Ruger revolver cleaning faux pas!

[Chili Ron]

Howdy,

One man's great accomplishment is another man's waste of time.....

Best

CR

 

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

Here's the plan pards.

A lot of great suggestions, in fact 17 of them; however, I am going to start with (1) the simplest ones first, then (2) the ones that require products and/or supplies I already have on hand, and then (3) move to the ones that require a purchase.

I will take pictures and post the results of each attempt to clean the cylinders and report back as to which method was the easiest and most cost effective.

As always, I want to thank everyone for their suggestions.

 

 

 

 

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

On another note, several have suggested shooting BP will eliminate the carbon rings.

Here are my questions regarding this:

1. Does merely shooting BP ammo remove the carbon rings? In other words, no cleaning required?
2. Some have mentioned APP. Will stock ammo that is loaded as BP work as well?
3. If shooting BP, will there be a different cleaning process required for BP residue?

Thanking you in advance for your responses.

 

[Phiren Smoke GUNFIGHTER]

APP is one of the easiest BP subs available.  It works with smokeless or BP lubes in the gun and on the bullets.  It has been said that APP makes it's own lube so no bullet lube is needed at all.  I have not tried this as I have always used smokeless lubed bullets.  coated bullets require no lube with smokeless so I would imagine they would work as well with APP.

 

After just a couple of stages with APP you will notice the carbon rings disappearing.  Shooting ten or twelve stages will have them completely gone.  APP will leave a fine gray powder residue that will wipe off.  A more thorough cleaning would require hot water (you could add a mild soap if you wanted).

 

Hope this helps,

 

Smoke

[Sedalia Dave]

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 11:10 PM, Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 said:

I always say, once a shooter owns enough revolvers he will stop worrying about trying to get the carbon rings off the face of the cylinder.

 

No matter what you do, they will return next time you shoot it, and it just ain't worth worrying about trying to erase them.

 

Or, as the folks say, shoot Black Powder. For some reason, Black Powder loads do not leave carbon rings behind on the cylinder face.

 

Two other plusses when shooting BP and Subs

No carbon ring in the chambers when shooting shorter than chamber length brass.

After one match any carbon ring in the chambers from shooting smokeless will be removed.

[Max Payne]

Flitz on a brass brush to knock the top layer off. Then, flitz on cotton cloth or microfiber. Wear your sunglasses when you go back over it with the Flitz on a cloth, cause it'll be like looking at the Sun.

[Sedalia Dave]

On 9/4/2017 at 3:06 AM, Kirk James said:

After six years of cleaning six cylinders each time I purchased on Sonic cleaner with simple green.  After 30 minutes they are clean.  Not sure what temperature is best, but even then minimum temperature gets them clean.  Have not had the guts to put the whole revolver in minus the grips.  Anyone clean this way?

 

On 9/4/2017 at 3:01 PM, Blackey Cole said:

A little hot soapy water in a ultrasonic cleaner then rinse in the ultrasonic cleaner

 

21 hours ago, Slowhand Bob, 24229 said:

Did I miss it or do we just remove the grips and throw the rest of the gun in the tank as a full assembly?  Not feeling to good about much disassembly since changing over to NMV Rugers recently...

 

15 hours ago, Blackey Cole said:

Pull grips and cylinder is all required in the ultrasonic clean imo

 

After you remove all the lubrication from the pivot points, hand spring, etc with your sonic bath.

 

How do you

1. Get the solvent out of the afore mentioned parts?

 

2.  How do you replace the lubricants you just removed?

[watab kid]

i seldom clean my guns , lest they quit workin , but i understand the mental need - i just sorted mine to collectibles and "working guns" took a bit of the pressure off ....last time i cleaned before a match , at the camp site , i lost the cylinder bushing from one of my main guns - ended up going thru three backups to finish , i had a great time tho ........

[Bull Skinner]

I will reiterate:........SHOOT 3 or 4  CYLINDERS OF BP ROUNDS AND THE CARBON AS WELL AS THE LEAD IN YOUR FORCING CONES WILL DISAPPEAR!

[Kirk James]

I have only cleaned the cylinders with the sonic cleaner and simple green.  I usually clean all three of our revolvers at the same time.  The basket in the sonic cleaner will easily hold six cylinders.   After 30 minutes in the cleaner I rinse them in water and brush them out with Hoppe's.  The ends of the cylinder are clean enough to read the cylinder no.  I dry them and place them in WD-40 for a few seconds.   I dry them with compressed air and they are ready to go.  Usually clean them 3 to 4 times a year.  Does anyone clean their whole revolvers this way minus the grips?

[Ramblin Gambler]

On 9/5/2017 at 8:12 PM, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

 

 

After you remove all the lubrication from the pivot points, hand spring, etc with your sonic bath.

 

How do you

1. Get the solvent out of the afore mentioned parts?

 

2.  How do you replace the lubricants you just removed?

 

What I do is clean with lucas oil, which is a cleaner and a lubricant.  If you don't clean with a combination lubricant, then you need to get some of your favorite lube into each part.  My gunsmith started trying to explain to me everywhere you needed to oil, but my eyes glossed over and I just bit the bullet and bought the lucasoil. 

 

To get the solvent off, compressed air. 

[Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283]

Howdy

 

Despite what I said earlier, I do not recommend shooting a few rounds of Black Powder loads through your revolver unless you have previously treated them for Black Powder shooting. I don't go back and forth between Smokeless and Black Powder. If I am planning on shooting Black Powder through a firearm, I first tear it completely apart and remove all oils with a strong solvent. Then I relube everything with a Black Powder compatible oil such as Ballistol. Once I have prepared the firearm for Black Powder, I do not go back to shooting Smokeless in it. I could, I just don't. A firearm not treated for Black Powder the way I do will tend to have problems with the fouling that works its way into the mechanism reacting with most modern oils. A firearm that has been prepared for Black Powder can be fired with Smokeless, but what's the point?

 

I do not know why Black Powder rounds do not leave carbon rings on the face of the cylinder. They just don't. Perhaps it is the higher temperature that Black Powder burns at, I really do not know. I do know that when I prepared my Rugers for Black Powder, I did not go to the trouble to remove the carbon rings on the fronts of the cylinders. After shooting them with Black Powder for a while, the rings were gone. Black Powder also leaves the chambers cleaner. When I clean my BP revolvers, there is never a trace of lead in the chambers. There is always leading left behind from Smokeless.

 

I say again, do not sweat the carbon rings on the face of the cylinders. You obviously do not yet own enough revolvers or you would understand what I am saying. The rings will come back each and every time you shoot the gun with Smokeless. It is simply not worth the effort to get rid of them. I like Larsen's comment, the only time to sweat the rings is when you are going to sell the gun.

 

One last thing. Do not clean a Stainless gun with steel wool. No matter how fine the grade. Tiny fragments of the steel wool can break off and imbed themselves in the surface of the steel. This will short circuit the natural passivization effect of Stainless and can lead to corrosion surrounding the fragments. If you want to use an abrasive, use bronze wool which you can buy at Brownells.

[Hired Gun, SASS 18714]

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