barrel pitting, what to do??
 

i own a omega z5 that is just over a year old. this past muzzeloader season i shot it, swabbed it and reloaded it for the season. my first shot on a clean barrel is always of. and it stayed that way as i never got a shot the rest of the season. now that the season is over i shot it and cleaned it today and noticed that the barrel right were the load is, is starting to pit, not horribly but yet it is. i shoot triple 7 loose. wondering what i should do know. is it safe to shoot??

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

brad_vanderband1

Just take the breech plug out and push the load out the rear... Then clean the gun really well. You will probably hav to use some JB's bore paste as well shine the barrel up again...

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

well the load is out, and i just cleaned it extremely good and lubed it for storage. what will JB's bore paste do and will the pitting hurt it??

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

Last question first - - sure, minor pitting like that is not going to weaken the barrel in any significant way. I would however make sure to clean up the pitted area real well, with JB past as sabotloader suggests, or any other mildabrasive such as toothpaste or that fine cleanser made for stainless steel or aluminum.

Now, back to the original problem. In my view, this business of fouling a bore - then swabbing - then loading and leaving the load in for more than a day is just asking for trouble. Swabbing after one shot may prepare the barrel for the next shot but in no way cleans the acidic fouling out of the bore. That tiny bit of fouling left in the corners of the rifling grooves has already attracted some moisture by the time you putthe second load in. The corrosion clock is ticking. Sure, you're good for a day or two, maybe even three or four with a stainless barrel. But anything longer than that is surely working evil on the bore. Each time you do it the evil has a greater chance to grow because there are already very tiny pits there from the last time you did it.

My advice is to never leave a load in a barrel for longer than36 hours unless the barrel was squeaky clean when loaded. I have no qualms, and have never had a bit of a problemwith leaving a squeaky clean barrel loaded for months at a time. That's why I sight in so that my first shot from a clean barrel hits at the point of aim, and always hunt with a clean barrel. A second shot from the fouled barrel may be an inch or two or threeoff point of aim. That's OK. The first shot is what counts anyway.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

Before you do anything else, read your owner's manual, paying particular attention to the parts printed in red ink. Then go on to the instructions on how to pull a load and then cleaning it.

Always unload the gun after each day of hunting or shooting. Not only for safety reasons but leaving the gun loaded for weeks at a time, especially with a fouled barrel, will cause rust and pitting. Sometimes it'll rust overnight.

In high humidity, the charge can soak up moisture. Even if you'd gotten an opportunity at an animal, there was a good chance the powder wouldn't ignite and you'dnot gotten a shot off. So, the only smart move is to fire the gun or pull the charge andevery time you quit for the day.

I hate to sound so severe like this, but you made several basic muzzleloadingrule violations you desperatelyneed to correct.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

When you get it cleaned up well remember that you have to keep those pits cleaned out good every time you clean the gun or they will get bigger. 777 is more corrosive than a lot of people like to admit; when I did my testing Pyrodex showed up the most corrosive with black and 777 next,the APP showed up best but I ran into some bad cans of it. Lee

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

brad_vanderband1

Brad, going back and re-reading you post I now notice you said that the pitting was occuring:

That area you are talking about is where the infamous T7 "crud ring" is deposited. From that statement are you saying the rest of the barrel is fine?

I am now of the belief that if you have cleaned your barrel well, you may not need to use the JB's - your barrel probably cleaned up just fine. If you still have some fouling in the "crud ring" area - hot water (boiling)and a good soap scrubbing will take care of the whole thing.

I have posted this routine several times but I will add it here again...

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

sabotloader


My methods of cleaning use boiling water filling the barrel, then running my brush through the barrel several strokes, dump the water out and repeat several times and till the barrel is scorching hot. then i run cleaning patches through until sparking clean. then run a few dry patches through, then run one with a lube in it. that said, my foul shot is roughly 4 inches of from the rest. i remeber people talking on hear that they leave there gun loaded most of the season with out problems. so i shot it once swapped it twice and then ran 2 dry patches through it as i do every shot. then i reloaded it and it stayed that way for the rest of the season. i never meant to leave it loaded for more than a week but that is what happened. and to those who say it will build moisture in and not go off or hang fire, i believed it but i have never had a problem and didnt with this load when i shot it off. the rest of the barrel is clean as a whistle no pitting nothing. its only right in the chamber.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

brad_vanderband1
Brad do you use breech plug grease or teflon tape on you BP... if grease are you using a grease that also has a metal in it like aluminum or brass...

Back when I was using grease - I noticed that I got a stain in the area of the breech as I shot the grease into the pours of the bore... wasn't a problem but it looked odd. I then tried some anti-seize with an aluminum in it... that was even worse for leaving a marked ring around the breech bore.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

i have CVA Anti-seize stick and CVA SLick Breech Plug NIpple grease. neither of them say anything about having brass or aluminum in them. one of them needs to hit the trash cause i hate it but dont remember which one it is till after i use it! but i have been using these for the past year and have never noticed anything like this yet.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

Brad

Correct neither of them have the metal in them and a lot of people use them for BP grease.

I have just gone away from grease myself because in my feeble mind I still remember a bit of staining (baked grease into and on the bore) which was not a realy problem, but I also do not like the dealing with the goo or the posibliltiy of contaminating some powder. There are a lot of folks out there being very successful with BP grease.

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

i dont think that it is stains, it really looks like piting. I tried taking pictures but you can imagine how well that worked. would most gunsmiths have an idea on something like this, id imagine they would, or would you recommend me trying something first??

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

brad_vanderband1

The first thing I would try would be some JB Bore Paste, and from there, if necessary more a bore paste with a very fine grit. But remembering what you take off you can not replace...

Do some searching for "barrel lapping" you will a multiple ideas how to do it. I did fire lap a barrel on a Austin & Halleck several years ago and it worked great. All I did was shoot some lead conicals out of the barrel using a bore paste as the lubricant.

One other thought - your pitting probably will not effect the performance of the rifle as long as you clean very each time and lub the barrel...

Last thought which is probably the best... call TC tech people tell them what you have going on... they will probably have you send the gun in and they will do what is the best.. yep on a newer gun and since it is a TC that is where I would start first... no doubt...

RE: barrel pitting, what to do??
 

Brad,
Sorry to hear about the pits! You should be able to tell if they are pits. Next gun show go and I'm sure you can find a dealer who has those dental picks made in India. There area bunch of differnt shapesand you will see one you can use to ride the bore and if it indeed is a pit it will stop and drop in. If its crud it will slide around it. What the others said is great. That area where the load is will not effect accuracy but you will have to keep on it to help prevent the spot from spreading. That pick I just mentioned is awesome for cleaning the threads inside the breech where the breech plug screws in. That final seating surface is a real pain @ times and that pick is sweet.

There are two ways to foul a barrel IF is is even necessary. ONE is to fire a squib load of the powder you are using but that load must be the same every time to get consistancy. Now that powder and bullet load should be shot out and cleanedTHAT day as now you just started the corrusion process upon ignition of the squib load. SECOND, If you must dirty your barrel WHY not just shoot one or two primers? They are not corrusive and that barrel fouling will NOT react to any powder sustitute to cause corrusion until you ignite the full load. I talked to hogdon about this and I have sold thousands of pounds of powder for the past 6 yrs. What I have said is per the factory. I have left my powder loads in my barrels from the beginning of the firearms regular season through the BP season in FL and NY in very wet conditions and have NEVER had a load not go off in a hunting situationor had a corrusion problem. I always use a finger cot, cut off fingers of a glove to go over the barrel every time I go out no matter if good or bad weather. Think about it, if you get moisture of any kind down the bore it now must be swabbed outand now you changed the impact point and have to fire the loadand start all over. Just more usless time stealing work.
I also am very very careful of whatI do w/ the rifle when loaded in cold conditions. I always put it in the thick case and allow a very slow warm up process unless I'm shooting the load out. This will prevent any condensation on the powder grainuals against the bore so you won't have wet powder. I'm sure you have heard all the bad stories about wet powder..
For anti seize I use the small tube of Super Lube. TC sells it as well as good fishing tackle stores. Best I have ever found.
Best of luck,
Steve