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Pitted Barrel

gundog870

gundog870

Premium Platinum Member
just curious got out teh muzzy today and about puked. I checked everything over and then broke it over and noticed i have got some nice pitting going. Now I clean my gun everytime i bring it home. I guess I didn't clean it good enough? the muzzleloader is a few years old, but I would never expect this to happen? I guess my question is, do any of you guys have ML that have the barrels a little pitted? or are they still perfect? I swear I cleaned it till she shined but i am wondering if I didn't get it dry enough when I put it away?? By the way i shoot Pyrodex if that matters at all.

thanks for any advice thoughts, this is mostly a need to vent.
 
My TC Black Diamond is 3 years old now and I have no pitting (so Far) I clean it with TC #13 bore cleaner and follow up with a liberal amount of TC bore butter, It really looks like a new gun. I use 777 loose powder
 
My first muzzleloader was a "very used" Remington 700. I was just out of college with no money and the price was right
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. The barrel had some advanced pitting but I took a chance anyway and cleaned it up. What I ended up doing was taping the end of the barrel up really good and stood it up in the corner in a coffee can and dumped Hoppes No.9 Nitro Powder Solvent in the end and let it sit overnight. The next day I swabbed the barrel what seemed a hundred times and got quite a bit of the rust out. I soaked it again and the next time took a bristle brush and put it on the cleaning rod and used my Dewalt drill and on a very slow speed went up and down the barrel. This really did the trick for me, but you have to be careful you don't do it too much because I think you can take the edge off the rifling and hurt your downrange accuracy. I used that gun for two years and ended up trading it off. You could give that a try. Good Luck!
 
No pitting in mine. I would not expect it either but you ask a good question. I have had mine for 7 years. I know of others who have had theirs for much longer than this with no pitting. My guess is the same as yours, it either wasn't as clean or dry as you thought it was. Also, do you oil it when put into long term storage?
 
My first barrel on my encore pitted. TC told me I should not store it away with bore butter and that was likely the cause of the pitting. I clean the heck out of it after shooting now and oil it. As far as I can tell, It shoots excellent. I guess I am ruining the seasoning on the barrel but it does not seem to have adversly affected the accuracy out to 150 yards
 
I truely just dont think I got it as dry as I thought. Its one of those things, that pobably wont hurt it but kills me to think about. My other question is was do you guys oil with when you are going to put it away for the year? I also think that maybe pyrodex is just extremely corrosive. Live and Learn I guess. Kinda right up there with cleaning my 870 after a rainy hunt and sliding it back in a wet case.
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I have been known to make a few mistakes is my day..
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I use #13 on my gun too and have NEVER cleaned it with water. I have had mine since 1992 and still haven't had it pit or rust at all. I just oil the hell out of it before putting it away for the year.
 
got some good news. I shot quite a bit today. the gun shot excellent and after i cleaned it, it cleaned up even better than the other night. its still go some pitting but not to bad. thanks for the ideas.
 
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My first barrel on my encore pitted. TC told me I should not store it away with bore butter and that was likely the cause of the pitting. I clean the heck out of it after shooting now and oil it. As far as I can tell, It shoots excellent. I guess I am ruining the seasoning on the barrel but it does not seem to have adversly affected the accuracy out to 150 yards

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This info is good to know,I guess I`d better change my storage habits.
 
I suppose it makes a big difference if you have a blued barrel or stainless steel. I have one of the original Knight disc rifles about 8 years old. It is a stainless steel barrel, and I have never had any pitting and would be shocked if I did. I always store it with a light coat of bore butter in the barrel and on the threads of the breach plug. My only complaint with the gun is that Knight should've gone the extra step to make all of the assembly screws out of stainless steel. These are the only components I've ever seen even a hint of rust on.

NWBuck
 
Best thing to do is always check the bore of your frontstuffer with in 24 hours of cleaning and lubing.A dry patch down the bore will tell you if you screwed up or not.When you find what works check it again in a couple of weeks.Relube and give it a month this time.If its ok then you can relube about every 2 to 3 months.Some lubes will dry out over time.
Best thing i have found for a storage lube is breakfree clp.You need to remove it with rubing alkey or moosemilk before you shoot,then dry patch it and fire a couple of caps.If it isnt removed before shooting like most petro products if will cause a very hard fouling in the bore making it difficult to load.CLP works great on breech plug threads on modern muzzle loaders also.Just spray some on the threads and screw the plug in only finger tight.Comes right out and i use triple seven in the inline.In the flintlock and caplocks i use black powder only and clp works well with it also.Just have to treat it the same way.
The armed forces used a version of clp and had good luck with it on the rounds that have black powder kicker loads in the ammo.
As for the barrel thats pitted you can uses some steel wool around your cleaning jag soaked with wd-40.Just be carefull you dont get it stuck
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a very thin scouring pad might work also.
A little pitting most likely wont hurt the accuracy too terrible much with a conical or sabot but on a patch round ball it would tear the heck out of it and the patch would blow causing real bad grouping.
Just my 2 cents
 
Naval Jelly and fine steel wool has worked well for me on pitting,and breakfree is a great product but have not seen it in years.I do not know if the military still uses it,but I know I went through gallons of it.Also known as panther piss.
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I use the stuff in the spray can.Can find it at walmart.Where did you find navel jelly?I was looking for some a while back to put a gray finish on the plains rifle.I heard naval jelly works well for this.Ended up using birch wood cassy blue and rust remover.A couple of coats left on and some light buffing with a wet rag made a nice deep gray finsih on the barrel.
That blue and rust remover may work with the steel wool in a pitted barrel also,maybe.
 
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