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  1. #11
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    Default Re: Cleaning a reeeeeeally old gun ( PLEASE HELP )

    Steel wool - ma se chops. I seriously hope you mean copper steel wool. (I am assuming you be Miles, if so stop being a................). If you have been cleaning that barrel with steel wool then you have joined the league of peoples that have done more harm by cleaning than just leaving.
    If the lands be square, then the barrel cannot be that old?
    You talk of pitting, you know from what? Corrosive ammo or rust? Is it whole barrel or just last third towards crown ?
    I do not believe there is metal fouling that cannot be gotten out, sometimes slower less hard is the answer. I would love to meet this rifle and get it shooting straight.
    My .303 took almost 6 months of obsessive work to get it shooting and in the end I had to work stock trigger and tensions to get it down to less than an inch, look up my old 303 post - there are pictures.
    Here's the joke in the end when I cut some of barrel off and split open to see, I realized I had been cleaning a clean barrel for some time already.
    Get hold of me, I will enjoy helping.

  2. #12
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    Default Re: Cleaning a reeeeeeally old gun ( PLEASE HELP )

    Quote Originally Posted by Adoons View Post
    With old build up and "gunk" I have done the following previously. (I am just answering the question in my regard, I am not giving advise. It is how I have done it and will still do.)

    Strip the firearm as far as is possible for your abilities and experience. Put all the parts in a bowl with petrol to soak for a time. Wash the parts with a paintbrush until they are clean. Assemble again with oil in the right places. A petrol soaked boresnake does wonders on very old build up.

    On not so dirty parts I have soaked and washed in Diesel also. Less aggressive and safer, but is not doing the job the same way as petrol.

    For hard to reach small spaces and holes and in chambers or firing pin channels a can of carburetor cleaner works perfectly. It forces all the dirt out. Just be sure to wear safety goggles. Carb cleaner in the eyes is not nice.
    Be careful with carb cleaner, in some cases it has been known to strip off finishes. Test it on a small out of the way area first.

  3. #13
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    Default Re: Cleaning a reeeeeeally old gun ( PLEASE HELP )

    Its actually amazing what petrol does, I wonder if the old petrol was better?
    A older mentor of mine, now more 80 than 70 years old tells me that they cleaned their brass in petrol. A few hours in petrol and then a wash in Sunlight soap was standard practice.

  4. #14
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    May 2013
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    Default Re: Cleaning a reeeeeeally old gun ( PLEASE HELP )

    Treeman, I'll pm you so as not to derail the thread. Interested in your cleaning routine for carbon especially, as burned onto steel over many years.
    I think the effect of fine steel wool - as used to finish off wood - is much less than you give it credit for.

  5. #15
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    Default Re: Cleaning a reeeeeeally old gun ( PLEASE HELP )

    Quote Originally Posted by Smurf View Post
    Treeman, I'll pm you so as not to derail the thread. Interested in your cleaning routine for carbon especially, as burned onto steel over many years.
    I think the effect of fine steel wool - as used to finish off wood - is much less than you give it credit for.
    ***********************
    All I say below is from MY experience and based on nothing more than my own stumbling way through a very technical field. I write at risk of trying to sound clever.
    The below is applicable to spec sized barrels, and not oversized barrels.
    Carbon, doubt there is much, if any. (Would still like to see a barrel with carbon in it). Nitro fouling perhaps, but even that, how much can you fit in a barrel and still have a bullet pass by/through/over down barrel?
    Most fouling is bullet material or bullet material with last shots combustion process caught up on it. An oversized barrel can have a ton of shit ironed into the excess space and this can become arduous task to remove. I was once cleaning a Musgrave .270 Win with a slightly large barrel that had not been cleaned ever. It was used oiled outside and put away - say 10/20 shots a year for 20 years about. So 200 to 400 shots without cleaning and standing between.( there seems to be some moisture in the form of oils - like nicotine (burn some propellant on a sheet of metal, glass and run finger through residue) after shooting, that’s why a just shot gun cleans easier)When I cleaned this weapon at one stage a piece of fouling came out that looked like a stretched out spring, you could count the twist in barrel on it, about an inch+ long. That was a real eye opener to what can be forced into the rifling deep corners. I played with the piece and it was not really hard, more like the crud you find on a much used frying pan in the corners of the handle area where you do not get in. Felt like very hard wax, grease.
    I have used from R400 a bottle stuff to lemon juice to clean barrels, they all work well for that problem but, but not the other problem, so I now clean bad jobs with every cleaning process I know twice at least.
    Here is a silly simple clean barrel trick under every ones nose - you know the mix the guys make to clean brass, the sunlight, citric acid, tartaric potions, make that with hot water to clean inside barrel. Water like mix dip brush scrub repeat let stand repeat. Later take same mix, minimal water like a paste (I dip brush in bicarb before inserting in barrel), scrub give a minute scrub. You can also leave in barrel for a while like you do when cleaning brass.
    When brass in barrel is thick try promote oxidation of the brass by cleaning dry (use benzene to dry barrel out) and putting away for a day or two then cleaning again. And again. There are things you can buy and they all work to some extent, some better than others, I like to use different types and I believe in a good clean store dry and clean again later a few times repeated. The shit in barrel also dries out cracks, oxidize and comes out easier after standing a while.
    The exact opposite may also be required, block barrel and fill with ATF or Kroil oil then drain and scrub repeat, perhaps use dry method between repeat.
    Two things though - usually a good old standard Bore foam scrub - some Hoppies or M98 will clean the barrel well within what is wanted.
    Second - make sure you know what you seeing in barrel and identify it correctly.

    Read up on the measurements of a barrel manufacture spec and tolerances allowed, the difference of a.003 inch is too much then think about using steel wool to try get stuff out difficult deep corners?, how much work is being done on high prone parts of barrel to achieve success in those deep far corners.

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