Help with revolver "deep" cleaning

[bassoneer]

Hey all. I have a 686-6, 7 shot with 4" barrel. Love the gun. However, I went shooting with my son this afternoon with the only ammo I could find...reloaded semi-wad cutters. Several times during the session I pushed the ejector rod and the shells didn't want to come out. In fact, a couple of times I thought our session was over they were stuck in there so tight. Each time, I was able to pull those suckers out and keep going. I assumed the reloaded casings were expanding and going out of spec (don't know what I'm talking about, but that's what I thought). These were in a big box called "Ultramax" from Dick's. Anyway...it sort of made shooting not so fun. When we got home I got the cleaning stuff out and cleaned the gun up like always (even if I shoot one round, I clean the gun). Well, I was sitting on the deck and the way the sun was hitting the gun, I could see crud in the cylinder bores (all 7). No doubt, some of this crud was in the gun when I bought it used, but I had been regularly cleaning it. I tried and tried to get that stuff out of there by using Gunscrubber, Hoppes #9, Shooter's Choice, Gunslick solvent, wire brushes, oils, and even patches made from a lead removal rag. I did this over and over and over and eventually even took the cylinder off the gun to work on it some more. At the end of the day and all the frustration and elbow grease, there is still crud in there. Is there anything on the market that will get rid of this crud? Do I need to soak the cylinder in something? I like clean guns, and I like them to work right (i.e., not having the empty casings stuck in the cylinder) so anything you could suggest would be appreciated. Thanks for helping. B

 

[BobsSmith]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Shooters Choice is potent stuff, but good.

I would probably let the chambers soak overnight in Shooters Choice. Being reloaded, they may not have been resized properly. When you loaded the gun was it difficult to load?

Best

Bob

 

[bluetopper]

Sounds unorthodox but I would soak the cylinder, or the whole gun for that matter in diesel overnight. Without the grips of course.
I give my guns a bath in diesel every time I clean them. I keep a little plastic tub just for that purpose. Diesel is a actually a very light weight oil and a great cleaner and won't harm finishes.

 

[bassoneer]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Shooters Choice is potent stuff, but good.

I would probably let the chambers soak overnight in Shooters Choice. Being reloaded, they may not have been resized properly. When you loaded the gun was it difficult to load?

The bullets went in smooth each time. I think they were expanding a little and hanging up on the crud. Thanks for the input...I may try soaking the cylinder. Thanks, B

Best

Bob

 

[Bullseye Smith]

Take a 41 cal brush to it and use a piece of lead removable cloth on the brush and work it out. You can get a reamer from Brownells to clean the cylinder out, or use a lewis lead remover to do it. I like these if you can find the ones made in the USA, the china junk won't work and do the job.

 

[stevieboy]

I feel your pain! I've had the exact same thing happen with my gun using 148 gr. 38 special lead reloads and it's a pain in the butt to have to clean out the residue that these rounds leave.

Here's what I've done. It works for me, although it takes a lot of effort and it sure soured me on anything other than good quality factory loaded FMJ rounds.

Get some J & B Bore Compound. It's a mild abrasive with the consistency of peanut butter. It becomes considerably less viscous when it gets warm, so I'd keep it in a warm place. Take a swab and insert it in your cleaning rod. Then, smear the J & B liberally on all sides of the swab and run it down one of the chambers. Repeat the process for the next six. Be sure to work the swab around so that as much of the bore compound gets on the inner surface of the chambers as possible.

Next, spray some Birchfield Casey gun scrubber or equivalent gun cleaning solvent into each of the chambers. Then, take a NEW bronze chamber brush, one that hasn't been worn down by use, and brush each chamber vigorously. I recommend 40-50 passes per chamber. Then, swab out each chamber, starting with swabs soaked in solvent (Birchfield Casey is again my choice) and keep doing it until the swabs go through clean. You will be shocked at how black the swabs are at first and I predict it will take 8-10 swabs per chamber to get a clean passage.

Finally, swab out the chambers with clean, dry swabs, until they come out clean.

 

[JT Wilson]

I have used an Outers Foul-Out electronic bore cleaner. It's amazing what it does with lead. Fill the chamber with the solution, put the rod in, hook up the leads and turn it on. The lead sticks to the rod.

The fouling in the chambers is powder fouling and lead. Once you get the lead out, the rest scrubs out pretty easily.

Midway sells the foul-out 3 for about $100. It's worth it if you have to do much lead removal.

JT.

 

[indiandave]

try using a chamber brush to clean the chambers. It is stiffer then a bore brush and really gets the crud out.

 

[bassoneer]

Thanks for all the advice. I tried something several folks on another forum suggested...I took a .40 S&W brush and put it in my cordless drill. Then, after adding some Shooter's Choice solvent, I spun it in each bore hole for 10-15 seconds. Clean as a whistle. Probably won't need to do that very often, but it worked on the baked on crud. THanks again! B

 

[SuperMan]

I was just about to post about the oversize brush and drill when I read you last post...it works very quick.

You may also want to take some polish like Flitz or SemiChrome on a TIGHT patch and polish each chamber with the drill. Does wonders for extraction and keeping the fowling from building up.

Kerosene as a soak is also very good as is a product call Kroll...it leeches under the lead to lift off the buildup.

If you are getting any leading in the barrel use the Flitz on a tight patch but hand lap the barrel not in the drill. I had one BarSto .38 Super barrel that would badly lead with cast bullets but after polishing there was nothing left behind after that. I do all my rifle barrels the same way starting with fine automotive valve grinding compound follwed by liquid 30 micron diamond lap. It is much faster than the "fire a shot, clean, fire a shot, clean.."

Bob

 

[H Richard]

One other method I didn't see listed is the Cylinder & Slide de-leading wool. It looks like curly metal shavings, of a metallic material that won't hurt the bore. Cut a few strands off the pad, and wrap around a brush and scrub the chambers out. it has just enough "scraping" capability to clean all the carbon & lead build up out. Use in conjunction with a good solvent.

 

[renroh]

I have had the same trouble with my 586 4" using hard cast lead bullet reloads. After a deep cleaning with CLP breakfree with a new bronze brush, I also cut a patch out of a lead removal cloth and ran it 10-20 times. Finally six rounds of 125 grain semi jacket hollowpoints and all of the lead is gone. This method also worked on my 686 snub. I thought I was going to have to use a Lewis Lead Remover on both, but one cylinder of a hot jacketed round has taken care of it.

 

[TNDave]

I suffered through crud hell until I discovered chamber brushes. They will clean everything out of your chambers in about six passes. They come in stainless or bronze. I have always used stainless without any damage to my guns. If a gun is really bad you can let your solvent soak in the chambers for a while before you scrub them out.
Here is a link to some.

ttp://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=0/k=chamber+brushes/t=P/ksubmit=y/Products/All/search=chamber_brushes

 

[s3dcor]

I have a 5 gallon red solvent tank with a pump from Harbor Freight. I keep it loaded with Ed's Red which is a homemade receipe available with a google search. I found a metal basket at wal mart that fits in the tank and hold brushes and small parts which helps to let them soak and makes it easier to find the parts. I use a .45 cal bore brush for cleaning out the cylinder holes.

The drill idea is a great one.

Last week I purchased a nice Model 19 that had been returned for this very problem. The pawn shop owner just wanted to get rid of it and I could see the problem with only a cursory look. This is one time that extraction problems was a benefit.

 

[skeeterbait]

I use the same process I use on my shotgun barrels. I remove the cylinder. I use a smaller than caliber brush, for 38/357 I use a .22 brush. I cut scotchbrite to fit around the brush. I swab the chambers down with Kroil penetrating oil and oil the scotchbrite pad also. I then work J&B paste into the pad. Put the brush on a rod and put the rod in a drill. Work it back and forth for about 5 minutes per chamber. Shines and slicks up a revolver cylinder or shotgun barrel and removes anything stuck in there.