cleaning your revolver ?

It's brake cleaner.
Brake cleaner will remove ALL the lube from your gun-even in places that you can't get to.
This is where WD 40 comes in handy, as it will get into those dry, inaccessible places and they will have some corrosion protection.
 
My dad used nothing but WD-40 on his guns for the last 20 years of his life. I got them after he died and they hadn't been cleaned in several years anyway. They weren't rusty, gummed up or anything else. They were dry and needed lube but that's all.
 
I suspect a few won't like my answers, but, since you asked:

1) Taking the side plate off a Smith & Wesson double action revolver is virtually never necessary for routine cleaning. There are very few paths for ingress of ordinary firing residue into the lockwork, and the lockwork is reasonable tolerant of "dirt" provided properly cleaned and lubed once (such as at the factory).

2) I have, in my years as a factory-trained armorer, been called upon to fix lots of untrained owner caused problems with Smith & Wesson double action revolvers. The overwhelming majority of them started with someone taking off the side plate who shouldn't have.

3) I counsel that one should never attempt to clean a Smith & Wesson double action revolver (and, probably, any firearm) by flooding it with sprayed solvent or lubricant. About as effective as the other form of "spray and pray."

4) I express no opinion about Colt double action revolvers.
 
Well slap my butt and call me Sally.

Just a couple of days ago I was messing about with a few old revolvers. Just messing around (playing really).

This nice old Colt Official Police was made in 1940. I picked it up a few years ago. I was messing about, and suddenly I couldn't open the cylinder. The action would work, but the cylinder latch (the part behind the cylinder) would not budge. Finally I took a screw driver and pried it back (yeah, you're never supposed to do that).

So to make a long story short, when I removed the side plate I discovered that the latch pin (the part in the center of the recoil plate that latches the cylinder in place) was frozen. It did not want to move. A small squirt of CLP on the pin and two seconds later I could move the pin. Old oil had hardened enough to jam the pin in place.

OfficialPolice01_zpsae06986a.jpg





I took the opportunity to degrease everything, including 75 or so years of fouling, and applied a light coating of Rem Oil to everything. Buttoned it back up and everything worked fine.

Today I was knocking over tin cans at the 25 yard berm with it. From a rest of course.
 
Yep remove the side plate and clean it out especially if you carry it all the time. Will it malfunction if you don't, prolly not but peace of mind is a big deal for me so I tear mine down now and then and get the sand that gets in thefe from the wind blowing out hefe in the desert and clothing fuzz from tucking it cleaned out from carrying my Smith 329PD as an EDC.
 
Sally's post reminded me of a very nice Colt Marshal I purchased some time ago. The action was a bit gritty so I took the side plate off and removed the guts (technical term). Whatever the previous owner used as a lube had dried and hardened and could be chipped out of the frame. Cleaned it all squeaky and it turned out to have the nicest DA I've seen on a Colt.
 
There are very few paths for ingress of ordinary firing residue into the lockwork...
Click to expand...
Except the hand and bolt "windows" in the frame. The greasy sludge from cast lead bullet "grease" type of lubes will ingress through those windows if one is a frequent shooter...unless that is not considered ordinary firing residue.
 
I have been eyeing a few used S&W revolvers (not the really old ugly ones) but after reading this thread I think I will stick to Ruger double actions. I was able to detail strip and rust blue a sweet old Security Six recently. There was no problem but I admit to getting Kuhnhausen's Shop Manual Vol. 1 before proceeding.

I can do a timing belt job on a Honda Prelude, do you think I can handle a S&W teardown with a proper shop manual ?
 
When I get a new or used revolver I remove the sideplate and everything inside is inspected, cleaned and lubricated. The shooters get the sideplates removed about every thousand rounds for cleaning and lube. I used WD 40 to clean and flush out the inside of revolvers and semi autos for decades without any problems. It was a reasonably priced cleaner and protector, but the price of it has really gone up over the years. Prefer other brands for lubrication.
 
Here is an excellent video on how to disassemble and reassemble a S&W revolver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyXs7QCu88

In the video, the host mentions that the first time he took his revolver apart, he found quite a bit of rust. I've had my revolver about a year and put many rounds through it. I think it is a good idea that I open it up and take a look at what is going on inside. That can't hurt, unless for some reason I can't put it back together again.
 
I have had a very bad experience with wd-40 turning the bluing on a python cloudy. I don't believe it should ever be used on an firearm with a finish, stainless maybe.
It is sold a a rust lifter and blueing is rust.

WRT taking a revolver apart, how can you not want to take your revolver apart to understand how it works? On smiths and Taurus you can remove a single screw to remove the cylinder. The cylinder is easy to disassembly and keeping the innards clean and lubricated is important for proper operation.

Watch a video on how to disassemble a revolver

I had a bedside 625 whose cylinder would barely turn. I had never taken it apart, I worried that it was a goner, I had never had the dis plate off or the cylinder removed. After removing the cylinder and flush it out with CLP it operates well. I recommend taking the side plate off once a year and blasting any crud out of the the trigger hammer group.

BTW you have to remove the side plate from a dan wesson to remove the cylinder/crane assembly.
 
I'm surprised so many people are saying to not remove the side plate. I would only say if you are not mechanically inclined to not do it. I have taken a number of guns apart to do trigger jobs because I once paid a smith to do one and I was not happy with his work. With the last one was just last week and all I did was use a Youtube video that Ruger put out. In a Dan Wesson it was good I opened it up to do the trigger because it was filthy with old thick oil full of dust and gunk.
I use WD 40 to flush out gunk in my revolvers every year or two and have never had a problem. I think it may also help get oil to tight spots when I oil the gun afterwards.
 
I've never had a problem with WD-40. It displaces moisture and lubricates, years and years I used in on my shotguns after duck hunting before placing gun back into the soft case. All I ever had it do was bleed into the walnut on the stock of a Marlin 336c. I will prevent surface rust from occuring on the bluing (yes bluing is a rust). When I arrived home I would properly clean the shotguns, but sometimes I would not do it immedately.
Also, every time I brought a rifle or shotgun that I had hunted in the rain with, I would flush out he whole firearm with WD-40, I've never, I'm 64, never had a problem with WD-40 on a firearm. Yes now there are better lubes for a gun but you'll be hard pressed to find on that with displace moisture like it does.
 
I have taken the sideplate off a Smith & Wesson revolver a couple of times. The first time, I chipped the sideplate because I didn't know what I was doing. It was years before I attempted that again, and I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs when I did it. No damage that time or the next because I had taken the time to learn how to do it.

What I found those times were more or less clean internals. So I put a couple drops of oil here and there, and put the sideplates back on. Now, I just spray them out with Gunscrubber, let it dry, then a few drops of oil here and there on the trigger, hammer, and any other opening I can find in the frame.

I will loosen the screw that holds the crane in and slip the crane and cylinder out on an old used gun. That way I have another place to spray Gunscrubber and I can clean and lube the cylinder.

Funny Tuck should mention WD-40 turning the finish on a Python cloudy. I bought a rather rough looking Python a few years back. After getting it outside I thought maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked inside. My wife wanted a cup of coffee so we stopped at a 7-11. While there I bought a can of WD-40 and a roll of paper towels. I sprayed the Python with the WD, and wiped it off with a paper towel (GASP). Surface rust, dirt, dried oil and general crud just rolled off that gun. I'm not going to tell you it looked like new, but it looked a "H" of a lot better after that than it did before. A few coats or Ren Wax after we got home and it looked even better.
 
Frier Tuck-
I can guarantee that WD 40 didn't turn your bluing cloudy.
Perhaps you THINK it did, but there is no way that's possible.

Re: sideplates
You guys leave the sideplates on Colts and S&Ws alone. The internals of these guns are not user-serviceable, and the factories recommend NOT removing the sideplates.
 
I use WD-40 on my black powder guns every time I clean them. It's not a very good lube but it is an excellent water displacer and it will definitely not harm bluing.
 
Have taken most of my S&W apart...

and clean the interios cavity, smoothed various oarts and interior surface and ended up with smooth trigger pulls and functioning sidearms.

Recently had to do my M60 after a coupe months of indoor shooting using 158gr LSWC's and Green Dot, and noticed that the cylinder was stiff to rotate.

No proble and spins like a top.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top