Best way to clean a nickel revolver?

[BigClay]

Looking for advice an opinions on how to clean the barrell, cylinder, and nickel finish on a revolver.

 

[Old cop]

Depending on the condition of the nickel you might try Mother's Mag Wheel Polish on the finish if it's dull and in need of restoring. Follow that with a light coat of car wax (any brand) and your gun will look new. As to the barrel and cylinder standard cleaning products used after a range trip will work just fine.

Post before & after pics is you get the chance.

 

[Dennis The B]

+1 on what Old Cop wrote.

I'll only add, that you shouldn't get frisky with the Mother's Mag Wheel polish. It is an abrasive. I use it by applying with my bare index finger. My was of choice is Johnson's Paste wax. There are also a lot of folks who are true believers in Renaissance wax.

 

[BigClay]

I thought I read that certain bore cleaners would harm the nickel, is that true?

 

[LoadEmUp]

I believe cleaners containing ammonia can damage the copper layer under the nickel, thereby causing the nickel to come off. One should avoid bore cleaners expressly made to remove copper fouling. Hoppes #9 is one of the products that should be avoided as well.

 

[Nitrous SSC]

I've always used Hoppes #9 on my Nickel'd .357. Then finish with a clean rag/towel. Works great every time.

 

[silentflyer]

Hoppes #9 is fine for the bore/cylinder, but don't leave it on the surface, I flush mine with lighter fuild after the #9 and then an oily rag/patch.
Semicrome does a good job of polishing the surface, just don't get carried away with it, then some wax and you are good to go.

 

[joesmith357]

I've always used Hoppes #9 on my Nickel'd .357. Then finish with a clean rag/towel. Works great every time.

Great advice if you want the guy to ruin his nickel finish.

There should be a sticky to not use hoppes #9 on nickel guns. The only thing i use on them is break free

 

[echo1xg36c]

Yea +1 on the no hoppes #9 on nickel finishes. Or any bore cleaners

 

[Nitrous SSC]

Done it that way for about 10 years and this gun is usually only shot maybe 2-3 times a year. Finish looks excellent. I don't let it soak or anything. The gun was made in the 70's. My dad cleaned it that way and now I do.

 

[Nitrous SSC]

Hoppes #9 is fine for the bore/cylinder, but don't leave it on the surface,

Exactly. (10 Character limit.)

 

[Marine Corps Air]

+1 again on Old Cop's recommendations.

The gunsmith at my LGS also recommended against using Hoppe's #9 for my nickel plated revolvers. However, Hoppe's also sells an "Elite" product line that does not have ammonia. I called S&W CS and they agree with my LGS rep. I prefer the spray pump as it makes cleaning easier. It really breaks down the carbon after a day at the range. I also use a soft tooth brush with Mother's on it and the carbon disappears! It works well on the throat and topstrap, too.

Other forum members recommend Flitz instead of Mother's, The package states that it is non-abrasive. I do have Renaissance Wax which I use on the grips. Another forum member recommended Johnson's paste wax (in the same round yellow can that it has been for sixty years) since it has an oil base. I'm testing it on my blued revolvers.

I believe that Doc44 recommended a light coat of Renaissance Wax under the wood in the grips to avoid pitting. Not sure whether or not it is acid in the wood or what, but I do have an older revolver that does have the pitting in the nickel under the grips. The former owner did not follow this recommendation, and it had already started pitting before I read the forum post on this topic.

 

[ruger-p94]

i shoot my 13-3 nickel every week and clean it with Break free CLP. Every second week i put on mothers,but every week it gets a shine with Johnsons paste. Looks like it just came out of the box.

 

[roadkill45]

i use the same thing i use on all of my guns, plastics included....non-chlorinated brake cleaner (think cheap borescrubber..same thing) stays on just long enough to clean what you sprayed it on (warning don't use on painted guns or wood) then evaporates.
then i blow it all dry with the compressor, then rem oil and another quick shot of air, wipe with a clean rag then wax if needed. really only 10-15 minutes of cleaning time.
i'm not too anal about keeping them spotless and my one nickel smith is retired.

 

[k22fan]

S&W never used a copper undercoat so the argument that solvents containing ammonia harm copper beneath nickel does not apply to S&Ws. Most older nickeled guns will be missing one or more flakes of nickel some where. On S&Ws the exposed spots are just bare steel. The bare spot may be discolored, have patina or be shinny silver colored steel.

Whether or not the various bore solvents can eat away at the nickel its self is a good question. One senior member who wrote part of the SCSW has posted that ammonia does not react with nickel. That’s consistent with my experience. I’ve never had any cleaning product degrade the nickel on guns, but I don’t let solvents stand on the nickel for long. I dry them well then oil them. The oil is mostly for the bore, chambers and small blued parts as nickel is immune to oxidation in ordinary storage. I favored WD-40 as a solvent substitute on nickeled guns until a gunsmith pointed out the obvious flaw in my thinking. There is a risk that any penetrating oil might get underneath the edge of the nickel where a flake is missing. That’s what penetrating oils are designed to do. Rather than the WD-40 that gunsmith recommended …drum roll please… clean it normally with Hoppies #9, wipe the solvent off, then oil it. It’s worked fine on his nickeled S&Ws for 50 years.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Unless I am mistaken S&W does not use a copper substrate with their nickel finish. Colt did. Clean the gun with any old solvent you like but wipe the finish dry afterwards. To shine the nickel I use Flitz now and again, hand apply and polish and do not overdo it and never use a power tool such as a Dremel Mototool. As a solvent I use a 50/50 mix of Kroil and Hoppe's #9 to clean the bore, cylinders and frame on all my revolvers including Nickel S&W guns with good effect. However with a Nickeled Colt with its copper substrate me thinks I would not use the above!

 

[roadkill45]

man theres so many cleaners out there, frog ****, butter gun milk, whatever. For my tacticool polymer pistols i have used for years a 60/40 mix of mineral oil and alcohol!!! actually cleans the gun and leaves the black....black...w/o any slickness due to the alcohol.
my gun cleaning tray has #9, Brake Cleaner, the 'mix', remoil,axle grease and 10W40 Mobile 1 synthetic in a syringe.
cheap, effective and works.
after 21 years in the Army when i was a boot we used to take M16A1's and 1911's in the shower with us. or use the hottest water you could stand at the outside wash basin.
clean as a whistle! just dry them good!!!

 

[Lonegle57]

Just read in one of the gun mags that Hoppes has come out with a synthetic #9 that is listed safe on nickle guns, going to look at a bottle when I find one and read

 

[Nitrous SSC]

See, told you guys!

 

[joesmith357]

Unless I am mistaken S&W does not use a copper substrate with their nickel finish. Colt did. Clean the gun with any old solvent you like but wipe the finish dry afterwards. To shine the nickel I use Flitz now and again, hand apply and polish and do not overdo it and never use a power tool such as a Dremel Mototool. As a solvent I use a 50/50 mix of Kroil and Hoppe's #9 to clean the bore, cylinders and frame on all my revolvers including Nickel S&W guns with good effect. However with a Nickeled Colt with its copper substrate me thinks I would not use the above!

That's incorrect, scratch one real good and you see the copper