Cleaning Conversion Cylinders

Why wouldn't you?! (Whether anybody else did or not)

Mike

No. Hot soapy water to clean the whole cylinder and cap. Ballistol after it dries. Every few months, pull the pins just to be sure.

The cartridges should seal the back of the cylinder, keeping BP fouling away from the firing pins. I don't see why the backplate (with the pins) should be routinely disassembled.

45 Dragoon said:

Why wouldn't you?! (Whether anybody else did or not)

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1. Completely unnecessary.
2. Good chance of loosing small parts.
3. You either need a screwdriver with a slot in the middle, or you have to buy their special tool. As a matter of fact, that tool they are selling must be a relatively new item, I have never seen it before. The Brits call that a Spanner.

Seriously, I bought my Taylors (R&D) cylinder for my 1858 EuroArms Remmie a long time ago. Not sure exactly when, probably around 15 years ago. I never shoot it with anything other than 45 Schofield cartridges loaded with Black Powder.

AlexanderA said:

The cartridges should seal the back of the cylinder, keeping BP fouling away from the firing pins. I don't see why the backplate (with the pins) should be routinely disassembled.

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No, the cartridge case will not completely seal the chamber, some soot will find its way back to the area on the cap where the firing pins sit.

That having been said, I have never bothered to remove the firing pins for cleaning. All I do is give the back of the cap a good scrub with with a bronze bristle brush and my favorite water based Black Powder solvent. Give the firing pins a good squirt of canned air to dry them, and maybe a drop of BP compatible oil (Ballistol) to prevent corrosion.

I don't know if the new ones are any different, but mine has one shiny ferrule for the firing pins. Probably Stainless Steel. The idea is if you are only going to load five rounds (which I recommend), you leave the chamber under the shiny ferrule empty, so you know where the empty chamber is. That way when the cylinder is closed up you will know where the empty chamber is.






You can also use the 'viewing windows' on the sides of the chambers to see if there is a rim in there. They are not really viewing windows, they are clearance cuts because when the counterbores for the rims are cut, there would be a paper thin bit of steel left there, so that amount is cleared away.






One other thing. I strongly suggest not dry firing. There are no springs in the firing pins, just the pin and the ferrule. The pin is a loose fit in the ferrule. When you pop the back plate onto a loaded cylinder, the pins slide back, allowing the cap to seat all the way. Unless the design has changed, dry firing will jam the firing pin in the forward position and there will be much gnashing of teeth as you try to force it back so the cylinder can be capped. Also, over time, the rear face of the firing pins may tend to peen over from being struck a bazillion times by the hammer. That is the only time the firing pins need to be removed. So far, mine are still working fine.

P.S. I should add, I find it much easier to clean Black Powder fouling from the cylinder of a cartridge revolver than from a Cap & Ball revolver. The chambers are wide open and you can run a cleaning brush completely through, and scrub off any fouling in a jiffy with a bronze bore brush and your favorite water based BP solvent. No little nooks and crannies like there are in the multiple diameters of a C&B chamber, and you cannot run a bore brush completely through a C&B chamber like you can with a cartridge chamber. I always use a whole bunch of Q-Tips when cleaning a C&B cylinder.

P.P.S. Apologies to 45 Dragoon who has probably forgotten more about C&B revolvers than I will ever know.

In general I use aerosol brake parts cleaner with one of those tiny straws stuck in the nozzle to blow crud out of tight spots rather than disassembling everything. Do it in your yard, wear eye protection and rubber gloves; it’s effective but nasty!

Several cylinders, several years many rounds black and smokeless and I’ve never pull pins. Black gets cleaned in my usual soap water blow dry method. Smokeless wiped off If necessary but rarely as the next session would probably be with black.

Forgive the momentary highjack, you mentioned Ballistol- do you use Ballistol at the range to prolong shooting after black powder fouling builds up ?

DocRock said:

No. Hot soapy water to clean the whole cylinder and cap. Ballistol after it dries. Every few months, pull the pins just to be sure.

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electricfactory said:

Forgive the momentary highjack, you mentioned Ballistol- do you use Ballistol at the range to prolong shooting after black powder fouling builds up ?

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Generally speaking, no. I have developed techniques for preparing my revolvers for Black Powder, loading Black Powder in cartridges, and cleaning up afterwards so that I do not need to do anything to prolong shooting with Black Powder. The one exception, of all things, are my 1858 Remingtons. Because they completely lack a bushing on the front of the cylinder to shield the cylinder pin from BP fouling, I usually wipe the front of the cylinders with a damp rag every time I reload the cylinder.

Somebody recently, perhaps it was 45 Dragoon, posted some modifications he does to the 1858 Remington to prolong how long they can shoot without cleaning.

Well, I would have to say D.J. is correct. You don't have to pull them to clean them but cleaning them is never a bad idea. I have a couple of "spanner screwdrivers" so it's not that big a deal for me. I actually pull them and harden then for my personal use and for my customers.

As far as the Remington cyl pin mod, yes, it can be modified to give trouble free shooting. It's a combination of Colt and Ruger tech. that makes that happen.

Mike

FWIW, the Taylor's removal tool is worth it's weight in gold. Taylor's also recommends BEFORE SHOOTING that you remove the pins and apply anti-seize to the threads, then tighten them HAND-TIGHT (which means no gorillas need apply). I took mine out to put anti-seize on them and they came right out. After several hundred rounds of BP one might not be so lucky.

whughett said:

Several cylinders, several years many rounds black and smokeless and I’ve never pull pins.

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This is sort of like the gents that claim they have never pulled a set on nipples off their C&B after years of shooting, never saw the need. Well, that's their biz, but I'd rather know mine will come out easy if I ever need them to. I generally pull the nipples after each shooting session, ensure the male and female threads both are clean and dry, and apply fresh anti seize. Is this necessary? No, most likely not. But I have the confidence that anytime I want to pull them out they'll come out without a fight. I've purchased several used BP guns that took an act of congress to get the nipples out of. Especially when you are using soap and water to clean with. Rust will reside quite happily in the threads and you'll never know it until it's too late.

electricfactory said:

Forgive the momentary highjack, you mentioned Ballistol- do you use Ballistol at the range to prolong shooting after black powder fouling builds up ?

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Yes. If I'm shooting a CAS match of 6 - 8 stages for example, somewhere in the middle, I'll give my Schofield 45 Colt cylinder a squirt just to keep the fouling nice and soft and avoid any binding. If I'm shooting R&S cap and ball, I load off cylinder so will give the arbor pin a squirt now and again. So, can do the same at the range. Or just have some large shotgun sized patches pre-moistened with Ballistol and water and give the pin and cylinder a wipe down.

This past Wednesday I discovered that a 45ACP conversion cylinder for a ROA has such close tolerances that a build up of powder/lube fouling on the face of the backing/firing pin plate, especially around the base of the boss on the back of the cylinder will prevent the cylinder from being mounted in the revolver.

Ive experienced a slightly high primer or a bit of shaved lead on the cartridge mouth preventing the round from fully seating or the backer plate from seating but fouling on the plate was a new one.
These 45ACPs were loaded with 800x and a 200 grain cast bullet. I don’t recall the lube used but enough was transferring on firing and being deposited around the base pin boss on the back of the cylinder to create a film of sufficient thickness to interfere. Weird, have not experienced that with the 45 Colt even loaded with black and pan lubed.