New to the wheel gun, seeking advice!

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Collector0311

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I've been partial to firearms as long as I can remember but I have never owned a revolver until recently. I know I could google these questions and get plain old answers, but I frequent THR in order to learn from others and their experiences. I am the proud owner of an LCR chambered in .357mag (LOL'd when I heard someone call it a glockvolver) and a S&W637pc in 38spl+p.
Please share with me the finer points of cleaning an aluminum framed weapon, what to use, what not to use, and why. My knowledge extends to steel framed semis. More specifically I'm wondering about the use of copper wire brushes and certain solvents.
 
I was nothing but a revolver owner for years. I've always relied upon Hoppes No. 9 as my cleaning solvent, using quality copper scrubbers. The cylinders are steel (or some other strong metal in the case of your Smith, I'm not sure), but good old Hoppes and copper works best for me. And, I use simple Hoppes lubricating oil. That's all I use on one steel revolver and I've never had any trouble.....and I mean never.

Clean after every use. Give it a deep cleaning every so often, and keep 'em lightly lubed. You'll never had a problem. As for the my aluminum frame, I use a clean rag, Hoppes solvent and elbow grease. There's a lot of fancy stuff out there, but I'm convinced that my simple routine is sound. Good luck!
 
Thanks archangel14, I appreciate it.
One other thing, I've already put a tiny little nick in my frame next to the cylinder crane retaining screw (proper nomenclature?) while trying to remove the screw to get the cylinder out. Any tricks for avoiding having to stick a steel driver against my frame?
 
I'll tell you right now, don't waste your money on one of those older Smith model 65's with the 3-inch bull barrel. One of the most horrible handguns ever made. They point totally unnaturally and nobody on earth can hit the side of a barn with one of them.

Just, uh, let me know where it is and I'll make sure that neither you nor anyone else gets stuck with it.

Just lookin' out for your interests, y'know... :)
 
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Archangel has it right. The only thing I would add: I use an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners to get in all the corners of the frame and the back of the cylinder. Some of my revolvers date from the 1950s. While they show use there isn't a speck of rust and they work perfectly.

Welcome to the world of wheelguns. (Your back will thank you when the brass isn't tossed all over the ground.)

Jeff
 
BullRunBear you make a great point about one of the many advantages of a revolver over the autos - they are cleaner on the range if you like to keep your brass.
 
Thank you very much, fellas!

Monster, thanks for the heads up! It's yours. I'll just need $500 shipping and handling to get you this terrible gun haha
 
I use G96 on all my revolvers which is one of those 3-in-1 cleaners. I also like to clean my revolvers after every range trip so I'm now using nylon brushes instead of bronze. Even though my cleaner has a lube in it I still spray on some Rem Oil and then wipe off the excess. I agree a old toothbrush is very useful for cleaning revolvers.
 
Clean after every use.

^^This

I've been a revolver guy all my life, and I could never understand "Glock guys" saying that they only clean their guns every 500 rounds or so. I have four revolvers, and fully clean them after every range use. I do remove the cylinders for cleaning, as I find it easier to scrub the cylinder face and under the ejector. It's easy to remove the cylinder from my two Smiths and my Enfield, but it's a pain to remove the cylinder from my Dan Wesson (sideplate removal required.)

I will only add this to Archangel's excellent advise: One Smith and the Dan Wesson is in stainless, so I use Birchwood Casey Lead Remover cloth (cut a 3" x 3" square piece from the cloth) to scrub every trace of burn rings from the cylinder face and carbon deposits inside of the frame near the forcing cone. DO NOT USE ON BLUED GUNS! On my blued Smith, the burn rings get scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove the crud, but a visible burn ring will remain.

I'm not by any means an anal type, but it takes me between 30 minutes to an hour each when cleaning my three revolvers after a trip to the range.

Last week I purchased my first semi-auto, a Glock 26 Gen 3. I put 100 rounds through it yesterday, along with some revolvers. Last night I cleaned them, and after spending 45 minutes scrubbing my carry stainless J-Frame smith, I field stripped the Glock and was floored.

A quick scrubbing of the bore, some clean up on the feed ramp, wipe out the inside of the slide and frame with a few patches, a couple of drops of oil and 5 minutes later I was done! I may have given myself over to the Dark Side...

Enjoy the Ruger. The best advantages are that you don't have to worry about bullet setback when repeatedly loading and unloading your carry ammo, and you never have to wonder if it will cycle your carry load.
 
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Archangel14 said:
Clean after every use.


Collector0311 said:
I've already put a tiny little nick in my frame next to the cylinder crane retaining screw (proper nomenclature?) while trying to remove the screw to get the cylinder out.

There's cleaning, then there's cleaning. There's no need for the latter, and scrubbing the cylinder face, removal of the cylinder and/or sideplate falls into this category. Regular scrupulous cleaning is not only unnecessary, it may actually do more harm than good. You're finding that out already.

Functionally, the most important thing is to keep the chambers clean, so I run a patch & brass brush (my solvent of choice include Kroil & Ed's red) through the chambers and a patch down the barrel (from the breach end, using an Otis thingie). Give the rest of the gun a good wipe (including the cylinder face and the area around the forcing cone), a dab of lube where needed, and I'm done.
 
Buy proper screw drivers for "working" on guns. Brownells and others sell them.

I have never taken a revolver apart in my life. I don't think you need to either unless it's broke. You can do a lot of "cleaning" by simply taking the grips and side plate off and spraying the visible parts there.

Good advice from the others on cleaning. I would minimize the amount of cleaning solution that is left on the outside of the barrel and exterior parts.
 
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+2...... MrBorland

I used to clean them religiously too. Until I came to the conclusion that by disassembling on a frequent basis...... it only adds to wear and tear. That said, I clean them upon occasion. a 'lil cleaning (assembled) is my thought & advice and ..... logic.
 
The alloy frame on the 637 is painted. I've heard of certain harsh solvents(brake cleaner) makin' it peel and I have heard stories of folks that thought they were gonna polish it like stainless steel and were surprised when they polished thru the paint.
 
While I like cleaning my revolvers I do not disassemble them after every trip to do so. Yes, a "Lead-Away" cloth will make quick work of the Carbon left on the face of the cylinder as long as it's on a stainless revolver. Like said above, it will remove the Blue...
 
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