Can an old muzzleloader be restored

[steveshuntn1]

I’ve got an old Connecticut Valley Arms .45 cal muzzleloader that my grandmother bought as a kit. She stained the wood and put it together but she never got a chance to take a deer with it. I’ve had it for 20 years and it’s probably been 30 since it was shot. Question is…can it be cleaned up and still be hunting accurate? I’d like to get it back into working condition and do some hunting with it. Looking down the barrel as far as i can see it’s covered in dust and some rusty spots. Any recommendations on getting the barrel clean?

 

[Bullshot]

1st make sure it isnt loaded. Measure the ramrod depth against outside of barrel. Should go all the way to the breech. If loaded, you’ll need to try pulling it or using CO2, if stuck, get some help.

If clear, get a properly sized brass brush and scrub out the dust and rust really good. Hopefully its not pitted too bad. Put some wd-40 or blaster on the nipple if its hard to remove. Use a pipe cleaner into the flash hole and threads. Clean out the nipple with a pipe cleaner and a wire pick. Reassemble. Lube some patches with bore butter and run in barrel and then get out and shoot it. Chances are it will shoot OK and be fine for a 50-yard gun, even if it is a bit pitted.

Beyond that, there are sure to be chemicals and rust removers that could be used to truly remove rust accumulation, just know that bore is pitted a bit as soon as any rust starts, so if it shoots fine, keep shooting, cleaning and lubing from
that point - but you can’t truly “fix” it unless you re-bored or re-barreled it. As said though, probably no need for that.

 

[Cousin Basil]

I would clean it and see how it shoots. My old cheapie CVA 50 cal is pitted front to back and still shoots good enough to hunt with.

 

[Bullshot]

You could run a few patches back and forth with JB bore paste to smooth any rougher pitted edges too.

 

[steveshuntn1]

You could run a few patches back and forth with JB bore paste to smooth any rougher pitted edges too.

I’ll give it a try. It’s not loaded…I can blow air through it so that’s not a concern. I’ll have to get some cleaning supplies and see what I can do with it. If I could get 50..75 yards out of it I’d be good. Thanks for the advice.

 

[jt13]

If the bore is beat up, I believe there's some companies that will re-bore traditional muzzleloaders. You could go from .45 to .50 or .54.