M91/30 Mosin: Rust in the bore?

K

Kimio

New member
Long story short, I had to leave this rifle in the hands of a friend for several years due to being in the military and being unable to take it with me as I went through training.

Finally made it down and took the old girl out to fondle her a bit, low and behold there is rust down the bore, in the chamber and small specks on the bolt itself.

Further inspection, it does not appear any serious pitting has occurred within the barrel itself (no real noticible dark spots, but "shavings" and "rough" spots exist throughout the length of the barrel)

Running a .30 cleaning brush through it seems to have taken out the majority of the rust, but I'm at a loss about what else I can do to really clean up the bore.

I was reading that the use of a length of deleading wool should do the trick. Is there anything else I should look into to ensure that I can get the bore as clean and shined as much as possible? Also, what should I do about rust around the crown of the barrel? I don't want to risk damage to it that may affect the rifles accuracy.
 
Brass cleaning rod, 32 cal copper wire brush, CLP, cordless drill... been there before and mildly polishes the bore. Turned a crappy nasty rusty bore into a decent shooter with handloads
 
Mwells72774 May I ask how long you spent running the brush through the bore? it looks like for me, I'll have to buy a longer rod if I want to do what you're suggesting. Would you recommend a mild polishing compound as well, or is that too abrasive and will screw up the internals of the bore and rifling?

Right now, I've got most of the rust out or so it appears, but the last inch to half and inch of the bore by the muzzle still eludes me. Looks like there be some mild pitting that I did not notice when I first bought the rifle (First firearms purchase ever, was young(er) and naive at the time)
 
Not long, 2 minutes tops at a pretty low speed, maybe 2-300 rmp. I wouldn't personally use a polishing compound but that's me.
 
Hmmm, I'll have to give it a whirl once I get a longer cleaning rod. May be able to cannibalize a cheap one from one of those Hoppes 9 cleaning kits you get at wally world if need be.

On a side note, do you have any suggestions on how to clean up cosmoline build up in the locking lug areas in the chamber?

So far I've tried a 30 cal chamber brush and there is this small bit in the corners of the recesses where the locking lugs drop into that eludes me. Someone suggested q-tips and brake cleaner to mop up whatever the brushes miss.
 
how to clean up cosmoline build up in the locking lug areas in the chamber?
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Gun Scrubber or spray carb cleaner will melt it away

I'd use a tight patch and Flitz metal polish for the bore, and only use a drill as a last resort
 
Snyper If I may ask, could you please elaborate on the dangers of using the drill? I assume this has something to do with the risk of scratching the bore up among other things.
 
1873%20Win%2044-40%20bore%203-7-2015.jpg


By the time a revolver is 150 years old, someone has likely used it as a hammer.

By the time a rifle is 150 years old, someone has likely cleaned it with a drill.

In both cases, I can tell by the marks left behind.
 
Snyper If I may ask, could you please elaborate on the dangers of using the drill? I assume this has something to do with the risk of scratching the bore up among other things.
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It's not really "dangerous" since the brush is softer than the steel, but it wont follow the rifling like a tight fitted patch, and polish does a better job of smoothing the bore

I'd only use a drill if there was a LOT of rust the had to be removed

I like to use the least agressive method that works

As Clark's picture clearly shows, anything rotating like a drill in the bore can leave marks you don't want

It almost looks like someone used coarse sandpaper on that bore, or maybe a stainless brush
 
I had a turk mauser that I bought as a package deal. The bore was pretty rusty when I got it. I scrubbed and scrubbed with every thing I had. It took most of it out. Finally I gave up and took it out and shot it. The first shot did a great job of cleaning (blowing) out the rest of the rust. Now the bore looks decent (some minor pitting that cleaning would not fix).
 
Yikes, how easy is it to cause damage like that within the bore? Glad I didn't take a drill to it if it causes that.

There is some particularly stubborn rust at last inch or two by the muzzle that has been Givin m all sorts of grief. Hopefully when I go out tomorrow to the range, I'll be able to shoot tell rest of the rust out.
 
Just looks like common pitting from rust and corrrosive ammo. I have one that is similar, ill post a pic later, has been shot quite a bit since getting it, I don't think it looks as serious as yours, but def the same pattern. Shoot it, see how it does, if horriblely inaccurate, then try the bore refinishing(sanding) bullets to smooth it out. If its something you would really like to be a shooter, you may need to slug and handload to get hunting rifle accururacy
 
Update: 23 Mar '15

So took the ol' girl out to the range this weekend and sent roughly 30 rounds down range with some Russian surplus.

Looks like the last bit of stubborn rust got taken care of simply by firing it out.

Gun is more accurate than I that's for sure. Test fire was done at the 50yd line. I wanted to test the accuracy and how sound everything was with a 15 round fairly rapid fire.

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb405/Artimise-flare/Mobile Uploads/20150321_184808.jpg
 
yes that bore looks like a black powder rifle barrel left for a few months after it was fired several times that i cleaned for a friend. it came clean,but it had pits just like that. eastbank.
 
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