What do you use to soak a gummed up revolver

[GaryinOKC]

I saved up some more $$$ and went by the local estate dealer. Bought about 7 more. Included in the bunch are 2 mid 60's Colts. A detective and a nice Police Positive 32 Colt NP (32 Long) with SW J sights and a custom ramp front like on the 31-1 I bought from him last time. Both are non functional due to setting with heavy oil until it solidified. I bought several S&Ws from him a few weeks ago. Several were in the same condition. I would estimate these have not seen the light of day in 20+ years. I can take a SW apart but don't like Colts. My son has a sonic cleaner and I thought I may take the grips off and give them a long soak. Any suggestions on a blue friendly solution??

 

[serger]

Use mineral spirits. Pull the grips first.

 

[Univibe]

First, remove the grips.

Second, get a can of either Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber ($10) or non-chlorinated brake cleaner ($2.50, same stuff).

Third, make sure you're outdoors, wearing eye protection, and preferably, also rubber gloves.

Fourth, spray the gun with the little plastic pipe. Use plenty of the stuff to loosen congealed oil and flush out dooke.

Fifth, blast the remains out with compressed air.

Let 'er sit a little while, to make sure all the brake cleaner evaporates. Lube very sparingly with CLP. Replace Grips. Go Shoot.

 

[chief38]

Disassemble, get some Hoppes No.9 (the original) and soak, clean (use a Bronze brush or an old tooth brush or similar) and dry off. Hoppes #9 will NOT harm your old Dick Special and it will highly effectively clean it out. After it's all dry, lightly lubricate and reassemble. I'd recommend using a thin viscosity Oil such as Remoil or Rig #2. I don't care for thicker oils inside a Revolver - as they do have a tendency to gum up and attract debris.

Hoppes #9 (the original formula) is what I always use to thoroughly clean a new to me vintage firearm. It's usually only harmful to new finishes and possibly Polymers, not to the older guns. While the consensus is you should not use it on Nickel plated guns, I have in the past with no ill effects. Of course that was before I knew the possibility of damaging the Nickel, but I've used it a gazillion times and never had one problem. Not recommending it for Nickel, just saying.....

 

[2152hq]

Mineral Spirits or Lacquer Thinner. Not very Green but they work well and not too dangerous.

Find a can or container w/a tight fitting lid, place the parts inside and fill with the chosen liquid then cap it. The more parts inside, the less liquid you'll need.
No lid for the container?,,just cover with alum foil and snap a rubber band around it does just as well.
Let it set for a few days, you can swirl it around once in a while to help it along.

If it's just hardened oil and other lube, it'll disolve in either of these with no problem.
You'll still probably have to clean the surfaces and crevices of the parts afterwards but they will come clean pretty easy. A soft wire wheel helps with that.

 

[diyj98]

I've used mineral spirits or Ed's Red with pretty good results. When I needed a large volume of solvent like for an old rifle, I've had good luck with diesel fuel. It does a pretty good job of loosening up old dried grease and gunk.

 

[F75gunslinger]

I have had good luck with a mixture of acetone and transmission fluid ( be sure that neither gun has a plastic front site insert, acetone and some plastics don't play well together ).

 

[kbm6893]

Fully disassemble and a week bath in automatic transmission fluid. Grips off of course. It grips are funky take them off and overnight in acetone to strip them and then a few coats of boiled linseed oil. They’ll look great.

 

[GaryinOKC]

Eds Red

Your response reminded me that my partner had mixed me a jar of home brew a couple years ago. He uses it when shooting BPCR single shots. I texted him and asked if it was Eds Red and he said it was. I used a dropper to put a drop at every pivot point. Let it set and repeat. 3rd drop was like magic. Chased it with some gun oil. Good as new. Thanks for all the help guys.

I've used mineral spirits or Ed's Red with pretty good results. When I needed a large volume of solvent like for an old rifle, I've had good luck with diesel fuel. It does a pretty good job of loosening up old dried grease and gunk.

 

[GaryinOKC]

grips

The grips need an overnight in acetone. That may be next.

Fully disassemble and a week bath in automatic transmission fluid. Grips off of course. It grips are funky take them off and overnight in acetone to strip them and then a few coats of boiled linseed oil. They’ll look great.

 

[RMFnLA]

I start with a screwdriver and take it apart.

Colts are no more complicated than Smiths; dig around on Youtube and you will find a video that makes sense to you.

Simple soaking just isn't enough.

 

[JayFramer]

Odorless mineral’s spirits.

 

[andy52]

I keep a gallon of "Ed's Red" mixed just for that purpose, remove the stocks put into container and let soak for a couple of days.

 

[dfariswheel]

If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, that's as good as it gets and you need to do no disassembly.
If a US cleaner can clean tiny watch assemblies without disassembly, comparatively huge guns are easily done.

I suggest buying a gallon of cheap paint thinner.
Do this carefully since it is moderately flammable but not explosively so like lacquer thinner or Acetone.

Fill the ultrasonic tank, turn it on and let it run a while until the solution starts to heat up.
Warm solution cleans better.
If the tank has a heater use it, but don't get it too hot and risk a flash fire.
Allowing the tank to run also forces out air in the solution.
You can speed it up by putting the paint thinner in a sink of hot water to pre-warm it.

After the solution is warm put the gun in, using wire to hang them so they're not touching the bottom or sides of the tank. US works better with parts suspended in the solution.

Run about 20 minutes of so, then remove from the tank and flush by putting clean thinner in a pan or whatever you have that will allow submerging the gun and swishing it around.
While you can rinse by putting fresh thinner in the US tank and running it, this is not necessary since just flushing it works just as well.

Remove and shake or blow as dry as possible, then use a hair dryer to warm the parts until they are completely dry. This will take longer to get the cylinder assembly totally dry.
(NOTE: Hair dryer....NOT heat gun or torch).

Once completely dry spray thoroughly inside and out with a spray lubricant.
Operate the action and ejector to distribute the lube.
Shake or blow with compressed air to remove the excess, and it's done.

You can also do a good job with water and a liquid soap cleaner.
Be careful with the strong cleaners like Simply Green and others because most of them WILL attack aluminum and anodized parts and can ruin a part fast.
This will work well on normal fouling but not really well on rust.
After cleaning, swish in a sink of hot water and shake-blow dry, then use the hair dryer.
You can also use a water displacer like WD-40, then blow dry.

Note that ultrasonic cleaning will do little for leading and nothing for copper fouling unless the cleaning solution will attack copper.
Usually you'll still need to use a rod and brush to clean the bore and chambers, then use the ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[steelslaver]

A long soak in Ed"s Red will loosen up most gunk. I have also used the take the stocks off and spray the **** out of it with carb or brake cleaner while working it. But, sometimes it takes time. Sometimes it really takes disassembly. Eds Red works better if warm.

When you soak something really nasty you can salvage the solution by stuffing some gauze in a funnel and slowly pouring it through that.

 

[Pisgah]

The very best cleaning system for gunked-up revolvers in 50 years of messing with them -- a large pot of boiling water with a healthy dollop of Dawn dish detergent in it. Take off the grips, remove the side plate, immerse the gun and simmer. If the gunk is really bad, give it 30-45 minutes. Rinse with clear boiling water and oil immediately.

Not a joke -- it works like a charm!