Cylinder face is filthy!

[jdedonato]

Hello,

Man, I went crazy with the revolver a week ago, about 400 rounds (1/2 357 and 1/2 38). It is a new piece for me and when I went to clean it I did not know what I would be in for.

It was filthy to say the least. Most of it comes off with some scrubbing, but the face of the cylinder (opposite the side with star) is blackened pretty badly. I tried break-free and copper cutter with a nylon brush but it will not come off.

I ordered a brass brush to see if that helps, but is there anything else I can do? It is driving me crazy not being able to get it clean and shiny again.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tylden]

Flitz's polish and/or lead away cloth

I think the best thing out there for that is Flitz's metal polish. I've also used the lead away cloths with success as well. Both of these products are available at most gun stores.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

A lead away cloth will work wonders IF the gun is stainless.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

It will probably never look new again and it's best to not try to polish it that much.

 

[19-3Ben]

I just went through this, and tried all the various remedies I had heard. I tried the pink eraser. nothing. Good old fashioned srubbing....nothing.

Then finally i thought "aw heck, why not" and i put a little Brasso metal polish on a felt wheel on my rotary tool and worked at it. The whole thing took...maybe 5 minutes tops for the cylinder face. The darn gun looks like it's never been shot. It came out absolutely perfect. And just so you know, in case it is important, it was a Ruger SP101.

 

[Old Fuff]

What you have is an inconsequental burn mark on the cylinder face, combined with some lead spatter if you've been shooting lead bullets, or perhaps a little copper if you've been using jacketed ones. If you've got a lead build-up you need to remove it, otherwise no.

If you have a stainless steel revolver (that has no finish) you can use the lead-away cloth or metal polish to remove both the lead/copper fouling and the burn marks. But as soon as you shoot 6 or more rounds the burn marks will be back. Since they don't pose any problem it's a lot of work to remove them for no useful purpose - unless the gun is about to become a safe queen and not be fired again.

Excessive cleaning of the cylinder face on a blued gun will soon strip the finish, and make the burn marks more noticeable. It will eventually go through nickel plate too.

Learning to live with the marks may be hard, but doing anything else with a revolver that's fired on a regular basis doesn't make sense. Removing excessive lead splatter is another matter.

 

[Starter52]

+1 to what Tylden, Ben and Old Fuff said. Those lead-away cloths work great with stainless-steel guns. Try one. You'll never go back to solvents.

Flitz is excellent, too. Just a bit messier than the cloths.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Like old Fuff cautioned you on: Sure you can clean it up a bit. But there's no reason to try to make it look new again.

That will just turn into an excersize in frustration every time you shoot it.

 

[Waywatcher]

I used to worry about cleaning the cylinder face too, until I realized that it's an exercise in futility.

It shows that you shoot your gun--which is a good thing.

I view it as a badge of honor.

 

[jad0110]

I don't worry too much about the burn marks on my blued guns, as I don't want to wear the blueing off as Fuff stated ... Keep lead away cloths, Flitz, Mag wheel polish, etc AWAY from blued finishes

On a stainless gun though, I find the lead away cloths to be super simple and 100% effective. First I clean the cylinder with Hoppes #9, then I dry it, and lastly I buff it with the lead away cloth for about 2 to 3 minutes and it comes out looking like this :

 

[sambar3]

M-Pro7 and a stainless brush has worked well on stainless cylinders for me.

 

[TYY]

No offense to the OP, but this question seems to come up about 4 times a week. Maybe there should be a sticky about lead away cloths? They sure do work great.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

I have the same thing with all my revolvers, because it poses no functional problem plus its kind of a pain to get off no matter what you use I just leave it, besides I think it gives it character.

 

[Bob M.]

Nevr-Dull

I've been using this stuff that I got from K-Mart and It seems to do well on stainless cylinder faces on my revolvers. I also use Flitz polish and sometimes combine them both while cleaning.
Here's the link to Nevr-Dull:

http://www.nevrdull.com/

Bob M.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I used to clean the burn rings off my stainless revolvers after every range session. As I began taking more and more guns to the range, the amount of time spent cleaning was getting ridiculous.

I found myself spending the same amount of time cleaning the burns rings off the face of the cylinder as I did rest of the entire revolver. Not anymore. Now, anything that won't come off with some MPro7 and a nylon brush stays on the gun.

 

[Ala Dan]

There is not a lot you can do for blued revolvers; but nickel, hard chrome,
and stainless finishes respond real well to Simichrome; available at most
automotive outlets~! Or available from the Western Wood Doctor
for 'bout $6.99 a tube + S/H.

 

[Stainz]

My collection stimm consists of all SS - except for a 2" 10. One additive that works wonders with liquid Breakfree/CLP, especially after you scrub it into the residue, is time. Give the solvents time to work! Keep the residue wet. Visit 'Harbor Freight' stores, etc, and buy the three piece 'toothbrush' set, keeping the brass and nylon brushes for your firearms, and the SS one for the barbeque grill. They run them for $.99 a card often - sometimes $.49! The brass 'toothbrush' holds up better than most brass bore & chamber brushes. An M16 style double-ended nylon brush really gets in some spots nicely, too.

My anal cleaning of said residue generally reveals too many QC boo boo's in Rugers... I may leave them as-is now, after discovering dings in my new 4" .32 SP101. I like to remove the S&W cylinders to clean them, but the Ruger DA's can stay together. Any paste-type, like from a tube, metal polish will clean SS up nicely - especially Semichrome - if you can find it.

Stainz

 

[buddah]

I agree w/ most of the guys here. If it's a blued cylinder there isn't much you can use. Most chemicals will damage the finish. First of all I never use ANY METAL Bristle brushes to clean my guns except a metal bore brush for barrel and chamber. I stick w/ nylon bristle brushes. On my stainless finish revos I use lead away cloth or remington bore cleaner w/ nylon brush. Both methods work great and cylinder face looks new.

 

[Steve C]

Fine steel wool soaked in bore solvent works about the best with blued guns for me.

For stainless steel I use a patch cut from lead wipe cloth wrapped around a popsickle stick and a little Eds Red bore solvent on it to wipe off the fouling and rings on the cylinder face. I picked up the bore solvent tip from another shooter on the web and it makes the lead wipe cloth clean much better.