I shoot my Great Great Great Grandfathers .35 caliber rifle a few times a year for squirrel hunting. I inherited this rifle from my Grandfather who had it over the fireplace for over 70 years, and his father before that had it hung over a fire place. The gun was made in 1843, and when I got it it was black with soot from the fire place and it was still loaded. My grandfather said the gun had not been shot in over 100 years. I was able to remove the load and had to scrub the barrel to get the cleaned up. The bore is slightly pitted, but the breech area where the powder charge was is severely eroded. In order to get any accuracy (I get 1.5" groups at 35 yards) I have to use a 1/4" thick felt wad over the powder charge to get the patched ball out of the eroded area.
