Cleaning a blued gun?!

[valnar]

OK, I must be doing something wrong. I read all the time about people taking anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to clean a revolver. Why is it taking me almost an hour?

I bought and shot my first blue revolver today. All my others are stainless. How can you tell when the burn rings are gone? It's such a deep, albeit nice S&W blue, that I can't tell which spots I've missed and whether the burn rings are gone.

What's the secret?

-Robert

 

[P95Carry]

Secret?? .... well to be honest, the burn rings ... on my Smith Mod27-2 for instance .. are not much bother ... cos they don't show like on stainless! I will scrub chambers and bore in usual manner .. I'll clean powder/soot residue from inside top strap, around forcing cone ..... clean same from cyl flutes and cyl notches .... and that's about it. Maybe some sooting also on recoil shield but ... if at end the chambers are clean and bore is good and lead free (in my case) .... that's it ...... a good wipe externally with my CLP impregnated cloth .... done deal. 10 minutes max.

Just occasionally .. very occasionally .... I'll use a few passes of stainless brush ..... but again .. burn rings really no prob.

 

[valnar]

Yah, so in other words, you leave it dirty because it's not noticeable?

I dunno if I can do that....

-Robert

 

[stans]

If you shoot a gun, it is going to get dirty and that dirt is going to get into the pores of the metal and into every little nook, cranny, and machining mark. You are not likely to ever get all the dirt out. I clean my guns by wiping down the exterior with Hoppe's Number 9, except my nickel plated S&W which gets a CLP wipe down.

The chambers and bore get cleaned with the appropriate solvent. Blued and stainless guns get Hoppe's Number 9 to get the powder fouling. Then brushed with a copper Chore Boy if there is leading, or wiped with a copper solvent if there is copper jacket fouling. I restrict my nickel plated S&W model 29 to lead bullets so I don't have to use copper solvent at all, just CLP then the Chore Boy.

I finish by drying the gun and wiping down all of the surfaces with CLP. I gave up on trying to remove burn rings since they will reappear at the next firing. I once tried to keep my guns looking like the just rolled off the assembly line and had not even been test fired, but I was spending more time cleaning than shooting.

 

[Standing Wolf]

It takes me a minimum of an hour to clean a revolver, blued or stainless, .22 caliber or center fire, and usually more like an hour and a half. If I strip it down to the frame and clean all the internal parts, it's a two- or two and a half-hour job. I like my guns to be squeaky-clean.

That saidâ„¢, I've always secretly envied people who give guns the once over lightly treatment and don't insist on squeaky-clean guns.

 

[sm]

Blue or stainless steel--let G96 or Formula 3 sit first. Kinda like dried eggs, easier if just let soak for a bit first.

Stainless Steel Only: front of charge holes...eraser if in a hurry.

 

[stevelyn]

MPro-7 will make those rings disappear like magic. Just make sure that you recoat the surfaces with your favorite lube/preservative as it dose strip oil and grease from the metal. And keep it away from oil finished stocks.



[edited to correct dislexic Yoda grammar]

 

[valnar]

I use MPro-7 too. It still takes time.

I guess I am thinking there must be a "trick", but it sounds like time and elbow grease is really needed to get a gun clean. It just takes me forever.

Robert

 

[P95Carry]

Yah, so in other words, you leave it dirty because it's not noticeable?

''Dirty'' not really the word! Over time I have always found that burn rings are not totally removeable and accept a degree of their presence. This is not to say that I ignore them .. I was not very precise. Of course the cyl front area does get cleaned off ..... I prefer to remove cyl and crane to make this easier. But - I don't attempt to try and remove all evidence ... that's what I'm saying.

I would add too that what I mentioned is a basic post shoot clean ..... but every so often I do a total strip and clean .. all internals etc .. much as Wolf describes ...... but certainly not every time, unless I have had gun in a particularly hostile environment.