Cleaning revolvers

[Bad Karma]

well it is your gun to do with as you will. but that s not likely to get the fouling,,, grit and crud out of the working parts in the frame in my opinion. But like i said it is your gun do it the way that suits you.
Horrified
Bunk

Horrified? Now you’re just being dramatic AND AR!

 

[wb78963]

I don't know about you, Woodie, perhaps you are rolling in money, but that rack of firearms represent several thousand of dollars investment. to me so I take care of them.
My opinion is anyone putting a gun in the dishwasher to clean it is because the owner is either too lazy to do a little work or too dumb to take one apart and deserves what they get which in the end will be a ruined gun.
.I really don't give a flying rats a** about how you treat your guns but stay off my back about how I do mine
Are we clear?
Grouchy old Curmudgeon
Bunk
COFFEE, COFFEE, where is my COFFEE?

 

[Red Owl]

I agree, it only takes a minute to take off the grip frame and the internal parts. Black powder gets into all the nooks and crannies. Need to clean it up- on a Colt, it isn't a lot of work.

 

[TrapperDude]

I got my first foundational base of blackpowder knowledge from articles on this site:
http://geojohn.org/BlackPowder/bps4Mobile.html
I apply what he has written in his articles, and it all seems to work pretty well. One of his statements about cleaning a BP revolver is that black powder residue responds best to organic/edible greases and oils than it does to petroleum based oils and greases. Using his information, I have used olive oil to clean and lubricate my BP revolver, and it's been effective. I find that my cylinder doesn't bind up at the range by lightly lubing the cylinder pin with the stuff, and when it's time to clean up after the range, fouling comes off without much trouble.
As the writer suggests, I don't use water to clean my revolver, instead only using a little Damn Good Bore Solvent on a patch to take out of the bore and chambers what the olive oil won't remove on its own. After that, I work the olive oil into everything and wipe it down. It does seem that the olive oil gets into the pores of the steel and makes the fouling come off more easily.

For the internals, I was nervous about fully disassembling my Remington 1858, so I was sticking an oiled q-tip as far into the action as I could to swab what I could reach. After two sessions, followed by working up the guts to disassemble it following the third session, I found that some of my stainless internal components had actually become stained. No amount of scrubbing was removing the black splotches. With that in mind, I'm thinking that I will need to fully disassemble the revolver after every range trip.

I had used Frog Lube for some years on my modern weapons, but I ran out and finally ordered some again. I decided to use it on my flintlock pistol because Frog Lube is an organic lubricant, and it actually did a nice job. The olive oil I use on my BP weapons is in a special container of its own in the fridge. When I exhaust the stuff, I'll switch all of my cleaning over to Frog Lube.

 

[Red Owl]

I use oil because I clean up after every shooting session and it is easier but theoretically lube or gun grease should be used on the internal parts. On the bore, run a couple of patches soaked with rubbing alcohol to remove oil before shooting. The oil can turn into a brown tar that can be hard to remove.

 

[MAPMFF]

I full disassemble, wash with warm/hot soapy water, the cylinder, nipples I take apart and put in a little Tupperware tub of said water w/ some regular Windex and get it all scrubbed down, then dry it, oil and put back in the humidity controlled safe. Worked well so far.

Never thought about running a dry or rubbing alcohol patch prior to shooting though to get the oil out.

 

[wb78963]

Horrified? Now you’re just being dramatic AND AR!

No i think disgusted would be more correct.
I had the chance to read the instructions in the lid of a beautiful pocket model cased set.
Loading was simple pour in powder , ram down a ball, then cap.
Under cleaning it said to use water, dry carefully and oil
Seems pretty simple to me, how say you?
Calm as can be.
Bunk

 

[Red Owl]

I wouldn't sell short the idea of using water, been doing that on one Colt Navy for 52 years- no rust at all.

 

[sawyer04]

Hope there is not a shortage.

 

[Bad Karma]

No i think disgusted would be more correct.
I had the chance to read the instructions in the lid of a beautiful pocket model cased set.
Loading was simple pour in powder , ram down a ball, then cap.
Under cleaning it said to use water, dry carefully and oil
Seems pretty simple to me, how say you?
Calm as can be.
Bunk

You have to admit Bunk, that’s a bit sparse on details. Shoot, the average post on a board such as this probably runs 500 words on the topic. Colt probably paid his printer by the letter, hence the brevity.

For my part each of us throwbacks still using these old timey firearms is going to incorporate various modern procedures, tools or chemicals. Or not. As the case may be… So. Disgusted? Why?

I have only been greasing the interior for a few years but I feel like I should send one of mine to you so you can examine it for any hint of corrosion… even Sam Colt would likely approve. In fact, the old chilly hearted military capitalist would probably wonder why Bunk and Woodnbow are even screwing around with his old Army model of 1860, let alone discussing how to keep them running for another few generations.

Have yourself a calm weekend Bunk… make it smoky!

 

[SOLANCO]

Okay if you say so, but weekly day-hikes on the prairie in a leather holster HAS left my gun in need of a reblue, as the bluing has rubbed away from every point of contact with the holster.

Some people call that patina.

 

[SOLANCO]

One advantage of the Colt design- pretty easy to take down and clean. I do after every session. I have a 52 year old Navy 36 that is still in great shape. Make sure you make screw drivers where the blade exactly fits the bolt slots.

Gunsmith screwdriver set. Mine has 26 different, interchangeable bits. Bought it years ago and it gets a lot of use. Not just on firearms either. I think I bought it from Brownells.

 

[Bad Karma]

I wouldn't sell short the idea of using water, been doing that on one Colt Navy for 52 years- no rust at all.

I agree. I started using tap water cause that's what grandpa used. Then I read one of the black powder manuals in the late 60’s . Just back to the world and thought I’d catch up. They suggested boiling water so I used that. Which was a pain in the fields or camp. So I went back to cold water followed by WD40 to remove the water and then CLP for many years. No issues at all with that regimen.

I’ve never detail stripped on every cleaning (even before the Synthetic Greases were available) and it’s always worked for me. But your climate may be more humid. Or coastal. I’ve never been tempted to run a pistol through the dishwasher, it’s a hot humid environment and that seems like a bad idea to me. Never mind that up until 20 years ago the dishwasher would have probably thrown the pistol at my head…

 

[Hawken]

I wouldn't sell short the idea of using water, been doing that on one Colt Navy for 52 years- no rust at all.

Chemistry 101. Water (or a water based cleaning agent) is the only thing that dissolves a salt.

There are probably countless bores out there that are fooked in some way because people don't know this with respect to Black Powder corrosive residues. Modern cartridge firearms & smokeless powders don't really "need" cleaning per se.

 

[Red Owl]

I never thought about that, so water is actually better than an oil based cleaner? I tried boiled water but I was getting flash rust so I went back to cold water. Just make sure you dry the parts. A good gun grease is what you SHOULD use on the internal parts but I just use gun oil as I also use that in the bore. As I said, run a patch with rubbing alcohol through the bore prior to shooting to remove the oil, which will otherwise turn into a sort of brown tar.
On the screwdrivers, there is also a shrouded screwdriver, not very common but it has a tube that encases the screwdriver tip, if the blade bounces out of the slot the shroud pops down so you don't mar the surrounding area BUT if the tip exactly fits the slot, I've never had any trouble with the blade popping out.

 

[Hawken]

Oil won't neutralize corrosive black powder residue, no. Black Powder is a different animal.

It's a similar problem with OT surplus cartridge firearms & corrosive primer ammo. They have to be cleaned with water, or a water based cleaner. US GI issue Bore cleaner was different prior to the 1950s. People don't understand this, they are told to stay away from "corrosive ammo" or that they need to be cleaned "right away", and they probably should stay away because it won't do much good if they don't clean the weapon correctly. It isn't really a big deal otherwise.

 

[45D]

Isn't it funny that Colts own instructions for cleaning states to " wash the cylinder and barrel with WARM water, dry and oil thoroughly . . . " - not boiling water, this regiment or that regiment . . . of course we all have /had our own "best way" but, it doesn't get any simpler than what was instructed originally. Hmmm . . . if only they were as smart as we are !!!! Lol

Mike

 

[B P Arn]

Warm water and a little detergent

Rinse

Dry

Oil (not grease)

Done. That's too simple, so men find ways to complicate matters.

 

[45D]

Warm water and a little detergent

Rinse

Dry

Oil (not grease)

Done. That's too simple, so men find ways to complicate matters.

Well, they didn't have synthetic grease back then (which plays well with bp ) so of course "grease" wouldn't be mentioned. As far as neutralizing bp fouling, if it is contained in a grease, then water can't get to it so it won't turn into the nastiness that it can sans the grease. Therefore, the original instructions are the "standard" but, if you shoot a lot and want to put off cleaning, packing the frame with Mobil1 is still (I believe) the best solution!! After years of Cowboy shooters doing it that way, ID say it's safe for the casual shooter to keep the frame packed and not worry about the action parts.

Mike

 

[Red Owl]

I think the U.S. Army up to WWII still used water to clean rifles. If I recall what I was told- there was a wash tub of warm soapy water and half a dozen men circled it with the muzzles in the water and the cleaning jags sucked the water up into the bores.