Barrel Channel Treatment

Not sure where this post belongs -- here, General, Builder's Bench? Since it's for a flintlock I put it here.

What do you use to protect the bbl channel on a full length stock? Linseed, oil, bees wax? :idunno: I really don't like to take the pinned bbl off if I don't have to (guess I'm chicken :shake: )and am looking for protection of the wood under the bbl. There is bound to be some moisture getting under the bbl over time and I want to protect the wood (the bbl and moisture is another story for later). Thanks for any help.

On most originals I've seen this was left raw. I seal with shellac and then use wax on the underside of the barrel.

:thumbsup:

I use my stock finish to seal the inside, then hit the barrel with T-9 Boeshield. It's a corrosion inhibitor originally developed by Boeing to protect the landing gear on jets, but now available in bike shops. It dries to kind of a waxy surface that's about the best I've found in a salty environment, especially for seldom-seen surfaces like the bottom flats of a pinned barrel.

I finished my 2 Haines an my smoothbores barrel channels just like I did on the outside. Stain/an many coats of tru oil an several wax applications. But I still take my barrel out most times when I clean. That is just My method. You may have a better way or develope one in time. :grin:

I like to finish the barrel channel with stock finish, then coat the barrel with water pump grease- but just because I have a can of the stuff. There are Synthetic greases made for use in Jet Airplanes, that have to suffer high heat, as well as numbing cold temperatures. They make an excellent sealant to put between the barrel and the barrel channel. Check with a local airport for a source of supply. Talk to the airplane mechanics.

I own a 110 year old gun( 1900) that is packed with what appears to be water pump grease- when I bought it ten years ago. The part of the barrel exposed to the weather and elements has NO blue showing, and is covered instead with a natural "patina" and scars from nicks from running into branches and brush. However, under the barrel, where its been protected by the grease, you find the prettiest Royal Blue finish you will find. NO rust, either. The grease is still "sticky" to the touch- a surprise to me, BTW. I at first thought it was cosmoline, but it didn't have the smell of cosmoline- and looks like, and feels like my water pump grease. Water pump grease has to also withstand a WIDE RANGE of temperatures without melting, or hardening.

I bought my can to lube a new "pitcher pump", with leather gaskets, for a well my club had on its newly rented farmstead. That pump was used for 13-14 years before we moved to a new location, and the grease lasted all that time, without renewal. The pump withstood 100 degree temperatures, as well as -20 degree temperatures in the winter, and the grease never failed. The water in the pipe frozen once, but the grease never failed. :v :thumbsup:

While i didn't take any great steps with the barrel channels on my guns I did remove the pinned barrels for treatment. I simply applied a few coats of Tru-Oil in the channel. The bottom of the barrels were wiped down with paste wax. Unless they get wet I'll remove the barrels again in a few years for a look-see.

I give the channel a coating of the varnish/oil that I finish the stock with. And then a coating of beeswax to keep moisture from getting between the barrel and channel.

Pure tung oil would be a good choice. Very durable and moisture resistant.

BLO,wax, the same finnish as the rest of my rifle. Once a year I take the rifle totally apart and detail it. I remove the wax in the channel with some alcohol, rub a little more oil into it and then re-wax it.I also wax the underside of the barrel. Forget it till the next year.

I seal all wood with Tru-Oil or Permalyn, inside & out. In the barrel channel, I put two good thick coats, let each coat sit for 30 min, wipe out excess with paper towel or rag & be sure to get in all the corners & inlets.
BLO, Tung Oil, etc. is not waterproof. Then I grease the bottom of the barrel with RIG & put the barrel in. It stays there forever unless I have an issue that makes me take it out, if that ever occurs. I seal the edge of the barrel inlet/barrel crack with my patch grease & pressure it in the crack, so no water can get in, when I am hunting in bad weather.

I clean the rifle bore Upside Down in a rifle cradle so no water ever goes into the stock.

Keith Lisle

Birddog6 said:

I seal the edge of the barrel inlet/barrel crack with my patch grease & pressure it in the crack, so no water can get in, when I am hunting in bad weather.

I clean the rifle bore Upside Down in a rifle cradle so no water ever goes into the stock.

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Both of those are really worthwhile additions to this discussion. I go ahead and rub it around the lock plate too, for the same reason in our really wet climate.

Only thing I've changed in that approach is to use T-9 Boeshield on the bottom of the barrel rather than RIG, much as I love RIG. T-9 was developed by Boeing for protection of landing gear on jets from water and salt, and the stuff is downright magical. Only place I have found it is the REI bike shop, but thanks to someone here at the forum for turning me onto it in the first place.

Heck, long as I'm crowing about T-9, I'll add one more point. I hunt on and around saltwater, and it's even better than LPS1 or LPS2 for protection, as good as LPS3 but not sticky. It's unbelievably tough and downright impervious to being rubbed off while you're hunting, yet nothing sticks to it like happens with LPS2 or LPS3.

I never said Tung oil was waterproof. It is very moisture resistant.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if it is waterproof. A test with cloth soaked with tung, allowed to dry, I believe, would hold water..

I stain and finish the barrel channel with the rest of the gun, then give it 2-3 coats of shellac and lastly, wax from the 'beeswax' toilet rings (soft and squishy, fills every crevice). Install the barrel, pin it and remove the excess wax that squeezes out.

Hershel House used to pack the barrel channel with axle grease. I haven't tried that yet, but it makes sense. Although I wonder what would happen if the barrel got good and hot on a 90 degree day after shooting a fast 20 shot string.

Many Klatch

I also use the stock finish then bees wax treatment and only remove the barel every couple of years and only if I have been in some really heavy rain, I have heard that some petro type greases will damage the wood over time??

Rifleman1776 said:

I never said Tung oil was waterproof. It is very moisture resistant.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if it is waterproof. A test with cloth soaked with tung, allowed to dry, I believe, would hold water..

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Nor did I respond to your post. I just made a statement. :hmm:

Keith Lisle

gun maker packed mine with vaseline

I am refinishing one now that the maker or a previous owner did the "pack the barrel channel with grease" routine. What a mess. Has stained some of the stock and I hope I can get some of the stained wood cleaned up. I know Hershel did it, but I don't care for it. Beeswax OK, grease yucky! Just an amatuers opinion take it for what it is worth!

One of the reasons you MUST finish the mortises with some kind of stock finish is to prevent grease and oil soaking into the wood. As delivered from manufacturers, all you have is bare wood in those mortises.

If someone was foolish enough to put grease in a bare wood barrel mortise( channel) then he should expect that the grease would soak into the wood stock, and, if left long enough, ruin the wood. I see this same dumb mistake in all kinds of guns- new and old traditional guns. I can't imagine what was going through their minds when they did that. If they didn't know, why didn't they ask someone? :cursing: :thumbsup:

Oh, use alcohol to soak that oil out of the wood. If the wood is not too spoiled and soft, you can pull that oil out, and finish the surface with shellac, or varnishes, and save the stock.