Billnpatti
Cannon
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
- Messages
- 7,340
- Reaction score
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You will find that plain soapy water is the best black powder cleaner that anyone has ever devised and it is cheaper than ony of the others that you may buy in the store. I have also found that spray automobile brake cleaner does an excellent job on locks. I just flush out all of the crud with a few good squirts of the brake cleaner, blow it out thoroughly with compressed air (handy if you have it but not necessary), spray it with WD-40, blow again and wipe with a cloth and finish by lightly oiling the working parts. That is the one exception that I will make to the "just soapy water" advice.
If you are cleaning a revolver, it's still soapy water that is your best bet but you need to learn how to disassemble and reassemble it so you can get all of the black powder residue out of all of the cracks and crevases. You also need to get a light coating of a rust preventive gun oil wiped onto all of the surfaces. You can't afford to miss any of it or you will have a rust problem in short order.
Cleaning your revolver in a dishwasher? I don't know what to make of that idea. Dishwasher detergent is pretty strong stuff and could cause rust. It may work on a stainless revolver but I'd sure think long and hard about putting a blued revolver in a dishwasher. But that's just me. I'll stick to washing mine in a bucket of soapy water, rinsing with clear water, blowing dry with compressed air, spraying with WD-40, blowing and wiping again and then using a good rust preventive gun oil to wipe everything down.
Some may ask "Isn't WD-40 sufficient? Why follow it with a gun oil." Well, that is just my choice. WD-40 may work just fine as a rust preventive by itself but I just prefer to follow it with a good gun oil that I know has good rust preventive properties. Just belt and suspenders. To those who say that they use just WD-40 and it has protected their guns from rust for years, I say fine and dandy. If you're happy, go for it. I've got no problem with that. But I like to use a good gun oil to prevent rust after using WD-40 to get rid of any residual water from the cleaning.
If you are cleaning a revolver, it's still soapy water that is your best bet but you need to learn how to disassemble and reassemble it so you can get all of the black powder residue out of all of the cracks and crevases. You also need to get a light coating of a rust preventive gun oil wiped onto all of the surfaces. You can't afford to miss any of it or you will have a rust problem in short order.
Cleaning your revolver in a dishwasher? I don't know what to make of that idea. Dishwasher detergent is pretty strong stuff and could cause rust. It may work on a stainless revolver but I'd sure think long and hard about putting a blued revolver in a dishwasher. But that's just me. I'll stick to washing mine in a bucket of soapy water, rinsing with clear water, blowing dry with compressed air, spraying with WD-40, blowing and wiping again and then using a good rust preventive gun oil to wipe everything down.
Some may ask "Isn't WD-40 sufficient? Why follow it with a gun oil." Well, that is just my choice. WD-40 may work just fine as a rust preventive by itself but I just prefer to follow it with a good gun oil that I know has good rust preventive properties. Just belt and suspenders. To those who say that they use just WD-40 and it has protected their guns from rust for years, I say fine and dandy. If you're happy, go for it. I've got no problem with that. But I like to use a good gun oil to prevent rust after using WD-40 to get rid of any residual water from the cleaning.