My new 638 has residue around forcing cone/front cylinder I can't remove! Help!

[Bf5567]

Hey there

Maybe I'm being too meticulous, but I just purchased a new 638 over the weekend. After putting 150 rounds through it, I decided to give it a good cleaning. After an hour of elbow grease, Hoppes no.9,elite, and a few other solvents, I could not get the rings marks off the front of the cylinder or the stains around the forcing cone. I used a plastic pic, rags, q-tips, and so forth. My father told me that " it's a wheel gun, it's gonna be a little dirty", but I like to keep my stuff clean! Is there any stronger solvent (that's safe for the finish!!) or household remedies? Any info would be great! Thank you!

[jgh4445]

You might try rubbing it with a bit of lead clean gun cloth. I think you can get it from Pro-Shot and probably others. Cleans powder and lead stains right off. Just don't use it on anything but the stainless parts. I believe your cylinder is stainless.

[Alk8944]

Your Dad told you right! Guns are tools, tools when used develop wear patterns related to how they are used. You don't want it dirty, don't shoot it. There is a very old axiom, as true today as it ever was, that is: "There are far more guns worn out by cleaning than by shooting!"

The staining, literally burns, on the face of the cylinder causes no harm. It is quite close to being an actual heat bluing. Using abrasives to remove is causes wear to the gun and, eventually, is harmful. Regardless what some will tell you, lead remover cloths, Flitz, Mother's, Simi Chrome, and any other polish are abrasive. Very fine, but still abrasive, that's why they polish! Many times someone says they want to polish their gun, but not remove any metal! Ain't going to happen. Polishing IS removal of metal to some degree, can't happen any other way. Being obsessive about keeping things "clean" is not a positive character trait.

[Neumann]

"Flitz" and a toothbrush will remove the heaviest stains, and won't hurt bluing either. The cylinder, barrel and frame above the cylinder will look like new.

It's not necessary to polish a revolver between sessions. Most people do the regular cleaning thing to remove big chunks, and reserve the spa treatment for photographs.

[WR Moore]

As others have said, cleaning around the forcing cone involves Hoppes or other solvent and a stiff brush: either an M16 brush or a hard toothbrush.

The burn marks on the cylinder face are part of the price of using it. After I got into plated and stainless weapons I discovered it takes a lot longer to clean them than blued weapons. You can see the crud much more easily.

Seriously, the same bristle brush and solvent will remove lead and other **** from the front of the cylinder. Regard the more resistant marks as character marks. The other guys aren't kidding, frequent use of Scotchbrite or other abrasives will damage the front face of the cylinder. I can recall one so badly abused the cylinder had to be faced and the barrel set back to restore the barrel/cylinder gap.