How far down do you clean?

[45D]

Yeah bud....brass frame stretched from hot loads, zero to do with not cleaning internals in a 1991 CVA/ASM 1851 navy

Well actually, the frame "stretched" because of too much endshake. The cylinder became a slide hammer and beat the 2 assemblies apart. If you set them up properly, you can shoot "normal" ( steel frame) loads. But hey, they're cheap so treat um cheap and they'll be cheap ( inside and outside).

Mike

 

[AlexB]

Old thread, but gonna post a mea culpa. Took off grips on my .31 this week to install a new mainspring. Inside the grip was a a lot of black gunk. Pistol is a 2004 so i dont know if this gunk is 20 years old or just 6 months old since I got it. I was surprised. So soon I will be doing a total disassembly to see how much gunk is under the trigger guard.

I always do a complete teardown when cleaning revolvers as the fouling and cap pieces do indeed find every nook and cranny.
Doing that seems to improve performance quite a bit.

 

[M. De Land]

View attachment 272298

This is the reason I believe Mike (45D) and others have the right idea packing the innards with synthetic grease if one is not going to a complete tear down for cleaning and re-lubing after each range session.
The grease packing is filling up the interior clearance space volume, preventing as much fouling contamination and preserving the innards from corrosion of the fouling the grease is absorbing.
Also grease is necessary for certain revolver lube points that oil alone is not adequate for proper friction protection (cam/bolt finger, cylinder ratchet, hand nose and arbor grooves) .
The synthetic grease does not get hard when cold like petroleum products do and usually has a much higher flash point threshold.

 

[M. De Land]

I always do a complete teardown when cleaning revolvers as the fouling and cap pieces do indeed find every nook and cranny.
Doing that seems to improve performance quite a bit.

I never feel satisfied unless I take them all the way down ,clean and re-lube with both oil and grease as appropriate to location and gun part.
My ROA was received in used but like new condition as it had been fired very little but upon first break down I found some pitting on the lower hammer from fouling residue left behind by these "cursory" cleaning methods often prescribed.

 

[Mike in FL]

I never feel satisfied unless I take them all the way down ,clean and re-lube with both oil and grease as appropriate to location and gun part.
My ROA was received in used but like new condition as it had been fired very little but upon first break down I found some pitting on the lower hammer from fouling residue left behind by these "cursory" cleaning methods often prescribed.

That is good to know. I should change my cleaning procedure.

 

[Bad Karma]

Question for cap and ball. When you shoot just how thoroughly do you clean when you were done?

I have an 1858 Pietta bison. When I am done I take the cylinder out and I remove the nipples. The nipples I clean was solvent since they are stainless slix shots.

The barrel and cylinder I use good old hot soapy water. As far as any further disassembly I will usually remove the loading lever. Because that assembly is near impossible to clean and oil after cleaning, without removal.

I have also removed trigger guard and grips before. The bottom of that trigger guard was really gunked up and I don't think the previous owner ever cleaned the internals.

I'm a fairly mechanical guy and I have watched hours of YouTube and I am almost ready to do a full disassembly and cleaning... Stripping down to the frame.

Usually when I go out and shoot I shoot from 2 to 4 cylinders. How often should the parts be stripped all the way to the frame?

I clean the bore, chambers and exterior every time I shoot and only completely strip and detail clean every year or so… once I have a new gun running the way I want it I will clean it and fill the action with Mobil One Synthetic grease and then just shoot it. I’m pretty sure the detail clean could be put off for another year or two (and up until recently I shot a lot) without any problems but it’s an opportunity to check for wear.

 

[rusticbob]

I need to try this Mobile 1 system. I took my 1858 Pietta out today and emptied two cylinders I had loaded for months. Took about 10 minuets to shoot, over an hour to clean everything, including internal parts. Hope it works.

 

[ernbar]

I have an action shield on the hammer and internals have Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease in my pistols so no need to take the internals apart. Tap water and moose milk to scrub the barrel and cylinder. Frame is wiped with moose milk. Nipples come off every 2-3 times used, cleaned and anti seize used on the threads. Lube with Ballistol re assemble and done.

 

[RiverRat]

Ballistol is an amazing lubricant. I mix it with water, 4 parts water to one part ballistol. I take the barrel off and rinse under hot water and the loading lever and cylinder. I spray down everything with the “ moose milk” including the innards of the trigger assembly. After I do the nylon brush thing, I dry everything off and use straight ballistol into all areas of the gun. By using ballistol, I feel that is not necessary to break dawn the revolver to the frame every time I shoot it. Ballistol will keep bp fouling soft for a very long time in the inner workings of the trigger.

 

[Bad Karma]

Ballistol is an amazing lubricant. I mix it with water, 4 parts water to one part ballistol. I take the barrel off and rinse under hot water and the loading lever and cylinder. I spray down everything with the “ moose milk” including the innards of the trigger assembly. After I do the nylon brush thing, I dry everything off and use straight ballistol into all areas of the gun. By using ballistol, I feel that is not necessary to break dawn the revolver to the frame every time I shoot it. Ballistol will keep bp fouling soft for a very long time in the inner workings of the trigger.

Before I learned about Mobil 1 I used CLP as you’re doing. Worked great. Man I can’t stand the smell of Ballistol…

 

[Taevers]

I used to completely disassemble and clean every part of each of my revolvers every time I shot them. After a while I began to ask myself if it was even worth it to shoot the darned things. And then one time I bought an Uberti Replica of an 1861 Colt that was used but in excellent condition (from a fellow selling in this site!). Upon receiving it, I took it apart to make sure everything was as it should be and found that there was a bit of black oily gunk in the guts of the gun.

And then it hit me like a lightning bolt - the previous owner never disassembled the gun after shooting it. The oily gunk was in no way affecting the operation of the revolver, it did not promote corrosion, and it was easy to wipe off.

That was my black powder revolver epiphany. I realized then that you do not have to do a complete disassembly after every shooting session.

Now I clean the barrel assembly and the cylinder. And because I have greased each of the nipple threads with an anti-seize compound, I don't even have to remove the nipples.

After cleaning the barrel and cylinder, I simply spray or drip a lubricant, preferably a water displacing lubricant, into the recess for the bolt, hand, and trigger.

Since I've been doing that, I've never encountered any rust or corrosion of any sort and my cleaning time is cut by at least half. An added benefit is that I am not always fooling around with screws that are easy to bugger.

I think tearing these guns down all the time only promotes unnecessary wear, and with today's modern water displacing lubricants, clean up, though still a chore, ends up being much faster and less painless.

Exactly my approach.

 

[Smokerr]

An since tha guts is slam full of Mobil1 grease, them parts is like new !!

I was waiting for Mike to chime in. I might get there yet, I will see how or iff interior fouling progresses and or becomes an issue.

A thin greased felt wad that you can make yourself between ball and powder won’t either, but will help keep fouling soft.

I have tested mfg wads and they do indeed act like a flame arrestor. No disagreement the primary safety is a ball that seals to the chamber wall.

I am evolving the cleaning method. With the Walker I can take the barrel off so that is easy and dry it in the fruit/veggie dryer that has air flow. I pull the cones as that is small space and crud/rust can get in there and I can clean the back of the chamber with them gone.

Cylinders dry much faster and complete with no Cones.

The cones are left as is. I run a drill bit through them.

If it makes you happy to tear a gun down each time you shoot it, go for it. This is all about fun and satisfaction.

Me, I am a minimalist. I don't change the oil in my lawnmower or snow blower but every 4 or 5 years. Horrors! Well its synthetic and they don't run much. I don't ship in white gas either, the evil Ethanol stuff works fine.

 

[RiverRat]

Before I learned about Mobil 1 I used CLP as you’re doing. Worked great. Man I can’t stand the smell of Ballistol…

Yea, my wife doesn’t like it either. The smell doesn’t bother me, I smelled worse things in my life.

 

[Festus]

I am a firm believer in Ballistol. I never strip down revolvers unless something is not working. I clean a lot and keep everything wet with Ballistol. Never have had any rust or problems. But you do you.

 

[Elgatodeacero]

I only clean the exterior, barrel, cylinder and nipples, and the loading lever.

I used to do a complete detail strip and clean, but life got busy and I do not bother any more. A few of my revolvers were done by @45D and so are grease packed, but a few are not. I treat them the same and so far so good!

 

[Smokerr]

Once I am happy with how a gun shoots I will follow 45D approach, the Walker would be first. I find no timing issues with it and happy with all functions, so its a good candidate.

The ROA, still have to decide if I want to tackle the slight bolt timing issue.

As for Smell, Carbon Killer 2000 has a slight orange tang to it but not offensive. I went to that for my rifles as my wife was sensitive to Hoppes/Kroil mix I was using (and as Mr. D can tell you, cleaning a gun outside in winters sucks).

Its also non haz. Works a treat for barrel cleaning, works for carbon though takes some brushing. I suspect it is an orange citrus type cleaner so you could get that and soak parts. It does work on open carbon but takes a bit of brushing. The barrel gets a nylon brush (not copper, it corrodes that) so that takes are of the barrel though lately I have been doing the barrels in the sink with the Walker barrel and kept tipped down and no water into the action parts. Quick and works great.

I am not going to soak the rest of the gun, you are going to trap water and get rust. WD-40 or the Baristol may solved that but ungh.

 

[jps2486]

I use silicone oils in my air rifles because it won't ignite under high pressure like petroleum based lubes will. Has anyone tried any of these on BP guns?

 

[Bad Karma]

I use silicone oils in my air rifles because it won't ignite under high pressure like petroleum based lubes will. Has anyone tried any of these on BP guns?

The primary function of gun oil is to lubricate moving parts. Secondary and almost co-equal in importance is to protect the metal from corrosion. I don’t think silicone oil would provide the protection you’re looking for. But I could be wrong about that…

 

[BPNOOB]

Newbie question time! Must I remove the nipples for adequate cleaning, or is it sufficient to just clean out the holes?

 

[Kansas Jake]

I usually remove them to make sure the fire channel is clear and clean. You may be able to clean without removing them.