How to Deal with Rust

CarloNord

CarloNord

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So I have a 1950 Russian SKS, steel barrel. I left her well oiled (So well oiled that she was still dripping some Hoppes when I opened up the receiver), in a silicone gun sock, in a cabinet that has desiccant packs in it. I haven't checked on it for about 2-3 months, figuring it's fine. But last night I decided to have a look, jus in case. I could hardly see down the barrel, so much rust. So much. I spent just over 2.5 hours cleaning the bore, apply cleaner, scrub, patches, apply cleaner again, wet patches, etc. I've got it to the point where it's shiny on the inside again, but dirtier now. I think there's been some pitting, and I think the bore has been widened a bit since my brush glides through much easier now, though that could just be the brush since I think it's made of copper.

Anyways, how do I deal with this for long term? Or am I going to just be checking in on her periodically to make sure she's clean? I'm still seeing either some copper fouling I think in the barrel, I've got her apart again right now for some more cleaning.

Thanks in advance!
 
Run some boiling water down the bore. Also over the piston and tube. Then oil it up, the water will evaporate very quickly because of the temp.

Do that after every range trip. If it's not cleaned properly (boiling water) after every time it's taken out for a shoot this will happen again. Oiling it up well if not rinsed properly will just lead to rust, no matter how much oil you put on it.

Essentially you are removing the corrsive salts by rinsing them away. This has been the standard practice since the days of black powder flint locks. Don't listen to any nonsense about windex or other wifes tales.

Bore brushes bend down with use, your bore didn't enlarge.

Long term it doesn't hurt to check your firearms over every few months. Especially ones that shoot corrosive ammunition. However if you follow my advice I think you'll be pleasently surprised at the condition of everything after a few months.
 
Just as a quick update, after my cleaning right now, I've managed to make the bore so shiny and bright it hurt my eyes to look down it. I don't see any pitting anymore, or at least any I could see caring about. There's some minor copper fouling near the crown, but I honestly am not worried about that, unless I should? So I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I do still worry about rust. I do fire Norinco right now, but I've got a stock of Barnaul to use, I just haven't cause I'm using up my crap first.

As for boiling water, I'll keep that in mind, though it seems kinda counter productive. Any tips on making the stuff actually evaporate in areas like the gas piston and connector? I can't exactly clean in there easily, been doing my best with bore cleaner and always lubing up the piston.
 
Not sure how running boiling water to rinse out the salts could be seen as counter productive. Until the advent of non corrosive ammunition hot or boiling water was always the preferred method. Saying that spits in the face of 300 years of military firearms cleaning practices. But hey whatever man I'm sure you know better.
 
Boiling water or hot tap water. I have my water tank temperature set high. Your going to use enough water that the barrel and are going to feel warm. Any water will soon dry off due to heat. What I use for my muzzle loaders and anything I use corrosive ammunition in is Fluid Film or Rust Check in the green can. Both leave a heavier film of oil on metal. Don’t use spray penatrate as it evaporates. I shot some surplus ammunition that wasn’t supposed to be corrosive and did a regular clean. Rust showed up. Full water treatment, complete tear down and reoiling. No permanent damage. Any surplus ammunition i fire I now assume it is corrosive. Happened with my Egyptian Rashid, not a cheap gun.
 
I'm just saying that it seems counter productive, cause ya know, water and metal tend to not mix. I'd have to boil i in the kitchen but whatever, can do. I'll probably take her to the range in a few days, blizzard warning this weekend.

Fluid film in the barrel? Really? I happen to have a bunch since I undercoated my truck a few days ago, but it's pretty thick and I'd expect it to gunk up the gas system, though it's not in a can and needs a spray gun to apply. Muzzle loaders and maybe bolt actions seem like it's workable though, I'd like to see that myself to be honest.
 
CarloNord said:
I'm just saying that it seems counter productive, cause ya know, water and metal tend to not mix. I'd have to boil i in the kitchen but whatever, can do. I'll probably take her to the range in a few days, blizzard warning this weekend.

Fluid film in the barrel? Really? I happen to have a bunch since I undercoated my truck a few days ago, but it's pretty thick and I'd expect it to gunk up the gas system, though it's not in a can and needs a spray gun to apply. Muzzle loaders and maybe bolt actions seem like it's workable though, I'd like to see that myself to be honest.
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Fair to have reservations about it. Lord knows I did. But I got bit by rust from corrosive ammo after trying all the silly "new" methods, and learned from old timers who learned the old way about using hot water. I tried it, it worked amazing. I haven't looked back. I do my best to help educate anyone on the topic laying out the history and the theory. But I'm starting to realize that just because someone asks, doesn't necessary mean they want to know.
 
i used to take the stock off the sks and just shower with it.

but yeah, running hot water down the barrel cleans it out good.
i do that with all my 7.62x39 guns after a range trip.

if you are really worried about the water, use an air nozle to blow it out from around sctews and what not.
 
Hot water thing works!!! Rig up some apparatus - like a way to hold rifle muzzle down. Place bucket below. If necessary, make a flexible line from a funnel, into chamber. Set tea kettle to boil - ideally bubbling, boiling water, right from the kettle. Hot water from a tap is better than cold water - boiling, bubbling water is better than hot tap water. Flush through about a litre or so - barrel will feel quite warm - dries almost instantly. Any corrosive salts will be gone from the bore. Modern Hoppe's is not much of anything useful - a poor cleaner, a poor, or is not even, a solvent for copper any more, and likely even a worse "oil" for preserving. Is not like the stuff with same name from 1960's, at all. For a couple months storage - even some 10-30 or 5-30 motor oil or transmission fluid slathered down the bore will hold off corrosion. Do not need or want the bore "plugged" or "filled" - just a liberal coating on the inside barrel surfaces from one end to another - and it will slowly migrate - so store muzzle down. Apparently the Swiss - for generations - use a nylon or fibre bore brush to slather grease into the bore surfaces to preserve - one or two clean dry patch through to clean before shooting. Apparently original Swiss grease was a vegetable based product - no longer made - closest that you will find in Canada is Aeroshell Grease 64 - I got a 14 or 16 ounce tube - like many of my lifetimes worth - from Aircraft Spruce on-line. Same deal - do not want bore plugged - but want liberal coating on all the inside bore surfaces - apparently does not migrate nearly as much as any oils do.

That flush with hot water does not do much, if anything, for carbon fouling or bullet jacket build up - need to deal with those separately with products made for them. The hot water flush is about primo for getting rid of the salts though - oils, etc. DO NOT dissolve salts; hot water does.
 
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Boiling water dissolves salt.
Salt is part of the priming compound.
I could keep going, but keep us posted on your cleaning progress.
Don't forget to clean the ENTIRE gas system
 
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Leaving an oily gun in a safe isn’t the best practice as far as I know. I wipe excess oil from my rifles after allowing it to soak in for a few minutes. It sounds like you have a good idea of moisture control anyways, just thought I’d mention that. Introducing that much oil to your safe does add moisture, so any weak points would suffer more. I adopted that regiment after dealing with rust issues, never had a problem since.
 
I have a funnel perfect for the mosin. I pull the action from the stock and put the funnel in the breech with the muzzle end in the kitchen sink and pour a whole kettle of boiling water down there. By the time that kettle is empty the barrel is hot enough that it cant be held with bare hands. I hold it with a pair of those silicone oven mitts while I'm pouring the water down there.

Once that's done I make up a second kettle and that one gets poured over the disassembled bolt which has been conveniently placed in a strainer in the sink. With an SKS gas piston and everything else would be included in the strainer here as well as some water down the gas port and tube in step one above.

Most of the water will evaporate quickly due to the heat. A little bit of compressed air through the barrel and into nooks and crannies while everything is still too hot to touch helps.

After that clean as you normally would. The process is the same on any firearm after using corrosive ammunition, I disassemble the whole thing every time. It's a bit more time consuming but I like doing it so the extra time and care doesn't bother me.
 
How I deal with 'out' rust - YMMV

OP - To run water thru the barrel and action I remove the stock and gas tube/piston, then put the barrel 'muzzle down' into my Laundry sink (f-glass) and direct Hot tap water thru the chamber (ca 200*F for Legionnaire's) for 1-2 minutes. Then the same for the gas tube. That high temp heats the metal (as someone else said) so it fully dries by itself. Then, I go on to Boretech C-4 Carbon solvent for a few patches, followed by a Copper solvent (I have a few and they all seem to work OK) for several more patches with interspersed brass brush passes for both solvents. I use a .358 brush to get good 'scrubbing' since my SKS is a 51 and many thousands of rounds gone by. The Copper solvent works better if allowed to 'soak' a bit to dissolve the Cu. To get the 'pitted' bits cleaner, I have Rem 40X 'lightly abrasive' liquid/paste that's like a 'runny mud' lapping compound.
After I'm satisfied with the cleaning, I run a couple patches with 90% alcohol (buy at Costco, ca $3/1/2L in 4-pk) then dry patch. I end with Mobil1 synth oil everywhere internally EXCEPT the trigger assy. There I use a tiny bit of synth-grease from CT ONLY on friction surfaces, the rest of the metal is blued and left 'dry' so it doesn't collect crap!! I have an MCarbo 'Light' Sear-Spring (in Tapco so I don't need the 'Medium" spring) and have polished the sear and channels, resulting in ca 3-4# trigger.
PS - This is my 2nd SKS, the first was in OEM stock and I did the same process with it for over 5 years - both still SKS 'accurate' @ 4-6moa with Irons. :rolleyes:
PPS - One thing I HIGHLY recommend is that you get a good borescope so you can 'really see' the bore condition. When I got mine I was 'amazed' at the crap remaining in my "Shiny-clean" bores - of ALL my firearms !! :eek::eek:
Here's a pic of the '51 bore after my cleaning process, before the oil. 70 years of pitting but the edges of the rifling are still defined and fairly deep.
51-Tula-after-40-X-cleaner-7-05-21.png
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OP et al - I forgot to add the Gas Tube needs brushing as well, I use a worn-out shotgun brush then a worn .22 brush since the tube has 2-IDs. I DO put a light coat of oil in there, tho it's advised by many to NOT do that,to avoid collecting crap. After the oil "Soaks" while I do the barrel, I run a dry patch to remove 'most' of it. The tube doesn't seem to collect much stuff anyway.
And BTW, I've drilled the "Extra holes" in the gas tube to reduce ejection distance to ca 10ft AND have "Opened" the ejection port ca 1/2" to direct ejection to 3-o-clock. Both mods work as intended.
 
CarloNord said:
Just as a quick update, after my cleaning right now, I've managed to make the bore so shiny and bright it hurt my eyes to look down it. I don't see any pitting anymore, or at least any I could see caring about. There's some minor copper fouling near the crown, but I honestly am not worried about that, unless I should? So I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I do still worry about rust. I do fire Norinco right now, but I've got a stock of Barnaul to use, I just haven't cause I'm using up my crap first.

As for boiling water, I'll keep that in mind, though it seems kinda counter productive. Any tips on making the stuff actually evaporate in areas like the gas piston and connector? I can't exactly clean in there easily, been doing my best with bore cleaner and always lubing up the piston.
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Buddy it sounds like your very new to this game . twice you've used the term counter productive take the rifle apart wood off strip it all down . put the wood somewhere else . boil a kettle and pour boiling water down the barrel and carefully through the gas tube . pour it over the pistol also . remove these items and place where they will dry in a warm room . then run a cleaning patch through all parts . if you feel so inclined put so I have heard a little dish soap in the water . soap rips salt off your car no ? then lightly oil all parts except the gas tube and piston . do you know why ? because this is counter productive . gee there is that word again . powder will adhere to the piston from what I know .when I tell the new guys at work how to do their job properly and they do it another way . I walk away from the whole situation . when they cry I ask them why didn't you do as I said ? let us know how it works out .
 
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