Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns 12 Gauge 870 barrel - Safe to shoot?

A friend brought me his old Remington 870 to clean up. It has been neglected and has rust all over the surface of the barrel and in the bore. It looks like the worst rust is at the muzzle. I am soaking the muzzle end in vinegar now to dissolve as much of the rust as I can. I don't think it is deep enough to have compromised the strength of the steel, but I thought I would post a couple of pics and solicit any thoughts from anyone who has more experience with cleaning rusted firearms.

I am always diligent with keeping my own firearms in pristine condition so I've never had to deal with this. I am thinking about fully cleaning this old shotgun and then fixing it in place and firing some slugs through it in the woods with a string-pulled trigger from safety just in case. I've seen enough burst shotgun barrels hanging in gun stores to know that even a little mud or snow obstructing a barrel can be a major problem. I won't be shooting it with any obstructions, I'll fully clean it first. I'm just saying I know you need to be careful with these shotgun barrels.

Thanks for any thoughts, I know it is difficult to diagnose something like this from pictures alone. If I have too much doubt about it I'll just tell him to take it to a gunsmith and then I won't be responsible for anything. The only issue is he wants to hunt with it this year and he has taken all his deer in the past with this gun. Ordinarily I would say "You should be more prepared and not have waited until 4 days before opening day to try and figure all of this out." But he is a combat vet who is going through a tough time and he really wants to hunt opening day. So I didn't want to blow him off (especially today, on Veteran's Day!). If I can help him, I would like to.

Is that a screw in choke barrel??

Yes, I didn't realize it earlier but after I cleaned it out a bit I stuck my finger in there and felt the threads. I'm thinking once I put a choke tube in there it will be strong enough at the end to not be a danger to shoot. I ran some 0000 and WD40 through the bore and it is like a mirror now. The bore really wasn't too bad to begin with except for right at the muzzle like the picture shows.

I did the best I could (for free and in short notice). At least I got all of the internals fully cleaned, well-oiled and functional. I think with a choke tube the barrel will be okay, but I would still prefer shooting a slug or two through it remotely just to be sure. I wish I could have done a better job bluing it, all I had was some birchwood casey superblue on hand. Better than leaving it in the white at the muzzle end though and the whole thing really needs to be bead blasted and cera-coated, parkerized or professionally blued.

Anyway, I got this 870, a 12 gauge Nitro Mag and a Springfield Saint all cleaned up, well-maintained and lubed with SLIP 2000. Not bad for an overnight job and for free! I told him to take better care of his guns and shoot them a lot, a well-armed US Marine makes my heart smile. And it was Veteran's Day too so the work goes along with a knife I got him to say thanks for his service. I hope any vets reading this also had a great Veteran's Day.

Here are a few more before and afters:

You did a great job! When you asked is it safe to shoot, I wanted to say it wasn't safe to look at, a gun lover might be triggered. But they cleaned up great. That was nice of you to do that for him.

Unless he has been deployed overseas for the last several years, I cannot think of a single good reason why those should be in such poor condition.

The AR and the Nitro Mag weren't bad, they just needed a cleaning. I think these guns were stored at a relatives house. I'm not sure how the 870 got so neglected. It's too bad, it says Sportsman's Pump or something like that on the side. Seems like a classic and everything is nice other than the rust. I like the grain in the stock, kind of wavy and cool. Now that it is cleaned up the action is slicker than snot on a doorknob!

Sportsman's were a pre Express thing. Birch furniture vs walnut of the Wingmaster.