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barrel rust?

muddy

muddy

Well-Known Member
I set my gun up against my truck and noticed that the inside of the barrel is starting to pit in rust. I'm pretty anal about keeping my gun clean and the pits weren't there after my last cleaning.

Anyway, how should I go about dealing with this problem?

Will the pits affect the accuracy?

It's a stainless barrel so I can't hardly believe that it rusted in such a short time.
 
Contrary to popular belief, stainless barrels will rust after being exposed to the corrosive nature of even black powder substitutes.
Start by soaking it in WD-40, brush and patch until clean.
And yes, if the pits are deep enough your accuracy will decline.
 
Assuming this is a muzzleloader, I would think that the pitting would have to be pretty bad to drastically affect your accuracy. I'd shoot it to see how it goes. I'm not a muzzeloader expert though so I'm basically talking out of my ass.

Do you bring your gun in everynight?
 
Yes, it's a muzzleloader.

Just sucks that I have to pull the bullet and all that jazz tomorrow.

I never bring my gun inside, that would cause condensation.

Hey Shovel, what type of brush do you think? Stick with the stiff plastic ones or use a soft brass?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: muddy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

I never bring my gun inside, that would cause condensation.
</div></div>

You're a step ahead of me. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Any idea what the rust could be from? Is there alot?
 
I don't know how much rust there is, I just noticed it tonite when I was getting ready. I saw about 8-10 small spots on the inside of the barrel up near the top. Didn't have a flashlight to inspect down into the barrel.

Maybe I got a little snow in there and it caused some rusting after it melted and sat in the case? I was out still hunting last Saturday in the super windy conditions and I know I blew some snow out at the end of the morning.

Brass and WD-40, check. I do have some Hoppe's, but unless you say otherwise I'll stick with the WD.
 
Shoot it. Then clean it. Don't pull it.

I had what I thought was a small pit and several spots of rust. I shot it and cleaned it as normal- every thing looked ok so I put a heavy swab of bore butter down it and put it away for the year. Ran a clean patch through it this fall and all is well.
 
Id shoot it too, it would be gone for sure. I can't imagine that it is anything more than surface rust.
 
I tried to put a dry patch down to do some swabbing and it got stuck so I had to shove the powder and bullet out the back door. Long story short a little WD with the brass bristle took care of the problem and the barrel is clean. Only problem is that I can see slight pitting in the groves, all up in the last 1.5 inches of the barrel. I cleaned everything as best as I could and then ran a lightly oiled patch about 4 inches down the barrel and back up to coat the damaged area. Will leave a small lightly oiled patch in the end of the barrel when it's not in use and will have to probably bring the gun into the garage at night so everything can dry out if need be.
 
I don't know what kind of gun you shoot but with most of them it only takes a couple of minutes to either remove the breech plug and dump the load especially with pellets for powder, or blow it out with one of those CO2 units. If I am not hunting for more than a couple of days I always do this and reload fresh when I am ready to hunt again starting with a dry swab first. Even with my old Knight Disc it just takes a couple of minutes. If you bring your rifle inside stand it with the barrel down so that if there is anything there it will run away from your load.

When you are done hunting and ready to store it try cleaning it with the old hot soapy water. I know some people think I am old fashion but I like to use this to know that any nitrate residue is removed and the bore is clean using both patches and the brass brush. After rinsing the barrel with clean water as hot as you can stand and getting it very hot stand it on end to drain and let the heat dry it. While it is still pretty warm run a patch with Wonder Lube or Bore Butter through it several times to seal and season the bore. This will flow very well while the barrel is warm and penetrate into the rifling also. If you clean it this way and don't use any strong solvents that will remove that Wonder Lube you will find that it loads easier, is easier to clean, and won't rust. My old Knight is 12 years old and might have a few spots on the outside of the stainless barrel but there is not a speck in the bore. Many times there is a very good reason that an old fashioned method has been around for 200 years, because they work.
 
When I'm out in the snow I put a piece of electrical tape over the end of the barrel to keep it from getting full of snow. Works good and doesn't seem to affect the shot. Put a doe down at just over 100yds last friday and hit right on.
 
I've done this before Matt. It works pretty good.

On a heavy fouled barrel or if a fews rust spots show up take a shotgun brass brush (they are a bit bigger) and use a gun cleaning stick or an old ramrod and put it on a variable speed drill. Spray some Gun Scrubber or Barrel Blaster (I like Gun Scrubber) down the barrel and start running the brush back and forth with the drill running. Run the brush in from both ends of the barrel. Even though I always thought I kept my barrel pretty clean, the 1st time I did this I couldn't believe all the fine pieces of copper I got out of a clean barrel.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: moosehunter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've done this before Matt. It works pretty good.

On a heavy fouled barrel or if a fews rust spots show up take a shotgun brass brush (they are a bit bigger) and use a gun cleaning stick or an old ramrod and put it on a variable speed drill. Spray some Gun Scrubber or Barrel Blaster (I like Gun Scrubber) down the barrel and start running the brush back and forth with the drill running. Run the brush in from both ends of the barrel. Even though I always thought I kept my barrel pretty clean, the 1st time I did this I couldn't believe all the fine pieces of copper I got out of a clean barrel. </div></div>

I would NOT recommend this. The fine pieces of copper were probably fine pieces of brass brush. That has got to be hell on the rifleing.
 
Someone said it right above...I bet you used too strong of a solvent during the previous cleaning and peeled off all the lube in some small spots.

I tend to go for Remoil, over WD because of this.

That drill with a brush is a terrible idea if you ask me. A very easy way to ruin a rifled barrel. You wouldn't catch me doing that to any of my guns, that's for sure.
 
muddy,
I always bring my muzzy inside when I get home. I use to leave it in the truck and had a couple of up and down temp days and well it rusted. I know many haven't had this problem but it happened to Weasels 22 250 as well. I haven't had a problem since I have been bringing it inside and taking it out of the case.

I used the knight solvent and patches then brass brush then plastic brushed then used the remoil and leave a thick coat of the stuff on it when I store it.
 
I don't think that a brass brush- is going to dull rifling. Isn't steel is going to be way harder than brass?
 
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