I guess I should have mentioned in my earlier post my experience in the past with cleaning lead deposits and such and that was the use of a brass brush and solvents like Hoppe's #9 (my all time favorite), Shooter's choice, etc. I see someone mentioned Ballistöl, which can be used for a lot of other things like wood, wound dressings, sore throat spray, etc. (yup, actually seen that done!). It requires patience and some effort, but cleaning firearms has never seemed a chore to me, but more just part of the experience of owning a firearm, you want to shoot it, then you should want it to work. Nothing says you have to clean a weapon at all. Me personally, I like to clean it pretty completely after I fire it, I guess it's ingrained in me as an old soldier, however, I was taught the same approach before I joined the Army, by none other than another old soldier (my dear old grandad introduced me to Hoppe's).
Recently, I tried one of the Birchwood Casey lead remover cloths that I mentioned and was really pleased at the results. I didn't even need to use solvent or a brush, and it easily removed the powder rings on the cylinder. I understand what people say about "it's just going to get dirty again", but then you could say that about all other cleaning too. For me, a complete cleaning includes those powder rings and the area around the forcing cone and the reason I wanted to mention these lead remover cloths is that they work very well, and with very little effort, and with no power tools. I just tore off a little piece and rubbed around the forcing cone and cylinder face and also put some on a cleaning jag and very easily scrubbed the chambers. I also used this stuff on a seventy five year old Drilling with a very bad bore and was able to polish out the majority of the decades of misuse, etc on it. Once again, I would never recommend power tools; if it works for some people and they have been doing it for years, that's great, but it greatly increases the possibility of doing irreversible damage to the firearm. I have also discovered that many solvents, especially ones that are not designed for weapons can do some harmful things to weapons; to include eating finishes away. When I was a soldier, I had to moniter that often; many solvents commonly used by the mechanics for wheeled and armored vehicles were a definite no-go for weapons as they would eat away the protective finishes or damage the alloys, and non-metal parts almost all weapons use these days. I understand that even Hoppe's #9 will damage some finishes used by S&W these days (safe for carbon steel, blued finishes though). Flitz and this B-C lead remover cloth or many metal polishes on the market and a little elbow grease are the safest way to go, always. I once worked in a custom gun shop, and the gunsmith there taught me to be very careful when it comes to polishing and polishing tools; he currently runs a custom gun shop of his own and knows his business well.
