How to clean a burnt revolver

[ISCS Yoda]

As many of you know, I had a house fire in 2018. Most of my firearms survived thanks to a Browning Pro-Steel gun safe. One nickel-plated Model 10, my living room self-defense gun, did not fare so well due to being hidden in a wooden cabinet. Anyway, I forgot about it until the other day, when I was going through boxes, and there it was. I don't want to shoot it, that would be an error, but it's covered in ashes, the stocks are burned, there's a lot of junk stuck to it.

What solvent can I just drop it into that will clean off the gunk?

Many years ago, I had a Walther Model 1 25 ACP pistol given to me that was completely covered in boat deck paint. I dropped it into a bucket of something and it eventually came clean and became a pretty nice piece. What that solvent was I cannot recall; thus, this inquiry.

 

[silicosys4]

if it got hot enough to burn off the stocks, it has ruined the heat treatment on the barrel/cylinder and is no longer safe to shoot. It also has ruined the springs and most of the internals. You could conceivably replace the barrel and cylinder, then all the guts, but that is a lot of expense to save a gun that realistically isn't worth what you'd have to put into it to bring it back to shootable condition.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

As I noted, "I don't want to shoot it, that would be an error", but I want to clean it up to put on a shelf. I have no intentions of trying to have it fixed - I was surprised that the ammunition didn't cook off, but the six cartridges were intact.

Like this:



I might even have it powder-coated like the green F&H pocket pistol. Now that it has occurred to me, that is EXACTLY what I am going to do to it. Suggestions for cleaning it are still solicited but I'm fixing to call Ace Powder Coating to see what he thinks. Yep; definitely gonna do that, maybe green, maybe MAGA red.....

 

[Autonomous]

To see if the bluing is not destroyed I'd suggest some sort of oil or kerosine and bronze wool or all copper Chore Boy scrubbers.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

It's nickel-plated.....

I just want the gunk off it and as soon as I speak to Ace I'll decide.

 

[kev74]

Hoppies and a brass bristle brush.

Or WD-40 and a brass brush.

 

[biku324]

^^^^This. I used a variation of this, Hoppe's #9 and stiff toothbrushes, to clean two generations of rust, barn dirt, powder residue, some of which was sunburned on (through a barn window) from a W. Richards 12 gauge sxs and a Stevens-Maynard Jr with good results.

Hoppies and a brass bristle brush.

Or WD-40 and a brass brush.

 

[Greyman50]

Kroil.