rusTy is here!!

  • 5K Views
  • Last Post 03 June 2008
gussy posted this 06 May 2008

Well my internet buy is here, “old rusTy", a trapdoor.  I can shoot in the military class, but do I have to remove the bayonet??

The guy said it came off a barn wall but he didn't say it was on the outside.  I think I'll have to cut the haywire holding the action in the stock.  I really hate to as all 3 wrapped areas are really nicely done.  The wrist too.

When I asked about the bore he said it was hard to see as it was pretty dark.  It was that.  The mud daubbers must have filled the last 4-5"s.  I may have to drill that out.

The trigger needs a new pivot pin.  When I pulled the trigger it fell out in my hand.  must have been poor steel.  The trapdoor is rusted closed.  At least I think it is.  I used the smallest pipe wrench I had on the lever and it too was weak steel.

I'll make a trough out of 2X8's and fill it with kerosene and soak the action in it tonight.  Probably make one for the wood too.  Maybe a good soak in linseed oil and solvent will swell up some the cracks.

I'll fill you in on the details later.  I can see the concern building for the next match.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

Order By: Standard | Newest | Votes
gussy posted this 07 May 2008

Continued...

Well the soaking helped.  The hammer was frozen at half cock and the firing pin wouldn't move and as I said, the trigger fell out.  But as I'll get to later, this really wasn't all that bad a thing to have happen.

The crud was deeper than expected.  Had to drill out the whole barrel.  Didn't even fill up up a 2 lb coffee can so it really wasn't that much.   I had to put it the vise to hold it.  I did pad the jaws but it kept slipping.  After repeated tightnings, I got it to hold good and finished the job. After digging what I could with a screw driver, I welded a piece of 3/8” rod to a 3/8” drill bit. Now this may seem a bit under sized for a .45 but I didn't get it real straight.  It didn't touch the metal all that much as it wobbled down.

Kind of scared me when bright metal started coming out.  Thought I might be digging the barrel.  Turned out to just be lead.  At first I thought poor cleaning.  But, I started getting a lot of lead.  Then powder......  OOPS.  Poured water down the barrel and let it sit. As I said, having the hammer, trigger, and firing pin frozen wasn't really a bad thing.  After taking it out of the vise I rotated it 90 degrees and squished it back round.  Well I got it pretty close anyways.

Broke a pin punch driving the breech pin out.  Finally got it out and after a few hard taps to break the rust, got the breach open and out.  Then I took a long rod and drove the old case out.

Since the barrel was still pretty crudded up, I tied a garden hose in the breach and chucked a cleaning rod with a wire brush in the cordless.  Took less than 10 min of brushing and the water ran clear.  Wrapped some 80 grit emery around the rod and polished the bore a bit.  Got it fairly shinny.  Thought there was some rifling there but it turned out to be a scratch from a knot on the drill weld that rubbed the side of the bore.

Soaking did help the stock, and as a side benefit, I think it got the termites too.  The barrel bands will stay in place with a little duct tape under them.  I trimmed the excess with a knife and it looks OK.

I did get the hammer working.  Put a new pin in the trigger. Half a dozen or so taps back and forth with a hamer and some Kroil got the firing pin moving too.

I can see where I'm going to be hard pressed to get 10 shots off in the alotted time.  Shoot, open the breach, drive the case out with the ram rod, drive a new case in with plastic hammer, close and lock the breach and repeat.  I think I may have to look for a new breach handle.  The vise grips slow me down.  I don't think I can just leave them on as they throw the balance off with them hanging there.  I did speed up one thing though.  I found a neat little socket for my cordless drill.  This did greatly speed up removing those  3 hose clamps holding the breach closed.

Now to shoot it.  :fireTo be continued....

:coffeeGus 

PS I'll bet the guy next to me will really be interested when she goes off!!

Attached Files

linoww posted this 07 May 2008

Well we look forward to seeing you at the July and September matches in Pasco.

 

George

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

Attached Files

cityboy posted this 07 May 2008

Gussy

Are you REALLY thinking of shooting that pile of rust???

city boy

Attached Files

gussy posted this 08 May 2008

cityboy wrote: Gussy

Are you REALLY thinking of shooting that pile of rust???

city boy

Pile of rust??? 

I took my 6” sears belt sander with a nice 100 grit belt and got that removed.  Used some left over browning from a ML project and now it has a nice patina look.  Got some Wood Dough from the lumber yard, thinned it a little and troweled it over the stock.  Filled the cracks nicely.  Sanded it and stained it with Minwax walnut stain.  A couple of coats of Brownell stock spray and it looks really good considering what I started with. 

I did a pressure test on the barrel to make sure it was OK.  Put in in a tank and plugged the breach, use a filler plug on the muzzle.  Got it to 200psi and only had a couple places bubble and they were near the muzzle, right under the front sight.  Probably because it's thinner there in the dovetail cut.  I think it might be the original version of a muzzle break!!

While I was at the lumber yard I picked up some JB weld (Paul Harvey's says it'll fix anything).  I used it to put the breach toggle lever back on.  I think I'll keep my vise grips handy just in case though.

I did run into another minor problem.  I can't move that fancy Buffington sight.  I think I'll just take a torch and a small pry bar with me to the range.  I don't think it'll break if I get it good and red before I bend it.  Might take a few trys to get it sighted.

The last thing is working up a good load.  I can't figure out how to slug the bore on this one.  I can't do it from the breach and have a problem doing it from the muzzle.  It has an odd configuration.  I ran a cleaning rod down it and felt the ridge at the chamber.  Problem was, it got smaller at the chamber.  Think that'll hurt the accuracy any??  Seems like an 1/8” bump up is a lot.  Patched bullets??

:coffeeGus

to be continued......

Attached Files

linoww posted this 08 May 2008

conditionSeems like an 1/8” bump up is a lot.  Patched bullets??

 

My old Trapdoor had a barrel you could almost see the rifling in.With an NEI GC bullet of .464+ diameter of linotype it shot into 2-3” at 100.Any softer or smaller bullets shot about 6".You can borrow the mold if you want to give it a try.

 

George

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

Attached Files

gussy posted this 08 May 2008

Thanks George,  I have 4-5 .45 moulds from 480-535 gr to try first as I already have bullets cast with them.  If I can't get one to shoot, I'll give yours a try.  I prefer to stay with plain base if I can.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 08 May 2008

Gussy,

With the price of powder, I have been working on some home made “black” powder. You are welcome to some that you may want to try, as I think it will help you bump up your bullets in the barrel.

Instead of charcoal, I based it on 10X powdered sugar, and instead of KNo3 I used potassium perchlorate, more O2 molecules so it should burn cleaner. It isn't really black, but kind of pinkish/orange, but does go bang! I'll mail you a couple of pounds if you want.

Ric

Attached Files

gussy posted this 08 May 2008

I'll load it if you'll shoot it!!  :dude:

It may activate the auto ejection system in a trapdoor.  That's why it needs those 3 hose clamps.  Just in case the JB weld doesn't hold up to stress well.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 08 May 2008

Gussy,

My formula may need a little work? I loaded 10 grains in my 358 Norma 1903 Springfield and Lyman's 358008 295 grain lead bullet. The bullet didn't hit the target, which I thought was a little strange. The bolt opened OK, but I had to put the butt down on the ground and step on it with my boot to get it back. Bore was pretty leaded but cleaned out with a stainless bore brush chucked into the 3/8 drill motor. Do you think that new Butch's Montana bore cleaner will take the brass plating off the chamber walls?

We ought to start with a lighter load in your TD, maybe 2 grains or so. I'd hate to see all your hard work get ruined.

Best wishes,

Ric

Attached Files

gussy posted this 08 May 2008

RicinYakima wrote: My formula may need a little work?  Do you think that new Butch's Montana bore cleaner will take the brass plating off the chamber walls?

We ought to start with a lighter load in your TD, maybe 2 grains or so. I'd hate to see all your hard work get ruined.

Best wishes,

Ric

Kind of sounds like a lighter load to start with might be best.  Well actually,  plating the chamber and even the barrel would be a good thing if you can work it out.  Even if it just filled in the pits it would be good.  It's a little slow driving the shells in and out now as they tend to hang up on the scale.

Is your plating thick?  Really size down a piece of brass and shoot it again and maybe they'll stick together and it will all come out one piece.  Sounds like maybe you got some bad brass.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 08 May 2008

Gussy,

Wish I thought about that. I plugged the bore and filled it with that Outers Cop-Put fluid. It wasn't working very fast, so I hooked it up to the 220 volt arc welder. That worked really fast, but I had to keep adding adding fluid cause it boiled over pretty quick.

I think you are right, that case must have been bad, Norma, and the guys on the net say that they are soft and if is on the net it must be true. Darn thing melted about 1/2 way up and primer pocket will take a 12 ga. primer size now.

I found some leaded steel, so will turn a steel case for our 45/70 experiments.

Ric

Attached Files

gussy posted this 08 May 2008

If you reversed polarity on the welder could you plate the chamber and barrel??  I was thinking if I put a nickled case in and reversed it I might be able to fill some holes.  Sand the high spots down and replate until they were filled.  I could end up with a new barrel.  Send it off and have it rerifled to new spec. Kind of like body work on a dent.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 08 May 2008

Gussy,

I checked on the Chemistry-R-us website. If we hook the barrel up to the - pole and use a nickel rod down the bore with the + lead, it should work. Need a mix of sulfuric and nitric acids for the solution so we have good transfer.

You can sand down the tops of the lands, but how are you going to sand the grooves? My dremel tool doesn't have a long enogh rod.

Ric

Attached Files

Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 09 May 2008

Ok, guys ..let's get this straight.

You don't know me .... and i don't know you  ....  OK   ?


I should have known .. when you mentioned CAST bullets ... everyone knows that CASTINGS are brittle .

ken campbell, staying far away in Iowa

Attached Files

gussy posted this 09 May 2008

RicinYakima wrote: You can sand down the tops of the lands, but how are you going to sand the grooves? My dremel tool doesn't have a long enogh rod.

Ric

Well, I hadn't thought of that as there isn't any sign of either in there.  Maybe just a full build up and then use my off center drill bit to cut new ones.  If I put my cordless in low gear, mark the chuck so that I'm indexing the starting point after you put some grooves in with your dremel, then I could finish cut one grove at a time. I think either 2 or 3 grooves shold do.  One or maybe 2 passes.  When I drilled out the crud it marked it pretty good.

I'm going  on the road for 3 days.  Leaving in a hour.  I'll think about it and maybe work something out.  Maybe someone else can come up with a plan??

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

Mike H posted this 10 May 2008

Well I am pleased I live in Australia, a long way from this nonsence, some one is going to get hurt soon.

Mike.                                                                                                 

 

 

Attached Files

gussy posted this 13 May 2008

We have a problem.  I wanted to make sure the barrel was good so I put it back in the tank.  I plugged the breach and put a filler plug in muzzle.  I pumped it up to 200 psi and only had a couple of small leaks.  They were near the muzzle and right under the front sight.  I'm not sure if they are rusted through in the thin dovetail area or if they are the fore runner of the modern muzzle brakes.

In any case, it's going to make it hard to plate the barrel all the way out.  I'm probably going to have to stay with loading it from the muzzle.  Is there any way I could just leave the case in and just replace the primer?  The case is getting harder to get out.  It seems to be flowing into the ring in the chamber.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.  I didn't get the bullet all the way down the first time.

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

Notlwonk posted this 13 May 2008

gussy wrote:   Is there any way I could just leave the case in and just replace the primer?  The case is getting harder to get out.  It seems to be flowing into the ring in the chamber.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.  I didn't get the bullet all the way down the first time.

:coffeeGus How about wrapping the case with duct tape with the sticky on the outside? Then just use a dremel to rout out a good size notch sos you can flip the shot gun primer out with your thumb nail. I find that the best way to seat a stuck bullet is to ram the rammer against a tree or the post for the range roof works just as well!

Attached Files

gussy posted this 13 May 2008

Notlwonk wrote: gussy wrote:   Is there any way I could just leave the case in and just replace the primer?  The case is getting harder to get out.  It seems to be flowing into the ring in the chamber.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.  I didn't get the bullet all the way down the first time.

:coffeeGus How about wrapping the case with duct tape with the sticky on the outside? Then just use a dremel to rout out a good size notch sos you can flip the shot gun primer out with your thumb nail. I find that the best way to seat a stuck bullet is to ram the rammer against a tree or the post for the range roof works just as well!OOOH, I like that!! :dude: I don't need the duct tape, that chamber ring is holding the case pretty tight and there's a couple of deep rust pits helping.  If I bent the extractor over into that slot it would just flip the primer out instead.  The breach block would cam the new one in.  I may have to consider some patents.:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 13 May 2008

gussy,

Here is another thought? How about just grinding that little diget on the back of the trapdoor off. And remove your hose clamps and put a big rubber band around it.

If your loads are right, the explosion will lift the trapdoor up and the residual pressure will blow the old primer out! After you pour the powder in the barrel and ram the bullet home, point the gun down, lay a primer in the pocket and slap the door shut.

That ought to fix the re=primeing part.

Hope that helps!

Ric

Attached Files

gussy posted this 14 May 2008

Well I think I'm about done with the repair work.  It looks like she's about ready for a good run.

There is one problem though.  Every time I'm the one that shoots a new rifle (new to me) I have bad luck with it.  When some one else shoots it first, I have good luck.

I called everyone I know and they are all busy.  Coundn't find anyone that wants to shoot with me. So, I had a great Idea.  At the next Pasco shoot, we can draw straws to see who get the first shot with old “rusTy". 

What do you think??;)

:coffeeGus

Attached Files

RicinYakima posted this 14 May 2008

Ah, I think I'm busy that weekend with yard work and the Mother-in-law is coming for a visit. Can't miss that!

Ric

Attached Files

gussy posted this 03 June 2008

Just to make sure no one is taking all this tooooo seriously.  This is the real “RusTy".

Attached Files

Close