Is there any hope for this barrel?
 

Hi again all,

My father recently inherited an old .22 from his dad. It is a Ranger 22 Long Rifle. He can remember shooting it back when he was 8 or 9. That's being atleast 50 years now. Don't think it has being fired much since. I'm currently in the process of cleaning the bore and the rest of the rifle.

The barrel shows its age. It is pitted and rusted. I wiped it down with some of the cleaning solution and it got a bunch of the rust off of it. I'm now wondering if there is any way to clean it further. I know it will never be back to original but I would like to clean it up further.

Are there any products out there that can help me accomplish this. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

DR

the outside can be polished, reblued, nitrided, painted, or whatever. what does the bore look like?

Media-blast it with walnut shells or corn-cob...

Should take all the rust off without removing any metal. Pitting will still be visible.

If you're brave and have the access, you could chuck it up in a lathe and do this...

http://assets.rockler.com/media/cata...34-01-1000.jpg

The riflings look great from what I can tell. I am just in the process of cleaning it now but from what I can tell they are good. Going to take it out this weekend for some test rounds.

I have a sand blaster but it is filled with glass beads. No corn or walnut media Grandpa does have a lathe but I don't know that we are brave enough to attempt that kind of process. Might just be left as is, family history in tact.

DR

If it were a collector piece I would advise against using sandpaper or any mechanical means but Rangers were made for Sears and as such they are not worth a lot.

You could try steel wool and if that doesn't give you the results you are looking for you could sand it down and re-blue or better yet, have someone experienced re-blue it.
You can do the grunt work and save money.

There are chemicals such as Evapo-Rust that will remove the rust, but not the nicks and scratches. Only sandpaper will do that.

The trick with sandpaper is to start with 220 or finer and work one direction, IE lengthwise. Then use the next grade finer at 90 degrees IE 280 cross-ways. And so forth till 400 or even 600 grit.

What you want to do is remove the previous grade's scratch pattern leaving a finer scratch pattern each time until the scratch pattern is too fine to be noticed.

Steel wool should not leave a noticeable scratch pattern and it will soften the edges of nicks and scratches a little, maybe enough.

I took your advice and put in the time and effort. Started with a light sand with a scotch brite pad and some 15w-40 engine oil. Moved to a 220 grit sand paper and a light dose of the sabe oil. Worked 90 degrees to the scotch brite. Finished with a 2000 grit sandpaper and touch of oil working lengthwise. It may not be perfect but it's 100 times better then we I started. Not being a collector piece I'm not too worried. I'm sure dad will like the look and bring back the childhood memories of when he first shot it. Taking it out this weekend and letting him have the maiden shots through it for old times sake.

Thanks.

DR

Ummm. Scotchbrite, to 220, to 2000? I hope I'm reading that wrong, or it's a typo. The number on the paper represents the coarseness of it. The lower the number, the more material it will remove. If you started at 220 (!which I think is way too aggressive for simply cleaning up surface rust), you should have progressed in 200-400 increments up until a level of finish you thought looked good. If going for a polished look, or planning to do a reblue, move on to steel wool, starting at about OO, and then up OOOO

Not a typo. That's how I did it. Scotch brite removed almost all the the rust spots. Hit it with a LIGHT run of 220. Then moved to a LIGHT 2000 grit. Wasn't using my full body weight to get rid of the pitting and rust. I did as you said and moved to a level of what it thought looked good. Not planning on doing a re-blue and I fully understand how to read sandpaper grit. Not going for a polished look either. The rifle is 50-60 years old. Just wanted to clean it up. Used what I had on hand in the garage (don't do much with wood or body work). I'm quite happy with how it turned out and sure dad will be as well.

DR

That's what matters most. It's your heirloom, so if you're satisfied, then it's perfect!

Thanks. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'm sure dad will be quite excited to see it after some love and care as well.

DR

It looks good to me. :)

Coming along nicely. If you buff that up real well you can probably get someone to hot blue if for you pretty reasonable. Other choice is a quality cold blue but they aren't as resilient. Since you went to all the work to clean it up real nice, and assuming it shoots well if it was me I would get a good hot blue done.

I did the exact same little ranger rifle for my dad a few years ago who got it from his dad as a kid.
Took off all the blue and reblued it. It wasnt that tough to do, maybe it wont last too long, but that little rifle looks as good as new and spends its days hanging on the wall in his place anyways.