Those annoying cylinder rings

3

3rdDragoon

New member
Hey there,

I need some advice on removal of those cylinder rings on my Colt Trooper Mk 111. I tried you tube/google research and a lot of people suggest the Birchwood casey lead remover and polishing cloth. But should I not use this on a blued finish revolver??:confused: I don't want to damage the lovely deep blue but i just cannot get these ugly rings off. :(
 
I would leave them alone, any attempt to remove them would be worse for the gun. Don't like the used look? dont ever pull the trigger, turn cylinder or open the crane.
 
Are you talking about the carbon "burn" marks on the front of the cylinder? You can try Hoppes Elite Gun Cleaner or M-Pro7 cleaner. If that doesn't work, leave it alone. The lead-away cloth and any other abrasive based cleaner will remove the marks but will also remove the blued finish.
 
Removal of rings

You can use ss polish and polish a lot or the easiest way is use a green scotch brite pad and some hops cleaner
 
You can use ss polish and polish a lot or the easiest way is use a green scotch brite pad and some hops cleaner
Click to expand...

DO NOT do this. This will most certainly remove the blue, and the scotch brite will remove metal. Even the lead away will remove metal, but more slowly. The only time you should use a scotch brite pad on a gun is if you are touching up scratches on a brushed finish stainless gun. NEVER NEVER on any blued finish.

The burn rings on the face of a cylinder (an area which needs to maintained just a flat and square to the forcing cone as the factory made it), simply mean you shoot the gun and do not keep it in a safe NIB. A cleaning brush and some solvent is all that is needed to take away any loose residue.
 
I don't worry about them - they do not hinder function in any way. My gun is for shooting, not polishing.
 
If the fouling does not come off easily with your favorite solvent then stop right there. Anything you use to remove it is also going to start to remove some of the blueing. Over time you will go through the bluing which is only a couple thous. of an inch thick. Personally I think worrying about the burn rings on the front of a cylinder is like worrying about the black soot on the exhaust pipe of your car. Forget about it.
 
I'm with the dont try and remove it crowd. If it dont come off with a soft brush and a good gun cleaner leave it. Sometimes I will use some balsa wood with cleaner to remove the lead deposits on the front cylinder diameter.
 
I use a lead-remover cloth on my stainless revolvers, but the rings aren't noticable enough to bother me on a blued gun so I just leave them alone.
 
Using Lead Away cloth on blues surfaces removes the bluing. If your thinking about those gray lead marks around the mouth of each cylinder, use a brass brush and Hoppes. It's all elbow grease.

If the gun is brushed stainless, I'd use a stainless wire brush. Don't use stainless brushes on blued surfaces as you will scratch up your bluing.
 
I have a 1975 Trooper MKIII blued, there is nothing to worry about with the ring around the cylinder. On the Stainless guns you can prolly polish them out, but on a blued gun don't even try.

ColtTrooperIIIKahrCW40003.jpg


Take a look at mine and you will see the faint ring.
 
I have a small jar that I fill with solvent. When a cylinder gets really cruddy, I immerse it in the solvent and leave it there for a week. When I remove it and brush it off, the most egregious carbon build up usually comes off easily. What remains, I don't bother with.

I recently purchased an older model 17, and the face of the cylinder is clean . . and has most of the bluing gone as well. Don't polish, or use lead away cloth on blued guns.
 
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