What is the best way to clean rust out of a barrel?

[gimme-three-steps]

I went to an auction tonight and got a Investarms 50 cal HAWKEN type rifle and an older CVA 50 cal pistol. The rifle does not look too bad but the CVA’s barrel is rusty. What is the best way to take care of the rust?

 

[nilo52]

gimme-three-steps,
I have used Hoppes#9 and a brass cleaning brush that fits the caliber of the gun and lots of elbow grease to good effect. Afterward put a couple of saturated patches and follow that with some clean patches.
Check the bore with a light and look to see if you got all the rust out. If the bore is still rusty you might try filling and soaking the bore with a good quality gun oil for 24 hrs. and then repeating the cleaning process. There are others here who have some good ways of cleaning guns and they will help you I'm sure, There is an "ol timer" here by the name of Zonie who has forgotten more than I know about guns.
Good luck and I hope you get your pistol clean and ready to make smoke ! :thumbsup:

nilo52

 

[Zonie]

What's this "ol timer" manure?
I'll have you know I ain't reached 70 yet. :grin:
Now as far as stuff I've "forgotten" you might have a point.
It used to be I would just forget where I put the car keys. Now, when I'm looking for the car keys I'll end up asking myself, "Now, what was I looking for?" :rotf:

OK, enough BS.
Getting to the rusty bore the old brush and solvent method will remove a lot of it but with the plugged breech that keeps the brush from going all the way thru the bore it can be a pain in the U know what because a tight fitting brush won't want to pull back out of the blind hole.
(If this happens, rotate the brush while lightly pulling it out. The bristles will bend and rotate so it is no longer 'locked' in the bore.)

About the easiest way to get rid of the rust is to use a chemical along with some cleaning patches on a brass bore sized jag.

My first choice would be Birchwood Casey "BLUE & RUST REMOVER" or a similar gun bluing remover.
These are available at most gun stores and they are fairly "weak".
Weak is good because it means the base metal that is still good won't be eaten away.
Running a patched jag with the rust remover on it will speed up the process.

If a gun bluing remover can't be found try Naval Jelly.
This is a somewhat thick acid that loves to dissolve rust.
It is faster than the Bluing removers because it is much stronger.
If left in the bore for a period of time it will finish 'eating' the rust and start eating the good metal in the bore.
That's why some folks who don't like their guns shiny barrels apply Naval Jelly to the outside.
After sitting for a while it starts to eat the barrel leaving a frosted finish some like.

Just remember that once the rust is gone, all of the rust remover needs to be washed out of the bore. Then the whole barrel should be oiled to protect the bare metal.

 

[shooter13]

Another trick is to wrap steel wool around the brush and rotate it with a power drill. I salvaged many old milsurp rifles by doing this and remember to keep the steel wool well soaked in Hoppes or another solvent

 

[Billnpatti]

I have cleaned up a rusty barrel by plugging the nipple hole with a properly threaded bolt or set screw. Then fill the barrel with a good penetrating oil and let it stand for a couple days to let the oil work. Pour out the oil and use a brass brush to really scrub the bore. You can wrap steel wool around your brass brush. Add fresh penetrating oil as needed to keep the brush wet. Remove from the stock and flush with brake cleaner. Run several patches through the bore to see if it is clean. Use a light to inspect the bore and repeat the process until all of the rust is removed. Once it is clean and all rust is out, run a patch with Barricade on it through the bore to protect it. There may be better ways but this way worked on more than one occasion for me .

 

[necchi]

Electolysis. https://www.google.com/search?q=el...ox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGIH
I found this guy the most infomative. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8vT2mdXBs8

I removed the barrel, plugged the nipple hole with the proper bolt.
Used a solid copper wire stripped from some 2/12 I had here longer than the bore.
I left the insulation on the wire, and cut the insulation about 3"s up from the breech end and pulled the insulation down to expose 2"s of copper down on the bottom. A few wraps of black tape and the wire didn't touch the barrel at all.

Used a mild saline cause I didn't have the soap, with the charger on 6volt, and all the rust came
off in less than an hour.
here's what others said; http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/264212/post/1082320/hl//fromsearch/1/

 

[hawkeye2]

I just came upstairs from removing the rust from one of my barrels. I had bought an endoscope (bore scope) on eBay for under $30 from Hong Kong. I had loaded it on the computer, it uses a USB port and began looking down barrels and in my ears and I found some rust a few inches up from the breech face (not in my ear). this gun had given me some trouble loading at that point when the fouling got hard on a hot day and I think this may have been the problem. I had bought a gallon of Evapo Rust (http://www.evapo-rust.com/) a few weeks ago and had been using it on some taps, dies, tools, and a few gun parts. I put some teflon tape on a bolt, screwed it into the nipple hole and filled the barrel. I let it set a half hour, poured it out and ran some dry patches through the barrel. I then ran a number of WD-40 soaked patches through and then dried the barrel. When I scoped the bore the rust was gone and the area was shinny but frosted by the pits left behind. I'll try lapping that area later to see if I can smooth it up some. What caused the rust? Well a few years ago I used it hunting and left it loaded all season. That is something that I would not usually do but I had some distracting issues at the time and just kind of ignored the gun. When I went to pull the mini I found it to be firmly lodged in place and it took several attempts to get it out using a regular military style worm. I believe that moisture in the lube had caused the rust.

Right now I can't say enough good things about Evapo Rust. I've used Navel Jelly for years and the main thing I never liked was the finish it left on items after it was washed off. Evapo Rust will remove rust but it won't harm the unrusted metal though a few taps did come out with a black finish when I left them in the solution for a few days.

 

[Dphar]

I went to an auction tonight and got a Investarms 50 cal HAWKEN type rifle and an older CVA 50 cal pistol. The rifle does not look too bad but the CVA’s barrel is rusty. What is the best way to take care of the rust?

Define "rusty". Surface coloration is different than pits.
Chances are it has been shot with a corrosive substitute powder with high levels of Potassium Perchlorate. So pull it from the stock and wash it well with barely tolerable to touch water, lots of it, and then dry.
Put a jag on a good rod and cover with a piece of steel wool to make a tight fit or a small piee of the Grey or White grades of Scotch bright pads found at auto parts stores. Oil the bore and run this "deruster" full length of the bore 10-20 strokes. Wipe the bore with an oily patch then a dry one or two and see how it looks (the oily patch will trap most of the loose rust etc). If it improves significantly put on a fresh wad of SW or pad and repeat.
However, if the pad feels like its being pushed down a gravel road, if there are deep pits then the barrel may be past saving without pulling the breech and lapping with abrasive (hours of work at best) or having it recut or replacing it.
The corrosive substitute is seriously corrosive and will continue to eat steel under an oil film. It will also seemingly pick a spot and make what I call a "crawdad hole". It has been know to eat into patent breeches to the point of causing gas leaks .
BP will rust a bore, but not like the the chlorate powder does or in as little time.

Dan