CVA Muzzleloader corrosion around breech plug

[Bubba Fett]

I've got an older CVA Muzzleloader that my Father-In-Law gave me a few years back.  Nothing special, but special to me as it was a gift.

When I got it, it was in really rough shape.  Rust and pitting in the barrel, stock was filthy, sights were broken off, breech plug was seized, etc.

I cleaned it all up aesthetically and functionally and I've been hunting with it for three years.  There was some rust/pitting just on the inside of the receiver, just beside the breech plug, where the percussion cap and the striker are.  I scrubbed the active rust out, and I had been trying hard to keep that area clean and oiled, but every time I take it out of the safe there's fresh rust in that area down in the pitting and around the first few threads of the breech plug.  No matter how well I clean and lube it before I put it away.  I assume this is from the combination of temperature and grime from the percussion caps.  Is there anything you fine folks can think to do to protect that? 

I tried using a bluing pen to blue the area, but it never changed color and doesn't seem to have fixed it.  My guess is the barrel is stainless and therefore won't blue?

Would using a high-temp automotive engine paint up around the breech plug protect it?  Might look silly having a black stripe inside the action, but if it keeps the thing from rusting out on me I'll live with it. 

 

I tried to get pictures, but couldn't capture the area due to the shadows and all.  Photographer I ain't.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Bob Lee
clarification

[KahrMan]

Just buy a new breech plug.  If do don't want to do that then apply a coat of wax after you clean it.  Use a toothpick or something to plug the hole and keep the wax out of it.  Something like Renaissance Wax.

[Bubba Fett]

I probably wasn't clear in my description.  I did replace the plug, but the rust is on the wall of the breech itself, just above where the breech plug screws in.  Just where it catches all of the heat from the percussion cap.

I will try to get good pictures tonight, but it's tough to photograph.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Bob Lee

[Bubba Fett]

I found this picture online of a similar muzzle loader, with similar rust.  

Where the finish is rough on his, up near the breech plug, mine is pitted there and rusts (even when smeared with grease).  I am thinking of painting the inside of the breech with black high-temp engine paint to protect it.  Would that hurt anything?

[Bubba Fett]

Went ahead and painted it this weekend with some high-temp engine paint.  Seems to have done the job.  Time will now tell if it rusts under the paint.

[peejman]

You need to sand/grind/blend away all the pitting down to smooth bare metal, then paint/blue/coat the surface to prevent further corrosion.  

 The pits trap the salts and corrosion products on a microscopic level, so no amount of oiling will stop the corrosion from continuing unless it's fully removed.  

[Quavodus]

Maybe the paint job will take care of it. But, like peejman said, if you didn't get all the rust out it may rust again. Hope this cures it. Give it some time and let us know how it done.

[Bubba Fett]

Thanks for the tip.  I hadn't thought about that - so I went back and used a wire wheel on my dremel to remove the paint and all the underlying rust until it was all shiny.  That paint was really on there, which gives me hope this might work when I get the rust out.  Then I repainted.  I'll let it dry all week and shoot the gun this weekend.  Deer season will be the test.