Bought a wallhanger today

[Flinter987]

Howdy,
I bought a gun today. I found it on craigslist as a "non-working wallhanger" It is a Ultra-hi Japanese Miroku Percussion .45 cal. It had been hanging on this guys wall for 10 years. Paid $45 for it which is probably a bit high considering it's shape!
It is drilled and tapped for a scope, which isn't so bad - except they ground out part of the inside of the hammer so it wouldn't hit the scope. The hammer has some chips out of the head, the bore is a bit rusty, and it's missing the front sight.
Oh, yeah, someone in their brilliance ground off the tip of the buttplate to make it more "modern" by the looks of things! Otherwise, I think it'll be a breeze to make it into a shooter again. The lock seems strong and the hammer seems to fit the nipple nice.
Tonight when I was cleaning it I took a brand new Hoppes .45 cal brush and was running it through the bore. When it got to the bottom and I went to reverse it the wire part pulled right off the screw part. :shake: I tried getting it back out by packing the barrel with cotton and cloth and then hooking up the air compressor to the nipple to blast it out of there. It didn't budge - even with over a hundred pounds of pressure. I think I'll try a cap on it in the morning and see if that'll budge it. Any other suggestions?
I know I saw some talk about this gun on here a bit ago. Who all has one and what loads does your's like? Also,(I'm sorry, this has probably been hashed before but) what's a good way to clean out a rusty bore?
Thanks!
Flinter987

 

[RJR]

Go to a hardware store and get a piece of 3/8 copper pipe a little longer than your barrel. Push it down your barrel over the bristles until it bottoms out, then take it out. Simple fix for a difficult problem.

 

[Flinter987]

That is a brilliant idea! Thanks!

 

[Zonie]

A 7/16 diameter thin wall brass tube will work even better but they are not always available in a long enough piece for some muzzle loaders barrels.

 

[Semisane]

A 7/16 diameter thin wall brass tube will work even better but they are not always available in a long enough piece for some muzzle loaders barrels.

That's true. But most hardware stores have the 12" lengths, and you can mount that on the end of a thirty six inch 7/16" wood dowel. Be sure to cross pin it.

 

[Flinter987]

I was able to find some 3/8 and got it out!
Thanks a ton! Now to buy a better brush! Enough of cheap brushes!

 

[Captjoel]

That was a great method to remove the bore brush! I had the same thing happen with a 32 cal barrel that was 42 inches long. I tried the blow out method and finally ended up pulling the breech plug. This site is a great wealth of very helpful information!

 

[Zonie]

If you get another brush you can still expect to get it stuck in the barrel. IMO, brushes are made for modern guns where the brush can pass all the way thru the barrel.

When any of the spiny kind of brushes are shoved down the bore the bristles bend back towards the muzzle. When you try to remove it the bristles jam against the barrel walls. It's a little like one of those old Chinese finger locks.

Anyway, if the new brush gets stuck, rotate the cleaning/ram rod clockwise with quite a lot of force. This will screw the cleaning rod/ramrod into the brush tighter and it will cause the brush to rotate. Rotating the brush bends the bristles to the side so after their bent they are a LOT easier to pull back up out of the barrel.

IMO, an even better idea is to use one of the modern "brushes" with the loops on it instead of bristles. They don't lock into the bore like the bristle brushes do.

 

[dthompson1334]

To clean the rust out of the barrel, why not try 0000 (thats four ought)steel wool wrapped aroung the cleaning jag? It will remove the rust but not harm the barrel.

good luck