Fixing up an old classic....

[Fisherman94]

Hey guys was looking for some advice on restoring an old caplock. It was made by my grandfather in the late 60's. All it says on it is Markwell arms, 45 cal. the barrel is 32 inches(it is a kentucky long rifle).

Anyway, the barrel has never been fired but is very rusted. Could anyone recommend a good rust removing solvent, and rust preventative for an older gun like this. I will mainly be focusing on cleaning out the bore.

Next, the Ramrod is Fine, but don't want to risk breaking it, anyone know of a modern ramrod that measure 32 inches.

I also want to know If it would it be possible to convert it to musket caps? or should I just stay with a #11 nipple. I have to buy an new nipple anyway as the one on the gun is rusted shut.

Finally, The barrel says nothing on it about max powder charges. What would you say the safest max load would be.

thanks in advance.
Fisherman94

 

[cayuga]

Get yourself a couple .50 caliber bore brushes, some Montana X-treme Cowboy Solvent or a good solvent that removes rust, lead, plastic, etc... even brake cleaner will work. Also get some JB Bore Paste. A good quality gun oil, and lots of patches with a cleaning jag.

Start out with a very saturated solvent patch and work that down the bore on a cleaning jag. Run a couple of them. Then put a bore brush on the ramrod and dip that in solvent and work that down and up the bore several times. Now back to solvent patches. They are going to be rusty for a long time.

Now dry patch the bore. Run dry patches until it is dry. It might not be clean yet, be we are getting there. Now put gun oil on a patch and swab the bore.

Break out the JB Bore Paste. Read the directions. Apply that to a patch and work that up and down for about 20 strokes. Change patches and do it all again. I would give a bad bore 100 strokes. Now go back to the solvent patches and patch out the Bore Paste.

You could change over to Windex and use that for a while as well. Now dry patch the barrel again. And when all that is done, apply gun oil heavy, to a patch and swab the bore. Now lean that rifle in a corner, muzzle end down on cloth and let that stuff start drifting down to the cloth on the floor.

The next day, dry patch the oil out of the bore. Now is the time to check the bore. If you have no bore light, wad up some tin foil into a ball SMALLER THEN THE DIAMETER OF THE BORE and drop that down the bore. With a good flashlight, shine to the side of the barrel and the tin foil will reflect light back up the bore. It will give you a chance to look in there and see what is going on.

If the bore is all pitted and still rusty, you might have to lapp the bore. But before I do that I would shoot the rifle and see how well it shoots. I would shoot 50 grains of powder and a .440 ball and patch. See how it does.

A new #11 nipple would be a good idea. And for a ramrod, search Cain's Outdoors. They are an on line sporting goods store. They sell 32 or larger ramrods called Super Rods. They are a very very good quality ramrod and reasonably priced. Call them if you have questions or need help as to which one you might need.

If worse comes to worse, you might have to lapp the barrel. If you need to know how, contact me and I will explain some ways to do that.

 

[bernieg]

Thats some good information there! :lol:

 

[Fisherman94]

Thanks for the advice cayuga, that really helped. I used the tin foil to scope the bore to see what the damage was before I started and to my surprise it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. I should be able to get it ready relatively easy.

I disassembled the whole gun and Am working on the barrel with some "cosmetic issues" on the outside.