Would someone take the time to post a detailed list of how to properly clean a revolver? Photos and name brands would be extra nice. I clean the same way I learned 40 years ago, and I wonder if I need to learn something new or different. Thanks in advance for any posts.
Paperboy98

- run a brush with solvent (I use Hoppes no. 9) through bbl and cylinders.
- run patches through bbl and cylinders.
- any handgun rod with the proper brush, slotted tip will do. I use one segment from the USGI M16 segmented guide rod because it's handy.
- few drops of solvent on a nylon brush / old toothbrush / M16 cleaning brush to the forward cylinder, in and around chamber, anywhere you see carbon.
- lube.

Agree with f2; I usually use a Hoppe's Bore Snake through all the chambers and bore from the rear, and use Break Free CLP for cleaning/lube in one step.

Also, would add to clean under the ejector star, this is a common place for powder and crud to accumulate and tie up a revolver.

Addition: the firing residue on the cylinder face can be removed on nickel and stainless guns with a lead removal cloth. Do not use this on blue guns, it will remove the finish. This is mostly a cosmetic rather than functional issue.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

+1 on the bore snake I have one for every caliber gun I own, makes things neat and quick, a couple drops of bore cleaner in front of brushes and lube towards the back a couple of pulls and your done with barrel and cylinder holes.

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Take it easy. Chris

I guess this makes it +2 on bore snakes as I have one for every caliber and I soak the brush area with Hoppe #9 and follow the procedures above. Then when finished I wax the gun with Renaissance wax.

Dip brass bristle brush in Hoppes No. 9 solvent. Run brush through barrel and each charge hole. Let solvent stand in barrel and each charge hole while cleaning remainder of revolver as follows.

Use old toothbrush dipped in same solvent and scrub around exterior surfaces to remove unburned powder, ash and other gunk. Pay particular attention to frame window and front of cylinder and rear of cylinder, including under extractor star.

You will never remove all of black rings at firing end of cylinder - just remove any excess build up that interferes with cylinder rotation.

Use shop towel to wipe off all excess gunk off outside of revolver including under extractor star.

Now, return to barrel and charge holes. Use clean, dry patch in barrel and each charge hole a couple of times. Use light to inspect barrel and each charge hole and make sure barrel and each charge hole is clean and shiny.

Now apply a few drops of Break Free CLP to a clean, dry patch and run oily patch down barrel and each charge hole to leave only a very light coat of oil. Use oily patch to put very light coat of oil on outside, then use dry shop rag to wipe off excess. Too much oil is bad.

Do not overdue scrubbing. Do not obsess about getting black rings off cylinder face. Do not try to remove side plate. Do not put even a drop of oil inside mechanism more often than once every several years unless you drop it in water or something of that nature.

Above advice assumes the revolver is not constantly exposed to wet or salty environment, sea air or the like.

If it is, same cleaning advice, but you may have to replace the protective coat of oil more frequently. Certainly storage, in such a wet or salty environment may require a "hot locker" or some other protective measure to keep away moisture.

Cleaning the Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum

See here..........

It all depends on whether I'm cleaning a stainless or a blued gun.

With a stainless gun my first step is to run a swab saturated with J & B Bore compound down the barrel and through each chamber. Then, I make several passes through the bore and each chamber with a bronze brush that has been soaked in Birchfield Casey Gun Scrubber. I then run Gun Scrubber soaked patches down the bore and through each chamber 'til they come out clean and follow that with one or two passes with a clean dry patch. For the exterior, I brush all carbon-blackened surfaces with a bronze brush that's been saturated with Gun Scrubber. I may also take some bronze wool, which I've twisted into a fine strand and run it through the area between the top of the forcing cone and the frame. I brush around and under the extractor star with a nylon brush, also saturated with Birchfield Casey Gun Scrubber and then, wipe everything down with Gun Scrubber saturated patches until the patches come away clean. Finally, I put a drop of Smith & Wesson gun oil on a clean patch and wipe down the gun, after which I remove all excess oil with a clean soft cloth. The whole process takes 30-45 minutes per gun depending on how dirty it is. .22s get dirtier than larger caliber guns.

With a blued gun the process is essentially the same except that I NEVER brush a blued surface with a bronze brush or run bronze wool over the surface. Instead, I use a good lead removing cloth that is marked "safe" for blued surfaces. It also takes 30-45 minutes per gun to clean a blued gun.

I'm also a big believer in bore snakes. I use them a lot, especially as a final cleaning tool after I've removed most of the really heavy gunk with brushes and patches.

I should add that, even with all of the above, I occasionally discover encrusted carbon deposits around the top of the forcing cone of my revolvers, and more rarely, inside the forcing cone. I maintain a set of dental picks for scraping that stuff away, they work really well, and the carbon deposits usually break free with minimal effort.

Look at the time you folks invested into helping a bunch of strangers!!! Awesome people out there. Thanks for the help.

It IS awesome and they are as anal as me about cleaning our fine metal S&W Arms!!! Thank goodness I ain't alone...

I feel sooooooooooooo much better now. What we own is "high performance" and deserves the best care IMO.

What a wonderful place to visit , learn and go to bed in awe of such wonders. Cool thing is , lot's of experience and money , no experience and looking for a deal , in the middle and jus' thinkin' "WOW this place is so cool...we are all welcome" and looking for the next beauty.

The above tips/techniques are great.

I also use bamboo skewers to help remove the crud in tight areas, such as around the forcing cone, grooves in the frame, or checkering in the grip panels.

While they dull quickly, they are easily 're sharpened' with a pair of scissors and an angled snip. I would be afraid to scratch my blued guns with anything harder than brass.

Please feel free to post up some before/after cleaning pics !

This is what I do to clean my 642-1.

If the gun's been fired I put CLP on a bronze bore brush then run through the bore and each chamber (I use a .38-caliber brush in the bore and a .40-caliber brush in the chambers). Let it sit for a few minutes.

I'll use bronze brushes with a little CLP on the steel parts and a combination of patches and nylon brushes on the aluminum parts with the exception of the underside of the extractor star, which gets a nylon brush. If the frame is particularly dirty I'll use a patch with a drop of CLP, followed by a brush then dry patches/rag until clean and dry.

If the gun hasn't been fired the only things I clean are the underside of the extractor star and the cylinder stop notches in the cylinder. I usually just use nylon bore brushes in the bore and chamber if the gun hasn't been fired, but will occasionally use the method described above.

I run dry patches through the bore and chambers until they're clean and dry. I then run a patch with CLP through the bore followed by dry patches until it comes out dry and clean.

Here's what I do for lubrication: Revolver re-lubricatuing

The final steps are to put a drop of CLP on a patch, wipe the gun down (mostly on the steel parts), then wipe it down with a dry rag.

After the gun is clean I do a quick function check to make sure everything works properly and there are no cracks in the frame.

Absolutely. What I do nowadays, is just hand my dirty guns over to my robot. That thing can clean anything! Best 1.7 million I ever spent.

Just kidding, of course. If you learned to do it right 40 years ago, why do you think it would ever change?

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

Since pictures/videos say more than thousand words (plus I'm quite fond of hickok45) here's a link to a pretty good cleaning video (hope I'm allowed to to this):

Before I begin, I remove the grips. Some solvents will strip the finish. With the grips removed, you can oil the frame before reassembly. I've seen way too many guns with corrosion under the wood.

I also remove the cylinder for cleaning. I find the process easier without the cylinder flopping around. You can get the cylinder cleaner off the gun. You can put a drop or two of lube on the yoke before reassembly.

I have always started with a bronze brush..****n it through all charging holes and the barrel a couple times to break up anything that will come loose. Then, with an appropriate sized jag, run a patch wet with Hoppes #9 through each charging hole and the barrel. Let that sit or work on other parts while the solvent does it's job, then go back with the jag and wet patches ( Hoppes #9 again ) and go through it a couple more times. IF I've been shooting something hot or in a rifle, I'll go back and run a patch with copper terminator to get the excess copper out if there is any. Finally, if the gun is going to be stored for any length of time, and it isn't stainless, I'll run a swab with some oil down the barrel and the cylinders to coat the bores for added protection. I use any and all tools at my disposal for cleaning ( tooth brushes, Q-tips,picks, rags what have you).I also pull the grips and wipe underneath on occasion, unless the gun got wet. In which case it gets a blow drying and extra oil to displace any water.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

I use those dental picks/flossers.

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Steve
The Lounge Rant Master

You didn't state whether you're shooting lead or jacketed bullets in your revolver(s)? If you shoot lead, sooner or later you're going to run into a situation where you'll need/want to remove lead buildup in the forcing cone and/or chamber mouths. I won't get into the reasons behind the deposits, but in the real world they sometimes happen, so here's how to remove them easily:

1) Get yourself some Kroil and Chore Boy pure copper pot scrubbers (ACE Hardware carries Chore Boy).
2) Cut some of the chore boy and wrap it around a brass bore brush until it's a nice tight fit in the cylinders.
3) Soak the cylinder chambers and forcing cone in Kroil.
4) Run the brush/chore boy on a pistol cleaning rod chucked in a battery-powered drill, on a low speed setting. I run mine about 30 seconds in each cylinder chamber, slowly working it in and out at the mouth of the chambers.
5) Clean the cylinder chambers with a Kroil-soaked patch, and patch dry.
6) For the forcing cone, wrap the chore boy again for a nice tight fit.
7) Stroke back and forth maybe 20 times into and out of the forcing cone.
8) Clean the forcing cone and barrel with a Kroil-soaked patch, and patch dry.
9) You're done!

Lou

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NRA Certified Instructor & RSO

Newbie here, and 617 is my first handgun. Have been reading the forum for a while now, and hopefully can start contributing. :-) I typically clean every 200 to 300 rounds since the revolver gets visibly dirty no matter what ammo.

Here is how I clean my 617:

1. Wipe with a rag to remove debris and spray all visible surface with froglube solvent. This includes cylinder and bore. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes.
2. Look for any visible carbon or lead deposits around the forcing cone or on the cylinder faces. If present use lead free cloth to wipe them clean. Knock off with pro shot pick and scrapper. Typically everything should come loose. For stubborn deposits use bronze brush to scrub clean.
2. Tie a sock around the firing pin mechanism. Dip brass bore brush in solvent and run in through the bore from muzzle end. Ensure it comes out from the forcing cone all the way (do not stop halfway and pull it back). Repeat a few times.
3. Similar process for all 10 chambers in the direction of travel. Repeat if necessary.
4. Using a toothbrush dipped in solvent clean the star and scrub all steel surface. Make sure to clean beneath that mechanism since it traps lot of powder.
5. Run dry patches through the bore and chambers until they are clean and, well, dry.
6. Wipe with a clean rag to remove all debris. Use q-tips around the star and difficult places to lift the debris.
5. Using a hair dryer heat the steel frame. Medium heat on low speed for about a minute does the trick. You can put it in the sun for a few minutes as well. This is for rapid absorption of the froglube clp paste.
7. Apply the clp paste over the surface, a few drops suffice since they quickly melt and become liquid. Apply a few on your hands and rub all over the frame including trigger and hammer (I generally cock it and apply). Put a few drops on dry patches and run them through bore and chambers. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
8. Run dry patches through the bore and chambers, and scrub the excess with a clean rag. It should look shiny but not excess oily. Clean the grips since it may have clp or the solvent trickled down.

All in all under an hour and the gun should be squeaky clean. I moved to froglube since my 8 yr old likes to help and frog is non-toxic and safe. Shall upload my recent cleaning result later tonight.

Here she is:

Another good vid...Roy Huntington from American Handgunner magazine...

https://youtu.be/4nduABddijw

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Yep. I'm THAT guy. ;)

Very good point. I started doing this every time that I clean my revolvers after noticing some very minor corrosion on a revolver that I purchased several years ago.

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I reckon so

I quit using Hoppes #9 solvent years ago. Folks like it mainly for traditional reasons, but the stuff is flat out nasty and there's no need to use it as there are endless non-toxic alternatives. I feel the same about the BF CLP. That stuff always made my nerves tingle everytime I used it. I'm not a Navy SEAL operating in extreme environments so I don't really need extreme protection. I own guns to protect and preserve my life, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be killed be chemicals used to clean it. I recommend avoiding carcinogens and neurotoxins and stick with products that don't contain hazardous chemicals.

Boy I'm glad this topic came up. Many of you said that after you run a brush and solvent through the charge holes and barrel, you then run a few patches through. This is where my problem lies. I run a million patches through before one goes through perfectly clean. Am I being too anal? It takes me more than an hour and I clean them this way every time. I live on a farm and can shoot whenever I want but sometimes I don't just because I don't have 3 hours. Any recommendations?

Wow y'all really get into some involved cleaning sessions. I just wipe mine down with some oil on my fingers then wipe off the crud with a rag. If I've shot it a bunch I run a bore snake with oil on the brush through the barrel and charge holes. Takes me about 5 minutes or less. Hoppe's only gets used about once a year for detail cleanings.

In my case, I rarely shoot more than 50-75 rounds per range session, and it's all jacketed bullets, so my patches come clean fairly quickly. It does take me close to an hour to clean my gun but that's because I take my time with it. If I didn't I could probably get the gun clean in 15-20 minutes.

You don't need to get the patches spotless. One thing that might help is to look down the bore with a bore light at the other end. If your patches are relatively clean (i.e., you don't have black gunk on them) and the bore looks clean I'd consider that good enough. If you don't have a bore light put a piece of plain white paper or index card on the breech face/recoil shield and shine a flashlight on it while looking down the muzzle.

One thing to keep in mind is that many people will say that guns are more likely to be damaged from overcleaning than undercleaning. I don't necessarily follow this but I do think it's best to not go to extremes in either direction.

Use paper towels. Roll one up and run it through the barrel and cylinder after hitting 'em w/a hoppes soaked brass brush.

I'm also a fan of bore snakes - cheap on ebay.

Switch to decaf and don't worry so much. There's clean, and there's clean enough.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

+3 on the bore snake. Priceless. Something I like that I haven't seen anyone else do, is using a cloth meant for eye glasses after using oil on the outside of the gun, especially if there is excess. I love Oakley cleaning cloths/ glasses storage bags for this. It doesn't take away all the oil, and it seems to leave enough to where it gets that "just right" feeling, especially for my daily carry guns. ( S&W 629 and a Remington R1 with the black oxide finish)