I recently picked up an Encore pistol barrel cheap, it had some rust in the grooves, and was wondering if there was a way to remove the rust. There is no rust on the lands just the grooves. It starts about 3/8th of an inch into the riflings and goes about 2 inches. It is not continous coverage but is mostly confined to the area next to the lands in narrow strips. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. I tried Kroil and a brass brush and it got some out but there is always that stubborn bit. Thanks for any info.

Steve E.......

Perhaps some Naval Jelly ? Or oxalic acid ? Do it carefully.

are you absolutely certain it's rust. i once had rust develop in the grooves of a very good shooting springfield,years ago. so i traded for a new rifle, same caliber, well after several months it developed the same situation. it wound up being a combination of copper and ball powder fouling as in those days my cleaning methods left something to be desired.

It's definetly rust.

Steve E......

I've used kroil, soaking and light brushing to get light rust from a barrel. Greg

You could try with a stainless steel brush or even a subcaliber brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool; apply some oil before.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep'em coming.

Steve E......

If it was mine I would clean it good with JB's, then get myself a hundred or so cast bullets, with the longest bearing surface I could and fire them thru the barrel at low/moderate speed, under 1600. Fire 5 and check for lead, if leading clean good and fire some more, after the hundred are gone be amazed at the sparkling, mirror bright bore. .02

I would use J&B bore paste.

As long as there is no obvious obstruction of the barrel, (test by pushing a patch through it and watch for tight spots) shoot it first before trying any drastic remedies. You maybe pleasantly surprised.

Soak the bbl with Kroil for 5 hours and dry patch. Resoak it for another 5 hours and dry patch.

Resoak it over night, then use a caliber sized brush and go about 30 passes. Run 4-5 saturated patches with Kroil/Shooters Choice 1:3 ratio, then dry patch.

Then go shoot. Any pitting left by the rust will fill with copper/powder fouling. Clean sparingly afterwards, but when storing use a good bore conditioner, like Montana Extreme has put out.

Ditto for shooting it. Amazing what a little friction and heat will do.

I am going to try to get to the range this week and try the shooting with JB Paste and see how that goes.

Steve E...........

If you're thinking of shooting JB through the bore, be darn sure its only a film or less. A gob of could cause you to ring the barrel.

I'd scub it with JB, push a sloppy patch to move most of it out brfore firing.

DEFINATELY do not shoot with JB in the barrel.

quote:

If it was mine I would clean it good with JB's, then get myself a hundred or so cast bullets, with the longest bearing surface I could and fire them thru the barrel at low/moderate speed, under 1600. Fire 5 and check for lead, if leading clean good and fire some more, after the hundred are gone be amazed at the sparkling, mirror bright bore. .02

Steve E-Nobody ever said anything about shooting JB's in it??? clean it good with JB's then shoot it!

Blue Wonder Gun Cleaner removes rust without harming bluing. Using it per their instructions got the rust out of a Russian Nagant model 1895 revolver. Same scenario; lands bright and shinny, grooves filled with rust.