Rust after cleaning a sidelock

[exarcher]

my bet is its nothing to worry about,, if you are,, wrap some 0000 steel wool around a nylon brush & scrub it after the hot water... then patch it out until clean (0000 steel wool will just take off the rust but not any steel , (i used it in my competition benchrest 22 barrels when we shot federal ammo that was prone to leading up the barrel & for stubborn carbon build up). it is also used during conservation projects where a carding wheel won't reach..... Anyway,, do as good as you can & you should have no problems such as "pitting". it also could be some residue in the fire channel we can't reach, this is the reason to pump water through it rapidly when you clean... In reality,, we probably worry too much about a little red on the patch.. Also,, a steam cleaning like Idaho Lewis does might cure it for good, he does this for some good reason eh.. ??? . You can't beat soap & water & some solvent or go-jo to get the lube out (which might not be necessary)..with go-jo without the pumice gets you down to the shiny metal!! (then lube) Shoot well!!

 

[exarcher]

ps.. i've not been doing this long enough to be a real expert,,, i do my research though & Idaho lewis has it down pat... he probably has had that little rust showing patch in the past. maybe he will let us know??

 

[Renegadehunter]

"Flash rust" or something else, I do not like to see any color on my white cleaning patches after they come out of a bore I have just scrubbed clean.
I can, without fail, make that first patch come out with red on it, after I have scrubbed the bore clean and then done a rinse, if I heat city water that has chlorine in it. This is using it warm out of the tap, hot out of the tap, or heated on a stove until it just starts to boil.
I can also say that without fail I will not get red if I use the same water tepid or cooler.
I have not tried well water yet but without fail so far, I do not see that red if I heat up distilled water.

Yesterday I had the chance to try another experiment after doing some shooting. The cleaning was done the same as I always do. Same method, same dish soap, all the same. Save one thing.
I have always just heated my city water until it was hot or just started to boil (same as I do with the distilled water). I read that if water treated with chlorine is kept at a rolling boil for 15 minutes it will remove the chlorine.
I filled a pot with city water right out of the tap and put it on the stove. Once it was at a boil I started a 15 minute timer. When the time was up I removed it from the heat. It sat for about 10 minutes while I was distracted with another task. Water was still plenty hot, too hot for me to hold the barrel with my bare hand once I started cleaning. Half the water got a couple drops of dish soap and was used to clean, the other half was used without anything added to rinse. After rinsing I removed the barrel and left it muzzle down for about 5 minutes to drain.
The first drying patch down the bore came back out without a bit of color on it.

 

[Squint]

"Flash rust" or something else, I do not like to see any color on my white cleaning patches after they come out of a bore I have just scrubbed clean.
I can, without fail, make that first patch come out with red on it, after I have scrubbed the bore clean and then done a rinse, if I heat city water that has chlorine in it. This is using it warm out of the tap, hot out of the tap, or heated on a stove until it just starts to boil.
I can also say that without fail I will not get red if I use the same water tepid or cooler.
I have not tried well water yet but without fail so far, I do not see that red if I heat up distilled water.

Yesterday I had the chance to try another experiment after doing some shooting. The cleaning was done the same as I always do. Same method, same dish soap, all the same. Save one thing.
I have always just heated my city water until it was hot or just started to boil (same as I do with the distilled water). I read that if water treated with chlorine is kept at a rolling boil for 15 minutes it will remove the chlorine.
I filled a pot with city water right out of the tap and put it on the stove. Once it was at a boil I started a 15 minute timer. When the time was up I removed it from the heat. It sat for about 10 minutes while I was distracted with another task. Water was still plenty hot, too hot for me to hold the barrel with my bare hand once I started cleaning. Half the water got a couple drops of dish soap and was used to clean, the other half was used without anything added to rinse. After rinsing I removed the barrel and left it muzzle down for about 5 minutes to drain.
The first drying patch down the bore came back out without a bit of color on it.

I was the mayor of a small Town that didn't chlorinate the water that came from a deep well. I insisted that we install a modern machine that would add the correct amount. When I quizzed the company that furnished the product, they said if people don't like it, just leave the water standing in an open container and it will evaporate out in a little while, like 15 minutes, or just pour it back and forth between two containers a few time to remove it.. I don't know if that is true or not, but I'm going to experiment and see about the rust.
Squint

 

[UndeadPoet]

The first time I cleaned a couple of my muzzleloaders with hot, hot water, it went great until suddenly “flash rust!” Harmless or not, still scares the crap out of you to see your newly cleaned barrel rust before your eyes…lol

 

[Wil]

I have used several different rust preventatives after cleaning and drying. All have worked save one. I have settled on using Barricade, I like that it dries into a film and I can load up and shoot with it still in the bore if I want.

Flash rust after cleaning. I have always had flash rust if I heated the water at all. Boiling, hot, warm, didn't matter. Room temp or cold, no flash rust.
In many different threads, some say they always see it like I do and some say they never see it.
Long story short, I have a theory about it that I believe to be true.
City water is treated with chlorine. I was using city water. Everyone that I asked that said they always got flash rust also said it was city water. The folks that didn't were on well water...no chlorine.
I started buying distilled water and using that. Haven't seen any flash rust since. If you always get flash rust, I would bet you're on treated city water. Try some distilled and let me know if the flash rust goes away.
I believe cold or room temp cleans just as well, but I like hot for how quickly it evaporates off.

I have gotten flash rust and all I use is my well water. When I got the flash rust it was when I used it very hot. I was just running quickly through posts when I ran across this one. Not wanting to step on any toes but just to give my experience with the well water. I also run my water through a water softener tank so maybe that has a lot to do with it.

 

[eekjellander]

If you follow what was done way back when , shooters in a pinch used pee and that's as hot as it got ! No one started fires to heat water unless making coffee and for sure did not have a dedicated bottle of Dawn for cleaning real black powder ,just water all by itself does the job as long as you use it properly !!/Ed

 

[Wil]

I wasn't around back then in those times so hard telling for me what they used or how they went about it. I know that I wouldn't have used pee. Maybe all they had to clean sometimes was rain water or snow. Heck, maybe some didn't even clean their guns.

 

[exarcher]

I have gotten flash rust and all I use is my well water. When I got the flash rust it was when I used it very hot. I was just running quickly through posts when I ran across this one. Not wanting to step on any toes but just to give my experience with the well water. I also run my water through a water softener tank so maybe that has a lot to do with it.

flash rust is a misnomer,,, it is ferrous oxide & its already there, (red rust),, the hotter the water the less dissolved oxygen is there, so no rust is created... that rust is a result of oxidation that is already there. u are just exposing it.. hitting it with "boiling" water turns it to "ferric" oxide,(good oxidation) , which is black,, (what one looks for with blueing)... look up some of the "conservation" videos by Mark Novac on utube.. they boil or steam the steel to expose the red so it can be removed,, it don't create it,, just lets you see it & "stop the rot" as they say.... expose it, card it off or wipe it off with 0000 steel wool.... if you see the so called flash rust its because something was missed in an earlier cleaning & decay started..

 

[.45er]

I had a friend who had a chronic issue with barrel rust in a used muzzleloader he bought cheap. He found out why it was cheap. Even after cleaning the rust would eventually return. Rather than retire the rifle he cleaned it then applied Loctite Navel Rust Dissolver. Rust issue never came back and he was able to put the rifle back in his active gun cabinet.

 

[Wil]

I had a friend who had a chronic issue with barrel rust in a used muzzleloader he bought cheap. He found out why it was cheap. Even after cleaning the rust would eventually return. Rather than retire the rifle he cleaned it then applied Loctite Navel Rust Dissolver. Rust issue never came back and he was able to put the rifle back in his active gun cabinet.

At almost $50 for 16 oz. at Home Depot, it better work.

 

[.45er]

At almost $50 for 16 oz. at Home Depot, it better work.

That doesn't sound right for 16 oz. Amazon less than $10.

 

[Okie Hog]

Buy Evapo Rust. $14.50 at WalMart:

 

[Wil]

That doesn't sound right for 16 oz. Amazon less than $10.

You are correct. I misread Home Depot's advertising. It is about $50 for a( six pack )of 16 oz. containers.

 

[Waxxy]

All well water is not the same, in my part of the country our well water has a high concentration of Iron unfortunately. I think the important part is the care after the rusting is detected regardless of what caused it.