I have an original omega that i have bought and hunted with since 2005. I have killed a pile of game with it. This year I loaded it and hunted with it and never fired it. I finally got around to cleaning it up the other day and the barrel had gotten pretty rusty. It was hard to even get the breech plug out which I put that TC anti seize on it. Before it had the rust down where the crud ring forms, but this was halfway up the barrel. I have cleaned it after every shot when sighting it in and very few times have I shot in the woods and not ran those TC cleaning patches through it. When I put it up every year I put a heavy coat of CLP in the barrel. Is there anything else I can do to slow the rust down? Anything that might get more of the rust out of the barrel?

i shoot custom flintlocks with real black powder. i never have an issue with rust. how do you clean it? i never put water near my guns. i use murphy's oil soap and denatured alcohol mixed 50/50 when i am done i get a white patch. i spray a clean patch an run down the bore with rem. oil on it, i never have a problem from year to year. but i clean my guns every time after i use them. i live in SC we have 100% humidity most summer days,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bronze wool, a good penetrating oil, and elbow grease.

I'm old school too. Clean out that rust as best you can with whatever works the best...then completely degrease your barrel of any trace of [bleep] petroleum products of any kind. Then season your barrel like a treasured cast iron fry pan with pure animal fat. If you don't have any in the freezer...I think Dixie gun works and maybe others sells rendered sheep fat by the pint. In the future clean with Murphy's mix above, wipe dry and warm and treat with animal fat....which by the way, is damn good for the stock.

evaporust, plug breech plug fill barrel with evaporust leave sit for a day or 2,empty out and clean barrel.. then oil with Barricade and other good gun oil.. when ready to shoot swab barrel with dry patch then a patch soaked in 90 percent rubbing alcohol then dry patch till dry, pop a cap or 2 then load.
Dont get evaporust on bluing will discolor or eat it off.

I clean it with either the CVA presaturated or the TC patches. I do that every time it is shot. Then yearly i clean it out with some cabelas bore cleaner that is citrus based or smells like lemons. I have had this stuff probably 17-18 years. After i do that i make sure i have gotten the moisture out and put a bunch of clp down it. It is a hunting gun so it may be loaded from early november til january and hunted with a lot during that time. Not really feasible to clean it after every day out, though i will clean it in the field if i shoot.

Ballistoil is the best that I have found for rust removal. Plug one end, fill and let soak.

The barrel should still be good. If rust gets too bad, it will pit. You can still have a good shooting barrel if it is pitted, but it will always get dirty faster and be a bit harder to clean.

I clean with hot soapy water. Then Ballistol to displace any residual water, lube and protect.
Never had any rust.

The rust can be removed and the rifle restored to service. Patience, time, and care.

It does sound ridiculous doesn't it? But to ignore the fact that the finest black powder guns in the world, from the great English makers came equipped with a metal bottle of whale oil, may tell us something. That armories full of military blackpowder arms were discovered, some years back (Nepal is one), with remarkably good bores, should tell us something. Lubricated bullets with all manner of natural lubes are believed to be responsible. So it's not just my half fast opinion, there is a lot of historical evidence to support it. Of course we can ignore history, with mixed results.

You will never season a modern barrel with any fats or oils. That is not how seasoning works. There is a huge difference in seasoning cast iron.

semantics

If you are using real black powder , always use an animal or plant based lube and if you mix your own use bees wax. Petroleum products used with real black powder forms a hard black gunk in a barrel. When I was a kid I found this out the hard way and then I found out what I was doing wrong. These days I use a lube called Mink Oil I get from Track of the Wolf, but I have also made my own from different ingredients mixed with bees wax. I clean my guns with hot water and dish soap and a brush and patches, rinse with scalding water, and dry the barrel well. Before I store any of my BP guns I swab the barrel with pure Balistol oil. It has done the best in retarding rust during storage for me. There may be a very slight surface rust from time to time, but it never goes any farther.

Balistrol is good because it is base in PH level by design. It neutralizes the acids that lead to corrosion.
Salts also help start rust, and a big source of salts is soap. Simple green does not have salts, so it is a good choice for a cleaner.
Once a barrel is pitted, then the corrosives hide in those nooks and crannies. At that point it will be very tough to clean properly.

Great post here, thanks all for the information.

Yes I do appreciate it. I did order some ballistol. Hopefully i can halt it for good this time.

Three guesses as to the original source of petroleum.

If one wants to see serious gum, apply some vegetable oil. Made the mistake of lubing a Coleman lantern pump with such and did not clean before going on a subsequent trip. That was a serious mistake, but bacon saved the day.

Seasoning is a myth.
They used animal fat because that is all they had.
There is nothing wrong with petroleum products, the idea the they make asphalt in the bore is more myth. Bore butter for instance, is mostly petroleum. It is actually chap stick with oil of winter green, btw.
Something containing water must be used to dissolve the corrosive substances in BP fouling. Simple mechanical action with oil will work but is much more time consuming.
Preserve your bore with whatever modern grease or oil you like. Olive oil or hog fat will invite rust. The only decent non petroleum preservative I know if is lanolin.

Seems that seasoning has tweaked out the squealers. Vegetable grease like Crisco yellow melted into patches can be used to both clean and preserve the inside of a muzzleloader barrel. A bit more work but I store my Black powder guns with a thick coat of Crisco or vegetable oil. Yes it is a bit of a chore to remove after it sits for a year or so but when you get it out there will be no corrosion. Hot water and dishwashing detergent is your friend. I have used Mr. Clean, Awsome orange, windex, Ballistol to initially clean my rifles along with hot water and dishwashing detergent. None of my barrels have any rust or pits in them. I have had my 50 and 54 caliber Renegades going on 30 years and they are still fine shooters. When I did a lot of black powder matches I would often soak the inside of my barrels with transmission fluid on patches and do a deep clean when I got home and never an issue.