Is my bore ruined?

[Walt For 2A]

I had a stuck ball in my .75 caliber Brown Bess. I mean REALLY stuck. Out of desperation, I heated the bore with a propane torch and was finally able to remove a mushy ball.

I’m not happy that I did this but it is what it is. Is my bore ruined/dangerous? Is there a way to tell? Did I irreparably damage it? Did I make it brittle so that it will explode if I try to shoot it? If I did not damage it, do you have any suggestions for how to make it look cosmetically better?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The only way that you made it brittle would be if you quenched it in water instead of letting it air cool. I'm not a gun barrel guy, but the guys that are will need a photograph of where that is in relation to the breech. Lead melts at under 640 degrees F, so I don't think that's hot enough to harm the steel, but again not qualified to tell, and I think that farther away from the breech = less risk too.

LD

 

[rich pierce]

No worries

 

[Norman Brooks]

600 grit wet/dry sand paper to clean up the outside, you may have to do the whole barrel to make it look right, or the way they did it back in the day using brick dust. Bead blasting will work better if you know someone who has one. Nor for sure what metal is used on a Brown Bess barrel. Does a cleaning patch go in and out with no felt tight or loose spots. My question is did it have a powder charge in it?

 

[Walt For 2A]

The area in question is 11 inches from the breech plug. I do not notice any spotty resistance nor looseness as I run a patch through. I did not quench it with cold water. I did clean it afterward though with hot water

 

[Phil Coffins]

No danger at that level of heat, polish it and learn your lesson.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I had a stuck ball in my .75 caliber Brown Bess. I mean REALLY stuck. Out of desperation, I heated the bore with a propane torch and was finally able to remove a mushy ball.

I’m not happy that I did this but it is what it is. Is my bore ruined/dangerous? Is there a way to tell? Did I irreparably damage it? Did I make it brittle so that it will explode if I try to shoot it? If I did not damage it, do you have any suggestions for how to make it look cosmetically better?

View attachment 96814

Removed to keep everyone happy.

 

[rich pierce]

Barrels are not hardened so there is no temper to be taken out by heating.

 

[Flintlock]

Next time try a grease gun with a pointed needle nozzle held to flashole.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

Barrels are not hardened so there is no temper to be taken out by heating.

Removed due to controversy

 

[rich pierce]

Any steel has to be heat treated if only to make sure of consistency of hardness from the manufacturing process. By the fact that the steel turned blue indicates that there is a potential for failure of the barrel. Since we are talking about pressures in the 10,000 psi range, a possible failure of the barrel at that point should be considered. Certainly a qualified gunsmith should be consulted.

This is not factual information. Please check actual practices of actual ML barrel makers. People solder underlugs on all the time. People braze bayonet lugs on ML barrels. I’m not sure where you’re getting your information. Bill Large never heat treated barrels. Nor Don Getz. Nor Douglas, or GRRW, or many other makers.

 

[Old Hawkeye]

Any steel has to be heat treated if only to make sure of consistency of hardness from the manufacturing process. By the fact that the steel turned blue indicates that there is a potential for failure of the barrel. Since we are talking about pressures in the 10,000 psi range, a possible failure of the barrel at that point should be considered. Certainly a qualified gunsmith should be consulted.

Please get your facts straight before posting patently false statements. Actions on modern rifles are heat treated, but the barrels are not. All steels are not heat treated & that includes ML barrels. Actually, heat treating a barrel would ruin it & make it less safe. The heat needed to soften the lead ball did no damage to the barrel other than cosmetic.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Twelve posts regarding a safety issue and not one information source cited?

 

[Notchy Bob]

I've heard of muzzleloader barrels being annealed, or heated for a time to relieve or equalize stresses. Never heard of one being intentionally hardened. In fact, the old "dead iron" rifle barrels, of very soft metal, used to be preferred, as they did not "whip" or vibrate as steel barrels can. As @rich pierce pointed out, sights, underlugs, and even ramrod pipes can be soldered on, and I believe the old Belgian-made doubles had the barrels brazed together. I think Clay Smith fire blues the barrels of some of his rifles. People routinely heat the breeches of their rifles to remove "frozen" plugs and nipples.

If you checked it with a snug-fitting patch and jag down the whole bore and don't feel any loose spots, I think you're okay. The exterior discoloration should clean off with an abrasive.

Don't feel bad about it. Thanks for introducing the topic!

Notchy Bob

 

[Flintfan69]

Since we are talking about pressures in the 10,000 psi range,

Ahhh....the pressures we are talking about are no where near that number. Breech pressures in a black powder shotgun/smoothbore are in the 5000-6000 psi range. Farther down the barrel where the heating was done the pressures will be in the 1000-2000 psi range.

You will not change the crystalline structure of the steel unless you heat it to it's critical temp which will be up around 1400 F. And you would only do that to any significant way if you also quenched it at that point. Barrels are soldered (250-400 F) and even brazed (up to 1000 F) on all the time without ill effects.

Also good point about the charcoal bluing that is becoming more popular. Those temps will be in the 700-800 F range.

 

[PathfinderNC]

You took the temper out of that section of the barrel. Unfortunately it isn't as simple as putting it back, doesn't work that way. I would think that if the barrel is compromised, when/if you shoot it again, you will get a "walnut" right there, that is to say, bulging. Is this a Bess from India? Fortunately the steel that is used to produce barrels today is way beyond the quality of the metal used when a historical barrel was made.

False information

 

[Mulemauler]

Blue color indicates a 600-700 degree range which is the flowing temp for most soft solders for sights I use a hard solder which flows at 1200 and parts are heated to a cherry red. As long as parts are allowed to air cool I have never seen any adverse effect to a barrel.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I get them that hot soldering on underlugs, not to worry.

 

[bjarard]

For future shooting of your Bess...shoot it the way it was designed(if you weren't doing that already) Paper cartridge with undersized ball. Fast to load...fast to shoot. Never get anything stuck in the barrel this way. 3-4 shots a minute was the goal.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

Ok everybody. I rescinded my post and stand corrected.