Ceaning stainless steel......???

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Hokkmike

Hokkmike

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Fired my Ruger SP101 a couple of times. I always clean it after shooting. The face of the cylinders have a stubborn black residue from the powder ignition.

I have scrubbed them with Hoppes #9, wiped them dry, finished with Rem oil, and wiped lightly. I also use CLP when I have it.

For the most part the powder residue stains still show.

Is there ANYTHING that will effectively brighten this surface?

The rest of the gun cleans up fine.
 
Get a lead-away cloth.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/591584/kleen-bore-lead-away-gun-cleaning-cloth

But keep in mind anything that will take the burn marks off a .357 cylinder face is abrasive.

And it will remove bluing on a blued gun faster then you think possible.

It will also eventually polish your SS Ruger till it shines like a diamond in a goats south end.

Some folks like the look.
Ruger collectors do not.

Bottom line is, if you shoot a gun, some things like cylinder face stains just happen?
You are just better off just getting used to!

You can wear it out cleaning on it.

rc
 
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I have never heard of ANY gun being over cleaned but I will heed your warning.
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Do you believe that they can't put anything on the internet that's not true? There's probably a good reason that you've never heard of the face of a revolver cylinder being over cleaned.

A typical revolver flash gap is about .006. How long do you think you would have to polish the cylinder with a leadaway cloth to open the flash gap (shorten the cylinder) by one millionth of an inch (to .006001")?

Measure the length of a piece of stainless.

Take the piece of stainless and a leadaway cloth and start polishing on it.

Let us know when you shorten it by .000001". So far nobody has made it in their lifetime.

If you have a lathe, you can spin it and try reducing the diameter with the leadaway cloth and see how long that takes you.

Of course, if you don't want to do the experiment, there's no reason to spoil a good internet rumor!

Rod3.jpg
 
45_auto said:
Do you believe that they can't put anything on the internet that's not true? There's probably a good reason that you've never heard of the face of a revolver cylinder being over cleaned.

A typical revolver flash gap is about .006. How long do you think you would have to polish the cylinder with a leadaway cloth to open the flash gap (shorten the cylinder) by one millionth of an inch (to .006001")?

Measure the length of a piece of stainless.

Take the piece of stainless and a leadaway cloth and start polishing on it.

Let us know when you shorten it by .000001". So far nobody has made it in their lifetime.

If you have a lathe, you can spin it and try reducing the diameter with the leadaway cloth and see how long that takes you.

Of course, if you don't want to do the experiment, there's no reason to spoil a good internet rumor!
Click to expand...

Interesting argument, but nobody said that cleaning would change the cylinder/barrel gap. They said it might affect the finish, which it certainly could.
 
45_auto, you are making intuitive leaps. rcmodel did not say that the lead away cloth would damage the metal. And what I said was that guns have been ruined by over zealous cleaning and I stand by that. I have seen lots of guns damaged by poor cleaning techniques with brushes and cleaning rods not to mention using inappropriate tools, etc when obsessing over some real or imagined fouling. I can't count the number of M-1 Garand barrels that I've seen wrecked by cleaning rods forced in with over-tight patches causing the segmented rod to gouge the muzzle. Same with revolvers and folks who get so focused on cleaning that they forget to be cautious with handling and end up bending the yoke/cylinder out of alignment.
 
I think each firearms forum should establish a "door prize" for the next person to pose this question. It has GOT to be one of the most-often asked ones appearing. Or maybe a "sticky" could be set up, if only people would look there first.
The shortest and most-correct answer would be: ignore the staining until one wishes to sell the handgun. But don't ignore actual build-up of crud; just the "offensive" color.
 
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