Finally, a muzzleloader project...

[cdg]

Yes, well after 200 odd posts here, I finally own a muzzleloading pistol that I got off of a friend for 20 bucks. It's a CVA tower pistol that needs some work. The wood is in decent shape (maybe good enough to leave alone). I will take some pictures of this gun later tonight hopefully. It does have some issues, and I'm lookingi for suggestions.

1) Barrel looks like it was browned, but it has some pretty serious rust. What should I strip it down with to get it nice and white again? I"m thinking of starting with some gentle steel wool, but that sounds slow. I'm very hesitant to just chuck it in the glass bead cabinet though...

2) Brass is really corroded up- I think I can fix this on my own with some of this polish I used to use when I bought .223 ammo by the belt (my dad, brother, and I would sit around the fire back in PA and seperate and polish the individual cartriges with this stuff).

3) The delicate engraving on the lock is pretty messed up. It might just be some fouling, but I suspect there is some rust there as well. I'm very hesitant to use anything to rough around this area, so I'm really thinking steel wool to clean it all up with, and lots and lots of patience...

4) The ramrod needs to be rifinished. I'm sure I can be a little rougher on the ramrod, but how should a ramrod be refinished? Does it get browned or blued to match the gun, or what should I do with it?

5) The buttplate doesn't seem to fit up properly to the butt- the plate protrudes out to the side of the butt. I haven't taken it apart to really look at it, but what can be done to fix this, without messing up the countersinking on the screw that holds the buttplate on?

Anyway this is for starters. There are other issues with this gun that will need to be addressed, but the above is about the worst of it. I'm not too sure how to go about taking it apart, but I think I have a good enough idea to be careful anyway...'

Your thoughts and advaice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mbw907]

Hey CDG, I have found that the best tool for removing rust without damaging the underlying metal was to use a good ole wire wheel mounted on a bench grinder. Get the type with the smaller wire in it and use safety goggles and safety protection from an occasional wire slinging off. Light pressure will clean the rust right up. :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Remove the rust by first using a heavy motor oil on the surface of the metal, and then dip your 4 O steel wool in the motor oil and lightly rub the area where the rust is. Wipe the rust off frequently, as the oxide crystals can act as fine sand paper and scratch the finish around the rust spot if you let it get into the wool. Use more oil when in doubt. Don't try to hurry this process. Light burnishing will remove the flowers of oxide on the metal surfaces, and keep most of the underlying finish in- tact. That will make touching up the brown or bluing very easy to do.

Unless you want the barrel to be in the white, I would not remove the browning. It prevents rust. What more do you expect from a finish? Spend your time scrubbing the barrel and getting the rust out of it. Use JB Bore Cleaner, or even lapping compound if you have a well stocked auto supply shot around home. That will remove the rust in the barrel quickly and leave the bore in as good a shape as you are going to get short of reboring the barrel. The gun is not worth that cost. Nor was it intended to a very accurate firearm. With round ball, you can shoot rabbits at close range, and shoot blanks on the 4th of July, but the gun was not intended even for target shooting matches. Using shot loads, you might be able to shoot running rabbits at close ranges. ( 30 feet and less).

 

You got a good deal there. That's about all it's worth in cash value, but it has much more value as a learning tool. A third method of removing the rust is naval jelly, but it will also remove the browning and leave the barrel in a dull grey/white. The stock has too much wood on it, roughly 1/16" to 1/8" all over it. I would use the stock for some carving practice, add a forearm rail, tighten up the area around thelock panel. Reduce the grip size. Maybe add a couple of inlays, refit the trigger guard better, then practice staining and finish. Even if you frinkle it up some, the things you will learn well excedes the price you paid.
Bill

 

[patch knife]

Sounds like a good gun to learn with :thumbsup: . Here's what I would do . First dissasemble the pistol . Put the lock on half cock and one at a time unscrew each lockscrew and then screw it back in about 1 turn , press on the heads of the lockscrews to pop the lock out of the stock , then unscrew the lockscrews . Next remove the tang bolt . If there is a wedge key or anything else holding the barrel to the stock remove them and the barrel should fall out . If it doesn't look for something you may have missed that is holding the barrel in ,DON'T FORCE IT OUT . Get a gallon of WD40 (most auto parts stores have it in gallon cans) . Find a tub or some such thing big enough to put the barrel and lock in and soak them in WD40 for a week or so , this will remove alot of the crud and soften the rust . I would try using a scotchbrite pad on the barrel first , if that doesn't do it , 100 grit aluminum oxide paper on a sanding block should . Then use progressively finer grit paper to refinish the barrel . Don't worry too much about the browning , you can rebrown it (not too hard to do) or leave it in the white . As far as the lock goes , try a stiff toothbrush first , or a brass brush and WD40 to clean it up , unless you really know how to properly dissasemble the lock you should not try to do it because you can do serious damage to it , if you don't know how . Forget about the brass polish , most of them have chemicals in them that are bad for the brass (I found that out the hard way) abrasive paper in progressively finer grits is the way I would go . If the ramrod is steel , treat it the same as the barrel . As far as the buttplate goes , unless I see what you have , I can't help you . I hope this info helps you . Sounds like a fun project :thumbsup: ! Good luck with it , what the heck , you have plenty to gain and only 20 bucks to lose :winking: . Maybe some other members with more experince than I have can give you more help .

 

[cdg]

OK, situtation has changed a little now that I went ahead and took things in my own inexperienced hands.

I'll check into that motor oil thing. As it turns out, the browning was nothing more than a thin layer of oxidation. The gun was never officially finished, but rather left in the white for a good many long years.

Looks like the mortising wasn't done right around the lock from the origional builder. In fact, the thing was really slapped together.

The screw holding down the buttplate was not predrilled properly. Somebody before me was not gentle in trying to force the plate to fit just the same, as there is a very small crack near the buttplate. I did some super secret wood working kung fu to make the buttplate fit pretty well now.

One of the lock screws protrudes out of the lock too far, inhibiting the range of motion of the hammer. I believe I will be able to cut the lock screws down precisely enough to remedy this issue. I would like to determine some norms, so I'm not going to do anything until I get those pictures up. Probably tomorrow- I just don't feel like syncing with my camera phone right now...

On the brass and barrel I used to light steel wool, combined with some 3M polishing compound. The 3m polishing compund seemed to work pretty well. I'm going to try a couple of the spots on the barrel on the polisher tomorrow I think.

Also, the bore is in suprisingly decent shape- slightly dirty but I think it will straighten out nicely.

 

[patch knife]

I'll check into that motor oil thing. As it turns out, the browning was nothing more than a thin layer of oxidation. The gun was never officially finished, but rather left in the white for a good many long years.

Motor oil , I never said to use motor oil . WD40 is not motor oil , I think of it as a mild solvent and use it as such . Browning is nothing more than creating a thin layer of oxidation through the use of chemicals . As for the lockplate screw , there are more ways to shorten a screw than I care to list , the important thing is to not make the screw too short . IMO , flush with the lockplate is ideal , slightly below it is OK too . Sounds like you're on the right track , a little common sense and thought can take you a long way :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu didn't say to use motor oil; I did. with Steel wool. It works. Very well. I last used it to restore a blued barrel on a modern rifle a friend left in a damp basement. It had spots of rust all over the barrel, which I knew were simply pin holes, with flowers of rust appearing much larger. I burnished them off gently with the motor oil and steel wool, being ever so gentle and carfull not to allow the rust oxides to scratch surrounding surfaces. I then heated the barrel up with a propan torch and hit it will cold blue paste I had. After about five coats of that paste, cleaning and rinsing and re cleaning with alcohol before each application, I had restored the bluing on the barrel to factory color, and you could only see pin sized holes in the barrel if you used a magnifying lens. He could not find them until I pointed couple of places out to him when I returned the gun to him. Just my 2 cents.

I do use WD 40 when I am bluing, but I use it to cool the hot barrel and then let it sit over night with the WD40 on the barrel to help cure the bluing. WD40 obviously also keeps moisture away from the metal. I believe that when I spray a hot barrel with WD40, some of the oil is burned at high temperature, and reacts in the pores of the steel with the bluing salts, to make a blacker finish, and a deeper blue. Since its considered next to impossible to replicate a hot blue finish with cold blue, this is the closest I have gotten, and I have been very satisfied with the results, particular when making repairs. If you are wanting to reblue an entire barrel, it makes no sense to try to do it with cold blue and a torch. Take it to a gunsmith and have him blue the barrel ( and action) in his hot blue tanks. Its worth the cost for the quality of finish you get.

 

[cdg]

Yes, it seemed to be a reasonable suggestion. Motor oil can be quite effective at removing rust, especially if you soak it for long periods of time.

This is an effective way of reviving a gokart or bicycle chain if you ever get a hand me down. (had to do this for a friend who got this old POS that had been sitting outside). Of course I always advocate replacing the chain if you have the means... :grin:

Back to my project, I've got the barrel pretty clean, although I might soak it anyway. I'm going back to college tonight, and I won't be back until Thanksgiving. The lock I will definately soak, as it's being very stubborn.

One thing I used to great effect on the barrel is NeverDull. Smells like manure, but got rid of most everything.

The reason I think the barrel was never finished is the underside that hugs the stock was not finished (in fact, it wasn't even rusty at all). In any case, if it was browned, it ain't now!! :haha:

I'll report back with those pictures late this evening. I've got a philosophy paper that I still need to work on next...

 

[Zonie]

Well, if soaking the lock until Thanksgiving doesn't loosen it up, it may be beyond hope.

As for philosophy, Ole Zonie says "Don't forget to stop and smell the Black Powder Smoke!" I'm a bettin that your Professor hasn't heard that one before! :rotf:

zonie

 

[cdg]

I like that philosophy, but somehow that doesn't cut it on the university level. :blah:

Seriously though, this is a picture of the pistol after I did the first cleaning on it and reassembled it temorarily. The barrel is now much cleaner after I used some Never Dull polish on it, and I think it has potential to get still better. Overall the gun is pretty decent. Anyway, here goes:

 

[Pork Chop]

Not too bad, but there is a heck of an echo here...

 

[jaxenro]

Hey, it shined up a bit! If I remember, wasn't the barrel held on with a screw near the front? I never shot it, picked it up somewhere with plans to do what your doing and never got around to it. But with the rifled barrel, don't think it would be all that bad of a shooter.

 

[cdg]

yeah shined up great. The mortising around the lock may need some additional sanding, as the lock does not seem to fit flush into the stock. There is a screw in the foward ramrod lug. Unfortunately somebody down the line very nearly rounded it out, so I will try to locate a few hardware pieces. With a little luck the lock and barrel will come even cleaner. My hope is to just do some work with some furniture polish on the wood and maybe it will shine up pretty nice too. It's really in pretty decent shape.

The bore is relatively clean too.

 

[jaxenro]

That's why I got it, clean bore and big, heavy barrel. I liked the round to octagon, looks like a lot of metal at the breech end.

I don't think CVA has carried these in many a long year, so I doubt they can help much. You might try track for a nose cap, or even making one out of horn or some such stuff if you don't want to work with brass. Or track has some pewter that melts at low heatn and you can pour one, I have seen it discussed here

 

[patch knife]

Looks like whatever you've been doing is working out well . It's looking good :thumbsup: .

 

[Zonie]

Hope you don't mind if I lightened up one of your pictures a little.

That's a nice looking gun you bought! I'm betting it will provide you with a lot of fun, both in working on it, and in shooting it.

zonie

 

[cdg]

Hey that's great. Thanks for eliminating the echo too! I will miss it until Thanksgiving unfortunately though.

 

[jaxenro]

Track has brass muzzle caps to fit .750 and .850 round barrels. What does the one you have measure out to? I think it might be tapered a bit, so you may have to play with the fit a bit, and maybe cut the cap down a little as it looks long, but I think that might do it for you.

A thought on the butplate. It's held on with one screw in the center (if I remember correctly) that looked to drilled off center a bit. If you unscrew it, you can drill out the existing hole to a dowell size larger than the hole, plug it with a dowell, and then line everythign up correctly and redrill the hole on center this time.

I was guessing this was a kit gun, I think CVA in the way back offered these both as kits and finished

 

[cdg]

I don't have the gun with me up at college right now (I wish there was some way to change that rule on campus- I might have to look into that sometime). I will look into your suggestion. I did contact CVA customer service and they emailed me a parts list, saying that it's likely most of the parts won't be available. I will call them tomorrow to see what exactly is and what isn't available though.

I'll definately do some more fiddling with the buttplate, but it's fitting better now after I shortened the screw a bit, and rounded out the screw hole a bit with a dremel tool (making it slightly oblong so as to allow the screw to pivot slightly). Of course it won't have the clamping force it had before, but I have it in there decently tight and no issues yet...