Cleaning Cylinders

[Mencius]

I just acquired a ruger revolver in .357 that has not been cleaned in a while. The cylinders have some lead(?) build-up that does not allow the bullets to drop freely into them. I scrubbed the cylinders for a long time with a wire bore cleaner and used copious amounts of swaps with bore cleaner. I got two of the cylinders better, but not completely clean.

I have considered popping the cylinder off and just soaking it in solvent for a day or two. Any other ideas?

As an aside, some rounds will drop right into the cylinders while others get stuck just before seating all the way in.

 

[fireman5069]

What caliber is it? If it is a .357 and has seen a lot of .38's, you have a carbon ring built up in the chambers. There's another post here dealing with the issue but above all else, BE CAREFUL not to use any chemical or method that will damage your investment. The post is in "Revolvers".

 

[fireman5069]

Sorry. Overread your post. .357 is the caliber.

 

[9mmepiphany]

When you say wire bore cleaner and swaps, are you referring to cleaning brushes (which caliber) and cotton swabs (Q-tips) or cleaning patches on a jag?

It does sound like someone fired a lot of .38 spl rounds through the gun without cleaning. There are several different ways to approach this.

1. If you have the ability to take off and disassemble the cylinder, soaking it in a cleaning solution like Hoppe's #9 isn't a bad idea. But be aware that you'll have to clean out the internal areas around the ejection rod and ejector...before you relube and re-assemble

2a. You could try cleaning the chambers with a slightly oversized cleaning brush.
2b. You could used a flared .357 mag case as a scraper
2c. You could plug the chambers with solvent soaked patches overnight to loosen the buildup before cleaning with brushes and dry patches

 

[Mencius]

I think you are right about shooting alot of .38 through it. Knowing him, I would not be surprised if he ever shot a .357 through it.

I will see if I can track down that other post, Fireman.

Yeah, I used the little brass(?) cleaning brush in a cleaning kit I have. The swabs I used were just the cotton patches in the cleaning kit as well. I did try moving up from the .357/.38 brush to the .40. That actually seemed to work better, but was still slow going and did not work that great.

That is a good idea of using the soaked patches in the cylinders overnight. I thought just filling the cylinders with solvent would be more efficient use of cleaner than soaking the whole thing. I just had not gotten to the part of figuring out how to plug 'em up yet.

 

[788Ham]

You might try a little bit of "Flitz' on a patch/rod. gently run it back and forth a few times to see how that looks. I know I'll probably catch Hell for suggesting this, as its a mild abrasive, but worth a try. It probably won't remove any "ring" left in there, but might clean the buildup that's there. Good luck!

 

[SleazyRider]

For cleaning a neglected cylinder, but not the bore, I sometimes chuck my cleaning rod and brass bristle brush on a cordless drill and go to town. The rotary motion of the drill, combined with the normal pushing and pulling, seems to make short work of it.

 

[Naybor]

My wife's Stainless SP101 .357 is getting the same problem with the ring. She shoots ONLY .38 Special and +P's in it also. I've also been wondering how to completely clean it. Since it's stainless, would the Hoppes or another lead/carbon remover work to dissolve it without hurting the finish?

I've been thinking on going to Ruger to see what a replacement cylinder would cost, but I think you have to send the gun back to them to have them fit it to the barrel clearance.

 

[rcmodel]

You DO NOT need a new cylinder.

Use the method outlined by Sleezyrider in post #7.

Or see this.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6854102&postcount=11

rc

 

[mbopp]

If my cylinders get crudded up from shooting 38's I use a .41 caliber brush and spin it with a cordless drill and lots of Ed's Red.