How do you get rust out of a gun that was not displayed properly?

Fox

Fox

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I picked up 3 smoke poles, 2 are antiques. Is there a solution that will get the rust out? I have been using CLP through it, let it soak and swab but the next day the patches still come out red/orange.

I have heard to plug the flash hold with a tooth pick and then fill the barrel with KROIL and leave it for a week, but I really do not want to screw anything up.

Thanks
 
Yes, rust remover would destroy any finish/patina. Avoid it.
Keep scrubbing. I'd want something more aggressive than patches though. A brush that will slide back and forth wrapped with very fine steel wool will work better.

Rifled or smoothbore? A smoothbore barrel can be polished out quite easily.
 
Filling the barrel with kroil would be a horrific waste of kroil (it also will remove rust bluing). If the barrels are finished in the white, a careful plugging followed by some evaporust would get the rust out. Alternatively to preserve any bluing you could boil the snot out of them in distilled water and then go ham with a soft brush. Dunk them in kerosene for a few days after that.
 
Sir,

The rust can be removed without the need to destroy the finish. I have used the following technique with great success to restore old military vehicle parts. These parts were left outside, uncovered for 60 years, and were good to go after a bit of time hooked up to the battery charger:



Restoration Tip: Electrolysis Derusting

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=147&highlight=rust+removal

Good luck, and don't be in a terrible rush - let the electricity do the work.


.
 
tiriaq said:
Yes, rust remover would destroy any finish/patina. Avoid it.
Keep scrubbing. I'd want something more aggressive than patches though. A brush that will slide back and forth wrapped with very fine steel wool will work better.

Rifled or smoothbore? A smoothbore barrel can be polished out quite easily.
Click to expand...

There are 3, one is a Euroarms Kentuckian, I can probably just shoot out the rust that is left, ha ha, it is the cleanest of them all.

The second is an 1856 Enfield in .577, marked 1860.

The third is what looks to be a Belgian "Fine Twist" 14ga double.

I do not want to strip the finish that is for sure, there is really nice bluing on the double, the enfield not so much but under the barrel is almost perfect bluing.
 
Keep in mind that rust is the product of oxidation of the iron or steel. If this has been going on long enough, there will be noticeable roughness or pits after the oxidation is removed. You can remove rust, but you cannot replace the base metal that was consumed during the oxidation reaction.
BPB is right - corking a barrel and filling it with Kroil would be a terrific waste of the Kroil. By all means, swab the barrel with Kroil, get it good and wet; Kroil tends to creep under scabs and scales, loosening them.
 
tiriaq said:
Keep in mind that rust is the product of oxidation of the iron or steel. If this has been going on long enough, there will be noticeable roughness or pits after the oxidation is removed. You can remove rust, but you cannot replace the base metal that was consumed during the oxidation reaction.
BPB is right - corking a barrel and filling it with Kroil would be a terrific waste of the Kroil. By all means, swab the barrel with Kroil, get it good and wet; Kroil tends to creep under scabs and scales, loosening them.
Click to expand...

The barrels do not seem to have much pitting, just all surface, so must not have been rusting for that long. The rifling is not crisp like today but the gun is 161 years old. The twist barrel you can see the twist on the inside, not sure if any of it is pitted though, I don't have a scope.
 
Personally, I would just scrub out the barrels of the antiques with very fine steel wool, wrapped around a brush that passes easily through the bore. Use lots of oil. You cannot use a tight fitting brush to scrub the bores because the first trip down might be one way, leaving the brush jammed, with the bristles wedging it firmly in place.
One of my antique doubles is a Belgian that was in fine condition when it was set aside. It developed an even layer of fine rust all over. Fine pitting everywhere. It disassembled easily. All screws turned out, including the nipples. I scrubbed out the bores, then gave them a quick polish with a go-devil. A wooden head on a rod, split to carry a wrap of fine abrasive paper, powered by an electric drill. The bores cleaned up quite nicely. It will never look like much, but it shoots just fine.
Externally, if there is a bloom of rust, I prefer to clean with fine bronze wool and oil.
 
electrical and chemical solutions will only remove the rust, as noted by Tiriaq. What I have done with guns that I intend to shoot is to use a tight coarse patch (ie not diaper flannel) on a bronze shotgun brush and liberal amounts of valve grinding compound. That removes a minimal amount of metal but does smooth the pits slightly. No matter what system you use, you will find it hard to remove all of the fouling after shooting, in the future. With a heavy patch and smaller ball combination, the guns should shoot reasonably well afterwards unless the pitting is severe

cheers mooncoon
 
I have a small bore (.31) commercially made 19th century half stocked percussion rifle. Bore is rough. I have shot it with a lubed wad - no patch - and a buckshot pellet which rides the bore going down. It shoots accurately enough for small game hunting at modest distances. I was surprised. I expected a pattern, rather than a group.
 
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