Muzzleloader

Shoot it and see how accurate it is. If you hunt in Louisiana or Mississippi, I don’t think I’d even let him give it to me.

Save yourself a bunch of headaches and buy a 35 whelen .That gun would be a wall hanger or take up space on you gun safe .

My guess, your cousin didn't thoroughly clean the rifle after he last shot it. ML's are notorious for being dirty with lots of bore fouling depending on the powder used. If not cleaned, humidity sets in and the bore begins to rust. As others have mentioned, go shoot it. If it's accurate enough to hit the deer vitals at 75-100 yds., then you're good to go.

That in-line ML rifle utilizes the 209 primer ignition system, and you can load up to 150 grs of black powder or pyrodex pellets Are you loading a .50 caliber ball with patch, or a .45 caliber bullet with a sabot ? IMO, if the price is right, buy it and have fun.

Yes I have come to find out this is a common problem with muzzleloaders. He obviously didnt clean it for about 5 years. I’m using .50 cal bullet with sabot. He gave me a bag full of them, with the 209 primers and pre-formed pellets. He said he would sell it to me with all the supplies and two scopes for $100 so I figured I couldnt pass it up. Im not looking to make past 100 yard shots anyways. I just killed two bucks this past week and both were under 100 yards. Just looking to try something different other than the ole .270. I heard something about JB bore paste helping clean out muzzleloaders so will probably give that a try and just go shoot it and see.

Absolutely take it for 100 bucks. Those .50 in-lines are stupid accurate out to 150 if set up correctly. I bought my first when I was in Texas for late season muzzleloader. I've used it out west and also here in PA. I did just pick up a flintlock for late PA season as well. Can never have too many options.

I was going to sight it in at 100 yards. The scope he had on it was a Bushnell Trophy 1x28 red dot but the other scope he gave me was a Bushnell Banner 3-9x40 which is what I will probably put on it instead. I always have a shooting stick in my bag for longer shots as well but like I said I usually never make shots past 100 yards just because of how thick it is where I hunt.

My guess is IF it would need to be rerifled, that would cost as much as buying a new one. It’s probably fine, though.

This is what I do. T/C .50 cal and use next to boiling water and Dawn. A few times down the barrel and brush then jag patch. It will clean up.

It looks like the rust is just thick surface rust, i dont think its really pitted or started to make rust holes. I will try hot water and soap. Hopefully if I attack this with a couple different things I can get it pretty good.

Once I waited a little long to get to mine and it developed a little surface rust.

I took a bronze brush and wrapped it in fine steel wool.
After a couple of brush passes it looked like a mirror.