Best way to clean blued cylinder

[Super Dave]

Hi guys,

Looking for tips on removing the lead and baked on gunk.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Warren Sear]

WD-40 or mineral spirits and scrub with an old tooth brush. Wipe it off. Repeat as necessary. Will not harm what remains of the original finish. A coat or two of Renaissance wax afterward is a nice touch.

Never use any polishes, because they will ALWAYS remove finish.

 

[arjay]

I fill an old canning jar with a mix of acetone and atf,drop the cylinder in and put a lid on it and let it soak for a few days.A piece of flattened and sharpened brass makes a good scraper for the lead

 

[Lou_the_welder]

I've used mpro7 on my blued guns and its always worked well. Great on cylinder burn marks, especially.

 

[Super Dave]

Thanks for the tips guys.
Dave

 

[Jimmy4570]

Soaking in Ballistol works pretty well, too, I've found. Soak and scrub with an old tooth brush or use wood- popsicle stick or tongue depressor- or brass to scrape lead away.

 

[Bakebfr480]

Try Kroil!

 

[rct269]

Please God---save these poor souls from their complicated lives!!

The secret formula is bronze wool and oil-----any kind of oil. Now I've never used anything besides 0000 wool, but then again, I've never seen a mess like this one. You might want to speed things along with some 00 or 000----if they even make it.

And seeing as how copper Chore Boys (Girls??) makes short work of lead in barrels, you might want to try that---to speed things along. And any copper/bronze stain that's left on the bluing wipes off with Hoppes #9.

And that's BRONZE wool----don't go anywhere near a blued gun with steel wool-----unless you're braver than Dick Tracy---and an expert.

I just thought of something else---a copper, or maybe it's bronze toothbrush----KLEEN-BORE makes it-----black plastic handle. It makes short work of lead on the cylinder face----I use it with Hoppes----and every gun on the shelves looks like it's never been fired.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[ExRanger714]

I soak it in Tetra Gun lube. let it soak and seems like about 90% of the crud wipes off. Pencil eraser on the tough spots on the front of the cylinder. Wipe don't grind.

 

[jtcarm]

I guess I'm just not as anal about the appearance of my cylinders, and most of my blues guns have never been fed a jacketed bullet.

I use plain ol solvent on my chambers, that's after everything gets a thorough brushing with dry brushes.

I never worried much about the appearance of the cylinder face. I just give it s good scrubbing with a bronze brush and wipe with a solvent soaked patch to get any leftover carbon residue. As long as it doesn't build up to impede function (which it never has) I'm happy.

To really upset the snobs, I give it a squirt of (gasp) WD40, wiped down with a rag for finish protection. Yes, my guns have never melted or had an FTF from using it!

 

[Super Dave]

And the winner is bronze wool and Kroil.

It's clean enough for a shooter.

I'm switching to coated bullets and hopefully VV N320 powder (if it is as accurate as HP38).

Thanks for the help.
Dave

 

[Winch]

I have a new 586 and I used unjacketed bullets and ended up with a mess.
I tried Ballistol. Works OK if you soak it overnight. Hoppes Elite seems to work best for me. Again, soak it and let it sit.

The Pro Shot Gun Care Metal Cleaning Cloth is good for final wipedown.

Get some Chore Boy pure copper scrubbers and you can use pieces of that for the stubborn areas.

Be careful about using Hoppe's #9 on a new S&W blued gun.

 

[gwpercle]

Ed's Red Bore Cleaner - do a search for the recipe or buy it from Brownell's .
Gary

 

[Nick B]

And the winner is bronze wool and Kroil.

It's clean enough for a shooter.

I'm switching to coated bullets and hopefully VV N320 powder (if it is as accurate as HP38).

Thanks for the help.
Dave

What's the velocity of that load ?

 

[MJFlores]

If you switch to Berry's plated bullets, all you need to do is wipe things down with Ballistol. No scrubbing needed.

 

[LEW1943]

I have a new 586 and I used unjacketed bullets and ended up with a mess.
I tried Ballistol. Works OK if you soak it overnight. Hoppes Elite seems to work best for me. Again, soak it and let it sit.

The Pro Shot Gun Care Metal Cleaning Cloth is good for final wipedown.

Get some Chore Boy pure copper scrubbers and you can use pieces of that for the stubborn areas.

Be careful about using Hoppe's #9 on a new S&W blued gun.

More than once I have heard that Hoppes 9 should not be used on newer blued guns. Anyone had any actual bad experience with this?
Been using it for two years on my 586-8 with no isuues thus far.

Should I switch to Hoppes Elite?

 

[AveragEd]

The packaging for Iosso Gun Brite polish says "Safe for factory bluing" across the top. It will remove the carbon rings and hasn't marred any of my revolvers.

Ed

 

[Ackley1952]

Need someone with technical knowledge to answer the question, is the blue process actually being used on new guns labeled blue? Or is it some kind of bake on finish?

 

[rct269]

Need someone with technical knowledge to answer the question, is the blue process actually being used on new guns labeled blue? Or is it some kind of bake on finish?

For openers, I don't know diddly about new S&W guns---and don't want to know.

Next, I know nothing of any "bake on finish"---and don't want to know.

With those two cop-out clauses up front, and in the event of any confusion on your part (or mine), bluing is an alteration of the surface of the metal---not any sort of coating/covering. It is, in fact, corrosion----rust---properly known as black oxide. The bluing process (any of the several) is a process of controlled corrosion. Virtually all of the processes employ heat (as a catalyst to speed things along)----but nothing's baked on.

The end!!

Ralph Tremaine

 

[Carrier]

What works for me is Ballistol. I keep a spray can in my range bag and when done I lightly spray and wipe with a Ballistol soaked rag. When I get home to finish cleaning it only takes a couple minutes and all the grime is off.
However I have learned to live with the "ring" especially on any stainless shooters. I'm sure I tried everything known to man chemical or mechanical to get every last speck off of the cylinder.
Life is so much simpler now.