About a year ago I picked up a used Uberti Walker Dragoon in .44 caliber. It was in great condition and looked like it had never been fired. I gathered together the necessary components and took it to the range for some smokey fun. What a hoot. The only problem was it shot about 8 inches high at 25 yards, but that's not really why I bought it.
When I got home I didn't have anything to clean a black powder gun with so I ended up wiping it down and putting it in my safe. Well, time went by and I forgot about cleaning it and it sat in my safe until this past weekend. When I pulled it out I couldn't get the hammer to budge. I took the barrel off and using a soft mallet I hammered the cylinder off. I then had to pound on the hammer until I was able to break it free. There was rust around the forcing come of the barrel end, around each cylinder opening, around the nipples and between the hammer and the frame. I've used a number of cleaners that are supposed to kill and remove rust, but there is still some residue left and the hammer still sticks when closed in the frame. I could brush the rust off but the frame and hammer are both case hardened and I'm afraid of really ruining the finish beyond what the rust has done. Can I get this rust off and what can be done to get it back to the original case hardened finish?
This is the only gun I've ever experienced rust with while stored in my safe and it was not raining or misty when I took it to the range last year. I can only guess that the powder residue from the flash deposited while firing attracted moisture in the air over time and gave the rust a footing. This is my one and only black powder firearm so I'm not familiar with what one does or needs to do to keep one in good condition.
When I got home I didn't have anything to clean a black powder gun with so I ended up wiping it down and putting it in my safe. Well, time went by and I forgot about cleaning it and it sat in my safe until this past weekend. When I pulled it out I couldn't get the hammer to budge. I took the barrel off and using a soft mallet I hammered the cylinder off. I then had to pound on the hammer until I was able to break it free. There was rust around the forcing come of the barrel end, around each cylinder opening, around the nipples and between the hammer and the frame. I've used a number of cleaners that are supposed to kill and remove rust, but there is still some residue left and the hammer still sticks when closed in the frame. I could brush the rust off but the frame and hammer are both case hardened and I'm afraid of really ruining the finish beyond what the rust has done. Can I get this rust off and what can be done to get it back to the original case hardened finish?
This is the only gun I've ever experienced rust with while stored in my safe and it was not raining or misty when I took it to the range last year. I can only guess that the powder residue from the flash deposited while firing attracted moisture in the air over time and gave the rust a footing. This is my one and only black powder firearm so I'm not familiar with what one does or needs to do to keep one in good condition.
Welcome to the world of black powder . You can never put off cleaning black powder guns ! Clean them the day you shoot them or you are inviting trouble . Many are the black powder revolvers that have been shot once and thrown away because they wouldn't work again after being put away dirty ! It usually costs money to learn , doesn't seem to matter what the lesson is.