Cleaning stainless steel revolvers

[Constrictor]

I love me some revolvers, but stainless, not so much.
anyone else have a love hate relationship with cleaning stainless revolvers?
There are always burn marks on the cylinder that will not come off with hoppes, and must have hand polishing with mothers metal polish. also do you polish the drak burn circles from the bullet end of the cylinder? i know they can be polished up with metal polish but its a lot of work every time.
I find blue guns to be much easier to clean.

 

[Schwing]

Most of mine are stainless... I love stainless. Just get a brass brush. Hoppes will work with that. I also use prolix or even rem oil with a brass brush. If you let it sit for about 5 minutes and then brush, it will come right off and the hardness of the stainless is more than twice that of the brass so it won't leave any marks.

The reason blued guns are easier to clean is that you just can't see the dirt on them

 

[Constrictor]

about the blue guns, that simple is not true. Im convinced the metal is better with tighter pores is why it doesnt stain.

 

[JohnM]

Tighter pores? In steel?
Show a picture!

 

[CraigC]

The reason blued guns are easier to clean is that you just can't see the dirt on them

Exactly!

I treat my stainless guns just like my blued guns. I wipe them off with an oil-damp rag and that is it. Polishing off the carbon scoring from the cylinder face is about the biggest waste of time I can imagine and potentially harmful. Anything that removes those rings mechanically (as opposed to chemically) is also removing metal.

 

[Walkalong]

Same here, wipe them down to get them "clean" and rub with a slightly oily rag before putting them away. A "Rig Rag" is good for this. Occasionally scrub out the chambers etc.

I little carbon stain on the cylinder face doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Constrictor]

i dont scrub the cylinder back face either but ive noticed gun photos here where they obviously have. mine get some carbon that wont come off on the outside of the cylinder too.

 

[Cosmoline]

I love stainless revolvers. Once you have it clean, there's no need to start getting the metal polish out. I don't like them overly shiny.

 

[adelbridge]

as stated, use a brass brush or even 0000 steel wool. I found that any oil works as good as Hoppes or better. Stainless is way more forgiving than blued steel. Its harder, way more rust resistant and there is no finish to wear off. My barrel maker also stated that stainless barrels will last 20% longer in rifles.

 

[CraigC]

Its harder.....stainless barrels will last 20% longer in rifles.

Myths.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

You don't want everything caked up with carbon so the cylinder drags, but cleaning every little burn ring off is overrated. You can get them off with that abrasive polishing rag (can't recall its name at the moment, Lead-Away or something), but polishing always removes metal. It may be a microscopic amount, it will take time and many polishings, but at some point you're going to remove enough metal from that cylinder to cause harm.

 

[Constrictor]

as stated, use a brass brush or even 0000 steel wool. I found that any oil works as good as Hoppes or better. Stainless is way more forgiving than blued steel. Its harder, way more rust resistant and there is no finish to wear off. My barrel maker also stated that stainless barrels will last 20% longer in rifles.

i did some net searching and it seemed pretty much a given that the stainless used is guns is more porous and softer than blued steel, and would not last as long but is more
corosion resistant. it is funny to note the only guns i have that has rusted have been stainless.

 

[Steve in PA]

I've been cleaning my SS revolver with the lead-away cloths for over 20 years, there is no wear on the cylinder face. I have yet to see one person with evidence of this.

Before


After

 

[JohnM]

stainless used is guns is more porous and softer

Documentation

 

[osteodoc08]

Eh, the carbon rings and marks don't bother me. Stocks will get dinged (wood) and the metal gets scratched. It happens. My guns are not pristine. They are not abused. They are used but cleaned and kept in good working order. Blued stainless, alloy, plastic. Doesn't matter

 

[sgt127]

I would not use steel wool. I've been told that steel wool embeds into the stainless and can get rust started. No idea if its true or not, but, it kind of makes sense and, theres no need to use steel on steel. Not to mention, steel wool breaks down into almost a powder that seems to find its way into places I don't want it, like the yoke and cylinder bearing.

Bronze brush, Hoppes, Ballistol or your choice of cleaner. Scrub, let sit, scrub a little more. Real copper Chore-Boy is another good choice. They are all softer than the steel, so very little chance of damage or wear.

I will occasionally break out the Lead Away cloth and get rid of the burn rings and carbon fouling. But, be prudent, it is abrasive. It may take a lifetime of using abrasive cleaners to actually start changing tolerances though.

As long as you get the crud off that is higher than the surrounding metal, your gun will work fine.

 

[gamestalker]

I have both blue and SS revolvers and both get the same basic cleaning. I don't scrub the cylinder face clean of the black carbon beyond that which comes off during a wipe down with #9. It's going to reappear within the first cylinder fired next time anyway. I did it once and just couldn't see the point of using an abrasive on my cylinder so it can look pretty.

GS

 

[ColtPythonElite]

A white rubber eraser will erase those carbon rings right off. It would be tough to cause any damage with a piece of rubber.

 

[Schwing]

i did some net searching and it seemed pretty much a given that the stainless used is guns is more porous and softer than blued steel, and would not last as long but is more
corosion resistant. it is funny to note the only guns i have that has rusted have been stainless.

There are around 150 different grades of stainless steel. The higher the chromium content, the less likely rust/corosion are. Most stainless used in firearms is high grade and extremely unlikely to experience rust. If you are seeing rust, it is most likely passive rust which, basically, means it is coming into contact with some other metal that IS actively rusting and it is transferring to the stainless.

Having said that, I don't know about the porous thing. I have never heard that and, even having worked in CNC milling for years, I can't say yeah or nay on that one.

To me, I have owned both and just like the look of the stainless. I think it would be a near impossibility to prove that one was better overall than the other.

 

[back40]

my stainless guns never get much more than a wipe down. for functionality, nothing more is needed. i also kind-of like the 'patina' they develop rather than being bright and shiny.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I would not use steel wool. I've been told that steel wool embeds into the stainless and can get rust started. No idea if its true or not, but, it kind of makes sense and, theres no need to use steel on steel.

Yes, this can happen. First off, Stainless Steel is not really 'stainless'. An alternative, and more descriptive name is Corrosion Resistant Steel (CRES). The Chromium content must be at least 10.5% to classify as Stainless. The Chromium in the alloy forms a passive layer of Chromium Oxide on the surface of the steel. This layer is just another form of corrosion. But as with most oxides, the microscopically thin Chromium Oxide layer forms a barrier to atmospheric oxygen. The oxygen cannot get through the Chromium Oxide layer, so no Iron Oxide, or 'rust' as we know it can form. If the surface of the CRES is broken, either by machining, or even by a scratch, a new layer of Chromium Oxide automatically forms, again barring atmospheric Oxygen from reaching the surface, and again, no rust forms.

If Stainless is cleaned with ordinary steel wool, tiny fragments of the steel wool can break off and be imbedded in the surface of the Stainless. These fragments are not protected by the passive layer of Chromium Oxide and will rust. Then since they are imbedded in the body of the Stainless, the Stainless can start to corrode where it is in contact with the oxidized steel wool.

As far as keeping a Stainless gun clean, yes, the clear shiny surface will show dirt and fouling that might be hidden by the dark blue of carbon steel.

Another myth is that Stainless is somehow easier to clean than carbon steel. A complete myth. Any steel's ability to hold onto dirt is related to surface finish. The more tiny nooks and crannies there are, like with a matte finish, the more stubbornly dirt and fouling will cling to the metal. Given the same level of finish, it will require exactly the same amount of elbow grease to clean Stainless as it will carbon steel.

Lastly, I always say, if you are concerned about the oxide rings that form on the front face of a cylinder, whether it is Stainless or blued carbon steel, you just don't have enough guns yet. Once you have enough guns, you will stop being concerned with carbon rings on the front of the cylinder.

 

[Bob M.]

My 66 with Nevr-Dull

This is what my Model 66's cylinder looks like after a few rubs with a patch of Nevr-Dull. Nevr-dull can be found in most automotive polish isles. Takes those rings right off with couple of minutes of rubbing. Won't hurt the finish at all.


This is the Nevr-Dull can. Should be about 5 bucks.

 

[Schwing]

An interesting tidbit about stainless that is icing on the cake for gun owners is that Harry Brearly, a metalurgist back in the early 1900s was trying to find ways to make better gun barrels when he came up with the idea of adding chromium to steel.

 

[Jaymo]

I've used the Lead Away cloths, but I'm not obsessive about it.
I usually just use bore solvent and carburetor cleaner.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

My first handgun was a bright polished Colt. Every time I shot it I obsessively cleaned back to a showroom shine. That obsession made me not want to shoot it. Finally, I came to terms that a little soot wouldn't hurt it. Now, I shoot far more and clean far less. I am happier for it, too.