Rust in Bore Help 1903 A3 !

I understand all this advice is well intentioned.
A lot of it is harmful.

An 03A3 is a prize!! The FIRST RULE is "Do no harm"

Please! No stainless steel brushes! No steelwool! NO Green Scotchbrite!!

Get a Montana black nylon brush. Get some 30 cal patches.And a good solvent.
Hoppes benchrest has mild copper removing power.
Bore-tec eliminator,wipe out,etc.are GOOD! But pick one and use it.DON"T mix solvents.(don't try one on top of the other)

Your bore should see wet patches,dry patches,a nylon brush,solvent,and preservative oil.IF you want to use a bronze brush,use it with Kroil penetrating oil. Copper solvents eat the brush.

Be advised,a brand new,unfired military barrel gets tossed in the black oxide or parkerize tank in manufacture.A parkerized barrel has a parkerized bore.

Parkerizing is a bit toothy.It will collect copper. It won't look shiny.

Even if it IS rust,what does it help to grind it out? It SHOOTS!!

An old trick for removing surface rust on the exterior is rubbing it with oil and a piece of COPPER!!

Jacketed bullets are as good a method as any to smooth rust.Remember bluing is smoothed over rust.

It would be really sad if the OP had a near new barrel and he ruined it by following BAD ADVICE!!

Just shoot it.

Kolns,this was a STAINLESS Mini-14 that rusted so bad you had to do all that? And you stored it with an oiled bore? You might check to see if a magnet sticks to the bullets of the ammo you are shooting.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons such as Brakleen,Carb cleaner,etc are BAD for stainless barrels.The 416 they use is typically sulphurized for machinability.The "degreaser" attacks the sulphur.Its a bad idea.

BEFORE you tell me I don't know what I am talking about,either search Scheumann Barrels,Documentation,Barrel cleaning,or just follow this link:

http://schuemann.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel_Cleaning.pdf

The article you will find was written by Jim Borden,of Precision Shooting
 
Last edited:
Thanks HiBC, wish I had the Schuemann Barrels article prior to my bore rust removal exercise. My degreaser was isopropyl alchol. Bullets are non magnetic, copper jacketed fiocchi.
 
rust would have shot out, or cleaned out with the unburnt powder. likely what you are seeing is copper fouling. it doesn't hurt anything unless you have a huge amount of it which is difficult unless you're hot loading your own ammo.

EDIT: haha, zombie thread, one where I gave the exact same advice 3 years ago.. at least I'm consistent.
 
Yep, that is copper fouling not rust.
Butch's Bore Shine is a more aggressive copper remover than the Hoppes Bench Rest. But a bit of fouling is at times desirable. A couple of fouling shots and most bench rest guys then go for record.
 
I saw the strangest Garand ever this past weekend at a gunshow, it was frankengarand! Someone grafted M1A gas parts to the barrel and a roller onto the charging handle!

The action worked flawlessly by hand, myself and another were looking at it. It was a Winchester Garand that had been modified.

If you don't think the 1903 can fire fast, think again. Germans thought that Army units were firing full auto weapons at them. Turns out that they were single loading rounds with the mag cutout feature on. Once they ran out of rounds in their hands they used the rounds in their mags before reloading again. I bet if you put two shooters side by side, one with a 1903 and the other with a Garand. The 1903 shooter could get 15 rounds off faster then a Garand shooter could do 16.

This would be a contest of speed, not the goofy military film showing the 1903 gunner fumbling with his rifle while the Garand shooter is blasting away.
 
rust in bore help 1903 a3!

I can't seethe bore but. If it is not too bad you might try Semichrome metal polish. It is chemical not abrasive, and also Fitz metal polish which is mildly abrasive.
Since it is a 1903 A3 I would locate the best Smith, one that has or does work on that now rare rifle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top