Cleaning Stainless

B

BarryLee

New member
So, what is the best way to clean a stainless steel gun? I do not want to polish it to a high gloss nor do I need to remove rust or scratches just basic cleaning.
 
My wife uses this little bottle of stainless cleaner on our fridge and appliances that works great. I don't know if she got it at home depot or the grocery store. :confused:
 
I use regular bore cleaners like Hoppes for the bore and lead removal cloths and brushes for the cylinders on my stainless steel revolvers. For the exterior I use Simple Green Stainless Steel Cleaner lightly sprayed on a cloth and it works great. After cleaning I wipe them down with a lightly oiled cloth. The Simple Green Stainless Steel cleaner I discovered worked better than anything else I had tried. I saw my wife using it one day on our faucets. After she put it away, I tried it. I've been using it now for three years.
 
I use lead remover cloth ( on cyclinder faces on revolvers ) - and a "Shooter's Choice spray solvent" on everything. On semi-autos - I just use the solvent.....and finish up with a little CLP as lube and thru the barrels.
 
Mothers Mag polish, applied in small doses then GENTLY buffed with a cotton rag will clean and remove lite scratches without leaving a high polish. If you want a high polish apply second or third coat of mothers and buff harder. Remember to replace your wipe rag often.
 
i do not have any stainless autos. i do have a 5" S&W 629 classic, a .44 mag. i used to have fits getting the cylinder face and flutes clean. i tried a 3M scotch brite, works great. the rest of the gun, i clean normally.
 
Just keep in mind it is stain-less, NOT stain-none.

There are also chemicals that can easily cause corrosion (like chloride, from sodium chloride).
 
Shooter's Choice / Hoppes' No. 9 for general cleaning, Eezox for a 'finishing touch', CLP for moving parts. Nowhere is it written that it's got to be just one product or another; IMHO combining a few different ones works much better as different cleaners are slightly better at different things.

Treat a stainless gun as if it were a blued gun, and you will not ever have a problem.
 
I don't baby any of my stainless guns and not one of them has any discoloration from lack of cleaning or using some "non-approved" cleaning fluid. The biggest problem with stainless is scuffs & scratches.
 
CLP for a quick cleaning/upkeep. Simple green for "deeper" cleaning. Simple green works great, but you need to get it off and oil it after.

Pink erasers work to remove carbon from cylinder faces, although it's a whole lot of work if you're going to shoot the gun again (I got that one from a Ruger forum and it works for me). I worry about using abrasives on cylinder faces or forcing cones.
 
I've never heard of the pencil eraser idea. It sounds kind of logical and definitely safe. May give it try on my polished Vaquero or Matte 1911.

Quick questions to clarify.

You are talking about just the ordinary synthetic rubber school erasers, right?
Do you normally use them on matte or polished stainless?
How well does it work on removing soot from the front of a revolver cylinder?


-EdInk


OT: I was at a Kinko's about two months ago and saw they now make eraseable HIGHLIGHTER pens. It actually worked very well. (Unlike eraseable pens which both write and erase poorly.) I don't know if they still erase well after the ink has gotten old BUT it worked perfectly at the store. Anyone with children that likes to highlight in books, would probably really like it.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize if these aren't a relatively new product. I don't browse for office supplies on a regular basis. Anyone else seen them?
 
Hey Ed - I've done this with the parallelogram shaped erasers and the pink nub erasers on the backs of pencils around the house. They are old pencils, I don't know if it makes a difference.

My experience is that they will take off any soot and surface carbon deposits, but the deep burned-in ring I've never worked on long enough to decide if they'll take them off. Never done it on a mirror polished gun, but my experience with metals is that anything with a high finish will usually clean up easier than a matte one.

Hope that helps.
 
Erasers are pretty abrasive. Besides wearing your gun, the residue can find it's way into actions easily-where it will crunch and screw up your internals. It will be very difficult to remove.
 
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