Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 12th August 2010, 06:14 PM

Stu is right about springs. No danger of over compressing a mainspring with the vise however if you don't go any further than if the hammer were at full cock. Since your lock won't hold at cock, simply tighten only as far as you need to be completely clear of the tumbler.

Coca-Cola, in its original "classic" formulation, is a wonderful solvent. When I was in high school, a gearhead buddy told me about how it ate through rust and gunk, he used it to free the frozen cylinders in a FIAT engine. And I read a report about how a testing lab found that soaking a nail in the stuff caused all the galvanizing to dissolve, and it "melted" the letter off a typewriter key that was detached from the machine and stuck in Coke for about a week or two. Think of what it does to your teeth and the lining of your GI tract! I've used it to dissolve gunk from muzzle loading barrels -- just plug the touch hole and fill 'er up.

Thinking about shooting that old gun? In a word -- DON'T! Who knows if that barrel is so corroded that it's no longer safe and serviceable? I might try it if the specimen had a tube in really sound condition, but even then I wouldn't shoulder it with a live load inside until I had it proofed.

12th August 2010, 06:14 PM	#22
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	compressing spring / the power of Coke / don't shoot! Stu is right about springs. No danger of over compressing a mainspring with the vise however if you don't go any further than if the hammer were at full cock. Since your lock won't hold at cock, simply tighten only as far as you need to be completely clear of the tumbler. Coca-Cola, in its original "classic" formulation, is a wonderful solvent. When I was in high school, a gearhead buddy told me about how it ate through rust and gunk, he used it to free the frozen cylinders in a FIAT engine. And I read a report about how a testing lab found that soaking a nail in the stuff caused all the galvanizing to dissolve, and it "melted" the letter off a typewriter key that was detached from the machine and stuck in Coke for about a week or two. Think of what it does to your teeth and the lining of your GI tract! I've used it to dissolve gunk from muzzle loading barrels -- just plug the touch hole and fill 'er up. Thinking about shooting that old gun? In a word -- DON'T! Who knows if that barrel is so corroded that it's no longer safe and serviceable? I might try it if the specimen had a tube in really sound condition, but even then I wouldn't shoulder it with a live load inside until I had it proofed.