I need help bad?!?

[pumper317]

hey guys,

I got my muzzleloader and my dad's two muzzleloaders this week from him. Tonight i took them out of the safe to clean them only to find that they all had gunpowder, rust, and residue all over inside the barrels. My dad told me he was going to clean them this spring after shooting them to get them sighted in, and to just shoot them, but i guess forgot.

Obviosuly they were not cleaned and i just spent the last 2 hours scrubbing, brushing, and trying my hardest to get them cleaned out.

With season opening on saturday... Can i still shoot my muzzleloader after putting the butter on and all of that?

Input would be great... Please dont just say go and shoot it, or i should have cleaned it myself... I know those answers already.

Thanks guys.

[Traxxx]

I would clean them as best as you can. I would shoot them to see how accurately they shoot. Maybe give a call to a gunsmith for advice. How bad are they? I would think if they shoot straight I wouldn't worry.

[jnorm1984]

I dont wanna say shoot it like you say, but shoot it a couple times and get the barrel nice 'n' warm,,and then get your brush in there and scrub like you have been.. I bet ya you get a bunch more of that rust out..Did this to my dads last year, worked pretty good, got most of it out, good luck.. I know how it feels to look down the barrel and see rust..ugh.. Also try a couple different cleaning chemicals, some work better than others, and generally they all work for basic cleaning, so it really wouldnt be a waste of money in the long run..peace homie

[Random guy]

Just keep scraping away at the barrel with the wire brush, maybe get some bore blaster to help losen up the crusty stuff. I would still run it to a gunsmith to get an expert opinion on the safety of it.

You mentioned "butter", I seen a muzzle loader all but destroyed by "bore butter". The owner used it and wherever a little of it collected it created some nasty rust over summer in his cabinet. I wonder if it was the menthol in it?

[NAMASafetyDirector]

One thing I have done over the years is just put some HOT water in a 5 gallon pail and a good mixture of dishsoap and work the ol' brass brush up and down! Then run a couple patches through it and keep on going. Had to do the same thing with Dad's last year. Takes some elbow grease but finally got it fairly clean. When I'm done I run a few oily patches through it till it's time to go hunting then I just fire a couple caps off before loading to get rid of the oil and load er'. Good Luck!

[tipup]

Ok I am confused? I was told when I bought mine that the bore butter was for seasoning the barrel? Was I told wrong? I have been cleaning and running bore butter in mine since new 3 years ago!!! I ahve never had a problem and it seems to shoot good? Correct me if I am wrong, I may need to get the butter out of mine.

[Hines R]

I've always planned on lapping my barrel. That would clean out the rust in your barrels probably as well as anything can. Basically, you buy and then run something down the barrel of the gun with a slightly abrasive compound like the stuff used to create the valve seat rougness in a motor. It's basically what is done by the rifle guys with all new guns for extreme accuracy. It needs to be done correctly though. You'd then need to shoot again after that to check to see how it's shooting. It should shoot even tighter groups after that since what your trying to do is remove any of the small burring or chatter spots that are in the barrel.

I had all the instructions printed a year of two ago off of a muzzleloader forum from a different site.

Ryan

[Hines R]

I copy pasted this off of the other site. It's from one of their experts. He actually has you zero the gun first, and then lap the barrel. I suspect though that he wants you to recheck you're zero after lapping it.

Chapter 6: Lapping your barrel

We are now at the point where you have gotten your rifle to shoot where you point it. What we need to do now is modify the barrel so as to make sure that your accuracy increases and your bullet travels faster down the bore. What we are going to do is "lap" the barrel. This is a major job so get the following items all rounded up before you start. Get the following items: 2 new brass bore brushes, a hand full of patches (I cut mine from an old t-shirt and wash them when they get dirty), 2 or 3 bore swabs, a small can of automotive valve lapping compound (fine), bore solvent, a few cotton balls, and some teflon based lube. Make sure it is teflon based. Also, a little liquid refreshment for you helps.

If you have a vice take the barrel out of the rifle. If you don't have a vice leave the barrel in the rifle, but get a buddy, wife, or kid to help hold the rifle. If you have a vice open it up and pad the jaws with about an inch of rags to cushion the barrel so that you don't scratch it. Close the vice tight enough to hold the barrel still. If you don't have a vice put a human on the stock end of the rifle and tell them to hold it tight. Put a bore BRUSH on your ramrod, wrap it with a patch, and apply a liberal amount of lapping compound all around the patch. What you are going to do is run that brush/patch compound down the barrel and remove any manufacturing burrs off of the edges of the lands, and remove any high spots. If you want to see how bad the situation is before you start, put a cotton ball on a worm jag and run it through the bore. Look down the bore and see how many cotton fibers are stuck in there. Even if you don't see any you still want to lap the barrel for reasons that will become obvious.

Push the ramrod down the barrel and pull it out. That is 1 stroke. If you had any amount of cotton fibers stick in the barrel you are going to do 100 strokes. If you did not have ANY stick to the barrel you are going to do 50 strokes. After about 10 or 15 strokes you will need to change the patch and apply more lapping compound. After you have completed this step clean the barrel THOROUGHLY with a bore brush because you will have lapping compound in the grooves. Put some solvent on a bore swab and clean it some more. After you have cleaned it run another cotton ball down the bore. Do you see any fibers? If you do repeat the lapping process for another 50 strokes. Clean it again and run another cotton bore down the barrel. If you see any fibers repeat the lapping process for another 25 strokes. Okay, now you can run a cotton ball down the barrel without having any fibers stick, and when you look down the barrel it is shinier than you know what. Make sure the barrel is as clean as is humanly possible.

A mistake that some people make is to mount their ramrod in a drill motor and spin the ramrod down the barrel. DON'T DO THIS or you will round off the edges of the lands and you will lose your gas check on your bullet. Just let the bore brush/patch combination rotate normally as you run it down the barrel.

Change out the bore brush for a BORE SWAB and saturate the swab with the Teflon lube. Use lots. Now, if you had the barrel in a vice take it out and put it in a bucket of REAL HOT water. If you had someone hold the rifle take the barrel out of the stock and do the same thing. Hold onto the barrel with a thick glove or some rags during this process. Get THE ENTIRE barrel HOT from end to end! Absolutely saturate the inside of the barrel with the Teflon based lube. As the barrel cools it will suck the lube into the pores of the steel and seal it in. The more lube you use the better. Let the barrel cool completely. Take the clean bore swab that you have left and clean the excess lube out of the barrel. Look down the barrel. I suggest you wear some sunglasses when you do!!

What you have just done is what every professional target shooter does to his rifle. You have increased the speed of your bullet anywhere from 100 to 200 feet per second, and made the rifle more accurate. How have you made it more accurate? Remember one of the basics of ballistics. The explosion of the powder behind the bullet produces gas which pushes the bullet out of the barrel. The more gas you can retain behind the bullet the faster the bullet travels. The faster the bullet travels, in combination with the twist of the barrel the more accurate your rifle is. All of those chatter marks, burrs, and high spots cut into the obfligated (expanded)base of the bullet, or patch, and allowed gas to escape around the bullet while it was traveling down the barrel. You have eliminated that from happening by lapping the barrel.

After the barrel has cooled completely, run a patch down the barrel with a light coat of oil, reassemble the rifle and have some liquid refreshment. I have found that barley pop tastes real good right about now. Once a year repeat the teflon based lubrication portion. I also apply the teflon based lube to the OUTSIDE of the barrel while it is hot and it seems to help keep the barrel from rusting.

[SM1]

Don’t be afraid to use Bore Butter. I just checked the inside of my barrel and its as clean as can be. I haven’t shot it for almost a year. After a thorough cleaning, apply a thin layer of bore butter to the barrel and it should prevent rust during the off season.

Jonny P, it almost sounds as if your friend may not have had the gun completely cleaned before using the butter??

I have a stainless barrel so that might make a difference? Regardless, I have used bore butter for the last four seasons and only had good results.

[ddsbyday]

Please share these ten steps with your father.

#1. Remove the barrel

#2. Drive to a do-it your self car wash

#3. Put on a pair of light gloves.

#4. Prepare to get a little wet

#5. Put your quarters in the box

#6. 15 sec. down the barrel with soap.

#7. 20 Sec. down the barrel with rinse

#8. Your job is done so use the rest of the time to wash your vehicle.

#9 Go home and take two passes down the barrel with bore butter.

#10 Grease the breach plug and reassemble.

Total labor time= approx 4 minutes. (OR LESS).

[pumper317]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the greeat info... I used WD40 right after i wrote this and let them sit over night... They cleaned up in about 10 minutes the next morning. I am a BIG fan of the WD40 more so than ever now. That little 5 dollar can just saved me 1200 dollars worth of gun.

Good luck tomorrow to all.

[Pickelfarmer]

One thing I have done over the years is just put some HOT water in a 5 gallon pail and a good mixture of dishsoap and work the ol' brass brush up and down! Then run a couple patches through it and keep on going. Had to do the same thing with Dad's last year. Takes some elbow grease but finally got it fairly clean. When I'm done I run a few oily patches through it till it's time to go hunting then I just fire a couple caps off before loading to get rid of the oil and load er'. Good Luck!

works good in the bath tub to.Just as long as the wife doesn't catch you.

[FISHINGURU]

how does your guy's muzzleloaders get so dirty? better get yourselves some triple 7.

helps to run a cleaning patch down the barrel after everyshot...i shoot, run a cleaning patch, then a dry patch, then fire off a cap after every shot.

if you don't fire a cap off you'll foul out your next shot because there will be moisture in your breech plug.

bore butter is the bomb to run down the barrel after its clean for storage and also put around your breech threads so it's easy to remove.

sometimes i cheat and clean it after 2 shots...the more rounds you fire without cleaning the more of a pain it is to clean and your groupings will start to be all over the place.