Cap 'n ball revolver cleaning - how thorough and how often?

[Brian the Brit]

I've read somewhere that more guns are ruined through over-cleaning than by neglect so I wondered what the forum experts' advice is in respect of cleaning a typical BP revolver like my Colt 1860?

I can't imagine that when these guns were used in your Civil War they were meticulously stripped down, cleaned, oiled and reassembled after every use - it would have been too easy to lose parts in field conditions.

So what's your routine when you get home from the range with a dirty gun? Care to share?

Brian

 

[Zonie]

With any of my C&B revolvers, I remove the cylinder and the nipples from it. Needless to say, with the Colt style this also involves removing the barrel (but not the wedge from the barrel).

I clean the cylinder, the barrel the exposed areas of the hammer and frame.
Following this, I lightly oil all exposed metal surfaces and then reassemble the gun.

About once a year, I disassemble the entire gun and clean all of the inner workings as well as the items I mentioned above.

As for the methods and the regularity for cleaning used by the soldiers during the Civil War I suspect the poor condition of many of the originals could be attributed to their actions.

 

[oldwolf]

I run hot water down the bore and use a bronze brush to wipe it clean. Then I use a toothbrush to get rid of the fouling on the external surfaces while rinsing with hot water.

Next, I use a jag and patch to clean the cylinder in hot water after removing the nipples. Use the toothbrush to clean external surfaces of the cylinder.

Use the toothbrush to clean the nipples, again, hot water.

The hot water will have heated the metal up at this point so then I take a towel and dry the surfaces off. Take a patch and remove the moisture from the bore and cylinders.

Next I spray WD-40 over all surfaces to prevent flash rust from appearing. Wipe this off with a clean rag and then use your oil of choice for final protection of surfaces and bore.

My SS revolvers I will actually dunk the whole gun (w/o the grips) in a bucket of hot soapy water and then get to work on it.

If I am cleaning a blued revolver I clean the barrel and cylinders without dunking in a bucket of water.

How do YOU clean your revolvers?

PS - I do my procedure after each shooting session.

 

[Darkgael]

Brian: "more guns are ruined through over-cleaning than by neglect". I suspect that that comment refers to overcleaning smokeless powder firearms. I only occasionally clean my .22s and only slightly more frequently my centerfire guns. They work just fine.
My BP revolver gets cleaned after every use, cylinder out and gun scrubbed in soapy water. When I'm done, I pour boiling water over all the parts and put them on a towel to dry.
Pete

 

[Rikeman]

So far I have been cleaning my Walker after every use. I soak the barrel, cylinder and nipples in soapy HOT water. I pulled apart the inner workings last time I shot, but that was mostly just to get to know the gun parts. There was only slight grime inside. I only plan on pulling it totally apart every 3-4 sessions at the range, but the barrel and cylinders will get soaked and totally cleaned after every use!

I have noticed that every time I take it out, it seems to work better and better.

 

[graybeard]

There's a mighty easy way to clean the 1860 Colt replica. take the wooden handles off, take the barrel off and remove the cylinder. run a patch with solvent into each cylinder and down the barrel. maybe two or three patches. scrub the nipples and hammer area with a toothbrush and solvent. then put everything but the handles in the dishwasher. make sure the barrel and cylinder are vertical so they'll get cleaned. after the cycle is done, and the metal still is hot, take it out, spray down with wd40, wipe off and then spray with remoil. reassemble. I've been doing this for years with my replica and never had a bit of trouble with rust. when you reassemble, don't forget to grease the arbor the cylinder fits on. graybeard

 

[crockett]

I bought a replica Colt 1851 Navy over thirty years ago and strip it down and clean it after every use- still looks like new but then again I am a bit of a fanatic about clean guns. There's a difference between we modern day shooters and those of yesteryear. For us its a hobby and we have the set up to clean the guns after every use.
If you plan to do this get some screw drivers and grind them down to EXACTLY fit the large and small screws (You'll need two screw drivers). I think most of the damage comes from wearing the screws.
After I strip the gun everything gets a hot water scrub with a toothbrush and a Q-tip for the small parts. Then I dry with tissue and then a hot oven (just warm- 5 minutes) and then an oily rag.
Be careful with the hand, the bolt stop, etc- these are the parts normally broken from rough assembly/disassembly.

 

[mykeal]

I pretty much clean like Zonie, except I'll do the complete teardown about every 3 to 5 uses. But then, I like to take things apart...

 

[dboone]

I strip them down and put them in a sink of hot water and scrub with a toothe brush all external parts and use a bore brush for cyclinder and barrel. Rinse with hot water and in the oven to dry. After i spray all parts with WD40 let set 10min then dry with towel and oil up the gun with gun oil and bore butter the cyclinder pin.

 

[mazo kid]

Greybeard, (from one to another!) I've heard about the dishwasher cleaning method but never have tried it...yet. Sounds pretty quick and easy.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

I've read somewhere that more guns are ruined through over-cleaning than by neglect so I wondered what the forum experts' advice is in respect of cleaning a typical BP revolver like my Colt 1860?

I can't imagine that when these guns were used in your Civil War they were meticulously stripped down, cleaned, oiled and reassembled after every use - it would have been too easy to lose parts in field conditions.

So what's your routine when you get home from the range with a dirty gun? Care to share?

Brian

Brian,

I use a lot of hot water at my kitchen sink! For the Colts I take the barrel off and the cylinder off the pin. Wash the barrel in hot water, let stand to dry on folded paper towels. Wash the cylinder with the nipples still on it. Then take nipples off of the cylinder and immerse nipples into Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine. This chemical immulsifies BP on contact! It has it's own drying agent in it too. While the nipples are in a little cup cleaning themselves, I use more Bore Shine in the chambers of the cylinder and down the throat of the bore as well. Even after brushing, if I use Bore Shine, more crud will come off, so I basically stopped brushing and instead use two cleaning patches on a regular pistol cleaning rod. Patch down the bore and each chamber until no more crud on patches. Then a quick rinse in hot water and onto the paper towels. The cylinder pin gets wrapped in a couple of patches soaked with Bore Shine...less work that way cause the chemical does the work for you! I also do a "wipe-down" with patches soaked in Bore Shine for the rest of the gun, except for the grips. You would be amazed at how much crud comes off of the area where the hammer meets the frame! Bore Shine wipes it away. Also good for the back of the cylinder into the nipple pockets!

After doing the crevices with a small screwdriver or the end of the cleaning rod eyelet and a patch or two soaked in Bore Shine, I oil-up the frame, hammer, etc., being real sure to get the crud out of the mechanics that turn the cylinder. Bore Shine first, then the oil. At this point, I use Masters synthetic oil in the small bottle with the needle on the end...real easy to apply just the right amount in small spaces like the chambers, where the hammer meets the frame, etc. Also use a drop on each high point on the cylinder where the hardware meets "metal on metal". Take the nipples out of the Bore Shine and wipe them off dry with paper towels, changing the paper as needed. Use a nipple pick to get the last little specs, if needed. Take the cleaning rod and put a single patch on it and run through each chamber with Kleenbore brand oil. Put a drop of Kleenbore oil onto the threads of each of the nipples and re-install each nipple. Apply Masters oil liberally to the cylinder pin and re-install cylinder after first re-installing nipples into the cylinder.

Finish putting the revolver back together, and then function test to determine if everything is properly aligned. I do this simply by pulling back on the hammer to test how much force it takes. At full-cock, I try to turn the cylinder ever so slightly to determine if it locks-up correctly or if it's sloppy or hard. Sloppy or hard mean trouble.

Once a year I do a full strip-down to get into the works near the trigger guard.

That's the medium version...the long version hasn't been typed yet :rotf:

Dave

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Like Greybeard I take the handles off my 1858s and put them in my kitchen sink. I submerge them in very hot water and I use a water pick to blast the crud out of the nooks and crannies. I shake the parts off, blow the moisture out of them and hit them with a coat of Balistol.
I used to shoot SASS matches with my Remington's
It was an ordeal to keep these pistols running for six stages. After shooting a stage I would place my pistols on my gun cart ( all cowboy shooters have em ) Field strip the pistols, with a rag I would wipe off the fouling from the cylinder, the cylinder rod, and the inside of the frame. I had a small tin of axle grease I put a thin coat on the cylinder pin and force some in the pawl opening. Of course I had to do both pistols. Doing this I could run both pistols for six stages of cowboy shooting.
The one drawback, when you shot your 5 rounds it would tend to grease up the barrel and cylinder area.
After shooting this much the for real cleaning after I got home was a bear! :thumbsup:

 

[Brik847]

How long can you keep a c and b revolver loaded before you have to shoot it? What do you recommend?

 

[jdixon]

How long can you keep a c and b revolver loaded before you have to shoot it? What do you recommend?

I have on occassion put up a revolver loaded, that I didn't shoot (usually after a hunting trip), in the safe and left it for months. When I finally pull it out to shoot them, they go off as well as if I loader them that day. Grant you this is after storage in a safe that with humidity controlled somewhat, but the point is I believe if stored correctly, cap and ball revolvers could be fired effectively years after being loaded.

 

[jeepwj992002]

I clean mine pretty much like Zonie does. I use white lithium for the arbor or pin depending on if it is the Remmy or The Navy and I spray white lithium on the innards.

 

[rebel727]

I pretty much do it like Oldwolf does except for the bronze brush.

 

[oldwolf]

I pretty much do it like Oldwolf does except for the bronze brush.

A lot of times I just use a jag and patch with the hot water. I am beginning to think I don't really need to use the brush to often.

Still, one swipe up and down the bore will clean most anything left in the groove corners.

 

[rebel727]

I've got a homemade cleaning rod that's just under bore size. A patch on it is a snug fit. Cleans the bore really well with just a couple of passes.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

not to hi-jack the thread (good one too) but out camping where I don't want to (or can't) pull mine down to wash it I pull the cylinder ('58 Remmy and ROA) and use a brush to clean the chambers, bore and pin and inside the frame where the cylinder fits. then wipe all down with a rag damp with Go-Jo white. grease the pin and reassemble and reload. then when I get home I do the strip-down and complete wash. I use windsheild washer fluid in a spray jug to hose it with. then scrub and so on.

 

[Brian the Brit]

Many thanks for the numerous detailed and varied responses to my query, gentlemen. From your replies I think that I may perhaps have been overdoing the cleaning by stripping the gun down completely after every outing, although some would clearly disagree.

In future I think I'll do a thorough barrel, cylinder, nipple and arbour clean (plus a general wipe-over of course)after every use and only do a complete strip down and clean once every four or five outings.

As for putting the gun in the dishwasher (I've heard tales of people doing that with stainless steel Ruger 'Old Armys' before but never blued guns), I think Mrs The Brit might have something to say on that score. :yakyak:

Brian