Stainless Issues

H

Hunley

New member
This may need to be in "Smithy", but since it involves two hand guns I'm posting here.

I have two stainless guns that I love to death, but need some advice on their care.

#1. The first is a 4" S&W 66-2 that belonged to my father. Unfortunately, he carried it in his car all the time in between the bucket seats of his fan on long road trips. Since he both smoked and liked to drink Cokes while driving down the highway, the inevitable happened. I spent a good bit of time following his death simply cleaning the old girl. There are a couple of areas on the underside of the tip of the barrel that appear to have pitting. I can't scrub it off with Hoppes, RemOil, or anything else. What can I use to buff it out?

There are also some "stains" or some sort of residue that has hardened on the outside in a couple of spots. What can get this out?

And what about that black buildup on the cylinder from a negligent owner not properly cleaning their gun? I can't get the crap to come off with Hoppes and a brass brush. I even tried steel wool to no avail.

#2. I have a Springfield Amory GI Model in Stainless. While it has not stains or pitting, it does have a clumsy owner who has trouble with the slide stop on occasion. What can I do about scratches in the finish?
 
I can't help you with the mark on the 1911. Others will, it is one of the more well-know "ah darn" events with handgun shooters. At least American shooters, being as that design is almost a requirement for citizenship. Or ought to be :cool:

For the front of an SS cylinder, you can use a chemical covered cloth sold for removing lead. One brand is called Lead Away or Leadaway. It will remove most of the carbon buildup without too much elbow grease needed. That much I know.

But I am told that it can remove the bluing from blued guns. So I strongly recommend keeping blued guns away from the area where you are using the cloth, and to wash your hands after using it. I'd recommend that even if blued guns weren't in danger.

Bart Noir
 
Some of the black buildup on the front of the cylinder isn't really buildup. Around each cylinder opening at the front of the cylinder will be a black stain ring surrounding the opening. That circular stain is not really buildup and while it can be removed with a mild abrasive like Flitz polish or a LeadAway cloth or by scrubbing with a metal brush, it's probably best to leave it alone.

Light pitting or scratches can be removed by careful polishing or by sand-blasting/bead-blasting depending on the final finish desired. I wouldn't start learning to polish metal by practicing on a gun I cared anything about.
 
I take the black rings off my stainless guns every time I clean. It's simple and not a hazard to the stainless surface. Just smear a little J & B bore cleaning compound on the cylinder face. It's a very mild abrasive that's designed to cut through carbon deposits (that's what those black stains are) on steel surfaces without marring the steel. Then, brush briskly with a bronze toothbrush that's been saturated in a good gun solvent like Birchfield Casey Gun Scrubber. Depending on how much buildup there is it might take a couple of minutes of vigorous scrubbing to remove the stains. It will take you much less time after subsequent trips to the range. NONE of what I've just told you should ever be attempted with a blued gun. My stainless cleaning method will take the blued surface right off.

I've been told that you also can pull the black stains off with a rubber pencil eraser. I've never tried that, but it sounds reasonable because pencil marks are carbon, too. If you attempt that, get one of those big erasers that they sell at Office Depot. They cost about a buck each. I don't know whether that would work on a blued surface or not but I'm not willing to experiment with it on a blued gun.

There are special stain removing cloths that are made just for blued guns. Several of the distributors like Cabela's carry them.
 
My stainless cleaning method will take the blued surface right off.
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That's because you're using an abrasive. Any methods that will remove the carbon stains on the front of the cylinder are abrasive--they remove a small amount of the metal from the front of the cylinder and take the stains with it.

It's a TINY amount of metal being removed, but the fact remains that it is removing metal.

Unless you're taking a picture or getting ready to sell it, it's probably better to clean a revolver with normal cleaning methods and forget about the carbon stains on the front of the cylinder.
 
I remember using a product called Simichrome. Don't know if it's still available but it worked great. Kinda like jeweler's rouge for guns. On stainless, if you polish long enough you'll get a shine like silver - not what you want for a satin finish though.

For nickel, be very gentle and patient.

You can apply it by hand or use a tiny amount with a Dremel tool.
 
I beg to differ but brushing the cylinder face of a stainless gun with a bronze brush will not abrade the stainless surface any more than brushing the inside of a barrel with a bronze bore brush will abrade the barrel interior. Bronze is softer than steel and bronze brushes were made specifically for cleaning stainless surfaces. I've been brushing the cylinder faces of my stainless guns for years without any evidence of erosion of the surface. On the other hand, the brush wears out over time, but again, that's because steel is harder than bronze.
 
It's not the bronze brush that's the issue, it's the abrasive compound you're using.

While J B Bore paste is a mild abrasive, it's still an abrasive. For example, Hart Barrels advises against using it in their bores stating that it can damage the barrel or wear it out prematurely.

The carbon staining is purely a cosmetic issue. If it really needed to be removed in order to keep the gun functioning, that would change the situation. As it is, it hurts nothing to leave it there and the vigorous/aggressive cleaning methods required to remove it can, over time, be harmful to the revolver.

I'm not saying that you've damaged your revolver--as I said earlier, the amount of metal removed is tiny. But I am saying that you're taking small amounts of metal off the front of the cylinder in order to remove the stains and that cleaning the rings off is not required nor does it provide anything in terms of improved function/reliability/durability. I'll clean the stains off once in awhile but not after every shooting session.
 
I had a 640 once and sold it off to my later regret. I later bought another that was nice and tight but showed some wear and scratches from carry. I already had at that time a 60 with a factory satin matte finish. So to sort of match it I bead blasted the scuffed up 640 to get rid of the scratches and signs of wear. It achieved that and I have a satin finished gun. Of course blast media is abrasive. Totall tore down the gun and degreased. Afterwards you gotta get in every nook and cranny and clean out the media as it gets everywhere and is obviously extremely abrasive. Hard to get it all out of screw holes but patience and parts washer and compressed air(and Q tips). I used rubber stoppers from hwdr store to make sure the chambers and bore remained shiny, something the factory ignores. If you don't like matte, a new brushed or polished finish can be applied by a refinisher, but at somewhat higher labor cost, I would expect. You can remove a great number of flaws with careful use of polish like Simichrome or Flitz but they work only to a point. I think you better leave more aggressive refinishing to a smith unless you want to practice on some stuff to be sure you get it right the first time. Those guys do not go to smith school for nothing. IF they are not formally schooled or well known, better look at their work first!
 
There are a couple of areas on the underside of the tip of the barrel that appear to have pitting. I can't scrub it off with Hoppes, RemOil, or anything else. What can I use to buff it out?
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You are probably going to have with that issue. Clean it the best you can as you have, then a light coat of oil will stop it from getting worse.
 
Check with Smith and Wesson and see if they offer a factory re-finish. Colt does - I sent a stainless 1911 back to be polished and it came back to me perfect.
 
A few months back I picked up a stainless Ruger Security Six in .38 Special. I had a bobbed hammer and had clearly been carried a lot. There was some really shallow pitting and a little discoloration. A light touch with a green Scotchbrite pad removed all the discoloration and some Flitz gave it a tad of a polish. Mine is not a show piece and neither is yours. I certainly would not attempt going at it with a dremel but you should be able to clean it up a bit with this type of technique.
 
Leave the minor pitting and scratches alone. Those are the character marks your dad left on the handguns for you.
 
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