Help me save a barrel...

N

Nunya53

New member
I recently bought a Savage 110 in .270 Win from a kid at work (cheap) who didn't care for it. It has some surface rust and minor pitting on the barrel. What do you all suggest for cleaning, caring and preserving this barrel without removing any more blue than necessary?

Thanks,

Nunya
 
Use four ought (0000) steel wool wetted with light gun oil. Rub the rust lightly. It will come off without scrubbing the blue off the barrel. This will not remove pits. To remove pits, you'll need to draw file the barrel.
 
Kroil works. PB Blaster is perhaps the best at softening rust, though it smells bad. Gunzilla will also loosen rust, but is slower to penetrate than Kroil. Whatever you use, you will want to displace it with gun oil or a rust inhibiting oil, like Birchwood Casey Sheath, or LPS-2 afterward.

Keep the surface wet with your penetrant of choice for a couple of days before you start removing rust. That will give it plenty of time to find its way under the deepest pits. Use a nylon brush or an old toothbrush to get the weakest rust loose first. Note that steel that rubs off the steel wool will rust if you don't remove it. That just takes more penetrating oil and a rag. Actually, I find the industrial strength brown paper towels do the best job of rubbing and buffing for that. You could also use a soft abrasive polish like Iosso Gunbrite or MAAS or Flitz to go after the steel and the last traces of rust.
 
Last edited:
Just a something I want to add to Unclenicks's suggestion of using PB Blaster to remove rust. It works very well at removing rust, but don't use it on anything that you want to keep the blueing on, it will remove the blueing. Don't ask me how I know.
 
Nothing, and I mean nothing polishes a barrel like a 1 in belt sander and a barrel spinner. Depends on how smooth you want it, start our with 320 grit and work up to 2000 grit.

Then throw the sucker in a blueing tank. You have the deepest blue you can imagine.

The belt sander alseo sharpens the lettering on the barrel.

All the guns (except a couple stainless barrels) were polished working up to 2000 grit. I bead blast the actions, then blue them, Turns out really nice.
 
I have sanding belts in rolls of 10, 15 and 20 ft, for a barrel that is is rusty I tare the rolls in three foot sections then tare it into to narrow strips and sand the barrel by making one loop around the barrel and polish, as the barrel cleans up, I repeat the process with a finer grit. For shallow pitted parts I use a file. Oil will aid in preventing rust, it will not heal the damage, To keep from filling the strips with dirt and degree a green Scotch brite pad can be used, then the barrel can be whipped clean then start with the strips, something like polishing a crank shaft, for polishing save the old worn strips.



F. Guffey
 
rust

where rust is in clumps on the barrel or receiver, wet it with WD-40 and then roll a nickel across it back and forth in a rolling fashion. It will lusten the rust and not damage the bluing!
 
I bought a Thompson Center BP Rifle from a friend that was in the same condition. It's a shame how some people treat their stuff. :confused:

I used Break Free CLP and an old 45/70 casing flattened out on the end with a hammer to scrape all of the rust off of the outside of the barrel.

On the inside I plugged it with a small piece of kid's Play-Doh and faced that end down. Then I filled the barrel with Break Free and let it sit for 2 days. You wouldn't believe all of the junk that came out of that barrel.

After I was done with the Break Free CLP I polished the bore with a bore brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool. All of the rust came out, and the barrel looked shinier than new.

Be careful when using steel wool to clean rust inside a barrel. If you aren't careful you can wear down a 'low spot' in the barrel, and cause problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top