Method of removing bore rust/pits ?

[Dphar]

Pitting requires metal removal.
Lapping or cutting. Easier to rebarrel unless its an original gun.

A modern barrel is far easier to replace than to try to lap as lapping can require hours of work to remove .001". Recutting is an option but this costs money to get someone to do it .

Dan

 

[Tinker2]

I use a home made electrolytic rust removal system that is cheap, easy, safe, and works great. You probably already have 99% of what you would need laying around.

Last year I bought [ $20. ] a Spanish 9mm Destroyer carbine. There was so much rust in the bore that even after running a brush through the bore it was hard to tell it was rifled. I used this to de-rust the bore on it.

Yes, it’s still pitted but the rust is gone and it shoots quite well now.

Listed below is the basic way of doing this.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-aka-Magic/

If you want try this and want more specific information on doing this inside your barrel I would be happy to walk you through the way I do this.

Tinker2

 

[redwing]

Dan, I can see you have never fire lapped a barrel. This is a quick and easy method for barrels that have very light pitting. I have recovered many Lugers, Broomhandles, Colts, and M/L by this method. The Corbon method works well but only in the hands of some one who knows metal work. :thumbsup:

 

[Dphar]

Dan, I can see you have never fire lapped a barrel. This is a quick and easy method for barrels that have very light pitting. I have recovered many Lugers, Broomhandles, Colts, and M/L by this method. The Corbon method works well but only in the hands of some one who knows metal work. :thumbsup:

BP guns, breech or muzzle loaded, are not Broomhandles or SA Colts "recovered" (this would require definition I guess) to the point they look better and perhaps can be shot with smokeless powder.
Fire lapping works very well, some freinds relate, but its not the same as lapping with a rod since it does not allow lapping a specific section of bore.
Have you ever TRYED to remove .001" from a bore by lapping? And actually measuring the bore so as to choke or taper it?
I have lapped barrels before and after rifling both to remove "variations" in the bore and to change the bore size for choke etc.
Over a period of 40 years or so , yes I have lapped barrels.
I don't gunsmith with my keyboard.

There is a BIG difference between lapping to maybe shine the bore and see the rifling easily again, which takes 10-20 strokes sometimes, to actually removing pits so that BP fouling will not collect in the pits to the point the gun must be cleaned every shot or making the bore the same size end to end or choking a bore.
It is possible to smooth a bore with light chlorate pits so that it will shoot with smokeless powder pretty easily especially if jacketed bullets are used. But BP fired in a pitted bore collects fouling in the pits and the fouling buildup is far far worse than a clean bore. Cartridge rifles with pitting that hardly effects accuracy with smokeless will thrown wild fliers by the third shot with BP.
Rough MLs become very difficult to load in 1-2 shots unless water is used as a patch "lube".
Cartridge guns with any significant pitting (1" long in the bore is enough) simply are not usable with BP loads and lapping can increase the bore size to the point the chamber may not allow accurate shooting so most cartridge guns intended for use with BP have to be rebarreled or lined since lapping to remove the pits will make them oversized to the point that other problems may effect accuracy since many original guns were over "nominal" bore size when new.

Dan

 

[Dogmann]

If I have a few spots of pitting and some light surface rust in a few areas - will the 000wool get the rust off? I also heard.... no dont laugh.... Using good old Coca Cola will eat the rust off the surface of a barrel. Anyone tried that?