Removing rust in bore

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 21 Dec 2014, 8:28 pm

Got the rifle back yesterday but didn't get to work on it till this afternoon. It's a Chinese Mosin Nagant carbine. Please excuse the photos, I'm a horrible photographer but hopefully I captured enough for you guys to get the idea.

This is the rifle as it came to me
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Close up to show rust on magazine/ action

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Chamber after soaking in oil but before cleaning

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Bore after soaking but before cleaning

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Muzzle after soaking, before cleaning

At this point I ran a few patches through the bore. There was no discernible change so I ran an oily brush through, still no change. Then I ran a brush soaked in hoppes number 9 and let it soak for about 10 minutes then patched out.

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Bore after cleaning with hoppes.

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Muzzle after cleaning with hoppes.

The chamber end came up really well but the muzzle end still needs some work. I can feel when I'm patching it out that the first 2 thirds of the barrel runs smooth and then the patch gets caught up and feels like it's tearing. The crown also looks a little shot so I don't think it's gonna shoot very well but we'll see.

I also started cleaning up the bolt

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Before cleaning

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After

I started off with sandpaper and fine steel wool but it wore out too quick due to the pitting and how rough the surface of the bolt is so I started using a bench mounted wire wheel which produced good results.

I'll switch back to steel wool for the final polish. I'm debating at the moment whether to try to remove all the pitting or not because it would remove quite a lot of material from the bolt body to smooth it out.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Supporter » 22 Dec 2014, 1:25 pm

Geez what a state that was in before you started.

Massive turn around, good work.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by wayward » 22 Dec 2014, 1:25 pm

How you feeling about it being safe to fire after that?
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Vati » 22 Dec 2014, 1:26 pm

Where was it stored before you got it :shock:

What a mess.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by sarki » 22 Dec 2014, 1:27 pm

The chamber looks like the last guy was using it to shovel mud :?
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 22 Dec 2014, 1:40 pm

wayward wrote:How you feeling about it being safe to fire after that?


I haven't seen anything to think it will be unsafe to fire. I'm not expecting any kind of accuracy from it though.

vati wrote:Where was it stored before you got it :shock:

What a mess.

The story I got is it's been in a roof for the last 30 years. Looks more like the bottom of the sea to me :lol:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by tom604 » 22 Dec 2014, 9:32 pm

thats a big job, i will keep an eye on this thread, very interesting
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Wes » 23 Dec 2014, 7:15 am

Vati wrote:Where was it stored before you got it :shock:

What a mess.


Maybe it was the guys "swimming rifle" :lol:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Yelp » 23 Dec 2014, 7:16 am

tom604 wrote:thats a big job, i will keep an eye on this thread, very interesting


No kidding.

Nice turn-around so far though :)

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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 23 Dec 2014, 2:42 pm

Got a heap of work done today. I started by stripping the rifle down into it's smallest parts. I noticed there was a heap of gunk in the trigger mechanism so I pulled that out for a clean.

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Before cleaning. Note also the rust on the trigger.

I cleaned all the crap out with a brush soaked in shellite and then applied Birchwood Casey Blue and Rust Remover to the trigger which was badly affected with rust. After letting it sit for a couple minutes I gave it a scrub with fine steel wool dampened with shellite then repeated the whole process.

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Trigger cleaned up. Rust still apparent but greatly minimised. Rust Remover only applied to lower section of trigger

Next I took the barrelled action and cleaned off all the surface rust with a wire wheel. Over the next few days I'll apply Blue and Rust Remover to tidy up the rust I couldn't get to with the wheel and remove the remainder of the old blue.

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Finally I tried the Blue and Rust Remover on the magazine.

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Side I didn't touch.

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Side I cleaned up. Note again there is still rust but a lot has been removed.

The Blue and Rust Remover works well but is time consuming. It's based on Phosphoric Acid and is a carcinogen so you have to be careful not to breath it in and avoid skin contact.

I've been thinking of running the Blue and Rust Remover down the bore to work on some of the stubborn rust in there. Any thoughts?
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by anthillinside » 23 Dec 2014, 8:43 pm

WOW What a difference, hard work pays off.

Looks like the Blue and Rust remover is doing the job but not etching the steal so it shouldn't hurt the bore.
I see there is some pretty deep pitting on the trigger guard, lets hope it's not that deep in the bore.
In any case the rust has got to go.

Good luck
Last edited by anthillinside on 25 Dec 2014, 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by RDobber » 24 Dec 2014, 2:00 pm

Very impressive restoration mate.

You're working miracles on that thing.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 18 Feb 2015, 6:39 pm

Finally got back to this project. A while back I removed the finish on the stock with oven cleaner and I've been waiting for it to dry out. Today I applied a stain to the stock

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It's kind of hard to get a good photo of it. I was going to use steam to raise the dents out of the stock but in the end I decided against it because I want the stock and the metal work to reflect the history of the rifle. Tomorrow I'll apply a sealant (bees wax) which should add depth and highlight the grain and add richness to the wood.

I also started re-bluing the metal work today, starting with the buttpad

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After I've finished off the stock and re-blued all the metal I'm going to take the bolt to get chrome plated because it was far too pitted to fix to a standard I'm happy with
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Spooner » 19 Feb 2015, 2:53 pm

The stock looks good... Too good... You sure you didn't just buy another one? :lol: :sarcasm:

Nah good work mate.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Khan » 19 Feb 2015, 3:00 pm

The better surface areas have come up great :thumbsup:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Mich » 19 Feb 2015, 3:01 pm

Some junk is going to pour out of the barrel for sure.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Feb 2015, 3:25 pm

Thanks fellas :drinks:

Mich wrote:Some junk is going to pour out of the barrel for sure.


Copper, lead and heat hopefully :lol:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Westy » 19 Feb 2015, 4:13 pm

:lol: :D :lol: If your shooting that thing at the range I'm staying in the Car park !!! :lol: :D :lol:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Feb 2015, 4:26 pm

Westy wrote::lol: :D :lol: If your shooting that thing at the range I'm staying in the Car park !!! :lol: :D :lol:


:lol: I'm hoping they'll let me anchor it to the bench and pull the trigger with a string!
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Oldbloke » 19 Feb 2015, 4:45 pm

My x son inlaw was given a very old 8mm a few yrs ago. Condition was not much better. After cleaning it up took it to a gun smith , it has pitting up to perhaps as much as 1 mm deep on the outside of the barrel near the chamber. To our suprise gun smith said it was ok to use. So got a few rounds of factory ammo and pulled the projectiles outjust enough to touch the lands. The idea was to increase the pressure above normal. We did the string thing too. Shot fine and as far as I know still being used. Accuracy fas fair but for his use considered ok.
Perhaps do as we did and ask a gun smith for a quick check. Ps keep it up, looks like a great project.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Feb 2015, 5:03 pm

Oldbloke wrote:My x son inlaw was given a very old 8mm a few yrs ago. Condition was not much better. After cleaning it up took it to a gun smith , it has pitting up to perhaps as much as 1 mm deep on the outside of the barrel near the chamber. To our suprise gun smith said it was ok to use. So got a few rounds of factory ammo and pulled the projectiles outjust enough to touch the lands. The idea was to increase the pressure above normal. We did the string thing too. Shot fine and as far as I know still being used. Accuracy fas fair but for his use considered ok.
Perhaps do as we did and ask a gun smith for a quick check. Ps keep it up, looks like a great project.


Thanks for the advice. Yeah I'll get someone to look it over before I'm behind the trigger for sure.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Westy » 19 Feb 2015, 5:26 pm

Yep it's sure is getting there ,look's great mate!!!
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Feb 2015, 5:31 pm

Westy wrote:Yep it's sure is getting there ,look's great mate!!!


Cheers Westy :)
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Feb 2015, 6:03 pm

Got a polish rubbed into it this afternoon. Came up pretty well just how I wanted it.

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Now onto the bluing
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by sarki » 20 Feb 2015, 2:51 pm

Baldrick314 wrote::lol: I'm hoping they'll let me anchor it to the bench and pull the trigger with a string!


I think just asking is going to raise enough red flags they might boot you out :lol:
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by bunnybuster » 18 Apr 2015, 9:37 pm

Sorry guy,have to be honest,you should have spent the $25 this cost you on some ammo for your .22. :(

I wouldn't pull the trigger on a round in this.

Be Safe BB.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by FuzzyM » 18 Apr 2015, 10:02 pm

bunnybuster wrote:Sorry guy,have to be honest,you should have spent the $25 this cost you on some ammo for your .22. :(

I wouldn't pull the trigger on a round in this.

Be Safe BB.


Pfffft. I would :D

Rifle is coming up nicely. :thumbsup:

I love it when something like this gets rescued from a fate as scrap.
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Apr 2015, 6:08 am

Thanks for the concern BB however I have had it looked over by a gunsmith who saw no issue with it being fired. Regardless of that as I said from the outset this project was more about the process for me than the end result
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Oldbloke » 19 Apr 2015, 8:29 am

Baldrick, looking great. I would still do the string thing to be sure, to be sure. Lol. But I see no obvious reason to think its not safe inless the trigger has issues. People forget that there is a large safety margin built in to the design of fire arms. Ie tbe chamber walls would be much thicker than actualy required for norman pressures.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, a gun smith gave an old 8mm the ok with pitting about 1 mm deep around the chamber and it fired ok. When we did the string thing we put about 3 or 4 heavy blankets over tne 8mm. But would be better to have a tree between u and the rifle. Cant wait to hear the finnal result
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Re: Removing rust in bore

Post by Baldrick314 » 19 Apr 2015, 10:10 am

:lol: Yeah Oldbloke, particularly military rifles. I think the high command frowned on rifles that blew up in their own soldiers faces!
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