Polishing A Chamber With A Fired Case?

[billt]

Has anyone ever done this? I was reading on a Mosin Nagant forum that one of the ways to eliminate a "sticky bolt", which can be very common on Mosin Nagant rifles, is to lightly polish the chamber. There are several ways to do this. One of the more common ways is to cover a 20 gage bore brush with light cloth treated with a polishing compound. Then attach it to a cordless drill and slowly work it into the chamber allowing it to conform to the chambers shape and remove any Shellac, old congealed lube, rough spots, etc.

I thought of perhaps taking a fired case from the same rifle and doing much the same thing. The case would be a perfect fit, (as fired and not resized). You could drill out the primer pocket and tap it for some 3/16 or 1/4-20 threaded rod you can get at any hardware store. By using a jam nut against the back of the case to prevent the case from slipping, you could cut off enough of the rod to allow you to attach the other end out the back of the action, and chuck it in a cordless drill. You could remove the case rim with a file so the case would better contact the chamber walls and shoulder of the chamber.

You could cover the fired BRASS case with polishing paste like Simichrome or else Flitz Metal Polish, and place it into the chamber. By allowing the drill to turn slowly you would cover the entire chamber area evenly with the exact same pressure. Flitz and Simichrome remove very little material, and really clean up a metal surface nicely. Being as the brass is far softer than the steel chamber it would wear and become "charged" with the compound, not the chamber itself. I just wondered if anyone has ever tried this, and if so what results did you obtain?  Bill T.

[PegLeg45]

Interesting concept.
I would wonder if the fire-formed case would be so tight with the compound on it that it would push most of the stuff back out of the chamber.

[billt]

Flitz Metal Polish is amazing stuff. So much so I bought a 2 pound can from Midway with my last order.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=769258

It doesn't have a "gritty" feel to it like a lot of other polishing compounds do. It has an almost creamy consistency to it. If you really want to make a Stainless steel gun look better than new, try this stuff on it. I have a new Ruger Stainless Super Redhawk in .44 Magnum that was looking really dull. Ruger ships their guns really filthy, and even with a good cleaning it didn't look bright at all.

One Sunday morning while I was watching a Formula 1 race I took some Flitz and a soft terrycloth towel and went over the whole gun with it. I was careful to rub in the same direction as the brush marks went. I did everything, even the flutes of the cylinder. After I finished I buffed it really well, then gave it a good wet cleaning with WD-40. After I wiped it down I couldn't believe the difference! It looked better than new! That is what sold me on Flitz. As you use it you will see the rag you're using turn black as it takes off all of the dirt and oxidized material, leaving just the totally clean Stainless Steel underneath. It takes very little of this stuff to get the job done.  Bill T.

[ellis4538]

billt, I would think the case would be a perfect fit in only in the position it was in when fired.  I would think the bore brush might be better...or maybe even a full length resized case.  Never tried it so am not sure.

Richard

[tombogan03884]

The case doesn't have the ability to absorb any of the compound, it would probably smear off into the low spots that would be mirrored in the case, remember, you would be fire forming it to the possibly messed up chamber.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

Whenever you lap something with a dissimilar material, the lapping, polishing, or grinding compound will always embed itself into the softer of the two materials. This is often referred to as "charging". The early settlers learned of this in the cross country wagon trains. They would grease the wooden hubs of their wagon wheels where they attached to the iron axle. They soon found out as the grease picked up dust from the trail it literally became grinding compound that quickly became embedded into the wooden hubs of the wagon. After a time this combination had no trouble cutting right through a solid iron wagon axle. They had no good way back then of sealing the hub from outside contaminants.

This is the reason you always lap or polish something with a softer material than the surface you are trying to polish. Conventional brass barrel laps wear at a ratio of over 10 to 1 when hard materials are being lapped or polished. My guess is the sacrificial cartridge case would wear long before it managed to polish a chamber out of round, or even change the dimensions of it. Most people have no idea how long it takes to remove even .001 from a diameter using a ultra fine polishing compound like Flitz. Your drills batteries would die long before you damaged anything. I spent close to an hour polishing the barrel throat on my Baby Desert Eagle .45 ACP with a felt wheel and Flitz before I got the desired result.   Bill T.

[Timothy]

Only Bill would figure out a way to turn a 100 dollar rifle into something worth 110 bucks.....   

Polishing something is measured in micro inches, or millionths of an inch.  Chamber tolerances from a 60 year old Soviet made rifle can't be all that tight, could they?  I doubt you'll do any harm and if you do, it'll make a great pokey thing for marshmallows when you mount the knife!

Enjoy your project Bill, have a blast!  Isn't that why you bought a matching pair?

 

[m25operator]

Bill T if you must, use the brush wrapped with cleaning cloth, embedded with flitz or JB, if you try with a case, it will get stuck quick, and I mean hard, do as you wish, but a fired case in a chamber is a close as it gets, if you coat it, it won't even try  to chamber. Good luck.

[david86440]

Bill, have you shot them yet? Just give them a good cleaning and go shoot them, then see if you think the chambers need polishing.

I have over 50 Mosins and a good cleaning is usually all they need.

[billt]

I have over 50 Mosins and a good cleaning is usually all they need.

Do you use a regular bore solvent like Hoppes? The bores on both of mine look really good. There is a fair amount of Cosmoline in the action. As soon as it cools down some I'll get out the kerosene and a brush and go to work. My Enfield was much the same way. After I got out all of the Cosmoline it was good to go.  Bill T.