Black marks on cylinder

B

bspillman

New member
I bought a used Taurus stainless m85. It's dirty to say the least. How can I get the burnt powder residue off the barrel side of the cylinder? What can anyone recommend?
 
Just as a thought- there's no reason to remove those entirely, except for cosmetics.
You can clean as normal, get what comes off, off, and go on with life.
They will immediately come back next time you shoot the gun.
Denis
 
My approach has always been the same DPris. It is just cosmetic, and a detailed cleaning is only good until the next trip to the range. Maybe worth the time if selling or trading is the goal, otherwise not so much.
 
Semi-Chrome Polish. At Motorcycle shops. it will make it shiny if satin finish. Not a big deal to not clean it.
 
Howdy

I will give you the standard answer I always give to this question.

Once you have enough revolvers you will stop worrying about the carbon rings on the face of the cylinder.
 
I used to be almost fanatical about cleaning my guns, but I finally decided it was too much work and a waste of time to be worrying about getting them spotless only to get dirty again as soon as I fired a shot. When I had my S&W 66, the front of the cylinder was pretty rough, and a magnet for carbon, so I polished it with some kind of polish I had sitting in my garage and a dremel with a cloth bonnet on it and after that, it was easy to basically wipe off. Eventually, because I carried it for work, it had shiny spots all over it from holstering, so I polished the whole thing. I sold it at a nice profit after a couple of years. The shiny look mesmerized the guy who bought it.
 
Start with a good general cleaning, followed up by a wipe down with a lead-away cloth. Finish with a thin coat of wax, this will make cleanup easier the next time.
 
Having used Lead Away to clean carbon stains on s/s guns for years, I certainly agree with Steve in Pa, dahermit and old bear. Just be sure you don't use the stuff on blued firearms.
 
Be aware that Lead Away, Simichrome, Flitz, Mother's, etc. are ALL abrasive.
Each time you use them, you are actually removing a minute amount of metal from the front of your cylinder.
How much you remove depends on the abrasive, pressure, and frequency of use.
 
That may be true, but in 20+ years of using the Lead Away Cloth I have never had any steel removed. On the cylinder, there is a little mark near on the front near the opening. In the cleaned cylinder, you can make out the mark across the chamber opening from where my index finger is. It's between the chamber and the center hole.

That mark has been there since I bought the gun. Who knows how many times I've cleaned the front of that cylinder in 20+ years of using the cloth. The mark is still there.
 
I have three old shotguns from the 40s and one from 1950 that had long been neglected by whoever had them before I acquired them. I went to my garage to get my Simichrome I use on motorcycles but could not find it. I found a chrome cleaner and rust removed made by Turtle Wax that I got 15 or 20 years ago but had forgotten about. It worked very nicely to clean the stains on both the metal and wood on the old shotguns without leaving any marks or removing the patina. The old guns look much better now without obvious signs that they have ever been dirty. It might have been fortunate that I couldn's find m Simichrome.

I cleaned them up trying to decide whether or not to buy a new one. They look pretty good but I went out and bought me a new one anyway. My justification that even though I've had shotguns since I was a teenager, I wanted one new one before I turn 70 next year.
 
The gun cleaning mania shows an underlying disconnect with, and fear of, the elements of fire and brimstone that are the physical and spiritual basis of the non-socially subjugated animus of the firearm.
 
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