Polishing / cleaning nickel revolvers.

[Dantheman17]

I have a model 36 nickel. It's pretty flawless but I was thinking mothers Polish and a microfiber cloth?

[mscook]

Sounds good to me

[bigchuck83]

I've used both mothers and Flitz on my nickel model 586. Both worked fine


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[TAC]

Nu Finish automotive polish is excellent, and inexpensive. Available almost everywhere.

[Pond Scum 43]

Flitz has other uses around the house.

[Peak53]

Be vewy, vewy careful with Mother's on nickel. It is abrasive. Just a tad rubbed on with your finger and gently rubbed off will bring back the shine, if it is lacking. If you try to polish out scratches, you will be removing plating and be sorry. Once should be enough, followed by Ren Wax.

[maineultraclassic]

I just bought a 500 Magnum, and I want to give it a good polish job. What is the finish on it?
Glad I found this thread to see what others are using.

Steve

[hkcavalier]

Originally Posted by maineultraclassic

I just bought a 500 Magnum, and I want to give it a good polish job. What is the finish on it?
Glad I found this thread to see what others are using.

Steve

Well it's not really a "finish", it's made of stainless steel. You can be a bit more aggressive than with nickel since it's not a plating or finish, it's the same stuff all the way through.

[rockquarry]

I'm missing something here; all my nickel revolvers came from the factory highly polished and all of them still are, some after more than several decades of shooting. I wipe them with an oily rag after cleaning.

Did some of you get guns with a dull finish?

[murphydog]

Stainless S & W revolvers have a thin protective coating known as "passivation", which I gather adds extra protection to the metal. Polishing will remove this.

As noted above, light polishing on nickel guns, especially pristine ones. When you polish a nickel gun with any abrasive, the black stuff that is on the cloth is not corrosion or dirt, it is the nickel itself. A nice coat of wax to preserve the unscratched shiny surface would be first.

[lamarw]

Mothers' Billet Polish is less aggressive than Mothers' Mag & Aluminum Polish.

I use the Mothers' Billet followed-up with Renaissance Micro-Chrystaline Wax Polish.

[silentflyer]

I have had good luck with Semi-Chrome and then a wax job....

[wood714]

Originally Posted by maineultraclassic

I just bought a 500 Magnum, and I want to give it a good polish job. What is the finish on it?
Glad I found this thread to see what others are using.

Steve

If you want a polished look instead of the matte look, a can of Mothers polish and a couple shop rags is all you need. This one took around an hour and a half.

Don't hate on me because it aint a Smith.

[Dantheman17]

The 36 has a great shine I thouyid make her look better but maybe I'll just use wax. What about carnuba wax?

[wood714]

Originally Posted by Dantheman17

The 36 has a great shine I thouyid make her look better but maybe I'll just use wax. What about carnuba wax?

That's the only thing I'd use on a nickle gun.

[Wise_A]

Originally Posted by maineultraclassic

I just bought a 500 Magnum, and I want to give it a good polish job. What is the finish on it?
Glad I found this thread to see what others are using.

Steve

As others have said, Mother's Mag is inexpensive and does a nice job on a stainless gun. I put a good four or five hours all told, plus half a jar of polish, and my 629 came out perfect--a mirror finish.

I would suggest a cut-up old (but clean) white t-shirt or undershirt. One shirt provides enough scraps to do a nice job. You'd also save yourself a lot of headaches if you removed the cylinder and cylinder yoke (and the grips, obviously).

Be sure not to polish any surface that faces you when shooting. In other words, the back of the frame around the hammer slot, and the back of the cylinder face. You don't want to be blinded by glare if the sun is behind you. I also skipped the topstrap and the top of the barrel.

When you're done, clean thoroughly with a shop rag to remove the dried-up polish particles.

[OLDSTER]

I also use Mothers Mag to shine up stainless and nickel. This birth year (1947) M&P factory nickle was a mess when I bought it. But using Mothers Mag and some old cotton socks, it really cleaned up nice and has only one area of flaking. Great ( and inexpensive )stuff

[Frank121]

I contacted S&W Customer Service via email in regard to a couple of 1970's nickel-plated Smith & Wesson revolvers and what I could clean and wipe them down with that will not damage the finish.

I also asked if Ballistol is safe to use as the cleaner/lubricant/surface preservative or if will it damage the finish.

Their succinct response was that they would recommend using Hoppes Elite cleaner.

[kaaskop49]

Originally Posted by rockquarry

I'm missing something here; all my nickel revolvers came from the factory highly polished and all of them still are, some after more than several decades of shooting. I wipe them with an oily rag after cleaning.

Did some of you get guns with a dull finish?

^^^^what he said. Especially the part about the oily rag. I guess I'm out of the loop (in many areas! ), but where did Hoppe's get such a bad reputation? It's all I use for cleaning.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

[armorer951]

Hoppe's #9 bore solvent contains ammonia, in the form of ammonium hydroxide. If used on nickel, the excess/leftover solvents need to be wiped from the surface after cleaning is completed. Damage can occur if the solvent is left on the surface too long.

This MSDS info is available on the Hoppe's web site:

http://www.hoppes.com/Hoppes/files/9...3e79cfc834.pdf

[TAROMAN]

Granddad's Hoppes 9 contains ammonia.
Ammoniated solvents can damage new age bluing and nickel in certain cases. Lots of discussion on that here.
Hoppe has the new Elite formula that's safe to use.
I use Ballistol, Kroil, MPro7 or Eezox. All are safe and effective.
The heavy duty stuff like Copper Killer is reserved for rifle bores.

[rockquarry]

Yes, you wipe off Hoppe's #9 after cleaning. I was unaware anyone soaked their guns in it.

[tipoc]

Do not use Hoppe's #9 on nickel plated guns at all. Even Hoppe's discourages it, and has for decades. It's always been bad on nickel plating.

Before the advent of SS guns the best way to protect a gun in a damp environment (rain, salt water, high humidity, sweat from a body, damp leather, etc) was nickel plating. Anything with ammonia in it degraded the nickel over time. This was true especially when the nickle plating was done over a copper wash IIRC.

If your're careful in cleaning your guns you'll note that when you use a brush on the chambers of the cylinder and the barrel there is a spray of solvent and drips that land in unexpected places. So even if you try to limit the use of an ammonia based cleaner it can get around. This can be settled by simply not using any ammonia on a nickel plated gun. On the older blue guns and stainless guns Hoppe's is as good as it's always been.

If there is a caution on the newer blued guns folks should look that up. I haven't heard of it.

As others said, on nickle guns to clean the exterior I've only used a clean rag with a few drops of gun oil on the rag. When MP7 appeared I used that as well.

On nickle avoid anything with abrasives in it.

Decades back used to see more "chromed" revolvers and 1911s around then now. Most often came from Detroit or local auto body paint shops. These were guns literally run through the chrome bumper shops. When the old style and no longer used steel bumpers were hung to go down the production line to be sprayed with chrome, men would hang their gun parts along side the bumpers. This was a cheap way to protect a gun similar as nickle plating but no where as good or durable. Flaked off under use. Different from the "Hard Chrome" finish that came along later.

tipoc