yes I was thinking the same thing, there would be a lot of moisture in and around all the springs and such. I guess you could throw it in the oven for a few minutes...
Anyway mine don't seem to get that buildup.
Cleaning the front of a stainless revolver cylinder
- Thread starter ranbur
- Start date
Anyway mine don't seem to get that buildup.
Being essentially lazy, the dishwasher idea appeals to me as definitely worth a try. To stay out of trouble on the 'domestic front', a couple of suggestions:
1. Do it when the wife won't be home for an hour or two.
2. Don't tell her you did it.
I'd put it in by itself, not with the dinner dishes.
Set it in vertically with a chamber dropped onto one of the racks' vertical rods.
I'll try the dishwasher soap first, on 'small load'. If that doesn't work, do it again on the 'pots and pans' cycle. I would NOT put any solvent in there!
BTW-- When I was in the Army we used to do an annual cleaning by dunking the metal bits into a barrel of boiling water with a cake of that
caustic yellow soap we used in the mess hall. That method really worked!
I've been using a 12" length of 1"x4" with a strip of terrycloth wrapped round one end and stapled on (to the back side, doh) and a strip of the finest emery-cloth on the other end. I then take the cylinder a rub it, first onto the emery w/ some solvent, then on the terry for finishing with with a drop of oil. That works on the flats, but does not get into the fiddly bits.
You can use the power tooth brush for the rest. I tried that method for a few weeks, until my teeth began to turn black....
BTW-- We're all talking about cleaning our stainless cylinders, eh?
Don't we care about our blued cylinder faces? Or is it that we just don't notice the carbon build-up on the darker-complected cylinders? If all that carbon on the faces is harmful, then equal attention should be payed to the blued guns, but if all that gunge is purely cosmetic, then (ach!) why all the fuss?? I'd prefer to let my revolvers look 'well-used'.
I'm thinking of just letting mine go now, for about a year, then do the boiling water method. Yeah, all that scrubbing by hand every time I shoot my revolvers is just too time-consuming, eh?
Make a video plz...
(this is going to be awesome! Reminiscent of Shawn's eating pork canned in the 70's {he lived btw})
- Location
- Vancouver Island
No, no, no, no, NO--Just the CYLINDER...
Aaack, NO, I didn't mean toss the entire gun into the dishwasher, JUST THE CYLINDER!
Obviously I didn't 'de-obfuscate' enough the first time... q;^)
BTW--We have cleaned old cosmoline off many milsurps (sans wood) using the dishwasher
(WARNING See domestic guidelines in my earlier post!).
And yes, +Can44, as I said in my conclusion, my current plan *for 2016* is to not obsess over my cylinder faces again until 2017.
Aaack, NO, I didn't mean toss the entire gun into the dishwasher, JUST THE CYLINDER!
Obviously I didn't 'de-obfuscate' enough the first time... q;^)
BTW--We have cleaned old cosmoline off many milsurps (sans wood) using the dishwasher
(WARNING See domestic guidelines in my earlier post!).
And yes, +Can44, as I said in my conclusion, my current plan *for 2016* is to not obsess over my cylinder faces again until 2017.
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Show's over.
Er, IDK what you'd like to see in a video--some footage of an old guy loading the dishwasher?
Seems like I do that at least twice a day. No, all's I'd be doing is placing some cylinders in
(or maybe just one), adding the soap, slamming the door, turning the knob... then unloading it after all the noise stops.
BTW-- To the Q re the moisture on the springs, etc-- Should you decide to go 'whole hog' then it's best if you take the parts out ASAP, e.g. when they're still very hot. Those HOT parts will dry on the towel all by themselves. If you have any doubts, just spray on some WD-40 to displace any water molecules hiding in the crevices. Later on I'd spray on some lite gun oil. That's it.
Make a video plz...
Er, IDK what you'd like to see in a video--some footage of an old guy loading the dishwasher?
Seems like I do that at least twice a day. No, all's I'd be doing is placing some cylinders in
(or maybe just one), adding the soap, slamming the door, turning the knob... then unloading it after all the noise stops.
BTW-- To the Q re the moisture on the springs, etc-- Should you decide to go 'whole hog' then it's best if you take the parts out ASAP, e.g. when they're still very hot. Those HOT parts will dry on the towel all by themselves. If you have any doubts, just spray on some WD-40 to displace any water molecules hiding in the crevices. Later on I'd spray on some lite gun oil. That's it.
- Location
- West Quebec
Good descision it will be the end of the problem other than you have to do it after every shooting event it gets a little compulsive if you know what I mean
Well, I bought a decent cleaner solution and wax from Reliable that I haven't tried yet, but it requires pulling the cylinder off. Though I completely strip each of my guns after buying them, it takes time that I don't always have to do that after every range trip; I am not concerned about a little blackness, looks are far less important over function for me.
Good decision indeed! The cloths finally showed up in the mail, so I thought I would try them on my SP101 cylinder. I have never tried to clean the front of the cylinder other than a quick wipe and I got the gun with the front all black. Not even ten minutes of wiping with the cloth and it looks new again. I'm impressed.
A little out of focus but you can see how black the cylinder face was before cleaning:
And then after using the Birchwood Casey lead cloth for under ten minutes:
Zedbra you may find it easier and your cloth will last longer if you cut small pieces off of the cloth to use to clean the cylinders. I just find the cloth easier to work with and it will last longer. I cut to 3/4" x 1.5" at a time.
Take Care
Bob
Take Care
Bob
Last edited:
- Location
- West Quebec
Good tip I do the same as you can use the cloth up real fast if you don't... I cut little strips around an inch and move it around on a wooden stick to get in tight places and the flip it over when it gets dirty
Thanks for the tip. I was in a hurry to try to finish before dinner so I just grabbed one of the cloths and got in there. I will cut it into strips now. The bag says even when discoloured they still work - how many uses do you find you can get out of the cloth (even when blackended)?
One and done. They get filthy quick. I only use the cloth on the cylinder faces of my revolvers.
Bob
Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I clean the bulk of the crap on the front of the cylinder with nitro solvent. I then use a product called Weimann Glass cook top cleaner applied to a small patch & rub it on the surface to be cleaned. This stuff is very inexpensive & does a great job. Initially I thought if it can remove encrusted carbon deposits on a range top it must be able to work well on guns, it does.
A word of caution, I have only used this on stainless steel, I don't know but suspect it would remove bluing.
A word of caution, I have only used this on stainless steel, I don't know but suspect it would remove bluing.
- Location
- West Quebec
I bought the Weimann Glass cook a year ago from a recomendation on CGN put it away and then forgot completely what it was for .. thanks for the reminder
How many lemons at your place?
