stupid question about revolver cleaning

[fishead]

Last night I was cleaning my 686 and my 14 year old son asked why I clean my guns after shooting them and what would happen if I did not clean them. I could not give him a complete answer. I have always kept all of my mechanical devices clean so I don't know what would happen if somebody continued to shoot a revolver without cleaning the gun. Other than the finish of the gun what would be the end result of continuing to shoot a revolver without cleaning it ?
thanks

 

[Hapworth]

For a while, nothing -- you'd likely be fine. Lots of guys go several sessions or more before cleaning.

However, build up of fouling, lead, copper, etc. can eventually lead to binding, loss of accuracy, premature wear, corrosion, erosion, pitting and more.

Basic cleaning after shooting is advised, and the occasional inspection and wipe down if the revolver is stored.

 

[KLYDE]

Many a gun will shoot hundreds (possibly thousands) of rounds without cleaning issues. My main concern is corrosion. A dirty gun will attract moisture and begin to rust much quicker. I just cannot put a dirty gun up. At minimum I swab the barrel and chambers and wipe down with an oily cloth until a proper cleaning can be done.

 

[robertrwalsh]

The above two covered it very well, as long as you are not shooting corrosive ammunition, and these is almost zero corrosive revolver ammo out there in the world now.

 

[fishead]

thank you for your help. I used to be able to give my son a generic answer like " cleaning anything makes it work better and last longer " but he now wants details- I think he will be an engineer.
thanks again for your input

 

[Gunhacker]

I once bought a used 629-3 that was so difficult to cycle in DA mode that I thought sure that there was a mechanical issue with it, and negotiated a lower price.

But after getting it home, a closer inspection found that it looked as if it had never been cleaned in it's life time... the space between the barrel extension and the underside of the frame top strap (as well as other nooks and crannies) was a solid block of caked powder residue.

A complete disassembly and an overnight soaking in full strength Simple Green resulted in a gun that was almost new again in appearance and performance. Simple Green has become my "go to" cleaner for all of my stainless guns.. but I won't risk using it on the blued ones.

 

[Nemo288]

I have had sticky extraction in revolvers where the schmutz builds up
at the front of the chambers right before the throat ramp.
This seems to be the toughest crud I encounter and I use a bronze brush
chucked in a drill to clean it.

Which brings up a point I still haven't learned the complete answer to:
Can I use the bronze brush method in a titanium cylinder?
S&W hasn't gotten back to me on this and opinions vary in here.
The plastic brush isn't getting the "ring around the collar" out very well.

Thanks for any and all replies!

===
Nemo

 

[KLYDE]

Once the protective coating is breeched on the Ti cylinder it will ignite and throw a spark show with evey round fired. I would never use a bronze brush. IMO the Ti guns are meant to be carried a lot and fired little.

 

[Jlduke]

If you're shooting 38's it will make it tough to load .357's because of the rings in the cylinder.

 

[linde]

. . . Other than the finish of the gun what would be the end result of continuing to shoot a revolver without cleaning it?

For a while, nothing -- you'd likely be fine. Lots of guys go several sessions or more before cleaning.

However, build up of fouling, lead, copper, etc. can eventually lead to binding, loss of accuracy, premature wear, corrosion, erosion, pitting and more.

Basic cleaning after shooting is advised, and the occasional inspection and wipe down if the revolver is stored.

I would only add to Hapworth's answer that the extent of damage that can occur depends a lot on how the uncleaned gun is stored between sessions. Keep it dry for sure.

Russ

 

[chief38]

Basic common sense tells me the more rounds you shoot and the longer you go without cleaning, the more difficult it will be to clean it when you do get to it. I would think that there would also be a degradation of accuracy at some point. Me..... I clean every gun after each use. A normal routine cleaning takes me about 45 minutes per gun. I know that when I am on vacation and shoot my guns hundreds and hundreds of rounds they are a whole lot dirtier and take me longer to clean than the normal Range session cleaning does. Plus........ ya gotta look good they might be taking pictures!