cleaning a revolver with a blued finish.

Howdy

Either a bronze brush or a nylon brush can be used on a blued revolver. Modern blue is very robust. You could even use a stainless brush in the bore and chambers, but I would not use one on the outside of the gun. I use any of the commonly available gun cleaning concoctions to clean guns, usually Hoppes #9, although there are plenty of others on the market.

Can't help you with waxing a gun, I have never done so. Never saw the point in doing so. Once you have a couple of dozen revolvers you will stop thinking about waxing them. Wiping them down with a silicone impregnated rag will provide all the rust proofing you need. But any organic solvent, such as alcohol or even something stronger like lacquer thinner can be applied to the outside to remove oils. You will not hurt the finish. However if you allow it to seep into the mechanism it will tend to dissolve any oils left inside by the solvent you used to clean the gun.

First off wep45, DO NOT use stainless brushes on your weapon! Bronze brushes will remove anything that needs removing. If any cleaning is done on the outside, nylon will work beautifully. An example: if a .357 revolver is used to shoot .38 spl. ammo, cylinder will have debris left in the charge holes, use a ,40 cal bronze brush in a cordless drill, dunked in Hoppe's #9, run this through the cylinder holes, in a couple of minutes all debris will be removed, then clean with standard clean rod. Don't use drill on barrel bore! I have used a product called "Renaissance Wax" to protect my revolvers, a light coat applied and then wiped off will take care of any questions regarding finger prints, etc., the NRA museum, England Edged Weapons Museum uses this product also, good product. I bought mine off Midway USA website. Hope this helps, good luck! Alcohol "can" be used, no need though.

I wipe mine off with a rag dampened with CLP after shooting. Only clean the bore when it is leaded. Only clean the rest of it when necessary. It's unnecessary to do much more than that. I agree with Driftwood Johnson, the more sixguns you own and the more you shoot them, the less you obsess about keeping them squeaky clean.

I'm not gonna scrub on the outside of my blued guns with a brush of any kind. A good solvent and cotton cloth takes off anything that needs to come off.

paste wax as a corrosion protection isn't the most durable option. It's too easily scuffed away. On the other hand a light film of oil will flow over any light dry scuffs that occur to maintain a protective film.

It doesn't need to be much either. A perfectly adequite oil film can appear and feel dry to a casual touch. It simply does not need to be dripping or even to look "wet" to be protected.

I'm not gonna scrub on the outside of my blued guns with a brush of any kind.

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I found lots of nooks and crannies on the ouside of most of my guns that a rag can't reach. An old toothbrush serves well as a companion to a rag for cleaning such spots.

I'm not sure if it will work on a blued gun but what I use to clean up my revolver is birchwood casey Lead remover and polishing cloth. I cut off a small square and use it to remove the burn rings on the cylinder. Makes my 357 look like new.

Lead remover cloths will take the bluing off of a blued firearm post haste.

rc

No kidding, ignore my response above.

Thanks rc

50-50 Of ATF & Kerosine For bore & cylinders, CLP to wipe down after ; )

Y/D

I dampen a rag with WD-40 and wipe off all the powder fouling I can. (Mentioning WD-40 on a firearms board is just about guaranteed to start a fight, but if you're just using it to remove powder fouling from the outside of the gun, and you wipe it all off, it works perfectly and costs almost nothing.)

Then I chuck a brass brush into a drill motor and buzz each chamber for a few seconds. This removes built-up lead and ensures smooth extraction. Stainless brushes are too hard and leave scratches. Plastic brushes are too soft and don't do the job.

Then I dampen a bore patch in solvent (Hoppe's or whatever) and pass it through the bore. I remove it, reverse it, and push it through again. This removes most of the powder fouling. Then I wrap some Chore Boy around the brush and scrub the bore (by hand, back-and-forth, not with the drill motor) to remove lead fouling. Then another solvent patch or two, a visual check to ensure no lead remains, and then a dry patch followed by a grease patch if the gun is to be stored.

Wax hasn't worked for me very well as a preservative. I prefer a thin coat of grease (RIG seems to work well).

The whole shebang takes me about 10 minutes these days and works perfectly.

I was required to make fuze varnish out of cellulose nitrate dissolved in acetone. I was amased at how well the acetone dissolved the cellulose nitrate. Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) is similar to acetone but not as volitile. It is sold in little cans with swabs in them as PVC pipe cleaner. These cans make a complete cleaning kit for a 38 snub. Oil it after cleaning. You will need different size swabs for different bores and longer barrels. DON'T GET THE GLUE.

I've owned and cleaned blued guns 40+ years and have never damaged one during cleaning. For exterior cleaning, I stat with #9 on a soft cotton cloth and remove any build up; then use, a nylon toothbrush, as needed, to remove any Stubborn gunk, wipe down with a soft rag and lighter fluid, finally wipe dry with an oil impregnated cloth. Every 6 months or so I do apply a coat of Johnson's & Johnson's paste wax. It does help to protect and I like the way my revolvers look when I'm done.

olafhardtB said:

I was required to make fuze varnish out of cellulose nitrate dissolved in acetone. I was amased at how well the acetone dissolved the cellulose nitrate. Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) is similar to acetone but not as volitile.

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YIKES! I hate working with either one of those!

MEK gave me a headache that felt like my head was going to explode.

I keep a can of acetone around for when I want a true zero rez surface to paint. I still can't look a can of MEK in the eye...