Rust in the barrel.

Hi guys,
I have a Tikka T3 lite 223 rifle, and have had it now for about 18 months.
It is a stainless steel barrel.
Today I am going shooting so I was mopping out the oil from the barrel before I went.
I noticed an orangy discoloration on the patches when cleaning the barrel.
I had a look with a torch from the crown side and could see some orange on about 4 or 5 groves in the barrel.
I am guessing this is rust, but a little shocked as I oily the barrel after almost every shoot, I have forgot a few times.
The rifle is kept in the gun cabinet always, with a throw away dehumidifier.
And of course it is a stainless steel barrel. I know a stainless can get rust but is much harder.

Anyone got any advise and could this be something else other than rust?

If it is rust what do I do now?

Soak the bore in a light oil or CRC, WD40, etc for a few hours then go to it with a bronze brush. Make sure that the brush goes completely through the barrel before changing direction as 'stainless' barrels are quite soft. So long as the rust is not within 100mm of the muzzle you should not have any problems with accuracy. 'Stainless' barrels need just as much care as any other. I much prefer chrome-moly barrels which are harder and last longer (subject to proper care).

Jackangus could this orange you see down the muzzle be copper streaking from the bullets?
If so this is not uncommon and is not a problem untill it affects accuracy and then it is. A good copper solvent will remove it.

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Jackangus could this orange you see down the muzzle be copper streaking from the bullets?
If so this is not uncommon and is not a problem untill it affects accuracy and then it is. A good copper solvent will remove it.

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Yeah. It (copper) looks orange on the lands. Its no big deal. You will know when you use a solvent because the rag will come out blue if its copper.

If its rust, take it to the dump. There will be a special bin with TIKKAS written on the side :) Nah, it will come out with a brush if you have kept it oiled as you say.

If it is copper I wouldn't expect it to come out on the patch orange.
Get a hygrometer to monitor how damp it is exactly in your safe. And I would recommend not using oil for rust preventive use something like eezox.
If your storing the rifle upright in a safe beware the likes of oil can run from the muzzle leaving no protection.
It seems common to find rust just inside the muzzle on 2nd hand rifles brought from trade me. Iv heard others say this as well as my own findings.

Interesting point, how does trademe get the rust in there?

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Originally Posted by Gibo

Interesting point, how does trademe get the rust in there?

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Well trade me us just the most common place to buy a 2nd hand rifle.

But you knew that's what I ment aye smart ass!

Will give the rifle a good clean tonight once the kids are in bed. Will let you guys know if any blue comes out in the patches.

Cheers for the help fellas.

Just cleaned with copper solvent, no blue or green color was seen. Just a lot of black.
Can I use kroil solvent in the barrel to let the rifle sit in the cabinet?

Was really hoping to see some color when I cleaned the barrel.

Kroil is a penetrating oil not a solvent and should be fine to leave in the barrel indefinitely.
It should loosen any rust left in there too.
I wouldnt stress about it it will probably still shoot just fine I have had/used barrels with noticeable rust pitting in them that still shot well.

me to my 788 222 has rust pitting an a small area about half way down the barrel doest affect the accuracy at all i think it would be the most accurate center fire i own

Where is your safe located? If it's next to a retaining wall you might be getting damp through that way.

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Originally Posted by Dead is better

Where is your safe located? If it's next to a retaining wall you might be getting damp through that way.

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No. just in the garage.

Guys, can I use kroil to lube my barrel for storage?
There are quite a few people saying on another forum that it contains ammonia and will damage barrels if you leave it too long.

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Originally Posted by Jackangus

Guys, can I use kroil to lube my barrel for storage?
There are quite a few people saying on another forum that it contains ammonia and will damage barrels if you leave it too long.

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Kroil is not a good metal preservative. The best I've found are Frog Lube and Corrosion X HD but there are quite a few others that will do the job. Pays to check your barrel once a month if you're not using it and recoat the bore if necessary. For real long, unattended storage a grease is preferable to a light oil.

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Originally Posted by Jackangus

No. just in the garage.

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I would say there's half your problem.
On a rainy day in a typical metal safe humidity will be high.
You could also try a wardrobe heater.

The only rust pitting I've ever come across personally was in a mates Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 with stainless barrel. The internals were totally pitted the entire length. I took it to the range and I managed to shoot a 10 shot 3" group with it at 100m... still, that pales to the ten shot 6" group that 'he' managed to eek out of it!
I own a bore scope and ALLWAYS simply thoroughly clean my S/S barrels and store them "completely dry", sometimes for a couple of years or more on end, and I ain't NEVER seen anything untoward like rust pits down any of my barrels! Removing that carbon is the biggest killer for barrels as it's a desiccant in it's own rite! A barrel nearly always looks clean when you hold it to the light, but, put a bore scope through it and quite often it's a different story!

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Originally Posted by northdude

me to my 788 222 has rust pitting an a small area about half way down the barrel doest affect the accuracy at all i think it would be the most accurate center fire i own

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Originally Posted by Jackangus

No. just in the garage.

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Last time I was home I had a look in my Dads safe...its in the garage as well surface rust to the shot guns in there. So I had a look for the the Napier VP90 Total Corrosion Protection product that we us in the UK! It's very good stick one to the inside of your safe each year date it, and replace it as it expires. Trouble was that I could not find it in NZ even though it's invented by a Kiwi.
If you look on Amazon you may be able to get some.
Or try some shoe beans moisture sachet:thumbsup:

As a side note I have rifles in the uk and the safe is against a retaining wall, no rust since using the V90's:cool:

Mix some ATF (Dextron 2 or 3 ) with equal parts acetone, white spirits and kerosene. This will clean your bore and prevent rust. Dont get on your plastics or varnish as it will dissolve them. This works as a penetrating oil (awesome) gets under and lifts lead in a 22 barrel, If you wrap oo steel wool around a worn out bronze brush and use with liberal amounts of this mix in your bore you can remove the rust and polish the bore at the same time. This mix makes a fine gun oil and lubricant and as such use in small amounts.

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Originally Posted by Jackangus

Hi guys,
...rifle is kept in the gun cabinet always, with a throw away dehumidifier...

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The effectiveness of this depends on a combo of
- average humidity of the air in the cabinet
- volume of the dessicant relative to the air
- keeping the dessicant unsaturated
- how much air exchange there is in the cabinet

It's quite possible the amount of moisture you need the dessicant to remove far exceeds its capability.
It's also easy to leave a disposable capsule past its saturated point and the protection is gone at that point.

As for anti-corrosion surface treatments, Corrosion X For Guns topped the list on a long-term systematic test of various products. I had to talk a local outfit into stocking some but glad I did.