Just got back from shooting my two 1851 revolvers. It has taken me hours to clean them. Why?
I disassembed the guns (quick). I remove the handle, spring, trigger spring, bolt, trigger, etc... everything. Upon inspection, just about everything was dirty. I do put lube in the chambers when I shoot so maybe this contributes to the mess.
I used a combination of Moose Juice and hot soapy water to clean the things. This took a while. The black stuff came off easily off the exterior of the gun and the barrel. My big problem was the chambers and the nipple area. I scrub everything with a nylon brush and Moose Juice then put in a bath of hot soapy water while I address each piece individually.
I removed the nipples and soaked them in hot soapy water. (forgot to clean the insides though). I then used a brushed and several patches inside the chambers followed by Q-tips. I kept getting black stuff coming out of the chambers. It seemed to come from the very back of the chambers. I'd soak the cylinder some more and repeat.
Once I had everythign done, I would then rinse with very (almost boiling) hot water and dry in the oven at 250 for about 20min.
When I removed one of the revolvers from the oven, it looked like rust had started forming in the oven. Errr.
I'm having a tough time. I did this years ago and don't remember having this kind of trouble. Even after all that cleaning, I'd get brown stuff coming out of the chambers after a soak in the soapy water.
How clean do the chambers need to be? I try to get everything spotless because that's what my drill seargent made me do. I haven't shot these much in the past and they often sit for a long time. For this reason, I'm concerned about getting a good clean. I may be shooting them more this coming year if all goes right.
Tell me what I'm doing right (if anything) and what I'm doing wrong. Look forward to your words of wisdom.
May it be blessed,
Todd
I disassembed the guns (quick). I remove the handle, spring, trigger spring, bolt, trigger, etc... everything. Upon inspection, just about everything was dirty. I do put lube in the chambers when I shoot so maybe this contributes to the mess.
I used a combination of Moose Juice and hot soapy water to clean the things. This took a while. The black stuff came off easily off the exterior of the gun and the barrel. My big problem was the chambers and the nipple area. I scrub everything with a nylon brush and Moose Juice then put in a bath of hot soapy water while I address each piece individually.
I removed the nipples and soaked them in hot soapy water. (forgot to clean the insides though). I then used a brushed and several patches inside the chambers followed by Q-tips. I kept getting black stuff coming out of the chambers. It seemed to come from the very back of the chambers. I'd soak the cylinder some more and repeat.
Once I had everythign done, I would then rinse with very (almost boiling) hot water and dry in the oven at 250 for about 20min.
When I removed one of the revolvers from the oven, it looked like rust had started forming in the oven. Errr.
I'm having a tough time. I did this years ago and don't remember having this kind of trouble. Even after all that cleaning, I'd get brown stuff coming out of the chambers after a soak in the soapy water.
How clean do the chambers need to be? I try to get everything spotless because that's what my drill seargent made me do. I haven't shot these much in the past and they often sit for a long time. For this reason, I'm concerned about getting a good clean. I may be shooting them more this coming year if all goes right.
Tell me what I'm doing right (if anything) and what I'm doing wrong. Look forward to your words of wisdom.
May it be blessed,
Todd