Rusted Bore

[Mimas]

A few months ago, I made the mistake of letting a good friend of mine borrow my Garand. I treat that thing like my baby, and clean it religiously. When I gave it to him, it had a shiny, beautiful bore.

I've been really busy since then, and wasn't able to pick it up until last week. Imagine my horror when I discovered the bore was completely rusted to hell! He admitted he did not clean the rifle, but swears that ammo was not corrosive--I believe it's some of the Korean stuff that's floating around.

I immediately cleaned it with Hoppes and oiled it, but I can't seem to get the rust out. I don't usually use a wire brush, but I have tried that to no avail. Is there any hope?

 

[Coronach]

I am not an expert, but three thoughts:

1. After you get the rust out (it can be done), the darned thing might shoot just fine still...but I bet cleaning it will be a chore.

2. You can always rebarrel it with a match barrel and have it shoot better than ever. Too often we fail to see the silver lining for the clouds.

3. I would kick your friend's arse, or send him the bill. Or both.

Mike

 

[critter]

Trycleaning it good, shooting it till quite warm and then clean again-WELL- while still hot. That should help.

You need to get it clean enough to tell if the bore is pitted or not. In either case, do what you need to do to get it as clean as you can and shoot it for accuracy. It may still be fine.

I had one for a while that was REALLY pitted from old corrosive ammo in its dark past and it shot surprisingly well! Good luck on yours.

 

[rbernie]

JB Bore Cleaner and/or JB Bore Bright

 

[chevrofreak]

Use a cotton bore brush with some Flitz polish on it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Shoot it first and see if it still shoots straight. Dull bores can also be accurate.

 

[BevrFevr]

hot water helps remove Rust

If he shot corrosive ammo, that hoppes will do you no good. It will continue to rust until you shoot some windex down the bore. Also the gas system will get rusted from corrosive ammo too.

I had an old 50's era russian tokarev and shot some corrosive through it without knowing. It looked like an old sewer pipe. Cleaned it up, but it was terribly pitted, Guess what? The accuracy was not effected and may have improved believe that or not.

There is hope.

-bevr

 

[DMK]

Go easy on that poor barrel, it's already been through enough. Don't use any abrasives. Rust makes holes, it doesn't add material like fouling does. If it's pitted, you aren't going to want to take the rest of the barrel down to the bottom of the pits are you?

Like BevrFevr said, run some Windex or ammonia and water though it to neutralize any persistant salts. Then just clean and oil it normal. Shoot and clean it a few times then live with what you've got.

The moral is always clean a gun after lending to a friend and always assume surplus ammo is corrosive unless you know for sure otherwise. It's worth it even just for peace of mind.