I found a shooter grade Nickel 32 Regulation Police that is in good overall condition. The only issue is it needs stocks and it was filthy dirty. Ihave my source getting stocks so I cracked the old girl open to give her a bath. I have seen some bad looking S&W innards but those were mostly guns that had been packed with grease. This was just dry black residue. It was bad enough that I wanted to take before and after pics.
Check ebay regularly, since there have been a few sets for sale recently.
Let's compare notes on dirty guns - I recently bought a Model 1899, 32 Winchester that had more crud than any gun I have ever owned. Soaked it in acetone and it did not even soften up the stuff, but eventually got it all off with paint remover. They do clean up nice don't they?
I have run across some older revolvers that were unbelievably grimy inside, and their actions had a draggy, even broken feel. I was sure that parts would need replacing as part of a rehab process.
But after attentive solvent and toothpick cleanup, the actions were as smooth and crisp as any new or almost new revolver.
Nice recovery on that one. You can have some good range hours with it. And Gary, yours reminds me of a 1902 that was surprisingly new after I got the mung of decades out of its inner corners and off its moving surfaces.
One of the best feelings in the world is restoring the complete functionality of an old timer by just giving it a serious cleaning.
I've done a few of these myself, and the thought that always runs through my mind after the crud is gone, and a light lube... This craftsmanship reminds me of a Swiss watch. No, not one of the quartz ones, more like a Rolex. The care that was often given to the innards, parts that would likely never be seen by the typical end user, was just phenomenal!!! I have a little .32 hand ejector that I rescued. It looked literally like the left side had been used as a tack hammer. Recoil shield bent to where cylinder would not open. Full of crud, would barely cycle. It's still no beauty queen, but when I opened it up and scrubbed out the insides, removed all the parts, scrubbed and found no rust on the inside. It is a little diamond in the rough now, shoots great. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow to show it off.
Thought I'd take a quick but not very good shot tonight. This one cost me about $150.00, and I thought I was crazy for paying it. But when I got it home and cleaned it up, and re-bent the the recoil shield, cleaned it out and lubed it, then took it out shooting... What a good investment. Sorry no before and after photos, but it looked at least as bad inside as some of those above. Someone had scratched the initials "S B" on the sideplate. My youngest sons initials are SB. He says that that means he should have the gun. I reload for the .32 S&W Long, and this is a sweet shooter.
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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064
Last edited by les.b; 04-04-2016 at 09:50 PM.
Reason: Add photo.
Several have asked me to repost under this subject.<br />
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The 90’s, a field Deputy brings me his 4 inch Model 66 he’s carried for a decade says. “Doesn’t feel right!”<br />
I dry fire it... meh... Never liked stainless, ( I dry fire) klang,,, when hammer dropped, sounded …a little different than most.<br />
I said ok… I’ll take a look…pull out tools… had a big hammer in tool kit, loved the looks cops get when I moved towards their gun with it. I only used wooden handle to rap grip against to knock side plate off.<br />
Did so with Captain, troop and Chief looking over shoulder. Side plate with transfer safety bar attached landed on towel on desk. Yes... safety bar not supposed to be attached to plate but it was... by mass of black sludge that was exuding toxic odor with one small maggot wiggling in mass. Room cleared quickly.<br />
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I flushed weapon, plate and bar with hot tap water. So hot, remnants evaporated quickly in the dry Texas Panhandle humidity... or lack of. Re-oiled, put back together, still works today according to Deputy. Trick I learned when I was in a foot chase and fistfight with a doper in a cattle feedlot. S&W Model 57 .41 and I ended up in a poop pit. Bad guy lost but was cleaner. <br />
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Investigation determined that troop driving on patrol for a decade, leaned to his right to insert chewing tobacco into mouth with gravity and luck pulling crumbs that missed mouth down to floorboard past the Mdl 66. Remember in those days no thumb break holsters just straps. This allowed tobacco to enter weapon thru frame in hammer area. Prior to discovery a fly egg must have made entry same way, hatched<br />
munched on the panhandle heat dried tobacco, turned same into mush and grew. I have one witness still alive to verify this adventure that I call, “This is the worst case of gun hygiene I’ve ever seen!”
I thought I had seen some dirty guns. The ones I thought were bad wouldn't hold a candle to these. Most unusual one I opened up was a 15-2 that I thought felt "mushy" in the trigger pull. When I popped the side plate, I couldn't see most of the parts because the entire interior had been packed in a white pasty grease, so full I was surprised they got the side plate back on. Took me about an hour to dig it all out and clean it properly, should have take pictures.
Picked up an early 50s Ruger Standard that looked new on the exterior.I guess owners were afraid to take them apart back then too.The frame had loads of black petrified crud everywhere.I ended up soaking it in a pan of acetone for days to soften it up lol
A retired FBI Agent told me his backup gun(S&W Model 36) was inoperable. I asked to see it and he handed it to me loaded and I couldn't even get the cylinder to swing open. I told him I would have to take it home to where I had tools. I sprayed some CLP in there and let it set but that didn't do any good. I finally got the cylinder to swing open by tapping it was a rubber mallet. I took the side plate off and the internals were frozen in old grease.
It took some time but I eventually got it back in good shooting condition.
Jim
Not sure I can top Mr. Coffman's maggot post, but I have had a similar experience as others. In 2007, I inherited my paternal grandfather's .32 Regulation Police from my Dad and he got it when my uncle, his brother, passed away in 2000. My uncle had the gun in a sharecropper's cabin he was living in while he was separated from his first wife in the early 1950's. He was known to drink A LOT and the house burned...for whatever reason. He found the gun in the ashes and took it to a "gunsmith" to get it cleaned up and repaired. Timing and lockup were both terrible when I got it. I opened it up and it looked a lot like the OP's gun, only with black soot still gumming up the works. They never really cleaned it over 50 years.
So after cleaning and revealing the assembly number on the back side of the side plate, did you look to see if it matched the yoke and frame numbers?????
These stories of bringing old crudy guns back to life are always interesting and rewarding when one has accomplished the resurrection.
When the price was right, the appeal of resurrecting one has been the main reason to occasionally buy one of these orphans.
I saw several references to using acetone and the test results below may be of interest.
Just a few representative quoted test results including the hands down winner: 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone. Crudy guns are a piece of cake to clean with this solution.
Average load (Lbs) to release a rusted/corroded test bolt and price per fluid ounce:
SOURCE: April/May 2007 edition of MACHINIST'S WORKSHOP scientific test of penetrating products to remove rust and measure the force required to loosen rusted-solid test devices.
None of the other products have or will ever have the years and level of research and design to remove crud and/or rust, keep spotless, and sustain the life of a $2500-$3000 and higher, piece of high tech equipment; your automatic transmission! It's also the least expensive product.
I became a believer when given a Sharps rifle relic; dug out of the dirt after years and years that was a corroded, as in frozen solid, chunk of steel parts. That Sharps is now operational with new springs and wood. Factory stampings not completely rusted away are now readable again. It was soaked for two months in a sealed container that was also agitated. Acetone has very 'light ends', in plain English that means it evaporates readily as we know. And will need replenishing unless the part with soaking solution is in a sealed container.
Jim, that's some good to know stuff!!! Thanks for the info. Now to try and find a new test subject!!! Ill let you know if I find any new projects. What worries me is that I am sure that old crudded up firearms that could be restored are probably thrown away by uninformed folks every day in this great land. We need to start a crusade to save rusted, cruddy project guns!!!
There are definitely some dirty birds out there, here is a 586 I got for a song as bubba did a trigger job to it, and used grease as a lube. I used it as a base for a custom combat makeover.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSR III
So after cleaning and revealing the assembly number on the back side of the side plate, did you look to see if it matched the yoke and frame numbers?????
Yes, it is a numbers matching gun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hondo44
ATF-Acetone mix....53 pounds .. $0.10
One of the many reasons I am a huge fan of Ed's Red.
One time I opened the sideplate on a used Smith & Wesson that I had just purchased to do a good clean and lube and found the action packed with thick black grease. I came to the conclusion that it was Outers Gunslik, the graphite grease that used to come in the little tin squeeze tubes in cleaning kits. I believe the sideplate had never been off and some former owner just squeezed about a half a teaspoon worth of Gunslik down through the hammer opening in the frame. It worked a whole lot better after getting that gunk out and lubing with Break Free.
As a car repair shop owner for 30 years, I second the 50/50 acetone and ATF. It is by far the best penetrating oil mixture for rusted seized up anything.
I tend to use a 50/50 mix of ATF/Kerosene.
It works well, and has no volatile solvent to evaporate.
IIRC, acetone can absorb moisture.
I bought a 1926 Colt Army Special .38 that had been chopped and bobbed. The innards were full of a thick, black, tarry substance.
Carburetor cleaner took care of that.
My LE trade-in 5906 had hard, carbon fouling inside. several different powder solvents refused to remove it.
Carburetor cleaner removed it with little effort.
...here's a procedure from someone on another forum who owns and has brought back lots of old revolvers...
..."I usually disassemble the main components (crane & cylinder off, sideplate off, grips off) and dunk the metal parts in boiling water. Cook 'em up good and watch all the gruk and crud come off and make an oil slick. Hot steel will effectively dry itself, but a little wipe and q-tip will remove loose residue. Some compressed air and some WD-40 will push out any moisture, then follow up with some more compressed air and a proper lube with some good oil. Makes a mechanically intact old revolver run like new. All of mine get that treatment when I first get 'em."...
Exposed to air, the Acetone would evaporate long, long before it could absorb any water. One other thing- Factory black powder loads were available into the 1930s (even .38 Special), so it's possible that some long-ago previous user had the habit of using BP ammo without ever cleaning the works.
Very true and acetone is only the "vehicle" in the acetone/ATF partnership. The ATF is the "miracle worker" that does the "hard lifting, i.e., the intense cleaning and dissolving of rust.
Jim, there is no indication that ATF "removes" rust. Automatic Transmission Fluid is a mixture of highly refined lubricating oils, alkyl amines, base stocks, and additives. The alkyl gives the mixture a high pH. Rust removers, on the other hand, are acidic to dissolve ferric oxide, but acid is something you do not want in a transmission.
I use the acetone/ATF mixture and it works great, but it works well because the acetone thins the ATF so it can penetrate around rusted threads, allowing you to loosen screws, parts, etc. Acetone also dissolves hardened oils and greases to aid in cleaning. Neither ingredient attacks a firearm's finish.
I once cleaned a former Birmingham, Alabama M10 that was sooo dirty inside I coulda raised a couple of 'mater plants.
My first LE job was as a deputy sheriff in a small East Alabama county. I standing in the office talking to the patrol lieutenant when the sheriff came of his office and asked to see the LT's revolver. He pulled his .357 Colt MK III Trooper out of the holster and a spider crawled out of the barrel! The sheriff gave him "The Look" and went back into his office.
Seems the LT couldn't find the proper holster when he bought his Trooper and was using a Border Patrol style made for an N frame. Since it was loose in the leather, he had packed the bottom with a paper towel. Perfect spider habitat.
On another occasion, the sheriff asked the LT again to see his Trooper. This time, when he pulled it out of the holster, the front sight fell off. The sheriff just shook his head and went back into his office.
We had a large number of neglected revolvers come into our shop.
Some had been shot and not cleaned for many many years.
But the prize winner was a traffic officer who had painted his revolver with red lead so it would survive the elements of rain, sleet and snow.
Of course, we had to cut the holster apart to get the M&P out so we could disassemble and clean it.
I once cleaned a former Birmingham, Alabama M10 that was sooo dirty inside I coulda raised a couple of 'mater plants.
My first LE job was as a deputy sheriff in a small East Alabama county. I standing in the office talking to the patrol lieutenant when the sheriff came of his office and asked to see the LT's revolver. He pulled his .357 Colt MK III Trooper out of the holster and a spider crawled out of the barrel! The sheriff gave him "The Look" and went back into his office.
Seems the LT couldn't find the proper holster when he bought his Trooper and was using a Border Patrol style made for an N frame. Since it was loose in the leather, he had packed the bottom with a paper towel. Perfect spider habitat.
On another occasion, the sheriff asked the LT again to see his Trooper. This time, when he pulled it out of the holster, the front sight fell off. The sheriff just shook his head and went back into his office.
I tend to use a 50/50 mix of ATF/Kerosene.
It works well, and has no volatile solvent to evaporate.
Kerosene is less volatile than gasoline. Its flash point (the temperature at which it will generate a flammable vapour near its surface) is 38 °C (100 °F) or higher, whereas that of gasoline is as low as −40 °C (−40 °F). This property makes kerosene a relatively safe fuel to store and handle.
Actually, the LT was a highly competent supervisor and a very good and fair man. He was a good shot, but not very motivated as far as firearms upkeep was concerned.
Exposed to air, the Acetone would evaporate long, long before it could absorb any water. One other thing- Factory black powder loads were available into the 1930s (even .38 Special), so it's possible that some long-ago previous user had the habit of using BP ammo without ever cleaning the works.
But, once you open the container, atmospheric moisture is introduced.
Funny, you mentioned the holy black. The black stuff in my Army Special looked like black powder fouling that had been exposed to petroleum oils.
The crud in 90 year old Regulation Police
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