Baked on pwder residue removal on Matte Nickle plated Revolver?

[Analogkid]

( I cannot change the misspelling of powder in the title sorry about that.)
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A couple of weeks ago I bought my Father a EAA Windicator 4" in .357 mag as a knock around gun for his Farm. He usually carries around a massive Dan Wesson .357 that is part of a kit gun package. It's in near perfect shape as He rarely ever shoots it but he has came close to scratching it up a few times. Hence the Eaa as a knock around gun for him..


I had 400rds of lead 38sp loaded up with ancient Bullseye for him when I dropped It off . When we came back down the last weekend He had ran through 300 of them in 2 days "Plinking around with it"

Obviously it works just fine but it really has the powder/lead residue baked on the front of the Cyl and down the side of it about a 1/8th inch now.

The revolver is their matte Nickle finish over a steel frame. I see these and other nickle guns can have the finish damaged by some gun cleaners so I'm not sure what to use to get the baked on residue off of it.


I suppose I could just leave it, but it is a nice looking little revolver and it seems to be reliable so I would like to at least try to keep it looking alright for him.

Any suggestions on getting that off without damaging the finish? Everything else wiped off with rem oil. The Cyl is where it is baked on pretty bad.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[BSA1]

It is more trouble than it is worth to remove the powder burns around each chamber on the front of the cylinder. You will have them after every time you shoot the gun.

Powder and lead residue can be remove with solvent and brass type toothbrush.

If you really must have the gun spotlessly clean a Leadaway cloth and paper towel will remove it with some rubbing.

 

[savit260]

wipe on some nickel safe cleaner (I use Ballistol) , let it set on there for about 10 minutes and wipe clean. What ever doesn't wipe clean, don't worry about.

 

[Analogkid]

I guess I am not really worried about the face of the cyl as much as I am the outside of it near the front of the cyl and into the flutes.

 

[Dain Bramage]

I was noodling around today, cleaning my Coonan and S&W Model 631. The 631 had some nasty scorch marks from hard cast lead reloads I was shooting. I was planning to try some more loads, so it wasn't going for a pristine exterior cleaning.

I had the little bottle of FP-10 that came with the Coonan, and my reading glasses on (I'm old) for checking out the bores. So, I decided to read the tiny print on the FP-10 label. They claim it's a lubricant and cleaner too, for lead and carbon deposits.

I tried it on the burn marks on the side of the 631 cylinder, and I was amazed they started to come off. A little soak time and rubbing with a cotton patch, and they were gone. The stains in the flutes were next, followed by the marks along the top strap, and muzzle. Everything in the frame window cleaned up, except the worst buildup next to forcing cone, and I made some progress on that. I feel I could have gotten it too if I bothered to get a toothbrush.

Now, the 631 is stainless, not nickel, but the gun looked great. I was impressed.

 

[Jim K]

Nickel is more vulnerable than stainless steel to scratching and the old type nickel plating would peel if an ammonia type cleaner got through to the copper undercladding.

Even bluing can be cleaned with a stainless steel brush with no problem, but nickel plate has to be treated more gently.

Jim

 

[Blind Dog Jake]

Birchwood Casey ------ Lead Remover & Polishing Cloth 6" x 9"

It works.

Do Not use on blued revolvers, it will remove the bluing.

 

[yugorpk]

You spelled nickel wrong too.

 

[Analogkid]

Hey thnaks!

 

[gwpercle]

Ed's Red Bore Solvent.
Equal parts : ATF - Mineral Spirits - Kerosene - Acetone .
Let soak for an hour or two , for best results , scrub with an old tooth brush, you may have to repeat this for a tough job.
No ammonia , so it will not hurt nickel finish. Good bore cleaner to boot.
I cleaned a shotgun barrel, the insides looked like an old sewer pipe, soaking overnight and bore brushing, three times , got it sorta almost new looking. The stuff works just as well as any store bought. I think a good soaking helps loosen the baked on and built up crud and gets it off, so give it time to work .
Gary

 

[gn4hyr]

hey I had read that chrome cleaner is supposed to work real well also...might look into that too.

 

[Analogkid]

I ended up finding a birchwood casey Lead towel. It wiped it all clean in a millisecond No effort at all. It didn't damage the finish at all Either. It worked great and it looked great.


Thanks All.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Analogkid,

Just go shoot the gun a bunch and right after shooting, while the gun is hot, use Break Free or Hopes or whatever is your favorite solvent, and clean the gun. The power residue will come off then.

Deaf