Rusted Barrel Bore

[klutz347]

My wife gave me a Yugo M 59/66 last weekend for our anniversary. I had been talking about wanting one for a while and she got the hint. :lol:

Anyway, she bought it at a local sporting goods store and not being gun savvy, she didn't know what to look at or for.

She trusted the guy behind the counter to give her a good gun and I can't fault her for that.

When she gave it to me on Sunday, one of the first things I did was to look in the bore. To my horror I found it to have a rusted bore from the chamber to almost the muzzle. I have bought several surplus rifles and this, by far was one of the worst bores I have ever seen.

I called the store and told them that this was unacceptable to me and I wanted to return it. I was told that there was no returns on firearms or ammunition.

So it looks like I am stuck with it. I have brushed the bore to the point of wearing out a bronze brush and have used almost 300 patches working on the bore. I realize that I am never going to get the bore corrosion free, but I would like to at least get some of it out. Does anyone know of a way to do it. I was thinking about loading some lead bullets up and fire lapping the bore to see what it would do. I can't really make it any worse.

As of yet I haven't shot the gun. I guess I feel that I should address the bore some before I do that.

Any help you guys can give me is greatly appreciated.

[Indyarms]

I am not too sure on the BORE aspect...thats a tough one... if its pitted its probably too late.

BUT... I would recommend perhaps posting some polite, yet highly dissatisfied letters to the corporate office, of the store from which your wife purchased the rifle along with the story behind it... ( her not being gun knowledgeable)letting them know the poor quality they are selling, and the lack of willingness to make good on a bum-deal... If its just a local business... then, perhaps a little write up in the local paper will do wonders to get the locals in tune with the kind of disservice your wife was given... and their unwillingness to make good on what I would call (almost) outright theivery!

I also am suprised that even though there are no returns on a firearm, they should try to help out with a customer complaint of that nature... its not like you are trying to get something for nothing... but at the least want something that isnt garbage! I cant believe they are UNABLE to swap it out for another one... even if they DO have to perform a second NICS check!

I dont know how far any of that will go... but it will let the store realize that people know they are not performing good business practices.

You may want to call any local gunsmiths, and see if they have any ideas, or hints, or services that can clean the rust out of the barrel for you.

Good luck with the cleaning... keep at it, you may get it to a point that at least will be shootable...


<_<

[J Greer]

I've only received one surplus gun with rust in the bore and that was a CZ-52 bought from AIM suplus and imported by Century International . I was horrified when I first looked down the barrel. It looked like somebody fired off a couple magazines of corrossive out of the pistol back in the seventy's , and then tossed the pistol in the box . I could actually see the shadows that the rust spots were casting when I looked down the barrel with a bore light :eek:and the entire barrel was brown. The first 30 or so patches came out covered in rust brown and then started to slowly lighten up. After about 30 minutes of alternating brushing and patching with Breakfree CLP she cleaned up real well. I can still see some pitting in the bore, but she shots fine. After about 200 rounds of FMJ my groups started to tighten up a little. I'm guessing the FMJ had nearly filled up the pits which was helping accuracy. If I reloaded I would have used pure lead bullets which would have filled in the pits better. Since I don't reload I just shoot non corrosive FMJ. I just don't do a very good jop cleaning the barrel so my pitting will stay filled with FMJ. So I'd say give lapping a shot.

If you were me I would clean it the best I could get the headspace checked, and then go see what see can do at the range. You'll be surprised how bad a Mil-surp bore can look before it will affect accuracy. A good exaple are the Mosin Nagant rifles. I've seen Mosin Nagants with bores like sewer pipe shot and group very well. This is due to the Mosins deep rifling. Now if you rifle starts leaving key holes on the target then its time to retire or rebarrel her.

[2rangers]

Klutz-
Get yourself a .22 caliber bore brush. Wrap it w/ fine steel wool. Lube it and the bore w/ a penetrant such as kroil, liquid wrench, or wd-40. Insert steel wool/brush into bore(should be a very tight fit), and proceed to scrub. Don't worry about the barrel, you won't hurt it. Be sure not to let the brush come out of either end once you start, as the steel wool will be stripped off the brush when you try to re-insert it. Follow w/ dry patches. Repeat until the bore looks better. You will not get all the pitting out, but this trick really works wonders. When you are done, protect the bore w/ a good oil. There is a plethora on the market. :sniper:

[Crosshair]

First time you shoot it, put it on a rest, tie a LONG string to the trigger, get behind cover, then let it go. :lol:

[Tailgunner]

I wouldn't do a lot of scrubbing...Yet...let the chemicals do the work for you.
Using a 22cal or 6mm jag and patch (loose fitting in the bore), get the bore sloppy wet with Kroil and let it sit overnight. Next day do 3-4 passes with a 30cal brush and than patch out all the loose gack (technical term :D ). Repeat until your patchs show no, or only a little, rust staining. Be sure to wipe out the chamber until it's clean and DRY before firing.

[gk longrange]

Clean it using some methods posted aboive. Then just go out and shoot it, see how it groups. It might shoot very well even with a bad bore. If it doesnt shoot so great, use it as a truck gun or knock around gun.

[klutz347]

Thanks for the replies guys.

After doing some looking I found the email addy of the President of the store and sent him an email telling him what I think of his store and their practices. I wanted to let him know that there was some people in his company that were not being honest or fair with its customers.

On to the bore. I plugged the chamber and filled the barrel with Kroil and it had sat for 2 days. When I poured it out, there was alot of crap that came out with it. I then ran a piece of Scotch Brite thru it a few times and removed some more stuff. Gave it a good cleaning with mineral spirits and then dried and oiled.

As far as the bore goes, it has alot of pitting. There is one spot that it looks like one section of a land is completely gone. It could just be my eyes getting bad tho.

I did shoot it the other day after having the headspace checked, The first shot was one round in the mag and the slide was racked. The round chambered properly and didn't have a slam fire. I set the gas valve to bypass the gas system to make it basically a single shot as I wanted to see the primer hit on the case.

The gun fired when I pulled the trigger (which is always good) and the gun didn't become a mass migration of parts (which is also good). The primer hit was good and well formed in the center of the primer and the primer wasn't pierced.

The next shots was from a loaded mag and in semi auto mode. The gun cycled well and no jams or failures. The brass was ejected forward about 4 feet and to the right about 3. All cases fell within a 2 foot radius.

All in all, I fired about 15 shots then took it back in the house (one of the advantages of being able to shoot at home) and looked at the bore. It didn't appear no worse off than it was, so I guess I will keep shooting it. I didn't check it for grouping or any type of accuracy, just wanted to see if it worked properly.

I did go to a Fun Show this weekend and did find a guy with a ton of SKS parts. In talking to him I found out that he did have new barrels so in the future IF I decided to change it out I do have that option.

I just wanted to give you guys an update and to say thanks for the help.

Thanks again


P.S. Sorry if I rambled on. :blink:

[Taquito971]

Glad to hear you are having better luck with your rifle. You went about it the same way I would have.

Brian

[klutz347]

Well, I took the rifle out back this morning along with a 4x4 sheet of cardboard to see how accurate it shot.

Set the target up and went back to my 25 yard mark and set up the rifle. Sighted up on a 3" red circle I had drawn on the cardboard and fired 10 rounds of Wolf 122 gr hollow point ammo. With the 10 rounds I had an approximately 4" group with 4 of them in a 1 1/2" group. Of the 4, 2 were slightly elongated (key holing). Of the remaining 6, 3 had the slight elongating and 2 were completely sideways.

Then tried some Yugo FMJ ammo that I picked up at a Fun Show this past weekend. I am not sure of the bullet weight but the results were very close to that of the Wolf Hollow Point.

I then tried some Wolf 154 gr SP that I had and out of 10 of those, 4 has key holed.

All the shots were from 25 yards. I was going to try from 50 yards but I had to go and pick up my son from school so i couldn't do it today.

But, from the initial shooting I think I may have a POS barrel. I really like the gun. It is fun to shoot and being able to shoot cheap ammo is also a plus. I will probably buy another one at the next fun show and use this one for spare parts .

[Taquito971]

Bummer. Hope you have better luck next time.

Brian

[Indyarms]

Did you EVER get a reply from the store president???

Sorry to hear you got a bum rifle, dude... as you mentioned... you can use it for spare parts, or rebarrel it... ALthough... chances are, if you get a second, and think about using THAT one for spare parts, you will just wind up rebarreling it anyway and have TWO OF THEM!!! :D

And theres not a damn thing wrong with THAT either! lol


good luck!!


<_<

[klutz347]

Originally posted by Indyarms@May 25 2005, 11:57 PM
Did you EVER get a reply from the store president???


Just checked my e-mail and as of yet I haven't heard anything from him. I'll give him until June 3rd to reply (that would be 10 days from when I sent it to him). After that I think I will send him something a little more more forceful and to the point. I have the phone number to the main office downstairs in my safe so i can always call and give him an earful.

[Crosshair]

Ouch, a shot out barrel. Scheels sold me a Garand with a bad barrel. But they sent it in yesterday and are going to put a new barrel on it for me. :D
*Happy dance*
New barrel for me, new barrel for free, Oh what a wonderfull world.
*/Happy dance*

[BlenderWizard]

Originally posted by Indyarms@May 25 2005, 11:57 PM
Did you EVER get a reply from the store president???

Sorry to hear you got a bum rifle, dude... as you mentioned... you can use it for spare parts, or rebarrel it... ALthough... chances are, if you get a second, and think about using THAT one for spare parts, you will just wind up rebarreling it anyway and have TWO OF THEM!!! :D

And theres not a damn thing wrong with THAT either! lol


good luck!!


<_<
Yup, the only thing better than guns is more guns :D

[anna1983]

GEE WIZ more guns ,but that does not take care of the Rusted Barrel, this is what I would Do an it worked one time for A Friend, IF they won't do nothing. Get you A real Big sign, And Wright on the Sign, BUY YOUR LEMONS, From The name of the store That you all Bought the Rifle from, with A Big picture of A yellow LEMON on it, Tape it on your PU truck or Auto, And Ride Up and down the street , and around town. But do not Go on the store parking lot, an other words on his land,I am sure they will see it to, then see what happens , they might give In, all so that going to make customers think about Buying from this store , HE will loose far more in sales than , He made on the rifle. This is A true Story, that happen to A friend that Bought A new PU truck, that the Dealer gave him the run around,about fixing it . So he put plastic Lemons around it an rode around Town, after A day, the Dealer Fixed it Wright, GOOD LUCK.

[tinman]

Two very different points of view between buyer and seller. Buyer is upset because he got screwed with a defective gun. The seller dont give a rats behind because it is sold as a curio or relic so technically the gun doesnt even have to shoot and hes still in the right. My thought process may be a little screwed up but as I understand it, guns sold in this catagory are an as is deal and is solely the responsability of the purchaser to inspect before purchase. If the seller should exchange or refund it would only be because he was a super nice guy or just wanted to get rid of a hemaroid. Obviously he cant return it either.

[loco]

tinman, the gun could not have legally been sold as a C&R unless the original poster's wife presented HER C&R license upon purchasing.

[BlenderWizard]

And wouldn't a non-firing C&R gun belong more in an antique store than a gun shop?

[tinman]

I could be wrong, and the dealer that sold me mine could also be wrong. According to him the Yugo seeps through the cracks as a C and R gun because it contains the a bayonet and grenade launcher, otherwise it would be considered just another surplus rifle.

[HighDesertWolf]

Well, I took the rifle out back this morning along with a 4x4 sheet of cardboard to see how accurate it shot.

Set the target up and went back to my 25 yard mark and set up the rifle. Sighted up on a 3" red circle I had drawn on the cardboard and fired 10 rounds of Wolf 122 gr hollow point ammo. With the 10 rounds I had an approximately 4" group with 4 of them in a 1 1/2" group. Of the 4, 2 were slightly elongated (key holing). Of the remaining 6, 3 had the slight elongating and 2 were completely sideways.

Then tried some Yugo FMJ ammo that I picked up at a Fun Show this past weekend. I am not sure of the bullet weight but the results were very close to that of the Wolf Hollow Point.

I then tried some Wolf 154 gr SP that I had and out of 10 of those, 4 has key holed.

All the shots were from 25 yards. I was going to try from 50 yards but I had to go and pick up my son from school so i couldn't do it today.

But, from the initial shooting I think I may have a POS barrel. I really like the gun. It is fun to shoot and being able to shoot cheap ammo is also a plus. I will probably buy another one at the next fun show and use this one for spare parts .


wow for rounds to be keyholing at 25 yards that barrel must have been extremely corroded probably corroded enough it would be rendered unsafe to shoot. thats just crazy because you shouldnt get keyholes at 25 yards even if you were shooting the rounds through a smoothbore.

My brother and i bought a couple yugos mine had a bore so pristine and perfect I could hardly believe the gun had any rounds shot through it, but the gun has been shot it has signs of corrsion in the gas tube, valve and block. My brothers gun on the other hand the bore was dark and corroded was hard to tell at the gun store what condition the bores were in since the rifles and bores were packed with cozmoline. Anyway I scrubbed the bore with outers bore cleaner and a bronze brush got the bore pretty shiny but noticed some pitted so I run some JB bore paste through this stuff is great for conditioning a barrel after working the barrel with probably 60 passes with the bore paste it polished up the pitting enough that you can still see but not nearly as bad. we are gonna take it out today and shoot see how she does if the accuracy is horrible the gun is still under the 30 day inspection period so if wourst comes to wourst we can take it back and get a different one.

You should recommend to the president of the company you got your rifle from to have a 30 day inspection period for their surplus guns. That would be real fair on their part. if ya cant find something wrong with a gun in 30 days thens something is wrong with ya. good luck with your yugo I hope things work out.

[BlenderWizard]

wow for rounds to be keyholing at 25 yards that barrel must have been extremely corroded probably corroded enough it would be rendered unsafe to shoot. thats just crazy because you shouldnt get keyholes at 25 yards even if you were shooting the rounds through a smoothbore.

My brother and i bought a couple yugos mine had a bore so pristine and perfect I could hardly believe the gun had any rounds shot through it, but the gun has been shot it has signs of corrsion in the gas tube, valve and block. My brothers gun on the other hand the bore was dark and corroded was hard to tell at the gun store what condition the bores were in since the rifles and bores were packed with cozmoline. Anyway I scrubbed the bore with outers bore cleaner and a bronze brush got the bore pretty shiny but noticed some pitted so I run some JB bore paste through this stuff is great for conditioning a barrel after working the barrel with probably 60 passes with the bore paste it polished up the pitting enough that you can still see but not nearly as bad. we are gonna take it out today and shoot see how she does if the accuracy is horrible the gun is still under the 30 day inspection period so if wourst comes to wourst we can take it back and get a different one.

You should recommend to the president of the company you got your rifle from to have a 30 day inspection period for their surplus guns. That would be real fair on their part. if ya cant find something wrong with a gun in 30 days thens something is wrong with ya. good luck with your yugo I hope things work out.


Holy old thread, Batman!

[gunrun45]

Awe, its only a year old...I think I brought one back from the dead that was from 2004 once ;)
Still a good read.

[HighDesertWolf]

doesnt hurt nothing to pull stuff up from the archives once in awhile lol I didnt realize i did it untill it was pointed out. but hay it was a post I felt was a subject I wanted to post on so I did it.

[Indyarms]

ya know, its funny... but I actually want to post currently here...

I bought one of the chromed up mosin nagants from classicarms. a few months ago... boy what a SWEET LOOKING rifle that was... then I looked into the muzzle... I think it would have given this SKS a run for its money...

Anyways... I tried to shoot it... It was keyholing at 25 yards also... I IMMEDIATELY called classic and voiced my extreme displeasure...

Now heres the difference between the store his wife got the SKS at, and Classicarms... They said.. "RETURN IT!!! How can we make this right and you happy??"

Needless to say they shipped me a nice K31 swiss, and 120 rounds of ammo to make up... and we are ALL GOOD!!

SO...

Did that bummed out SKS ever get REBARRELED?!?!? Anything new to report????


:lol:

[Powerkicker]

Crown any key-holing gun if you have no send-back option.

[BlenderWizard]

You mean, like, make it a royal gun?

[Powerkicker]

You mean, like, make it a royal gun?

No. I mean recrowning the muzzle to true it up and maybe even slightly counterbore it to get back to decent enough rifling. A simple recrowning has gotten many a key-holing rifle back in action. This is darn near standard practice on rebuilt Russian mosin nagants.