Kind of a stupid cleaning question...

[RainDodger]

In the way of revolvers, almost all of my shooting has been done with stainless weapons. Recently I've been shooting blued revolvers, with your basic lead wadcutters. As you all know, this leaves a nice ring of lead around the exit-end of the cylinder.

What do you guys use to clean that lead off without damaging the blue? I'm pretty anal about clean guns, but I also don't want to take off all the bluing, scrubbing off that pretty silver ring!

You revolver guys tell me what you use!

Thanks a lot.

Roger

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I just use my favorite solvent and a toothbrush to get off as much as I can. You can use a Lead-Away cloth on Stainless revolver but DO NOT use one on a Blue revolver, it will remove the blue. I use a bronze brush inside the charge holes of both.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't worry much about it myself.

I'll get what I can with some Hoppes, a rag, and some elbow grease. Anything that gets left behind just stays there.

 

[RainDodger]

Thanks, guys. I knew I liked stainless revolvers for some reason!

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I rarely clean the carbon rings off my stainless guns, either.

 

[RainDodger]

I used to carry a stainless Model 66 every day as a federal agent and I always cleaned off the front of the cylinder with one of those anti-lead cloths. That baby was spotless. They work well, but I guess they're not for blued guns. Big bummer.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I white ink eraser will clean the carbon off with no damage.

 

[RainDodger]

Hey, that's an idea I'll try!

 

[MikeJackmin]

I leave it alone; I just wipe the surface down with a lightly oiled rag, same as the rest.

It causes no harm and is self-limiting.

 

[jad0110]

I just clean it with an old tooth brush and my home made Ed's Red formulation, which works much better than something like Hoppes or CLP for lead removal. It doesn't get it all, but what is left isn't really noticeable.

There are a few different Ed's Red recipes; I prefer equal parts acetone, mineral spirits, oderless kerosene and Automatic Transmission Fluid. Of all the formulations, these are the easiest for me to come by.

The smell will knock you on your butt, so use it in a well ventilated area!

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I always say, once you have enough revolvers you will stop being concerned about the carbon rings on the front of the cylinder. I stopped trying to clean them off years and years ago. Or, you could shoot Black Powder, which never leaves carbon rings on the front of the cylinder.

 

[Rule3]

Just clean off what comes off with a brush and solvent. No sense in getting it all off as it will jut be there the next time you shoot it, Same with stainless.

 

[RainDodger]

Driftwood, I like your attitude. I need another revolver.

 

[788Ham]

Rain,

It was brought to my attention some time ago, get a .40 cal. bronze bore brush, put it into a cordless drill, apply Hoppes to the brush, then commence running it inside the chambers of the cylinder, about 3 to 4 seconds each, when finished, all that matters inside will be gone. Truly works my friend, even inside that beauty of a #14-2 !

 

[RainDodger]

Interesting concept... in fact I use it on my espresso machine! No joke: a .45 cal bore brush fits perfectly inside the steam nozzle sleeve... I chuck it up in my drill and it takes out all that solidified milk goo that's impossible to ever get out. Heh.

Good idea.

Mostly I just don't like thinking there's a ring of lead on the external end of the cylinder... it's correct that it's pretty much self-limiting though. I always clean it off the stainless guns, but I won't worry so much about the blue ones. Thanks everyone.

 

[BCRider]

I use a brass bristle brush from the hardware or welding supply stores. With some Ed's Red or Hoppes. With enough work it'll all come off and won't harm the bluing. But I long ago gave up trying to get all of it off. It's just way too much work. I give the face a good going over to remove the worst of it and live with the light blackness and a ghost of the silvery ring and call it good enough.

But then I actually like the blue colouring on the head pipes on my motorcycles too. I see both the blue colouring and the slight ghost rings from a moderate cleaning as a sign of the life and use in these machines.

Certainly leaving a build up risks eventually compromising the gun's operation. But if you cut the build up down to a shadow of a stain then there's no real significant amount left. And getting the last of that ghost ring off which is right down into the surface finish of the metal needs about 3 times the effort needed to get from a build up to the ghost amount. And that just seems like it's not worth the effort to gain something which is so quickly put back so fast.

 

[Drail]

The more effort you put into trying to get the lead and carbon off - the quicker you'll remove the bluing. I don't even worry about it on stainless guns now. Life's too short. I only worry about getting the bore and chambers clean.

 

[Sam1911]

Yup. What they said. Over-cleaning is pointless and probably introduces more wear on the gun. Wipe the soot off and call it good.

 

[Ron H]

Now I am surprised at these answers. I also have found this a perplexing issue and was waiting for a good answer. Everyone seems to be concerned that the cylinders, forcing cone, throat and bore are completely void of all powder, lead & copper residue but no one has a good method to remove the powder residue from the face of the cylinders ??? Guess I will have to conjure up some of that home made Red's stuff and give it a try.

Ron H

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Now I am surprised at these answers. I also have found this a perplexing issue and was waiting for a good answer. Everyone seems to be concerned that the cylinders, forcing cone, throat and bore are completely void of all powder, lead & copper residue but no one has a good method to remove the powder residue from the face of the cylinders ??? Guess I will have to conjure up some of that home made Red's stuff and give it a try.

Ron H

The reason some folks don't worry about it at all is that it is self limiting. The crud that can build up will be blasted away by the gasses escaping the barrel cylinder gap.

So a lot of folks don't care. Personally I have never had a problem removing it with Hoppe's and a brush, and a bit of persistence.

 

[F-111 John]

I scrub the rings off of my stainless revolvers with a Birchwood Casey lead removal cloth until they gleam like new, but for my blued guns it's a solvent like Hoppes, a nylon toothbrush, and the knowledge that there will always be black rings on the face of the cylinder.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Now I am surprised at these answers. I also have found this a perplexing issue and was waiting for a good answer. Everyone seems to be concerned that the cylinders, forcing cone, throat and bore are completely void of all powder, lead & copper residue but no one has a good method to remove the powder residue from the face of the cylinders ??? Guess I will have to conjure up some of that home made Red's stuff and give it a try.

Everyone? Completely void of powder, lead and copper? Not me. Like I keep saying, once you have enough revolvers you will stop being so fussy about how clean they are.

 

[Field Tester]

I go at it once a year.
If we're talking about the area between the Forcing Cone and Top Strap I use s few different methods.
Hoppes or Breakfree and a toothbrush. I'll then reapply and let sit an hour or two. I then use a shotgun patch unfolded to place in between and floss back and forth.
I also use Q-Tips and a plastic dental pick. It never gets it all, but it does a good enough job.

 

[doubleh]

I just wipe what I can get off with a rag and Hoppe's. After all it's going to be right back on there as son as it's shot again.

 

[BCRider]

The Hoppes is SLIGHTLY better than Ed's Red at cleaning the cylinder face buildup. I use the Ed's because it's just a great general purpose fouling cleaner and cheap to make.

Keep in mind that much of what we're saying about clean but don't OVER clean is based on the simple fact that even if you clean the face back to like new when you go and shoot again you'll restore the buildup to the amount we're saying it's OK to leave by the time you finish your first cylinder of shots. So you don't really ever shoot with a clean gun other than that very first shot. So why go all OCD on the cleaning? Are you a shooter or a displaying collector?

I also think that it's fair to say that if the light shadow of fouling we're suggesting is OK were in any way harmful to the metal then that would be a whole other issue. But it's not harmful. Just unsightly to some folks. So why go to the extremes needed to remove that last trace of staining if it'll just be put back there the very next time you shoot the gun?

Obviously we're not suggesting to not ever clean it..... well... most of us aren't Just that you only need to clean the worst of it away at the same time you power brush out the chambers. The idea is to remove the build up but don't sweat the stained in image that is down in the surface finish of the blueing.

For many of us I suspect it's fair to say that it's not that we are lazy. It's just that the guns are shot enough and often enough that we're pragmatic enough to know that it's a lot of time for very little and that there are better things to do... like loading up more ammo.