A co-worker of mine is asking me about a rifle of his that has developed rust in the bore. Evidently his wife had him store the gun in the basement over the winter/spring/summer and now he's got rust. Looks to be mainly around the muzzle. Any tips to removing it and salvaging this rifle? Or is it toast? At least he brought it to me a month before he needed it, instead of the night before.

Thanks,

Coot

Depends on the caliber, degree of rust, phase of the moon, etc.

Easiest way to get the rust out is to shoot it a few times<G>

It sounds like the rust only goes in a little bit from the muzzle, I would use Naval Jelly on a Q-Tip and apply it that way, removing a little bit at a time. If you wrap steel wool over a brass brush on a cleaning rod often you can remove it using just oil, but to me that can be a little harsh. But then again, it isn't your gun!

It has been a few years since I had to do this, so I don't remember whether or not the Naval Jelly discolored the blue or not.

If this is a hunting rifle I doubt you will see any noticeable decrease in accuracy, provided the pits aren't huge and the crown is OK. If the crown is screwed up it can be cleaned up by taking the ball out of an old computer mouse, peeling the rubber off it, and using the metal ball with valve grinding compound to re-cut the crown. For some strange reason someone discovered the radius on a mouse ball core will give you an 11 degree crown.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Hmmmm, hard to say. How bad is it? If it's light, you may be able to salvage it with a good cleaning. If it's deep & pitted, that's a different story. Being near the muzzle doesn't help accuracy-wise.

If it's contained RIGHT AT the muzzle, and fairly severe, you might want to consider cutting the barrel back a couple of inches & recrowning, to get into clean, sound metal again.

Until you clean it & shoot it, you won't know how it affects the rifle. You may get lucky & not notice an accuracy difference, depending on how well it shot before. Regardless, it will probably foul much more, and much quicker.

Good luck!

navel jelly is probably the best rust remover in the world... <shudder> what would that do to bluing?

jeffe

I believe naval jelly will completely remove caustic bluing!

Trust me. Navel Jelly WILL remove blueing.