keeping rust out of gun
 

i have cleaned my cva after shooting everytime i use it.but when i leave it in the gun cabinet for a week,i can see a little bit of rust at the end of the barrel.it is a eclipse magnum,blued barrel. thank you

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

You don't mention what you use to protect the rifle. What you use, makes a big difference. For instance I was instant messaged by a person that had rust concerns and stated they protected the rifle with T/C #13 bore cleaner, but their rifle still rusted. I explained to them, that was not protecting the metal from rusting. So make sure that what you are using to protect the metal, stop or protects the metal against rust. Not simply cleans the barrel.

Some people use bore butter. Bore butter works only if you know how you're applying it. Do Bore Butter wrong, and you have a rusted rifle.

Another thing you have to be careful of when storing your rifle is humidity. Some areas of the country have a humidity problem. For them, there are things you can purchase to store the rifle in like a silicone sock, or put humidty prevention items in thegun cabinet that will help protect them from the humidity.

So, after you have cleaned the rifle, take a quality gun oil and swab the barrel with that oil on a patch. When you are sure the inside of the rifle is coated well, then hold the rifle in a non metal area like the stock. Using that same oil saturated patch wipe down the outside of the rifle taking care to hit all areas and remove all finger prints, etc. The rifle should then be ready to be stored. Keep your humidity in mind where you store the rifle, and you should be fine.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

I totally agree with Cayugad. But you not only didn't say how you treated your firearm but you didn't mention how or what you used to clean it. All my smoke poles are sidelocks and they get a good scrubbing with hot soapy water first with a brass brush then with patches followed by a hot water rinse. Thoroughly dried and bore butter applied in the bore and oil outside. I've never had a problem with rust. Some use bore butter, some don't.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

My favorite gun oil is called Birchwood Casey Sheath a.k.a. Barricade. This stuff really works, has a great smell, and protects all my rifles. I like to get the stuff in an aerosol spray can. Good stuff.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Cayugad - do you swab your bore with a solution prior to shooting? I know some who use a 50/50 windex/alcohol solution to wipe the bore. I heard that any petroleum product will form a tarry like residue inside the barrel when mixed with the fired/burnt black powder. I've always used bore butter and never had this problem.
Oh, BTW, as far as humidity, I mounted a ceramic light base inside my gun safe adn put a 25 watt light bulb in there. This keeps the interior of the safe warm enough to expel any humidity. Those silicon dessicant bags are nice but a pain to keep 'baking' dry. The golden rod works well too I've heard.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

As cayugad said, make sure you're using protectant, not just a cleaner. Assuming you've done so, pay particular attention to the areas that seem to rust. After cleaning, dry the barrel and thenapply a protectant such as T/C bore butter, or just gun oil. Again, pay attention to the seemingly sensitive areas and maybe give them an extra dab. Third thing to do is put the gun in a dry area where the gun can air out. Do not store the gun locked up in a sheath, or if you do, at least open the zipper most of the way. A light bulb or a small, gun cabinet dehumidifier would do a good job. These are just the basics; I hope maybe this caught something that might have caused the problem. And remember, a gun isn't clean until the patches are.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

IMHO - cleaning is the most important step in rust prevention. I use a mix of automotive anti-freeze & water for cleaning. Wet patches & pump water in & out of the bore, then bronze brush, then more patches until they come out clean. Then I use compressed air to blow the moisture out of the bore. Then a good thorough soaking with WD-40, set a minute then blow that out with compressed air. A couple clean dry patches, then a good coat of a quality gun oil (I like Rem-Oil). On my hooked breech sidelock I also use a small bronze brush that fits on the end of the ramrod to clean the breech plug face during the cleaning.
Using this method I've had no rust problems at all!

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

i use t/c #13 bore cleaner.and i use bore butter.i saw someone said soap and water.wont that make it rust more?i havnt put gun oil on the inside of the barrel.i have on the outside.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

I never use bore butter in my barrels. It used to rust my renegade to hell when i'd clean it and then swab it with bore butter. And like you, a week later it was rusty. WD40 is also a horrible oil to use. I'll take a pic of a freshly turned crankshaft that had wd40 applied to it and 2 weeks later, was totally ruined by rust. I no longer oil my barrels. I just dry them, store barrel pointed down and the next day i will run a dry patch, both sides, down the barrel to make sure its fine. No problems yet.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Bear - HOT water and soap followed by a HOT water rinse is IMO the best way to clean a black powder rifle. Just the barrel now, not the whole gun. After my sidelocks are scrubbed with the soapy water I put a funnel in the business end and pour very hot water down the bore to rinse it out. The Barrel gets hot enough that you cannot pick it up with your bare hand. It drys fast after running one or two dry patches through it. Just as a precaution, I then run a few patches of #13 through it, dry the bore again and then coat the bore with the bore butter.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

I use Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine to clean my bore.

Three or four very wet patches is all that's needed - following each wet patch with both sides of a dry patch. The fourthwet patchusually comes out as clean as it went in.

Once it's clean, I pumpa very oily patch up and down2 or 3 times(3 in 1 oil, Rem Oil, any light oil). Wipe down the outside with the oily patch, put a clean dry patch between the hammer and thenipple (or a piece of a dry patch inthe 209 receiver) and it's ready to store.

When I'm ready to shoot it, I run one dry patch, then an alcohol patch, than another dry patch, pop a cap,and I'm ready to go.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

bear6 - I will guess that what happened is you cleaned the rifle with T/C#13, patched the bore dry, and then just smeared bore butter down the barrel. I am not a bore butter user because it was too much of a hassel for me to use. But that is not the way I have heard the bore butter people describe using the stuff. Their trick is you have to get the barrel hot by pouring boiling water down them. Then when the barrel is dry, the heat of the barrel help, so when you smear that bore butter wax in the barrel, the heat of the metal draws that into the pores of the metal, sealing them from the air.

I use gun oil. Then before I shoot the next time, I take a patch and dampen it with isopropyl alcohol/windshield washer mix. I then swab the oil out of the bore. After that I run a dry patch down the bore. On the next dry patch, I push that to the breech of the rifle and pop a 209 primer, or #11 cap. Then I pull that patch and check it for burn marks. If there are burn marks on it, I pop another cap or primer and just load the rifle as normal. I am then shooting on a very clean, dry barrel.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

A friend I have swears by RIG,labeled auniversal rust inhibiting grease. It's a light grease that I'm sure as the final swab through a barrel would prevent rust in the most humid climate. He live's in lowerMichigan, and shoots a lot of black powder. It's made by an outfit in Sparks, NV. I have a can and use it occasionally, but I live in the arid southwest, rust isn't a huge issue here. I finish cleaning by running a patch using either RIG or WD-40, both in BP guns or centerfire/rimfire firearms. Rusthasn't been a problem.

I lived in Hawaii for a few years and shot black powder pistols while there.I cleaned with hot soapy water, finished with WD-40 or maybe gun oilas I recall, and had no problems with rust.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

RIG is some good stuff. Here is a rust test if you are deciding how to oil you gun. Notice how the really good ones are hard to remove. I think it is worth it though.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=0&t=1&i=503

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Good Link Sharp Shooter. WD-40 did MUCH better than I expected.

I usedit a lot years ago, but got away from it when several gun writers in magazinessuch as Shooting Times, Guns & Ammo, etc., started bad mouthing it.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Since the first day of May we have had over 20 inches of rain here. Checked over all my guns recently. the only one that had a little dry rust (on the hammer) was the Charter Arms revolver that is under the bed in the master bedroom. Just wiped the rust away with a rag.

i clean my muzzleloaders using Windex with vinegar just like Mike Venturino, handgun editor, cleans his blackpowder guns. Then i run a patch through the bore saturated with Hoppe's Bench Rest to remove traces of the Windex. Then another patch saturated with Militec. If the gun will be used within about 90 days all the metal is given a wipe down with a rag saturated with Militec. For long term storage the gun is coated with Hoppes Gun Grease. Over the years my guns have been in the safe foras long at two years while i was away working overseas and none have ever rusted.

Make sure that all oil is removed from the bore before loading the gun.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

After you do the hot-water treatment and have patched it out with dry patches until it is totally DRY inside,take a dry patch, squirt it well with Birchwood casey SHEATH (Barricade) and swab out the bore two or three passes with that SHEATH. You will have no more rust at your muzzle, or anywhere else.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

I used the hot water/soap/hot water rinsemethod last time I had my CVA out. It worked well, usually I've used the CVA barrel blaster. When I'm all done, before storage I use Rem Oil with teflon down the barrel with a patch then the outside. No problems.....When I get ready to shoot it again, I use the windshield waster/alcohol patch then a couple of dry patches.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Been cleaning mine with the boiled H20 and dishsoap.Then dry patches followed by an olive oil swab.Also heard that petroleum products cause tarring.I supose Isapropal alcohol would remove it before firing? Does anyone remove the nipple and lube the threads or is this overkill? Harold

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

I have a small model builders paint brush and I do paint the threads of the nipple with anti seize before I put them back. That way I know they will come back out. Sometimes, depending on the powder, they can get pretty crud embedded and this makes sure they back right back out.

Although trick I found is leave the nipple in the barrel when you do your first water bath. Normally after pumping one patch and water through the barrel the nipple will come out easier. Then take it out, and you will notice it all nice and clean, clear, and it comes out easier.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

Heres a trick I believe that I may have come up with for using bore butter effectively:

Using one of those hand held steam cleaners ( you or your wife may have one already, I got ours at Wal MArt for $30) shoot steam through the end where the breech plug fits - so that the scalding water which is produced runs out he muzzel.

The barrel will get so hot the you wont want to touch it, so with a towel or t-shirt, hold onto it so you can run your cleaning patches through it a few times. them dry the outside and inside thourougly with a towel and dry patches inside the barrell.

At this time, the barrell is still extremely hot, but dry. Run a patch saturated with bore butter thriought once or twice, you will be able to feel it get sort and melt with the heat.

Then you have a perfectly cleaned barrel - like the day you bought it, and a perfectly stored barrel. The bore butter will come out more the yellow color it was when you put it in instead of a gunky brown and black color.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

ive been using bore butter for the past 3 days now in my 45 and so far so good. I take advantage of the hot sun we've been having and let that heat up the barrel. No rust so far. Every 5 or 6 outings, i'll use a bore brush and scrub the bore clean and do it all over again.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

NO!Harold, it sure ain't overkill! ANY component of your gun that gets BP or substitute fouling on it will eventually corrode if it is not cleaned! Even stainless steel!

You remove the nipple, and use a round toothpick and hot water & detergent, and wash all fouling off and out of the nipple (so you can see thru the little tiny hole)before you squirt it with SHEATH and put back in the drum -which is also clean because you took the nipple and cleanout screw out of it and let the hot water run out of the drum when you poured it through the barrel.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

After I remove the nipple, I like to take a pipe cleaner ( get the white ones at the Dollar Store) and dip that into solvent. That pipe cleaner will slide right into the nipple port and you can then scratch around in there and make sure there is no fowling. Use the other end dipped in isopropyl alcohol and that will make sure it is nice and dry, after a water bath. Then take a Q-tip dipped in alcohol and push that in there and scrub the threads where the nipple goes. Make sure there is no fowling there. The last thing you want to corrode is the threads of the bolster because a nipple canl come loose and fly out from back pressure when you fire,should the threads wear away from rust and use.

RE: keeping rust out of gun
 

love the birchwood casey stealth. im in the process if trying out the shooters choice fp-10 .its another highly recommended oil.