Thread: Cleaning old barrels

Having trouble getting a lever action to shoot well and the inside of the barrel looks like a sewer pipe,scrubbed it with a copper brush and some oil ,also tried scrubbing with some autosol but still no luck with accuracy,any tips on the best way to clean it up?thanks.

The crown is where i would look at

I used a foam cleaner worked well think it was called Gunslick, Sweets works pretty good on copper Kroil is another good product gets under the fouling and lifts it up

Copper is unlikely to be a problem, @Huk has outlined the main cause of "shoots like shit" issues. Pitting from rust especially at the muzzle could be it.
It may help to show a target, or describe the groups as well.

It sounds fucked, so scrub with scotch bright patches, or even fire lap. Can't do any harm at this stage. If that doesn't work re-barrel. You could re-crown but probably just waisting money.

Had the crown done but doesn’t seem to have made much difference.how do you fire lap?

Best group I can get is 4in @ 40 m,nice triangle group tho,then as Powder increased so did the group size up till 33g 2206h gave about 8in group,still nice triangle shape tho!29g of Powder was the best.

What is it

A few questions
Are the holes in the target round or slightly oval?
Have you slugged the barrel (run a lead plug through it) and measrured it and measured freebore ( push a projectile in from the breech end till it engages the rifling then measure the distance to the muzzle with a cleaning rod, tap the bullet out and chamber a preferably dummy round then remeasure. The difference is the freebore)?
That might show whats up

Fire lapping is shooting either a plug of valve grinding compound or a lead slug rolled in the stuff. Its great for removing stuff and getting a shiny bore but does not a lot for barrel life and wont remove pitting.

You can treat with acid to remove rust etc, I have some at home but cannot remember the name of it. Brings them up a treat! I find the name

Winchester model 94 in 30-30,holes are round so no keyholing,not slugged and being a lever action it’s hard to check the free bore,.

citric acid maybe?

Originally Posted by Maca49

You can treat with acid to remove rust etc, I have some at home but cannot remember the name of it. Brings them up a treat! I find the name

Dont use abrasives like Autosol or brasso as mentioned in earlier posts. For rust you could try something like this...SCA RUST CONVERTER - 500mL - Supercheap Auto

Originally Posted by timattalon

Dont use abrasives like Autosol or brasso as mentioned in earlier posts. For rust you could try something like this...SCA RUST CONVERTER - 500mL - Supercheap Auto

You need abrasives to get a decent change. It's pitted shooting a 4 inch group at 40 meters. it's fucked anyway, it won't get worse from a little scrubbing. And if it does you loose a 4 inch group at 40m. Just re-barrel.