I was out sailing Monday, nice day. Good strong wind, capsized 3 times. Fun. My 642 in my pants pocket got wet. It was not supposed to be that windy, but I did enjoy it.

Monday night I took the side plate off. Tried to follow the directions on the FAQ to disassemble the revolver to no avail. I sprayed the insides down with WD40 to get the water out and just put it in the safe.

So, what should be done with it? I think take apart, dry it off, re-oil the moving surfaces and reassemble. Any other thoughts? How do I disassemble it?

Thanks!!
HH

PS the Kramer pocket holster seems fine. Just sat it on top of the lamp shade and let the light dry it out.

Honestly, you likely don't need to do anything else. But since some will have conniption fits over the very idea if spraying WD40 in to the innards (never hurt a one of my guns), and since I don't know how muddy the water was (around here in some places a dunk in the lake will leave a gun full of grit) you might followup with a good flush-out with GunScrubber, followed by re-oiling with your favorite snake oil.

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Pisgah

You need to flush that WD-40 out before it turns to varnish. Shooters Choice makes a very good spray lube/preservative. I would also detail strip the gun and clean each piece. I found a gun where the plunger/spring on the cylinder release bolt had rusted up. Water gets in everywhere, you have to clean it.

Maybe I don't need to disassemble for it to dry out? I guess I could just apply oil to all the pivots without taking it apart?

I have heard WD is not a good oil. I used it to Displace the Water which is what it is good at (so I am told).

HH

Do not use WD-40 on guns. Your revolver is not a shop tool or a lock. If you don't want to disassemble the gun, I would spray it out very well with a product like Gun Scrubber or Rem Action Cleaner. Let everything drip out of the action, then apply a good quality gun oil. Rem oil, Kano Kroil, whatever.

I am in favor of disassembling it. How do I do that? I did some searching and did not find anything detailed.

HH

Buy Jerry Kuhnhausen's "The S & W Revolver: A Shop Manual." Then and forever after you will be at one with the innerds of your revo.

Like others have said, NO WD-40 on guns! Use some "gunscrubber" to make sure the WD-40 is all out, and I would lubricate it lightly with Remoil. I like the Remoil product because the carrier soon evaporates leaving a very thin Teflon coating that will not attract dust or dirt. Heavier oils gunk up, attract dust and leak out on to your clothing. Reassemble and check for proper functioning at the range.

Take sailing lessons......LOL, sorry, had to throw that in.

regards,
chief38

The good thing about WD 40 is that it does dislace water.

So take off the grips and give it a couple of good soakings with WD 40, allow 30 minutes or so between soakings, and dry fire it a few times after soaking.


Then use Gun Scrubber to get out ALL of the WD 40.

Both of these products are easy to find.

Then re oil. If you do not want to take the gun apart, use Hornady Dry Spray gun lube as it leaves a dry lube behind.

As long as you soak it good with WD 40, and then get all the WD 40 out and re oil you will be good to go.

Nothing wrong with taking the gun all apart... But sometimes you will just be in a place where you do not want to do that.

If you're in the field wd-40 will suffice, but once you have a cleaning kit in front of you take the thing apart and get to work. If you want reliability don't skimp on an hour of cleaning time.

I have had to clean wet guns numerous times over the years, from getting into the ocean unplanned, to getting drenched directing traffic or doing military training, to ending up in the river here at work pulling people out.

A few things that I know work well from experience;


If you get the gun really wet and it's with clean/er water (rain, etc.) then a blow dryer to get the gun dried off and heated up works great. With pistols or ARs I field strip them, with revolvers I just open them up and pull off the grips.


For salt water I rinse the gun in tap water to get the salt out and then blow it out with an air hose, then use the blow dryer (air hoses often carry moisture in the air coming from the hose, you still need to deal with that after using the air hose to get the majority of the water out).


If you don't have air but you do have cleaning gear, I have found that using WD40 works just fine as a first step (although if the gun has been in salt water I start with a tap water rinse first).
The WD in WD40 stands for "Water Displacement Formula", and it excels at this job.
I use the WD40 really good, then follow up with Gunscubber to get the WD40 out, then lube as normal.

I have used this method on many different guns over the years to good effect, never had an issue.

Although I also don't recommend WD40 as a gun lube, but a little here and there as needed is harmless.


As an FYI since I know someone is going to call me a bone head, I am a factory trained LE armorer through Glock, multiple S&W schools, Beretta, Remington, and Colt. I have been involved in for 23 years, and in charge of for several years, a forearms program responsible for 350 folks who carry guns.
I don't make the WD40 recommendation without some basis in experience.

I wonder if an alcohol bath would work: the internal water would dissolve into the alcohol. Then take a heat gun to it and dry the alcohol off.

The main thing is to plan ahead. No matter what kind of gun you have, you can plan to have a couple cans of "some kind of spray stuff", to best get the water out, and to best re lube.

Spray stuff is the best, and easiest to use, as you do not have to take anything apart in the field.

Oil sucks of water better than BP . Open it up and dry it out and take your finger and use one drop for all of the parts for a coat. Here is how to open it up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVPYgohVCNM

Never thought about carrying when small boat sailing.Pirates in Pa? ;-)
The gun needs to be disassembled.You didn't mention if you were out in fresh or salt water,but it needs to be asap if salt.

You have already gotten some good advice and the only thing I can add deals with Gunscrubber and other similar aerosol products. When you spray with Gunscrubber it removes ALL oil and lubricant from every nook and cranny of your gun. It isn't enough to just re-oil the friction points because there is a strong tendency for any unprotected part to rust after flushing with Gunscrubber. These products do a great job, but be careful to protect anything that needs a coat of oil to prevent rust.

Unless the water was extremely muddy, I would have just blown it out with compressed air and lightly oil it as necessary. An air compressor will get water out better than WD40 without the residue.

Thanks for all the info. I did not think of an air compressor. Prabably because I don't have one. I don't think it would be good to take the gun to work and use the one there. I need a new can of gunscrubber anyway, guess I'll get one tonight. I do like the idea of taking it all apart and oiling everywhere (like under things), but that will have to wait until I get a manual that shows me how

I do like to be armed at all times even when sailing. Monday I was picnicing and sailing with the family. I don't want anything unplanned to go wrong. Better to have and not need it, than need and not have. I am sure the gun will go in the lake again. It is part of it's job.

Thanks,
HH

Ran into this problem during my LE career all the time. Take the grips off use some solvent to take the oil off, put it in the oven on a low heat. just enough to evaporate the moisture. Relub, reassemble, and good to go.

....BUT,,,if you're going to use high air pressure, heat guns, ovens or hair dryers, remove your grips first!

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Term limits!

After your gun goes into "extreme" conditions a time or two you will get the cleaning procedure down well, it doesn't take too long. I realized this recently when I started shooting black powder loads in my SAA. First step, get all the contaminant off, be it black powder residue or salt water. Second, get oil on every nook and cranny of the gun, and inside the action. Third, blow and wipe all excess oil out or off the gun. A can of compressed air or a compressor does wonders for distributing oil in the action. Wipe down, reassemble, and it will usually be in better shape than before the experience.

No one has mentioned blowing out all the WD 40 and excess oil you use to replace the W-D A blast of 40#s air pressure always helps...
Charlie

In the old days, when our officers soaked their revolvers, we took the grips off & put them in the oven at a temp that would evaporate the water & not damage the weapon. Don't know how that would work today with night sites.

IMHO the expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" is very applicable to watching a how-to video vs reading a how-to book. If the video posted above doesn't do it for you, find another. Google "yoda trigger job" for a good how-to video on disassembling (and tuning up) a modern hammerless j-frame. Ain't nothing to it if you're mechanical at all & have a good set of screwdrivers. A rebound slide tool is handy but not essential.
Oh, and put your gun in a ziplock bag (or your car trunk) the next time you go sailing.

I get a kick out of all these folks who say "Don't use WD40." That is all I use on revolvers, semi-autos, and black powder. I have dropped revolvers into rivers and, after retrieving them, never bothered to disassemble them. I just spray the heck out of them with WD40 and put them away. Not a gummed up revolver or any rust patches anywhere, even on my extremely accurate and often fired model 14 of more than 40 years. Whine all you want and repeat others opinions if you will, I don't care. WD40 is perfect for me.

Next time you go sailing, put the gun in a ziplock bag. It will help keep it dry, and if need be it can be fired without removing it from the bag.

Salt water is another animal and a good air blow or oil job is not going to cut it.
The water rinse works but hot water with a bit of Dawn in it makes an even better remover of the salt.
It sounds like you are dealing with fresh water.
I have the Kuhnhausen book and really enjoy it for the detail, but I also bought the Jerry Miculek video "Trigger Job". This shows the disassembly and for me was helpful to see just how it works.

When I get brass wet from rain etc. I just lay them on a tray turn the oven to about 200* and set them in there for awhile. Don't know why that wouldn't work with a revolver, of course I'd take the grips off. Let it cool down than lub it up with whatever you like.

Len

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Endeavor to persevere

Actually , the WD in WD-40 stands for 'water displacing'.

If it were my revolver , and I couldn't remove the sideplate promptly , I would have flushed out the salt water with HOT fresh water , then after it dried , but was still warm , sprayed it's insides with Break-Free CLP.

That's kinda how I clean my black powder revolvers.

I have some experience operating armed in an aquatic environment. My issued M9 has been submerged weekly for the entire duration of my current tour.
I get back from whatever event it is, and take the grips off, and drop the entire gun into a bucket of diesel. I let it sit there for a bit, and then pull it out and clean it thoroughly and relube (I use slipstream) and put it back in the armory. Easy.

I'll add, spraying it with WD-40 was a good idea to displace the water until you figure out how to do a detail strip to clean and relube every single bit and piece. Make sure you know what you're doing before you start. I'd also consider doing a trigger job and maybe a spring change while the gun's in pieces.
I used to use WD-40 as a cutting oil, drilling out and repairing stripped threads with hardened steel insets on industrial machinery. I personally consider WD-40 as a cutting oil and water displacer, not as a lubricant. Use a proper, quality gun oil to relube.

I like to use brake cleaner to degrease and clean then relube.

Yep, it works. Use one of the heavier freezer bags or double the sandwich bag though.

I have dunked my fair share of shotguns in water-both fresh and brackish. I disassemble them-put them in the sink and clean them with a scrub brush and soapy water. rinse well. Now here's the magic.
While you are cleaning the gun you have a tea kettle on the stove heating up. tale the newly cleaned and rinsed gun parts and pour the boiling water over them. They dry perfectly clean. Then lube and put back together. Works like a charm ( I take a toothbrush to the trigger group-dnever took one completely apart).
If you don't want to take your gun apart-take off the side plate-make sure there is no crud in there and hold it under running water to rinse out any crud that may have gotten into it. Use the boiling water to dry and then lube. Have NEVER had a gun cleaned thusly rust.

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Forum consigliere

WD-40 is the only product that ever failed me on my guns. I wiped my shotgun down with it before hunting in a light snowfall, and the barrel rusted before the hunt was over. Never had that happen using the cheapest gun oil.

If you use it to get the water out, by all means clean the WD-40 out. It will get gummy. Apply some heat (hair dryer will do) to get all the moisture out of the nooks and crannies but don't get the gun "hot" when warm will do.

A thorough cleaning and lubing will keep the gun in working order.

Was me, I'd disassemble the gun to the extent necessary to expose all internals (grips, sideplate, cylinder & crane, extractor, etc.) rinse thoroughly with clean fresh water (tap water will serve just fine, real hot, all the better), blow dry with handheld hairdryer, then use a rust-preventative such as "Sheath" on internal parts, relubbricate, and reassemble.

A similar experience has taught me to carry Glocks if immersion is a risk --- way easier to remediate...

Also, please advise the design class and conditions causing the incident...

Great debate so far... I recall reading a thread either here or another gun forum... I saw where many recommended using a jewelry cleaner but larger like they have at Harbor Freight... Fill the tank with Simple Green at a 10 to 1 or 5 to 1 ratio and let the gun clean itself.

Then rinse and dry in the oven or fan dry and oil...

I also saw a TV series that took guns and rifles and totally submerged them in gun oil then fired them without even shaking them out... pretty cool but gun oil was flying everywhere.

Bottom line is to remove the water and oil the weapon...

If you are in that much of a rush, take it to a local dealer who could probably show you first hand...

Just be sure to bring some donuts or something if they refuse to take a few bucks...

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Doug;}
RSO from WA State

Really? How long does that process take? I've been using WD-40 on my guns for 30 years and nothing's happened yet ... so do I have much longer to wait?

I was always told that WD-40 was a solvent as opposed to a lubricant. So I went to WD40.com to check it out. Here's what I found.

Quote
"The catchall phrase “Stoddard Solvent” is no longer adequate to tell the proper story. WD-40 does indeed have 50% mineral spirits, but they are refined and purified for specific characteristics needed to meet today’s performance, regulatory, and safety requirements."

You can decide for yourself at. WD-40 Facts & Myths | WD-40 Ingredients

Richard