Zugunruhe

My Dad has a Cabelas Hawken rifle (percussion .50 cal.) that we bought him for Christmas about fifteen years ago. He hunted with it for two or three years and it has sat in the gun safe since. Needless to say, it is showing its age. The barrel is showing both interior and exterior rust. Rusting is especially bad around the nipple area, I fear parts there may need to be replaced. With my recent interest in muzzleloading, he would like to get it back into shooting condition. I recall discussions on here in the past of bringing older rifles back to life and would appreciate suggestions you all may have relative to this exercise. Thanks in advance...

cayugad

If you can remove the nipple, check the threads in there. If they are rusted bad, that can cause metal fatigue in some cases and be dangers because as you shoot the pressure builds and can blow the nipple. Not something you want to happen. If you have any doubts of the bolster and the condition of the threads check with a gunsmith for their opinion. Also check the hammer and the tension on the spring. Check the nose of the hammer, look up the nose and make sure it is not rusted bad and will break.

As for the rust in the barrel and out, get some solvent and steel wool OO grade and start scrubbing on the outside. You might have to reblue the outside of the barrel. On the inside, get some J-B Bore Paste and some scotch brite pad and a patch worm. Put a small piece on the worm, smear it with the bore paste and scrub away. After the scotch brite, I like to put a jag on and a tight fitting pad and bore paste that as well and give the rifle at least 100 strokes. After that a good HOT water bath with some dish soap and then take a look inside the bore to see what it looks like. Even a pitted rifle will often times shoot just fine.

If you really have doubts, call Green Mountain Barrel Company and order a new barrel. It comes with a new bolster, and nipple, ramrod, and all you do is start shooting again for about $200.00.