully degrease it, hit it with some Oxpho Blue, and be happy with a good little .22.
 
Beermaker said:
Worry first about giving it a good scrub and see how it turns out.
Take the bolt apart to clean up the firing pin, extractor etc. As others have mentioned oil
or some gun solvent with steel wool.
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How does the bolt come apart? It's sitting in some wd40 right now.


Tumbleweed said:
Face it - your Anschutz is never going to be a beauty queen any more, but it will probably shoot as well as ever. The battle scars are just part of the story. Get the rust off, carefully degrease it, hit it with some Oxpho Blue, and be happy with a good little .22.
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I just more want to be able to have and shoot the same gun my old man was given as a kid, and pass it on down even.
Which is why I am on the fence about a coating like armacoat vs a blueing.


ciphery said:
A brass wire brush and steel wire brush is obtainable at Dollarama in a pack of two with black plastic handles.
DO NOT USE THE STEEL WIRE BRUSH ON A GUN
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Thanks :)
How come no steel wire on a gun?
 
Fine steel wool will not scratch rifle steel. In fact, it will not remove the bluing on steel, unless you are prepared to spend weeks trying. Rather, it removes the rust, while polishing the blue.

Ted
 
I have had good luck with a brass wire wheel in my cordless drill. A thin film of oil on the metal and smooth even passes with the brass wire wheel will do wonders for a situation like yours. My old rusted Cooey 600 looks pretty nice now.
 
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