A customer brought in a rifle (Ruger M77, tang safety) in 270 Win. He had fired a round in it recently, and the fired case stuck in the chamber. The case was fairly easily removed and was full of dimples and impressions from the chamber wall. Inspection with light revealed much rust in the chamber. The bore is fine, as are the bolt, receiver interior and exterior and barrel exterior. I have used a bronze chamber brush and also fine wet or dry paper on a drill motor. Some of the rust (more than just surface rust) has come off, but it is taking a while. Any comments on carefully using naval jelly, Brownells rust remover or Brownells rust release or other chemical? Any other suggestions for getting that rust out of there? The chamber may be pitted, but I can’t tell until the rust is gone or mostly gone. Thanks all. Don
What grit paper are you using? May need to use 320/360 grit for a little first then work up to 400 and higher. Are you talking deep holes (Pitts) in the chamber? Try using some Oil with the Paper. It’s hard to say, as I can’t see it. A picture would be nice. Have you use bore cleaner and Chamber brush?
I would not use naval jelly, Brownells rust remover or Brownells rust release or other chemical. It may take off the blue. TC
Answer
Naval Jelly is great for removing bluing! Don’t ask me why I know… 🙁
I’ll often do 220/320/400 and sometimes to 600 when polishing, but I worry that what you describe may be deep pitting you won’t get polished out. In those cases, setting the barrel back and rechambering might be required.
I used Ed’s Red to get rust out, let it soak overnight and rust is a lot easier to remove. Jeff
Answer
Polish the chamber up to 400 grit sandpaper removing the surface rust. Then go test fire and see if the cases stick. If they don’t then simply explain the condition to the customer and what you did to correct it. If they do stick then a barrel set back may be in order, like mentioned above, to remove the extra deep pits. Many chambers are fine with slight shallow pits. Ken
Reply
Thanks, Jeff! Ed’s Red, and a fair amount of patience, did the trick. Collected the ingredients, and mixed up a small batch of the bore cleaner. Removed the barreled action from the stock, placed it vertically in a padded vise, packed the chamber full of patches soaked with Ed’s Red and poured in a little more for good measure. After the weekend, I removed the patches and attacked the stubborn rust with a bronze chamber brush on a drill motor. That seemed to get most of the rust out. Cleaned bore and chamber, and test fired. Found some stippling impressions remaining about the body/shoulder junction, on the shoulder itself and on the neck. Worked on it again with the chamber brush and a worn 30 caliber bore brush for the neck. Inspection with light and no bore scope revealed no rust that I could see. Cleaned and test fired again. Just a hint of stippling on the case. Polished the chamber with 320 then 400 paper. Cleaned and test fired. The fired case showed virtually no stippling impressions. My eyes cannot make out under strong light any pitting in the chamber. Chambering, extraction and ejection normal. Outstanding!
