Rusty gun

[Rother]

Like many of my comrades at recon my enfield now has a lot of rust on it from the rain on Saturday night. What is the best way to remove rust from your gun?
thanks for your input.
Ron Roth

[Yellowhammer]

Re: Rusty gun

Ever notice how many reenactors keep their event pass or car key in the implement pouch of their cartridge box rather than the correct implements or gun tools?

Ron,

Especially at scenarios like Recon III, where you are "in contact with the enemy, it should very rarely get rusty in the first place. Honestly, if your piece was rusty when you went to bed, you should have cleaned it before you go to sleep. If it was rusty when you got up, you should have cleaned it before you did anything else.

That said, if you are in the field and need to remove some rust, take a little white ash from the campfire on a rag or hanky and buff the rust off. Once the rust is removed, get some oil or grease and coat the metal to protect it from rust. An oily rag in a tin or oiler (there are some good Enfield oiler repros available at the moment) is a good thing to have. If you don't have that, bacon grease will work in a pinch. For the bore, use a greased patch on your wiper to get the rust out.

If you get home and aren't worried about period cleaning, wipe it down with some good gun oil and go to work. Typically, I dismount the barrel and use either steel wool or very fine wet/dry sandpaper and a little oil. Use the fine sandpaper and then go to the 0000 steel wool until all rust and scratches are gone.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Rusty gun

To tie in with what John has said, you should have these tools; a wiper (incorrectly called a worm), ball screw, musket tool, and a tompion. You should also have flour of emory (rotten stone) to polish the bright work of your musket.

John could you send me in the right direction of a period oiler? Thanks.

[Michael Comer]

Re: Rusty gun

(there are some good Enfield oiler repros available at the moment)

John,

I have been looking for something like this but have not come across it or I am looking in the wrong place. Can you tell me the source or sources for these?

Thanks,

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Rusty gun

Robert,

I believe John was talking about the Enfield Private's Tool with an integral oiler. Blockade Runner is making these now: http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg6.htm

Scroll down on that link to find it.

John, if I am mistaken please correct me.

[RangerSWB]

Re: Rusty gun

I believe Robert is correct in that a worm was called a wiper/ball screw at the time. (Ex.: http://www.currensnet.com/smallarm/ordills.htm Scroll down to Fig. 43)

Does anyone know how and when the term ‘worm’ came into usage for this item and did it occur during or after the war? Was it borrowed perhaps from the artillery?

George Walters

[Foggy Bottom Jim]

Re: Rusty gun

Robert,
In the interest of science, is rotten stone actually flour of emory or a reasonable modern substitute. I have found rotten stone at the local hardware store but have been looking for flour of emory for quite some time as it is mentioned in the period manual on musket care. I hope my search is at an end. It is a really great polishing medium but for rust removal, I ususally have to go with emery paper or crocus cloth.

"Curious Jim" Reynolds

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Rusty gun

Robert,
In the interest of science, is rotten stone actually flour of emory or a reasonable modern substitute. I have found rotten stone at the local hardware store but have been looking for flour of emory for quite some time as it is mentioned in the period manual on musket care. I hope my search is at an end. It is a really great polishing medium but for rust removal, I ususally have to go with emery paper or crocus cloth.

"Curious Jim" Reynolds

Jim

To my knowledge they are one in the same. Flour of emory is what is used in the production of emory paper/cloth.


George

"Worm" and "nipple" are both modern terms for the "wiper" and "cone". These are just two of a long list of modern terms for different items.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Rusty gun

Hallo Kamerad!

Actually much older...

"Worm" or worme" frequently appears in colonial writings in refrence to a "charge drawer" or "ball screw," such as a 1619 account by Edward Davies in describing a soldier's "necessarie tooles" as "scourer, tirebale, and worme" and used as:

"...the skillful souldier may with his tirebale pull out his bullet with the worme, the paper, and wet powder, and with his scourer make his peece cleane within."

Various colonial accounts speak to equipment requirements through the 1600's and 1700's repeatedly mentioning "worm."

It would appear that last formal term of "worms" for drawing balls ended with Simon North's 1811 contract for pistols with a "good screw or worm fit to draw a ball." After that, there would be differences between a screw for ball or charge pulling, and a wiper for cleaning (even among combo tools).
North made a corkscrew device that would serve as both a ball or charge puller AND a wiper for cleaning. This seems to mark the start of the concept of "wiper." His 1813 pistol contract is believed to be the first formal reference to "bullet screws" as well.

While the term "worm" IS appropriate for early and pre 19th century pistol and longarm use, it is a "reenactorism" to commonly use it for the Civil War as a cleaning tool or a ball pulling tool.

(Now, would a non-Ordnance, non-official, non-educated soldier ever "stray" and use an old, obsolete, and archaic term? Someone else can make that their research inquiry... ;-) )

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[Michael McComas]

Re: Rusty gun

You can find repro Enfield oilers from www.britishmilitaryequipments.com for $25. You'll need to install a leather gasket in the cap, but otherwise it's a very good reproduction. Get the "Birmingham" model. These are the Britania metal oilers that were carried in a loop in the ball bag or expense pouch.

[Southern Cal]

Re: Rusty gun

A cotton patch dipped into a 50/50 mixture of pure turpentine and linseed oil, then into rottenstone makes a good cleaner, both of brightwork and to remove crud from and to freshen up gunstocks. Leaves a gunstock smooth and with a sheen. The same solution used with ground pumice is more abrasive and cleans the stock without leaving much sheen. Rub in the same direction.

For blued firearms, G-96 metal treatment applied to rust, a small area at a time, then rubbed lightly with the edge of a nickel, will eventually, with care and patience, remove even deep rust without harming the blued finish. Especially good for antique firearms where one wants the rust off, leaving the black pitting as is but without harming the remaining original finish.

L.J. Bach

[Ira]

Re: Rusty gun

You can find repro Enfield oilers from www.britishmilitaryequipments.com for $25. You'll need to install a leather gasket in the cap, but otherwise it's a very good reproduction. Get the "Birmingham" model. These are the Britania metal oilers that were carried in a loop in the ball bag or expense pouch.

I picked up one of these oiler's from S&S sutler last year. you might try there also.

[Ira]

Re: Rusty gun

You can find repro Enfield oilers from www.britishmilitaryequipments.com for $25. You'll need to install a leather gasket in the cap, but otherwise it's a very good reproduction. Get the "Birmingham" model. These are the Britania metal oilers that were carried in a loop in the ball bag or expense pouch.

I picked up one of these last year from S&S sutler.you might try him to see if he still carries them. Joe knapp