how shall I clean this, or any, older 32 S&W topbreak?

[old_yout]

I'm still waiting to receive my H&R topbreak in 32 S&W and I was suddenly thinking today as I was at the range that should the revolver be in firing condition, or even if not, I should give it a good cleaning before anything else. I asked one of the boys down at the range about the best way to do this and he suggested that if they didn't have any 32 brushes, I could use a nylon one for a .38. So I ended up buying one for the .38 and while using it to clean my weapon tonight I noticed that it's just as stiff as my brass brush.

So do you think the nylon brush will fit or should I search the other stores for another brush? Should I get a brush for a .32acp? Since I doubt they'll have one for an archaic caliber such as the 32 S&W.
Or would another size brush work better.

As for aesthetics, there are some rusty bits as seen in the picture. Is there anything I can do about those? I have a feeling that Brasso would be a bad idea. I have a similar feeling about Naval Jelly.
And, basically, anything else anyone would like to add about the cleaning of this weapon would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Alex Johnson]

The spots you see in the picture are more likely flaked off areas of nickel finish. Not a whole lot you can do about these, give it a good soaking in WD40, or a more gun accepted oil if you like (I've never had any problems with WD40 myself) and wipe it down. If it is tight and the bore is ok you may want to make a project gun of it. The H&R's aren't extrememly collectable in the condition that you show and there is nothing wrong with working on one. The nickle finish can be stripped by a reverse process, or you can simply polish it off as well. Good polishing is a lot of work, but worthwhile, there are good books out on metal preperation Doug Turnbull offers an excellent video on this. When it's done you could have the piece nickle plated once again and it would be a really pretty pistol.