Rusted barrel

[rooster52]

How do you remove rust froma barrel? I just bought a used Knight rifle that has been neglected and shows signs of rust in the barrel with some light pitting.I do not think they will harm the accuracy using sabots or powerbelts,the pitting is very light.
I took a bronze brush and wraped fine steel wool and dressed it with flitz metal polish.it looks pretty good.

[Sprfld1911]

That was a good way to go about it. The other way you could have done is use a rust remover but be careful it will remove bluing too. Other than that just keep cleaning the barrel. You may eventually get it all out.

[airborne]

The best way is to use deblueing. I think it is called Birchwood. It will make the barrel look like chrome. They also sell a cold blueing. I put my barrel in hot water, dryed it off, and rubbed the blueing on. I did it several times and it turned out great. They are very inexpensive and easy to use.
Blueing is nothing more than oxidizing the metal on the surface so rust does not form as easy.
Wire brushing makes the barrel look clean but I assure you the pitted spots are not. Give this a try.

I did it on a rusted muzzleloader and I looks great.

[Curlewdogbanger]

Shoot it. It won't hurt anything. Then clean it up.

[Rich M]

I'm in the shoot it camp. A shot or two will remove any rust - just make sure you clean it and oil it well after.

[sourdough44]

You should be fine with your cleaning but if not you can order a new barrel from Knight. I had a Knight that was damaged from a fire & was to far gone to clean up. I got a new barrel & a few small parts & it's as good as new. Yes the cost was about half the price of a new one but I wanted it back in operation.

[WECoyote]

I have used the cold bluing on bare steel where the original bluing had been worn of from use. Those areas rusted easier than bare metal. I had to keep the oil on it all the time. It was a real pain.

[airborne]

I was wondering if the barrel was rusted and pitted on the outside too. If so and you dont want to mess with it, it doesn't cost much to have a gunsmith strip and reblue the barrel.