how do you clean your cylinders?

[daveomatic]

Hi all,

I find the biggest chore of cleaning a revolver is the cylinders, I'm talking about the accumulated lead fouling right behind the chamfer cuts specifically; in a .357 it's tough but in my experience shooting .38's in it is even worse, regardless of bullet type or load . In my quest to make this as easy as possible I've been asking this for a while and I have heard all kinds of ahem 'interesting' things, from white vinegar to dremels and drills.

What I have found to be the most effective and easiest so far is first a swab with hoppe's 9 followed by a dry patch, then alternating bronze brush, lead remover cloth patch (stainless cyl), dry patch, repeat until clean. Even so, this takes several iterations and a fair amount of elbow grease.

So, what is your method? Also, cylinder on or off the frame?

thanks,
Dave

 

[TSQUARED]

I never use stainless steel brushes. A bronze brush and Hoppes#9 takes care of my cylinder cleaning. You should not expect a used gun to look like an unfired gun. I also tend to only use lead bullets at low velocities - ca 750 fps. For higher velocities I use plated at ca 900 fps and jacketed at ca 1100 fps.

 

[Leonard]

If it needs a good cleaning I remove it from the gun put it in a rubber padded Dremel vise and use a synthetic bore brush with fine bronze wool wrapped around it spun by a power screw driver.

 

[SixGunHunter]

Bore snake works best for me and bronze brushes.

As a matter of fact I swear by bore snakes.

 

[august1410]

Bore snake and bronze brushes for me, too. After, I run some patches through just for good measure. Alternate between wet and dry patches.

 

[M2MikeGolf]

Dremels and power tools are not always a safe option for cleaning, especially if you are not real familiar with them and when it comes to chambers of any kind, most particularly. If you are comfortable with using them, please be careful with the materials you use or you can quickly oversize dimensions to dangerous levels. I never use dremels or power tools on bores or chambers, as taught to me by a credible gunsmith, unless you are in the business of resizing or professionally polishing them.

I have found Birchwood Casey's lead remover cloths to be very mild and very effective for the removal of lead rings in cylinders, and works especially well on stainless revolvers; it will also remove the rings around the forward face of the cylinder and around the forcing cone easily. You can then polish the whole weapon with them for bit of extra shine, but it won't take scratches out. Works great on bores too. I recommend some precleaning with Hoppe's # 9 and a brass brush, unless you have a finish easily damaged by it; Shooter's Choice is a good alternative. Here's the Brownell's site for the cloth, I highly recommend it as a non-abrasive alternative:
LEAD REMOVER CLOTH - Brownells

 

[*chris*]

I use a Hoppe's Tornado brush, a quick coat of solvent followed by a pass or two of the Tornado and the chambers are shiny. Any reason not to use the SS tornado brush in a revolver?

Seems a lot less intrusive than a powered brass brush which basically turns into a hone...

Chris

 

[gunbob1911]

Cleaning Cylinders

What works for me the best is to take a brush, not stainless and wrap some copper thin wire from Chor Boy copper brushes that you can buy at the grocery store. I use a scissors to cut the wire. I place my Revovlers in a vice protecting the barrell by a rubber sleeve over the jaws of the vice. The cylinder is open and I push the Revovler forward in the vice so the crane - extracor is open like you are extracting spent shells. In this way the gun is secure and the brush is much easier to use on the in and out. I shoot some Rem Oil in the barrel and cylinders first and then follow up with clean patches. The thin wire on the Chor Boy brushes wrapped around a cleaning rod brush works miracles on lead for sure. I shoot my Revovlers a LOT, this really works well for me.

 

[lhump1961]

Dremels and power tools are not always a safe option for cleaning, especially if you are not real familiar with them and when it comes to chambers of any kind, most particularly. If you are comfortable with using them, please be careful with the materials you use or you can quickly oversize dimensions to dangerous levels. I never use dremels or power tools on bores or chambers, as taught to me by a credible gunsmith, unless you are in the business of resizing or professionally polishing them.

I have found Birchwood Casey's lead remover cloths to be very mild and very effective for the removal of lead rings in cylinders, and works especially well on stainless revolvers; it will also remove the rings around the forward face of the cylinder and around the forcing cone easily. You can then polish the whole weapon with them for bit of extra shine, but it won't take scratches out. Works great on bores too. I recommend some precleaning with Hoppe's # 9 and a brass brush, unless you have a finish easily damaged by it; Shooter's Choice is a good alternative. Here's the Brownell's site for the cloth, I highly recommend it as a non-abrasive alternative:
LEAD REMOVER CLOTH - Brownells

This is the exact cloth I use on all my stainless revolvers...I second the recommendation. A good cleaning with Hoppe's #9 and the lead removal cloth will do a wonderful job on what #9 leaves behind. Cylinder out for me...makes it easier to handle the gun overall and to access the forcing cone area. I am not opposed to a power tool but I have not tried it (I would probably screw something up) and have always cleaned by hand. A small piece of this lead cloth wrapped around a smaller bore brush (it is too thick for a .38 brush) will help with the cylinders. I have done this once or twice but don't find I need to do it much...I suppose it depends on how many rounds you shoot and how often.

 

[ContinentalOp]

My usual routine to clean my revolvers' cylinders is to take a .40-caliber bronze brush, put some Break Free CLP on it, and scrub each chamber. I let it sit for a few minutes (usually while I'm cleaning something else on the gun). Then I run dry patches through each chamber until they come out clean.

I used to use lead remover cloth to get rid of the rings on the cylinder face, but I ended up switching to CLP and a bronze brush. The results aren't quite as good, but it does a good enough job that I don't have to worry about the potential for carbon and lead build-up interfering with the cylinder gap.

I used to take the cylinder off every time I cleaned my gun, but I began worrying about excessive wear-and-tear on the yoke screw. Now I leave the cylinder on, but I'll probably take the cylinder off maybe once a year for a more thorough cleaning as long as I don't have any issues with cylinder binding or similar problems.

ETA: Except for a few cylinder-fulls of BB LSWCHP all the ammo I use is jacketed.

 

[nipster]

Many passes with patches and a bronze brush. I use mostly Ballistol as my cleaner. Used to use Hoppes #9, but I think Ballistol does a better job honestly. I still use Hoppes in a pinch, as Ballistol is impossible to find locally and if I run out, Hoppes works until I can get in some more Ballistol off the internets.

I'm not a fan of bore snakes on pistols, especially on the cylinders. They are great on rifles.

I would never think of using any sort of power tool on it, that has disaster written all over it.

Edit: I also use only 100% cotton patches, not the synthetic kind.

 

[sjmjax]

Clean front of cylinder with Hoppe's #9 and scrub with a bronze "toothbrush".

Pre-clean the charge holes with a few passes using the next caliber, oversize bronze brush and Hoppe's #9. Let it soak a bit and patch.

Follow with a pass with the Lewis lead remover tool on each cylinder hole. Rotating the tool as it exits the throat area. This is very effective at removing stubborn carbon and lead buildup.

Finish with another pass with bronze brush & Hoppe's #9.

On a few guns with very severe leading issues, repeat above process.

On stainless revolvers use the lead remover cloth to clean cylinder face. Technique I use is to put a strip of the cloth on the edge of a table and slide the face of the cylinder across it. Index it 1/4 turn each pass. Works well and makes the cylinder look un-fired in a few seconds.

Be sure to clean & dry the area under the ejector star as well.

Use small patch pieces and a tool like a very small flat blade screwdriver to remove the buildup in the cylinder counterbores on .22 & magnum revolvers so equipped.

Do the same on the ratchet teeth.

 

[jeff4423]

Try the vinegar/peroxide it works great for stainless

 

[Rivers2k]

I just run a bore snake through each chamber and barrel a few times. then use a brush on the ends of the cylinder.

Another reason I love revolvers they take no time to clean.

 

[allglock]

.50 cal bronze rifle brush on a short rod connected to a cordless drill.......Works EVERY time! Never had any damage done. Cuts cleaning time waaay down.
P.S... this works especially well, when shooting .38s in a .357. It will knock that carbon ring right out.

 

[44wheelman]

Yup, what he said: .50 cal bronze rifle brush & a cordless drill

 

[Engineer1911]

Remove the cylinder from the frame, fill a 15 oz vegetable can half full of gasoline, dunk cylinder into the can for about 30 seconds. Use stainless steel chamber brush for about 5 in/out strokes in each chamber hole. Dunk in vegetable can to flush out lead debris. Do not use chamber brush on face of cylinder -- just wipe with cotton cloth.

Wipe cylinder outside dry with cotton cloth, push cotton patch thru each chamber and set aside to evaporate gasoline. Apply 1 drop of oil as required to extractor shaft for lubrication. Cleaning takes less than 2 minutes.

To the naysayers: I've been cleaning cylinders for 30 years this way without a problem. I don't care about the powder burn on the face of the cylinder--it all comes back the next time I shoot.

 

[Invictus357]

I pretty much do what you do. I swab the barrel and charge holes with Hoppes #9. I let it sit for a few mins and then run a bronze brush down the holes.

I run patches until clean and then gently use lead remover cloth on the parts that are still dirty.

I never considered it a chore and doesn't take long.

I've been reading that M-Pro 7 is fantastic so I'm going to give it a try. You may want to check out the reviews on that.

 

[CigarGuy]

Lot of #9 use. Didn't I read(here?) that, while good for stainless steel, it should be avoided for blued and nickel?

 

[brucev]

.50 cal bronze rifle brush on a short rod connected to a cordless drill.......Works EVERY time! Never had any damage done. Cuts cleaning time waaay down.
P.S... this works especially well, when shooting .38s in a .357. It will knock that carbon ring right out.

Right! Use a good quality brass cored brass bore brush. Wet the brush with any quality bore cleaning solvent... I like Shooters Choice. Chuck the brush in a electric drill and run it at low speed pushing the brush in and out of the charge holes. It makes short work of cleaning the crud out of a .357 cylinder when I've been firing .38 Specials that might be a little sooty, etc. I wipe the cylinder face clean, but I don't try to scrub it down to the bare metal whether it is blued or stainless steel. I clean it and that's enough. I clean the ratchet and under the extractor star, etc.