Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders "contains a protectant that inhibits rust..."

...yeah, and I have a supermodel girlfriend.

The back story of this problem is I acquired a custom built .54 Hawken replica a few months ago. It was built in the '70's and has a round ball twist Douglas 34" barrel. No masterpiece, but the workmanship is good, and the styling fairly authentic. The price was about what a new Lyman would cost, and this one was made here, not Italy, so that was a plus.

I looked at the bore with a borescope and though it looked pretty good, maybe a hint of corrosion, but not bad. Shooting it for the first time this past weekend, I got a jag stuck in the bottom of the bore, which required unscrewing the breechplug. After getting it out and cleaning thoroughly, I noted a couple of dark spots, about ten inches from the breech - deeper than I could have reached with my borescope.

I ordered a can of Ultra Bore Coat from here, and ran a wet patch of T/C T-17 blackpower solvent down the bore, and let it sit for a couple of days. My intent was to clean, clean, and clean, then apply the UBC. After a couple days, the first patch I ran down the bore, looked like this:



So much for rust inhibitors. I said several bad words, to put it mildly. So that prompted another round of through cleaning, this time with Shooters Choice, followed by some sure-nuff vegetable oil based products, that I know won't rust the bore.

The bore is hard to photograph, but it looks like this, now:



I'd describe the condition, at least at the breech end, of light pits in the grooves. I pushed a .535 ball and tight fitting patch through the bore, and I can't feel any obvious roughness. Near the muzzle, the bore is bright and no pits are visible. I reckon I'll again clean thoroughly, follow the UBC instructions, and try it.

To sum it up, I guess I have two questions:

1. What is a good blackpowder solvent, that actually works & does not rust the bore?

2. Is this barrel likely to still shoot okay, or should I plan on replacing it?

Hot water with just a little detergent? I use water displacing oil that Brownell's sells after that, patching 'til dry first of course. It's intended to be the final step in the hot caustic salts bluing process.

I would bet ok, take it out and shoot it to see.

00 or 0000 steel wool will get traces of surface rust and assorted crud out and won't hurt anything.

A supermodel girlfriend?

You put up the r-o-n-g pics...

1
Separate your thinking.
A
Clean the barrel
B
Preserve, preventative maintenance afterwards

2
Should shoot just fine as the last few inches of your barrel are good. This is the most important area second only to the muzzle IMO.

hot soapy water. Follow up with JB Bore paste and run a good 150 passes through the bore, clean it out and then follow up with alcohol patches, dry, then use your bore coat.

Got to remember that most muzzle loader cleaners ARE water based to kill the corrosive salts the powder leaves behind.

Yep, JB it and clean all of that out. Degrease and then bore coat it.

thanks - yeah I used hot water & detergent after shooting. I have some JB, so I'll try it next, as well as the alcohol before the UBC.

What solvent works best for a quick clean at the range?

Hawken style, and a Douglas barrel sounds like a CVA. It was assembled in the US, but it's a Spanish company.

Like a Toyota being assembled in the US.

no, it's a custom. Other than Douglas on the underside of the barrel, and the maker's name on top, there are no other markings on it. I also think most of the Spain/Italian guns top out at 32" barrels - this one is 34"

Oh ok. I didn't know it was a custom.

It's humid here in Florida. I use water wet patches to clean, followed by dry. Of 4 muzzle loaders I seldom have to use more than 3-4 wet patches to clean, a couple of dry ones and then an oiled patch. I shoot BP only.

My experience with helping friends try to salvage inlines shot with subs, after attempting to clean with solvents is both sad and funny. Sad 'cause they were told NOT to do that on the front end, and funny because their expression upon seeing their moon cratered bore after cleaning is priceless...apparently a good education is never cheap.

yep. Humid in Houston, too. What oil do you like, after the dry patches?

Montana extreme bore conditioner works well for me (oil/rust protectant)

Will have to double check that but I'm thinking it's by CLP and intended for long term storage. Light brown in color, kinda thick.

It is Breakfree brand "Protector".

Thanks

The rifle didn't shoot too bad last weekend, taking it out again tomorrow.

Sorry but the Toyota is the most American made car now...

The profits go where?

Well I cannot tell you where they all go so if you have a spreadsheet with their finance information broke down then I wouldn't mind seeing it I guess. Your comparison is a bit off and your reply is even more off base. Nothing new you spouting off about things you know nothing about though.

Well lets see who's right.

The CVA gun i'm talking about was at one time made in the US, and used Douglas barrels. Even though the gun was made here. The company CVA is a Spanish company. I'd say the profits went to them, and not the US.

I fail to see how Toyota is any different? A Japanese company that assembles their cars here.

Not hard to understand. Prove me wrong, and i'll admit i'm wrong. Until then. You seem to be the one spouting off about something you nothing about. Another fire no it all.

btw Since you made the accusation. Would you mind showing me an example of me spouting off about something not true?

No markings on the gun, except Douglas on the underside of the barrel, and the builder's name on the top. The furniture is all iron & pewter, not brass, and there's enough handwork visible on it that I don't doubt the gent's claim that he built it.

I had it shooting today, this time with .535 balls and .015 patches, and I was pleased to see it do a little under 2" at 50 yards. Until I get my eyes lased, that's probably about as well as I can do with open sights, though I may tinker a little with charges.