Stainless revolver turning black...how much is normal?

condomboy said:
so it's abrasive enough to take blueing off of a steel gun but it's fine on a stainless gun? :onCrack:
Click to expand...

Do you have ANY idea of what you're talking about? Blueing is simply a process to improve the cosmetic appearance of and provide a measure of corrosion resistance to firearms. In fact, holster wear will remove hot bluing, rust or fume bluing over long periods of use; it will remove cold bluing over relatively short periods of use, from any wear areas that are "touched up" with cold bluing solutions.

Lastly, the Birchwood Casey cloth is not abrasive; it is chemically impregnated and it is the chemicals that affect the blueing. The chemicals have minimal effect on stainless steel except to clean it very well.
 
I used Flitz to remove some REALLY bad powder fouling in the cylinder flutes on my S&W 686. Needed a little rubbing but it came off with no problem and the SS was nice & shiny. Hard to beat it. Buy the economy size tube.
 
The Breeze said:
Get yourself one of these and along with some elbow grease, your GP100 will clean up real nice. Not as nice as a S&W but nice none-the-less. :D

sm_lead_remover_polishing_cloth.jpg
Click to expand...


This cloth is abrasive enough to polish steel. If you are careful it works well if you are not, it WILL polish the stainless, which means it removes metal. That is not a bad thing, you just have to be careful is all. In fact polishing stainless is often desired.

That gun is awful looking after 200 rounds. I would be trying new ammo in a hurry if it continues, then by all means check the chamber sizes.
 
I have to go with BCRider here. I shoot revolver all the time, and 95% of it would be cast and i've never seen fouling like that in 200 rounds...something wierd there.

And as stated, what the heck is it all doing at the back of the cylinder? Are the primers leaking? It should be the front half of the cylinder and frame that's black. I haven't shot wolf remanufactured in a year or so but i never remember it being that dirty.

Before you shot the revolver did you clean it with anything that might have flashed off and left residue? Anyways, she'll clean up fine, that's the joy of stainless.
 
just a side not - ussually the soot has small amounts of lead in it. Please wash you hands after touching the gun and before touching food or drink
safety first

BTW most of the soot may be coming from the lube on the lead bullets.
try a few jacketed rounds
 
The Breeze said:
Do you have ANY idea of what you're talking about? Blueing is simply a process to improve the cosmetic appearance of and provide a measure of corrosion resistance to firearms. In fact, holster wear will remove hot bluing, rust or fume bluing over long periods of use; it will remove cold bluing over relatively short periods of use, from any wear areas that are "touched up" with cold bluing solutions.

Lastly, the Birchwood Casey cloth is not abrasive; it is chemically impregnated and it is the chemicals that affect the blueing. The chemicals have minimal effect on stainless steel except to clean it very well.
Click to expand...

I have some idea of what I am talking about, I feel I am fairly analytical and able to understand cause and effect

From the #####wood Casey website product description "Cleans and polishes metal"

From Merriam Webster
Definition of POLISH
transitive verb
1: to make smooth and glossy usually by friction : burnish
2: to smooth, soften, or refine in manners or condition
3: to bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state : perfect
intransitive verb
: to become smooth or glossy by or as if by friction

You mention holster wear. Holster wear is the rubbing of leather or plastic over the metal which causes resistance / rubbing which in turn, over time is abrasive enough to remove the finish.

I do agree with you that blueing is a finish on top of the steel but I don't think that you realize that every finish has a thickness to it, protecting from corrosion and over time, if you rub it with anything for a long enough period of time that is more abrasive than the finish, the finish will wear away.

I am not saying that this cloth will ruin your gun with occasional use, what I am saying is that if you use any polish, it will remove a minute amount of metal each time it is used and if it will remove the thin film of blueing, then it will remove metal over time and on a stainless gun you will not see any removal as the colour doesn't change. You will just see the removal of any scratches as it is brining the rest of the gun down to the level of the scratches and/or removing part of the rest of the metal and filling in the scratches with that excess metal that was removed.
 
Jacketed ammo will leave less residue on your revolver. I never used any harsh chemicals on mine and it is still beautiful. Then again, I didn't shoot it that much. If you really wanted gorgeous SS, you should have bought a S&W :rolleyes:
007r-5.jpg
 
Gotcha on this Wolf being the Canadian reloaded stuff....

Sparq, from your description of how the cases look and how they fit and extract it doesn't sound like there is anything wrong. But it may be a case of a small amount of excess clearance being enough to let the gasses leak back to an excessive degree. Although your description of a finger of soot along the outside of the cases sounds fairly normal for .38Spl.

But with the far higher pressure of the .357Mag rounds you should not see anything of that sort or at most only a very minimal fouling stain on the sides of the cases. Normally my magnum cases come out spotless in any gun and despite the bullet choice as a result of this extra pressure providing an excellent and longer duration seal.

I have to admit to not owning a GP100 although I've shot one that used jacketed rounds on one occasion with .38Spl. So it may be that the geometry of the forcing cone and top strap sort of conducts the gases back along the gap between the cylinder and top strap and then it comes out around the upper recoil shield like the stains show. If this is the case then it would explain why you would feel a puff of gases when shooting the Magnum rounds.

I guess the trick is to wait for some fellow GP100 owners that shoot dirty ammo to confirm if this is the case or not. It may be one of those situations where it simply "is what it is".

Either way though that SURE IS DIRTY AMMO ! ! ! ! ! :D
 
condomboy said:
I have some idea of what I am talking about, I feel I am fairly analytical and able to understand cause and effect

From the #####wood Casey website product description "Cleans and polishes metal"

From Merriam Webster
Definition of POLISH
transitive verb
1: to make smooth and glossy usually by friction : burnish
2: to smooth, soften, or refine in manners or condition
3: to bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state : perfect
intransitive verb
: to become smooth or glossy by or as if by friction

You mention holster wear. Holster wear is the rubbing of leather or plastic over the metal which causes resistance / rubbing which in turn, over time is abrasive enough to remove the finish.

I do agree with you that blueing is a finish on top of the steel but I don't think that you realize that every finish has a thickness to it, protecting from corrosion and over time, if you rub it with anything for a long enough period of time that is more abrasive than the finish, the finish will wear away.

I am not saying that this cloth will ruin your gun with occasional use, what I am saying is that if you use any polish, it will remove a minute amount of metal each time it is used and if it will remove the thin film of blueing, then it will remove metal over time and on a stainless gun you will not see any removal as the colour doesn't change. You will just see the removal of any scratches as it is brining the rest of the gun down to the level of the scratches and/or removing part of the rest of the metal and filling in the scratches with that excess metal that was removed.
Click to expand...

Thankyou for the very well put explanation of what this cloth can and will do after time if one is not careful with it. I think it should only be used for cleaning the bore but that is just my two cents worth.

I think there is something really wrong with that gun. I owned and used a stainless GP100 for some time and no matter what kind of ammo I shoot in it, it never did that. I also own at least 6 smiths in that caliber and I have never experienced anything like this with my guns and some of them see a lot of use.

Graydog
 
Lots for me to think about in here, thanks for the insight everybody ( well, almost everybody ;) )

I think based on this I'll have to do it in reverse next time I shoot - start with some jacketed .357, then the factory jacketed .38, then the Wolf and see if there's an obvious point at which it starts getting dirty. Also pay a bit more attention to how much smoke each ammunition type is generating, maybe get some photographic evidence of the spent cases as well. Working on the idea that maybe the chambers are out of spec, would your everyday household digital caliper be accurate enough to check that, or would I need a specialised tool or a gunsmith for that?

Armpegor, you bring up some good points there, I hadn't thought of the lube on the bullet itself. The only thing on the gun when I started shooting was a light coating of Remington oil from the last time I cleaned it (only fired a few rounds then, so didn't really get that dirty).

On an unrelated note, I also noticed that I'm a terrible shot and will need a ton of practice. I've got a GSG .22 as well, but I suspect doing the majority of my initial learning with a long, heavy DA trigger pull may be of benefit in the long run...

And to all you Smith guys, pipe down, I'll get one eventually :p
 
sparq said:
Lots for me to think about in here, thanks for the insight everybody ( well, almost everybody ;) )

I think based on this I'll have to do it in reverse next time I shoot - start with some jacketed .357, then the factory jacketed .38, then the Wolf and see if there's an obvious point at which it starts getting dirty. Also pay a bit more attention to how much smoke each ammunition type is generating, maybe get some photographic evidence of the spent cases as well. Working on the idea that maybe the chambers are out of spec, would your everyday household digital caliper be accurate enough to check that, or would I need a specialised tool or a gunsmith for that?

Armpegor, you bring up some good points there, I hadn't thought of the lube on the bullet itself. The only thing on the gun when I started shooting was a light coating of Remington oil from the last time I cleaned it (only fired a few rounds then, so didn't really get that dirty).

On an unrelated note, I also noticed that I'm a terrible shot and will need a ton of practice. I've got a GSG .22 as well, but I suspect doing the majority of my initial learning with a long, heavy DA trigger pull may be of benefit in the long run...

And to all you Smith guys, pipe down, I'll get one eventually :p
Click to expand...

Just so you know, a friend i compete with is shooting a blued GP100 and gets nothing like that amount of fouling, and certainly not that far back on the frame, with cast bullets exclusively.
 
Um, invest in a box or two of jacketed ammo and start with that from a clean gun. Then move on to the others you mentioned. Or if I missed that one of them IS jacketed then start with that.

There's no doubt that cast lead loads throw out a LOT of lube and even lead debris. If the gun shoots clean, or close to it, with jacketed and you find it gets filthy only after going back to the cast stuff it shows that it's mostly due to the cast rounds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom