I need some advice / Help


bostoned

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I am relatively new to muzzleloaders. Everything I know I've taught myself from books & magazines & the forum. Well I have a problem and I don't know what to do.

I had a hectic past 9-10 months and haven't taken my Omega z5 (blued barrel) out to shoot since I last shot it in January. I guess I didn't do something right cleaning it or maybe b/c it was in my basement and some moisture got to it, I don't know but the inside of the barrel started to rust. Outside of barrel is perfect, inside is a mess.

I spent about an hour last night cleaning it with a brass bristle bore brush and swabbing the barrel with patches. It is a lot better than it was but I can still see rust/buildup in the barrel.

What should I do / Can I do? Should I send back to Thompson? Can I take to a local gunsmith? Should I take it to the range and shoot a couple times then go back and clean the heck out of it?

I am really kicking myself for doing something wrong or letting the moisture in the basement get to it. Although, the basement in partially finished and dry, I guess there was enough humidity/moisture to get to the barrel.

HELP!

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I am by no means and expert when it comes to ML hunting as I am pretty new to it also. You might want to look into lapping the barrel though. That might help. Once it's clean, lube it up really good with bore butter before you put it away for the season. I put a liberal dose of bore butter in my Encore last winter, pulled it out the other day, held my breath, and to my surprise, the Encore barrel looked like a mirror. :cool:

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thanks!Well, that makes me feel a tad bit better that I'm not the only one that has had to deal with this. I still feel like an idiot but what can you do? My daughter was born this spring 10 weeks early. She was in the hospital for 6 weeks and then once she was home, I couldn't bring myself to leave on weekends to go shoot or scout or anything. I just wanted to spend all my time with her and my wife. Here's a pic of my little miracle. She is just the most easy going baby. That is why I haven't looked at the muzzleloader for 9 months. I will try that bore cleaning paste and .50/.54 cal wire brush. Is that something I can get at your local Dick's or should I go on-line to Midway USA or someplace like that? Thanks for the help!

Elizabeth & I laughing.jpg

581c8639a3124_ElizabethampIlaughing.jpg.d30551b1840a1f8cab17ea6b97409fb6.jpg

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I have an old knight, but I believe TC has the same warrenty... Anyhow, mine rusted real bad when I was younger and I called knight. They said to send them the gun so I did, and they replaced the barrel free of charge, just shipping was paid. Knight and I believe TC have an awesome warrenty, just don't do it with a CVA because from what I understand they won't cover it. When they shipped the gun back there was a note that said "keep gun clean and oiled, should be no further problems". haha i learned my lesson

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Welcome to the forums Ed :).

CVA makes a spray type cleaner called barrel blaster. You plug the breach and fill up the barrel. let it sit a bit and then its clean. Give that try for $5 or so. I like using T/C's bore butter also as a protector for the black powder guns.

Lapping the barrel is also a possibility. Midway has all you need for this.

BTW, congrats on your little girl, sure is a doll.

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Thanks

I had been using the bore butter to keep things protected while in the case. But I didn't the last time I cleaned it. Then we had some construction in the basement and the gun was put to the side. I think the one latch was loose and I think that is how the moisture got in there. I had a couple of those silica gel packs that come in shoe boxes etc. But I don't think they were enough. I will definitely be taking it back to T/C but I was hoping I could get it in good enough shape for the upcoming muzzleloader season.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try them and let you know how it goes.

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update

So, I went to my local Dick's and they didn't have that much stuff. Massachusetts isn't the best place to find a well stocked Dick's or Walmart when it comes to hunting and fishing stuff.

Anyway, they had the foaming bore cleaner so I picked that up and some stuff from Otis. Then I also picked up a 16-guage shotgun brass brush. It was very light brass fibers and it fit pretty well. I scrubbed the barrel twice with the foaming stuff and a couple times with the otis stuff.

It doesn't actually look that bad anymore. I still think I may try to return to T/C in January but it isn't that bad anymore.

Thanks for all the advice. Now if my daughter's fever goes away, I might get out on Wednesday since firearm season just opened today in Mass.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I used to use bore butter in my front loader as a preservative but I got rust under the bore butter once and have since given up on that stuff for preserving. I do grease my patches and bore size conicals with it just to use it up. Now I use remoil, g96, or breakfree clp in the barrel when storing and do not get rust. I run an alcohol patch through it before shooting to clean out the oil. Bore Butter is a wax base and can trap moisture under it.

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Black powder residue is extremely corrosive. lesson learned from first smoke pole is to stay away from petrollum products for storing and cleaning. T/c cleaning patches, hot soapy water, and T/C bore butter is the best, when i store my black powder for the year i clean it, light coat of bore butter on patch with cleaning jag a couple of times down the barrel, bore butter on breach plug threads get a rubber stopper from the end of a syringe and put it over the ignition hole and a peice of tape over the end of the barrel. i have done this for years with t/c black diamond, cva .45, and traditions .50 and .32 cal and have had not problems with rust or stuck breach plugs or cap nipples. I live in florida 22 miles from the gulf of mexico. hope this will help ya out.

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