cleaning after firing

[Steve Grentus]

Gentlemen, may I ask to what extent you clean your cap and ball revolvers after a trip to the range. Am I correct in assuming that one should remove the barrel, cylinder, nipples, and give them all a great swabbing/cleaning. Do any of you men/women, do any more general cleaning each and every time out? Thank you in advance.

gh

 

[azmntman]

yep, that's what I do, remove the cylinder, remove nipples and soak in TC13 cleaner, then whist they soaking and clean the cylinder real good in soapy water, rinse and dry (after boiling water poured on it), then I clean the barrel and inner metal works, then clean the nipple thoroughly and dry well, bit of gorilla grease and reassemble. Final coat of rem-oil or WD 40 (here in AZ we have little humidity and the shade works!)

 

[hanshi]

Wash everything completely in WATER or SOAPY WATER, rinse well, oil and you're through.

 

[JKinTX]

Clean is good, but be sure all moisture is gone and oil well. All depends on the climate you live in!
Once long, long years ago, I shot a Colt '51 .36 Navy. Had powder, caps, balls (well sort of). All we read said to grease the chamber mouths after loading to prevent flash-over.
Horrors!
We had no grease, what to do?
Well, the dipstick from old '63 Chevy ran good used motor oil into the front of the chambers over the loads, and it all seemed to go quite well!
those were the days!

 

[AZbpBurner]

For all of my cap & ball revolvers, I completely disassemble, and clean everywhere on everything. WD-40 after a hot water rinse, then wipedown with Barricade. When I'm done, they're cleaner than when they left the factory.

 

[matt denison]

For all of my cap & ball revolvers, I completely disassemble, and clean everywhere on everything. WD-40 after a hot water rinse, then wipedown with Barricade. When I'm done, they're cleaner than when they left the factory.

That's why I don't own/shoot 'em. Way too feakin lazy to do that every time I shoot one.

 

[Wes/Tex]

I always take them all the way down to parts and clean. Takes all of 5 to 10 minutes to do the whole thing...and there's no possibility of something getting missed.

 

[M. De Land]

I do the same but often use Break-free or Gunslick gun oil after the spray and wipe down of WD-40.
I have been cleaning of late with Gunzilla cleaner and it does a very good job of cleaning BP fouling. I use it along with water cleaning not completely trusting it yet alone without water.
I never feel good about putting them away with BP residue down in the lock works as some do. Mike D.

 

[bigted]

:grin: i do exactly as the ODG's did. round the fire they cleaned em with water n oiled em up good then reloaded after a complete wipe down to remove the excess oil.

my procedure is simple and modern and takes no time at all.

i have a 8 or 9 to 1 mix water/Ballistol in a spray bottle. i remove the barrel on colts and spray em down in an old dishpan then allow em to soak for 5 or 10 minutes. spray em down again inside n out and toothbrush the nooks n cranny's and then wipe down carefully with a towel ... next i spray every part with WD-40 and wipe n brush again. after a good wipe down i reassemble after smearing Mobile 1 grease on the cylinder pin and spray down inside n out with Rem oil to store away. wipe away the excess and store for as long as i can stand it ... then i swab out the chambers and bore to remove oil ... snap caps ... load n shoot.

my cleaning takes less time to do then to tell about. i remove my nipples when i feel like they need to me removed ... otherwise i just clean em in place and spray down and thru with the WD-40.

real Black powder only takes getting the fouling neutralized from condensing moisture and trapping it on the metal and wiping it off.

i dont have any rust nor ruined weapons with my cleaning but there are about as many ways to clean em as there are folks cleaning.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I always do a total tear-down, clean and inspect. Each & every time.
I sleep better at night. Call me crazy. :youcrazy:

 

[bigted]

okay ... CRAZY :thumbsup:

 

[wicket]

Take my colts completely apart, drop parts into a pan of soapy water, scrub, then into pan of WD40, dry off and wipe with automatic transmission fluid, white lithium grease on the cylinder post.

 

[don hepler]

I've explained this before, as it pertains to cleaning rifles. I'm usually tired, when I come home from the range, or hunting. I like to break the cleaning in to, two parts. I clean the parts, and leave them laid out, until the next day or two. But, I am fortunate enough to have a room, that no one else has access to. So, I don't have to worry about things being lost or moved around.
The important thing is to get parts cleaned and oiled as soon as possible. Like some of the others, I tear all the way down. Did I mention I hate rust.

 

[Black Jack]

I always take them all the way down to parts and clean. Takes all of 5 to 10 minutes to do the whole thing...and there's no possibility of something getting missed.

Since I'm a little slow and have to be led by the hand sometimes, when you say "take them all the way down to parts", are you saying that you would not just disassemble the gun into the major components, but would also remove the grips, trigger guard, mainspring, hand, trigger spring, bolt mechanism, and other internal parts?

 

[Billnpatti]

Disassemble it completely after shooting it. Lay all of the parts out on an old towel and spray with a mixture of 1 part Ballistol, 1 part Murphy's Oil Soap and 10 parts water. This is a great cleaner and after spraying the revolver parts, all you will need to do is wipe them with a clean rag and swab the cylinder chambers and bore with some clean patches. You will be amazed at how well this stuff will clean your revolver. After cleaning it, all you need to do is to apply a coat of Barricade and it is ready to put away until the next trip to the range.

 

[Leatherbark]

I only clean the barrel and cylinder including the nipple area. The frame I saturate with WD-40 and wipe it dry. Never had any rust. Oh I let the insides gum up with goo and only occasionally open her up and clean all the innards. Never any rust just gunk.

I wonder what the cowboy did. After looking at all the originals it looks like they did not clean them much at all.

Bob

 

[Wes/Tex]

Yes sir, I take it completely apart...probably doesn't take 5 minutes. There are a lot of places powder can hide in a revolver. Once you've done it a few times, it goes quick. Not everybody goes this far, but I'm a little anal about black powder fouling finding small corners to sneak to.

 

[Many Klatch]

Depends on where I am and how I feel. If I come back home from the range then I strip the guns down completely to the component parts, get all anal on cleaning and oiling and then put the guns away.

However if I am at a rendezvous or similar event away from home, then I don't want to risk a tiny part falling into the grass, so I just break the gun into barrel, cylinder and frame, clean what I can get at, oil what I can get at, and then reassemble. When I get home then I get to do a complete job on them.

The guns were originally designed to be used and abused. So you can ignore the anal cleaning for a short while, but eventually you will need to completely disassemble the gun and clean the innards as well as the barrel and cylinder.

Many Klatch

 

[cynthialee]

I clean the grip and trigger assembly by complete stripping only every once and awhile. What I do after I clean everything else is to spray some 91% alcohol inside of it from different angles. Hold it in a towel... Then I get in there with some pipe cleaners and spray the innards with some Rem Oil afterwards.
Seems to keep most the crud in control. When I do strip it down it is pretty clean in there.

 

[Billnpatti]

Spray brake or carburetor cleaner will do an even better job and it is easier to use and dries very quickly. Follow it with a couple of shots of WD-40 and your revolver will be good enough to go until you can get home and do a proper cleaning job. Just don't get the stuff on your grips because it can damage the finish. Remove the grips and spray away until the cleaner comes out of the gun looking clear and clean with no crud.