Carbon on cylinder

[burneyr]

Get a can of Never Dull - it is a non abrasive cleaner embedded in cotton wadding. I have cleaned decades old revolver cylinders to new in about fifteen minutes. No need to order as it is available at nearly every grocery store and Walmart.

Disclaimer - Never tried it on a blued finish.

 

[AveragEd]

I haven't tried it yet but a reader told me that CLR - Calcium, Lime and Rust - remover does a good job on those combustion rings without any abrasives. I have been using Flitz on a rag but while it removes the rings, it does polish off a little of that brushed stainless finish.

Ed

 

[cmj8591]

My wife purchased a "Foam Cannon" attachment for the pressure washer for me as a Christmas present ,,
It was very hot one day a couple weeks ago, so I tried out the Foam Cannon,, on my '99 Silverado,,

But does it get the carbon rings off the front of your 686 cylinder?

 

[VaTom]

Back in the day (1970's) as an LEO we carried nickle Model 10s. An old school 1st Sergeant of our platoon said to use a pencil eraser to clean up the front of cylinder. Won't completely remove but enough for passing his monthly revolver inspection.

 

[JimCunn]

The rings just let folks know the gun isn't a safe queen.

 

[stansdds]

I used to clean the burn rings from the cylinders of my revolvers, then I finally came to the conclusion that they would return every time the revolver got used. I gave up. I just remove powder fouling, lead, and copper, the burn rings just indicate the revolver gets used.

 

[pharman]

Tetragun solvent and lead cloth

A friend of mine just told me yesterday about a product he uses called Tetragun solvent...he applies the solvent to the end of cylinder and forcing cone area BEFORE he shoots...he claims this makes the gun extremely easy to clean with lead cloth (use for stainless guns NOT blue) when he gets done shooting...he says the stains come right off...I'm going to be trying some of this next time I shoot...Roger

 

[Taipan01]

As mentioned, polishing will remove some metal and the rings don't effect the operation. I normally just use Hoppes alone but every few years I'll get out my stainless revolvers, soak the cylinder faces for a bit in Hoppes, dry then lightly polish them with mothers with a soft rag. I do this rarely. I also use mothers on glossy stainless finishes to give them a deep luster like on my Vaqueros. I've done them a few times.

 

[jeffrefrig]

The only problem/issue I've heard about shooting .38s in a .357 is the small ring inside the cylinder, making it a small pain to load the .357s in. I no longer have a .357 but I have noticed it in my .327 FM if I don't brass brush the cylinder after shooting the assorted shorter .32s cartridges. But I like to keep a brush in the gun box in case I would need it at the range. But, I haven't lately been able to get any ammo for this gun so there's THAT! I do like to clean the cylinder face and cone areas on the stainless revolvers, when I'm bored, so I too appreciate the advice for the products mentioned above. For the blue guns it's stiff nylon brush with Ballistol and small amount of elbow grease. (The Ballistol I have from procuring it from my last employer before retiring, but, it's cheap so I can just buy a can now when I need some.)

 

[Hapworth]

See this is why the forums are so helpful. I can live with rings and if they aren't a performance or long term problem then maybe that is the way to go for me...

Rings aren't a performance or long term problem. Carbon (and other detritus from ignition) build-up can be.

A proper gun cleaning solvent and soft bristle brush to remove excess build-up is all you need; the stain can remain and have no deleterious effect, whereas needing to remove it (and the metal that will go with it) can have a deleterious effect done often.

Excessive cleaning has probably harmed at least as many guns as excessive shooting.

 

[kbm6893]

I clean my rings every time. I like a clean gun. But I have enough revolvers and shoot them infrequently enough that they're only getting the lead away cloth treatment once or twice a year. I'm not worried about removing metal at that rate.