Just polished my new turkey barrel the other day. Have went away from the 3m pads and moved to steel wool. Does a little quicker job. Depending on the barrels condition you can start out with "0" wool or "00" wool and move up to "0000" as your finsih.

For those that really want to do a good and quick job and have more then one gun, you might want to look at what the pro's use...

Flex Hone for forcing cone

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... mid=319553

Flex Hone for barrel

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... mid=323326

These are both 800 grit for a mirror smooth finish. They also sell 180 grit for those that might be trying to fix an old barrel with pitting. Then finish up with 800 grit. You HAVE to use their honing oil though. I have heard some excellent reports from those that have used these hones.

If several ppl went in together and shared the hones it could be cheaper.

What does the polishing of the barrel do as far as removing any corrosion resistance in the barrel? My biggest worry is doing this and making the barrel more subseptible to rust.

The smoothness you acheive by polishing the barrell gives you a much better patern. The less there is in the bore for the shot to hit and be deformed, or bounced around inside the gun the better it is down range. At least that is what I understand from previous postings on the subject.

Look in the archives, there is a lengthy post on this very subject that should make it pretty plain.

Ron is right in the post above. It also removes minor imperfections which causes added buildup/fouling i.e, machine marks. With a smooth bore you will see less fouling and also easier cleaning.

As to corrosion resistence I have seen no problems in the several barrels that I have done this to. After shining the bore I will clean throughly then coat the bore with a product called Militec-1. When I first hit the range after the procedure I will clean after each shot and recoat with Militec which adheres to the metal when heated. After several shots I leave as is and just clean when needed. No rust problems at all. My poor Mossberg 500 has been through some very heavy rainstorms, snow and 40 mph winds since I did the bore polishing, no problems with rust.

As to the chrome lined barrel question above. You will not get the machine marks and imperfections out with this. Those are under the chrome. One would have to have a professional remove the chrome and then polish then reline with chrome.

Would someone clarify how the scotch brite pad is wrapped around the cleaning brush? The wire brush I have that attaches to the cleaning rod is already a tight fit.

Where do you get the Militec-1? Has everyone taken such care of the barrel at the next shootings?

You can get Militec-1 here.... http://www.militec-1.com/ It is rather expensive compared to other brands of oils. However it will last forever. You only need a dab. All of my guns have had the bores conditioned with militec and the cleaning is much easier. I use their grease as breech plug greese on my muzzleloader and it comes out easy as please after numerous firings.

As to the cleaning I do after, it is not neccesarry. However with the militec I want the barrel to absorb the militec to help with cleaning and travel of the shot cup. The militec requires heat to bond and shooting is the best way to do it. For small parts on guns I heat with a hair dryer. After the inital "treatment" I just use Remoil and then coat with militec only after extending shooting or the end of the season.

Jay, i found it very tight also. I found an older one i had that was a little worn. It was still tight and really had to force it in.

Ron

Oh yeah, 3M pad. They are tight. I cut it to fit the brush. Wrap the pad/steel wool around the brush and lube alot. Push the pad/brush into the chamber and start the drill very slowly. As it starts to turn it will move into the chamber and forcing cone, once fully inside the chamber then up the RPMs.

Some friends and I are gonna try this.
As for wrapping the pads on the brush, can we just use a 20 ga. brush for 12 ga. guns?

barry

Didn't seem to have many problems. Started by cleaning the gun big time and then started with the green pad well oiled and then finished up with the blue pad. Finally cleaned and oiled up up pretty well. Seems to shine real nice now. Hopefully I can get out Saturday and see if this helps a bit.

I did this last night on 2 guns. One looks spectacular the other I can still see some light scratches in the barrel but it still shines well. I hope to get out with the guns tomorrow or early next week. The one with the scratches had 42 pellets in the kill zone last time so it might really be something now!