Honing Rusty Chambers

Many old guns, especially those made during the black powder era, have been relegated to wall hanger status. In many cases this is because they were not well maintained during their working life. Although they may be mechanically sound their barrels and chambers have rusted to a degree that no longer allows chambering the rounds they were designed for. When a customer brings one into the shop it is necessary to take the time to carefully examine the firearm for structural integrity.

If the gun is sound you may be able to return it to a shootable condition simply by cleaning up the interior of the barrel. The fast and simple solution is to simply tell the customer that he has a wall hanger not suitable for restoration. In some cases this is really all you can do, however, if the pitting isn’t too bad there are tools that can clean up the bore and chamber.

If the rust is relatively mild without major pitting it can be cleaned up with a Flex-Hone, which resemble a cleaning brush with abrasive balls at the end of the bristles and powered by a common electric drill. Various sizes are available from Brownells and elsewhere for most rifle, pistol, and shotgun chamberings. Price runs about $45-$65 and they do a marvelous job. The problem comes in when you run into an uncommon caliber or gauge, or when encountering a really rusty chamber.

For these the tool for the job is a brake hone for disc brakes, available in auto supply stores. If you can’t locate one locally Brownells carries them listed as a Shotgun Barrel Hone (#531-108-002AK) for under $20. These have two spring loaded arms with abrasive stones powered with an electric drill and will fit any chamber or bore of 28 gauge or larger.

All of these require lubricant with the Flex- Hone using a proprietary oil that will not dissolve the abrasive balls as use of any other oil will voids the warranty. This oil is sold separately for around The Barrel hone can be used with any quality gun oil. The gun started out as a 1853 muzzleloading rifled musket before being converted. Recently I had a .577 Snider come into the shop that had been sold as a wall hanger.

Looking it over I was sure it was safe to fire with moderate black powder loads but cartridges could not be chambered due to the build up of rust in the chamber. If you are not familiar with the Snider, it is a single shot conversion of the Enfield Pattern 1853 Enfield similar to the Model 1873 "Trapdoor" Springfield. Where the Trapdoor is hinged at the front and opens forward, the Snider is hinged on the right side and opens to the right.

The Snider system was invented by the American engineer and inventor Jacob Snider and the typical load was 68 grains of black powder under a 530 grain Minié ball. I used Birchwood Casey Blue & Rust Remover in the bore and scrubbed it with a bore brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool soaked with Brownells Rust Preventive No. 2 (083-019-016AK). That left the bore rust free with clear rifling but some pitting. I attached the bore hone to an old shotgun rod by drilling a hole for

across pin through both the rod and the shank of the hone, then pushed it down the bore from the muzzle using an electric drill to power it. Just a few minutes work left the chamber rust free. Cleaning up the bore and chamber to insure any abrasive from the stones was washed out, I made The rust is gone and only clean up is left to do. Below center: The cleaned up Snider and a box of 26 gauge hulls loaded with black powder and lubed Minié balls ready for a range session.

Having a rear sight would help see what the gun is capable of. some test ammunition after ordering Cheddite 26 gauge plastic shotgun hulls I found on the Internet. Yes, I did say 26 gauge. I’ve seen videos where they used 28 gauge hulls wrapped in paper to bring them up to chamber diameter but the 26 gauge fit perfectly. I kept the loads light us- Far The gun had been a wall hanger for years. Bottom Attached to an old shotgun cleaning rod, it was inserted from the muzzle and used to polish the Snider’s chamber.

Using an electric drill at the muzzle end and gun oil in the chamber, it is ready to use. ing 50 grains of Pyrodex RS and a patched .570 ball that weighed 275 grains. I headed off to my local range to test fire the gun before returning it to its owner. Considering there was no rear sight on the gun I was pleased to put all three shots on the paper at 50 yards. Feeling the gun was up to handling a heavier bullet, I moved up to a 480 grain Minié ball but point of impact was off the paper.

Having only had two rounds loaded I headed back to the shop. One of the things I really enjoy is taking an old gun that others have written off and bringing it back to shooting condition. So, next time an old relic walks into your shop with a gun even older than the geezer carrying it don’t be to fast on turning him away. After all, we get paid to repair guns and there just isn’t any money in advising people to hang a gun on the wall. AG