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Did I destroy my Sig barrel?

bob6180

bob6180

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So... Might have to blame the whistle pig on this one..

The other night I was sipping my new favorite rye (found here on NES) and was browsing You Tube videos on upgrades for my Sig. I watched a video on barrel polishing and immediately grabbed my Sig, stripped it and put the barrel in vinegar.

The next morning I walked back into the kitchen to take the dog out and spotted the barrel still sitting in the glass. I took it out and rinsed/scrubbed it down. I checked it later and there is light surface rust on the inside of the barrel. A bore snake helped but I'm concerned that I did some permanent damage.

Total noob when it comes to gunsmithing (obviously)

soo.. How bad is it?
 
I destroyed a $300 Antique Sewing Machine trying to clean it up with vinegar.

I was an Idiot.

You were as well.

We both learned expensive lessons.

Life goes on.
 
Put cartridges in it and shoot it. If it's still accurate, who cares.... just don't do that again. [laugh] It's never a good idea to leave a barrel in most solvents overnight unless its something pretty benign.

-Mike
 
bob6180 said:
So... Might have to blame the whistle pig on this one..

The other night I was sipping my new favorite rye (found here on NES) and was browsing You Tube videos on upgrades for my Sig. I watched a video on barrel polishing and immediately grabbed my Sig, stripped it and put the barrel in vinegar.

The next morning I walked back into the kitchen to take the dog out and spotted the barrel still sitting in the glass. I took it out and rinsed/scrubbed it down. I checked it later and there is light surface rust on the inside of the barrel. A bore snake helped but I'm concerned that I did some permanent damage.

Total noob when it comes to gunsmithing (obviously)

soo.. How bad is it?
Click to expand...

SalemCat said:
I destroyed a $300 Antique Sewing Machine trying to clean it up with vinegar.

I was an Idiot.

You were as well.

We both learned expensive lessons.

Life goes on.
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
bob6180 said:
So... Might have to blame the whistle pig on this one..

The other night I was sipping my new favorite rye (found here on NES) and was browsing You Tube videos on upgrades for my Sig. I watched a video on barrel polishing and immediately grabbed my Sig, stripped it and put the barrel in vinegar.

The next morning I walked back into the kitchen to take the dog out and spotted the barrel still sitting in the glass. I took it out and rinsed/scrubbed it down. I checked it later and there is light surface rust on the inside of the barrel. A bore snake helped but I'm concerned that I did some permanent damage.

Total noob when it comes to gunsmithing (obviously)

soo.. How bad is it?
Click to expand...

I am sorry this happened to you.

The good news is if you can buy a replacement barrel, it can be shipped by Priority Mail for like $6.

Have you contacted SIG ?

Good Luck.

PS: You should have seen what it would look like if you forgot what you did, and then saw what remains in that jar, A MONTH LATER, with everything all dried up. SCIENCE PROJECT !
 
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It's a Sig Pro SO2022. It was my first handgun. POor little guy. Hasn't had much attention lately.

I'll try to post pics later. It's mostly light surface rust you can see in the rifling of the barrel. I know I can get a replacement from Sig for $225 ish but MFS has the SD9VE for $269 this weekend that I'm thinking of grabbing to stick deep in my truck as my get home gun.

Maybe Sig will have a Black Friday sale or something? I'll troll GB too.
 
bob6180 said:
It's a Sig Pro SO2022. It was my first handgun. POor little guy. Hasn't had much attention lately.

I'll try to post pics later. It's mostly light surface rust you can see in the rifling of the barrel. I know I can get a replacement from Sig for $225 ish but MFS has the SD9VE for $269 this weekend that I'm thinking of grabbing to stick deep in my truck as my get home gun.

Maybe Sig will have a Black Friday sale or something? I'll troll GB too.
Click to expand...

Stop worrying about it and shoot the gun.

-Mike
 
Don't worry about it. The worst possible outcome is it picks up metal fouling a little bit faster so you may have to let it stay wet with Hoppies a little longer. No big deal.
 
It's a goner. You should sell it to me for $250 or I can trade you for an SD9VE with the Apex springs installed.
 
I don't see how acetic acid is going to dissolve the steel. Especially if it's stainless. You probably just dissolved the coating and have weeping. I have some dilute phosphoric that will take the rust out/rephosphate it. Borrow a bore scope and check the chamber, leade and barrel.
 
Assuming that there is no pitting, the chromium in stainless is self-repairing, i.e., the chromium in contact with oxygen creates chromium oxide, which is the "passive layer" that protects stainless from corrosion. If this passive layer is removed, the chromium in the barrel will combine again with oxygen for a new passive layer. If you ever attempt something like this again to remove the black coating from the barrel, plug up each end of the barrel to protect the inside of it.

Stainless Steel and the passive layer Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. Contrary to carbon steel, the presence of a minimum of 10.5 % chromium in the stainless steel gives it the property of corrosion resistance. Indeed, on contact with oxygen, a chromium oxide layer is formed on the surface of the material. This passive layer protects it and has the particular ability to self repair. However if this protective layer is damaged, the start of corrosion can appear
Click to expand...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...Ko.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGp2OsdbtHywxuQ6efR9aWh92ciUg
 
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So what was the original plan? Soak it for an hour? Few minutes?

And take the handy offer from Attila, been there and it is oh so good.[shocked]
 
A friend soaked a Baretta cheetah barrel in Hoppies overnight. Inox finish I guess you'd say.
The barrel came out permanently heavily darkened. Like tarnished.
 
The only way to see if Vinegar can really hurt the barrel it is to leave it in longer.
Seriously, shop wisdom used to be a good way to sharpen a file was to soak it in Vinegar. Perhaps the acid would etch new teeth, somehow.

But sharp edges inside a Barrel is likely NOT what you want.

Have a Gunsmith check it out. It could be just fine.
But maybe you should just take up Attila on his offer. General Consensus says it is a good one.
General Consensus
General-Mr-Bean-Funny-Walls.jpg
 
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