I removed cylinder and placed them on a plastic basin. Sprayed the parts with ballistol and left the gun soaked in it for a while. Then i poured hot water on the gun and the cylinders and through the barrel also. Scrubbed all the parts with a brush and ran some patches and cleaning wads through the barrel and cylinder holes. Wiped it as dry as i could, then used compressed air to get all the water off it and finally wiped it down with some ballistol.
I don't bother with the first Ballistol spray down if I'm in cleaning mode. It's the water that cleans the fouling away and not the oil. And the water does a great job of this all by itself.
If you shop at the dollar store or Costco buy a bulk pack of cheap toothbrushes. They are superb for cleaning in around the nipples, cylinder stop bolt grooves, around the forcing cone and other places. I devote one to use as an oiling brush as well. It gets a drop or two of Ballistol and then it gets rubbed over these same hard to reach spots. It ensured that the deep dark corners get proper oiling.
I've added a couple of pictures at the end with my "secret cleaning weapon" for cap&ball cleaning. The first bundle of pipe cleaners is used while under water to scrub out the chambers. Then I blow them out and use a second set but this time with a good size shotgun patch to dry then a couple of drops of Ballistol on the patch to LIGHTLY oil the chambers. One of the drops goes on the end of the patch so it hits the blind end and a drop or two along the side covers the rest.
I attribute this pipe cleaner trick to shortening my cleaning time for a "short clean" down to around 15 minutes from trigger lock off to trigger lock back on and ready for the cabinet (our laws up here for transport and storage). It's more like 20 if I'm putzing around and 30 if I'm having a brew and chatting with a buddy at the same time.
I had a lot of brown staining originally but it's gone away. I wonder if they blue the barrels and it's the ferric oxide of the bluing that is coming off as light brown stains? Or it may simply be that from first dunk to dry patching I have the barrel brushed, dried and oil patched all in around 2 to 3 minutes. This includes a fast blast of air through the reloading lever and some aerosol Ballistol to ensure it's all well oiled in there. The excess gets tooth brushed with the oiling brush around the rest of the frame and barrel exterior.
I've got a nylon bore brush dedicated to just doing my BP revolvers which speeds up the process vs having to find and screw it onto a cleaning rod. Instead it's just right there.
I've even thought about installing it onto a base which sits in the water bucket so I can just push the barrel onto the brush which is semi submerged so it cleans and flushes at the same time. If I do make up such a thing it'll include a plastic muzzle crown protector on a spring so it fits in and bushes the muzzle.
Hmmmm.... I like that! STAY TUNED! ! ! !
In the meantime enjoy the pipe cleaners. For .44 I use a half dozen or 7 depending on the brand and how bulky they are. And of course you want the ones with the stiff cleaning bristles.
The first picture shows the "dry" bundle with a patch just barely inserted. The other dogleg bundle is my present "wet" cleaning tool. As the wires in the cleaners become more rusty and the bristles take on more of an orange colour from the rust I toss it and use the old "dry" bundle and make up a new "dry" bundle. The set on the left is the beginnings of a new bundle. The last inch is given a few twists of the bundle to lock the cleaners together. Then it's bent as shown in the second picture. I've left the fold over to get 12 to 14 cleaners at the end from doubling over more obvious. But needless to say you bend and pinch the bend until it fits neatly into the chamber. Don't bend it TOO tightly. Just enough to fit snugly into the chamber without the wire cores dragging. You want the end to be somewhat blunt so it cleans the end of the chamber. And a good way to do that is to leave a slight radius on the bend at the end.
The old "wet" bundle you see here has been used to clean my guns three or four times now. And there's another session or two in it. So it's not an expensive proposition.
The pipe cleaners are also super handy for cleaning out, drying and oiling the insides of the nipples and a few other spots for either the short or full cleaning sessions. At this point I don't know how I managed without them.