help with this barrel

[duke133]

I am not anywhere near as good as John H. when it comes to pics but I documented my father's 1911 from WW2 yesterday taking pics of every nook and cranny, markings and anything else I saw. I tried to get a pic of the inside of the barrel so I could seek out help on making sure everything I could get out is out but I'm left with this after having clean patches. Any suggestions or is this what I end up with? BTW, the barrel only has a proof P on the top, nothing else.30016
Thanks.

[Johnny P]

Without knowing what you used to clean the bore it would be hard to say whether you have everything out that will come out.

The P on top of the chamber with no other markings indicates Remington-UMC. A few of the Colt barrels had a single P on top of the chamber, but had additional markings.

[duke133]

Basically I used H#9 a good bore brush until the patch came out clean and then CLP. The barrel was one of 2 Dad had with his weapon but this was in it. I would have to find the other one but his weapon was a Colt 400971 USG marked. Until now, with your reply as a reminder, I forgot to photograph the other barrel.

[Johnny P]

I have found that the only way to clean a barrel with rust/corrosion is to use a stainless steel bore brush. The rust is harder than a bronze brush, but the SS brush will remove it. I would not use the SS brush on a bright bore, but if the corrosion is present you won't do it any additional harm.

[Major Tom]

Use a pure copper scrub pad cut into 2 inch squares wrapped around an old worn out bore brusch and some Hoppes #9 and scrub it good.

[ignats]

I made one of these years ago to use on old milsurp barrels that were generally dark and pitted. It's amazing how much crude and stuff it pulls off. However, nothing that I know of will bring a pitted rusted barrel back to bright and shiny. The pitting usually doesn't hurt accuracy much if the lands and grooves are still there. It just looks ugly. Bill Adair once told me that black rust is in active like a seasoned cast iron skillet. Orange or red rust is active and aggressive and should be removed or neutralized. What I'm saying is, use the ss brush like previously stated to remove loose crude and that's about as good as it gets. Stay away from aggressive chemicals that could actually start the rusting process over again.

[Johnny P]

Hoppe's is good for removing copper and powder fouling, but that is rust you are trying to remove. The more of the rust you can remove the smoother the barrel will be. As ignats indicated, the stuff that is rough needs to be removed, as the pits in the lands and grooves won't affect the bullet like something raised in the barrel will.

[duke133]

I'll try the SS brush today (don't have a copper scrub pad) since we got dumped on over night and there's no reason to get out in the mix if I don't have to. It looks nice outside so that's fine. I'll just leave it outside.