How to clean a BP revolver

G

georgiacatweazle

New member
I'm just wondering how to clean a BP revolver after firing ?

I hear soapy water works.

I'm assuming you just don't dunk the whole pistol in the sink next to the bacon skillet. Do you just scrub down the inside of the barrel and remove the cylinder and soap it down, dry and re-assemble ?

Thanks
 
Personally I take a shoebox sized tub and fill it with hot hot hot water and dish soap. I take my gun completely apart. I drop everything except the stocks in to soak a bit then use a toothbrush to scrub every part and drop it into another tub of clear rinse water.

I clean the barrel and cylinders with a tight wad and jag. I rarely get leading but use a brush when I do.

I oil my fingers and handle all parts as I reassemble the gun and wipe down any excess.

I sometimes use compressed air to help dry the parts.

I've recently discovered Balistol and spray my guns down with it prior to going home from the range until I get to cleaning them. I can put off cleaning for a few days if need be.
 
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Hot, soapy water works best, but make very sure all the parts get dried immediately or they will flash rust. Compressed air or a hair dryer works well. The big trick is to get a fresh coat of gun oil on everything right away. My guns are completely disassembled, nipples included, during this step. For gun oil, I prefer Rem Oil but many like Ballistol and it has a proven track record, not to mention a.....well, distinctive odor:Dn If you don't want to use water, I've had very good results with Hoppes #9 PLUS black powder solvent (which is NOT the same as Hoppes #9 and can be hard to find at times). Get you an old toothbrush and go to town!
 
I suggest using your cell phone to video your disassembly so you feel confident of getting it back together.

After you do it 4 or 5 times you'll laugh at yourself for not feeling comfy about the process.

I rarely find any crud in the works with my guns but I feel better for doing it. When I shoot with conversions I don't take the gun all they apart. Only when I shoot it cap n ball mode.
 
I never do any of this stuff. I have been shooting black powder revolvers for over
50 years. I always clean at the range. I have expensive revolvers too. One is
a 900 dollar one. My oldest two are 45 years old. Never any rust. Takes me
about 10 min. Now all I shoot is Black Powder, I have never shot any subs
except Pryodex and that was back in 1971 and that was for about a hour. So
this information is only for Black Powder. First the residue is water soluable .
With any common sense at all that should tell you to use water to dissolve and
clean it. I just run a dripping wet patch thru the barrel and all the chambers.
I also wipe the frame and rest of it with a wet rag. I run wet Q- Tips in
everything I can. I do take out the nipples and wipe with wet Q-Tips. I then
Wipe dry everything spray with WD-40, and I'm done. About 10 min. I do this
at the range and I never bring a dirty gun home. No hot water, no soap, or any
magic cleaning agent. I really get a laugh out of the lengths some people go to
to do a very simple job. I know most won't agree on my way, but it had been
working for 50 years . I live in Missouri where it does get humid.

This revolver is about 20 years old. Only cleaned with water

ThePerfectOne.jpg


Another one water cleaned since 1974

RugerOA_filtered-1.jpg


This one has had the most use and I bought it when they first came out in 1972
All the blueing has worn off, but no rust .
ruugger-1_filtered.jpg
 
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Colts have a nasty habit of swallowing cap frags. Only way to get them out is with a complete disassembly. After a couple times you get to where you can do it in the dark. Not contesting your methods, if it works for you, great!
I can't sleep at night unless my guns are squeaky-clean inside AND out. Plus, having a thorough knowledge of the innards helps you understand just what is going on in there.
 
i have only been at this bp stuff for a few months. i got a ruger ss from 70's with some pitting in the barrel and around the frame in the cylinder area. when i took it down, the trigger, hand, hammer and inside the frame had some minor pitting. i use water to clean it, sometimes i pull it down, put the parts and angle the frame into my sonic cleaner, then the oven @ 170f. i have been using nufinish polish, which says it is not a wax but says it protects for months and does leave a wax like feel. tripple 7 wipes clean with a wet cloth.
 
When you think that they a really clean, spray them with a silicone spray like camp dry. Wait about 10 min and run a patch through them again. I did that with a .54 Renegade. Last patch was as clean coming out as it was going in. I did the hot water rinse and blew it dry with the air compressor. I figured I'd give it a quick coat of silicone as a rust preventative then wipe everything off before I put it away. I ran a patch down the bore and almost fell out of my chair. The patch came back like the gun had not been cleaned at all. It seams that silicone pulls carbon and rust out of the steel.
 
I'll do a complete disassembly every 5 outings or so.

Generally I remove the grips and the cylinder and do a dunk-and-shake in soapy hot water in the utility sink in my shop. I run patches and a brass brush down the barrel and into the cylinder chambers, and use a toothbrush to clean around the nipples and the back of the cylinder and around the barrel opening and other nooks and crannies. I use Q-tips for getting into places the toothbrush can't.

I rinse in scalding hot water and then I blast it dry with compressed air, paying close attention to the bolt, hand, and trigger openings to make sure the innards are dry.

I then rub the gun down with Ballistol. I use a spray can of Rem Oil with the draw nozzle to spray oil into the action through the bolt, hand, and trigger openings, as well as around the hammer opening and from inside the grip frame.

Takes about 15 minutes.

Steve
 
FWIW, I do a lot more 'playing' than shooting, so when I DO shoot I realize with the number of BP revolvers I have I most likely won't shoot the same one twice in the same year. I try to rotate them. This is a great motivator for a complete strip & dip each time I shoot one or more (usually 2-3 guns per range session)
 
The way of the future.



I shot my Colt Police on Saturday at our clubs first indoor shoot of 2014. One of the senior guys was singing the praises of Ballistol 'Robla' Black Powder Solvent spray and so I tried it as he specified.
I normally strip and clean my guns every time but he convinced me that Ballistol was the way of the future!
I took the barrel and cylinder off and scrubbed the frame and the nipples (still in place) with the solvent, I then swabbed the barrel and cylinder until clean patches came out. After final assembly I gave the whole gun a spray with the solvent and put it away. I swear it took almost as long as a full strip and it just didn't feel right?
On Sunday I couldn't bear it any longer and I stripped it down and cleaned it 'properly'.
There was an awful lot of fouling still inside the gun, around the back of the hammer and inside the loading lever port. Certainly enough to convince me that although Ballistol is indeed a good product, the 'way of the future'... it ain't!
 
Mine are gone. But, in the past, my method was to do a simply break down. Put the metal parts into a dish of soapy water and scrub the bore, wipe down everything else. Then rinse under hot water faucet. Place on rack in oven set at 125 degrees and let be for about one hour. Remove, lubricate and reassemble. Forty plus years, never a problem.
 
@Blind Pugh

I don't know what Ballistol "Robla" is, but the best black powder solvent is water, not any kind of oil.

That's why I use a mixture of 10 parts water to 1 part oil in a spray bottle. The oil I use is a water-soluble machinist oil similar to Ballistol, since I can't find Ballistol around me. Neither are petroleum-based which is what you want for BP.

Either way it makes a milky substance sometimes referred to as "moose milk".

The water neutralizes the black powder fouling. When you clean and wipe down the gun as normal and dry it, the water evaporates and leaves a thin film of oil behind.

Then I add some extra oil to the arbor and hammer for lubrication and I'm good to go.
 
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