Cleaning Gun Powder Deposits - What Works Well?

[AMC]

The carbon burn rings on the front of revolver cylinders is a very unique type of fouling. Solvents, brass brushes, razor blades and scrubbing will do almost nothing to remove the fouling and in fact will make the burn rings worse next time you fire the gun. The reason for that is the amount of heat and pressure that the carbon is being baked onto the cylinder with. If you try to scrub, scratch, gouge or scrape the cylinder trying to get it off, all you are doing is making a more textured surface for the carbon to adhere to next time you fire it. Think of scuffing up metal before you paint it, a rough but clean surface makes the paint adhere better, same thing with carbon fouling and your revolver cylinder.

There are only 2 real ways to remove this type of fowling. 1. use firm pressure and scrub thoroughly with a Birchwood Casey lead remover cloth. These are kind of old technology and hard to find sometimes but they are a very well kept secret. It will remove most of the burn rings but still leave some. If you want to totally remove it, go to step 2. 2. Put a good amount of a steel polish like flitz or simicrome on a felt polishing wheel on your dremel and polish it all off. Keep polishing until the front of the cylinder is clean and shiny.

These steps will remove the burn rings but your efforts will be in vein next time you fire the gun more than few times. My advice is just to clean your revolver normally, using a nylon toothbrush and your choice of cleaner all over the gun and then a brass bore brush for the cylinders and barrel as you normally would. Don't worry about the burn rings on the front of the cylinder. They wont affect accuracy or reliability in any way and pretty much any revolver that has ever been fired more than a few times will have the carbon rings. If it really bothers you, clean what you can off with the Birchwood Casey lead remover cloth and call it a day.

Happy Shooting!

 

[UncleS2]

AMC's post above jogged my memory about something.
This is a pre-impregnated polishing cloth, (modestly!) called the Miracle Cloth or Miracle Cleaning Cloth. Easy to recognize because the graphics on the packaging look like they came from the 1950s. I've bought mine from Ebay, if interested shop around because price tends to vary wildly from seller to seller. It cleans & polishes just about any metal, the coating it leaves behind works great on carbon-steel knives as a rust preventative, once you open the factory package keep it inside a zip-lock sandwich baggie & it will last for *years* without drying out or going bad(from MY experience, not their claim). The maker even specifically(and modestly!

) claims it's one of the best gun-cleaning products ever. Not very expensive, & one or two of 'em would probably clean your revolver cylinder faces for several years before they needed replacing.

 

[UncleS2]

My mistake, be sure to google Miracle Polishing Cloth, not cleaning. They have a second product now, microfiber with no polish, it won't help clean your revolver cyls.

Here's a quote from a webpage that's looking for dealers:

Finest Gun cleaning product on earth - Just wipe away lead, burn rings, rust, carbon and plastic buildup on handguns, rifles and shotguns. Leaves a sparkling finish, is inexpensive and long lasting. It cleans, polishes and protects. It can be cut into patches, and as a bore cleaner, removes powder fouling, lead fouling, copper fouling and plastic fouling. Reduces the need for a lubricant. Can be used as a wiper on stainless or nickel guns.

That's just for guns, you should read some of their claims for other uses. We could probably send a crew to Mars with these things!

 

[bsmithwins]

M-Pro 7 really does work on cylinder front carbon better than anything else I've tried. It's a water based soap and it's also useful for degreasing parts.

The carbon rings are more cosmetic than anything. I usually wouldn't worry too much about getting rid of them.

BSW

 

[Pablo]

Good suggestions and killer AMC write up. As OP can tell this is really common. For me I do couple things. I always shoot at least a cylinder or two of magnums at the end of my wheel gun sessions. This gets the peaks out and really the rest is cosmetic. If somehow it is so bad a magnum won't seat try an empty MAGNUM casing. The scraping brass edge will safely dig the worst of it out. Sort of an emergency aid. For bench cleaning I mix Hopper #9 and Kroil and soak it wet for a good while then brush with a 10mm bronze brush. Repeat. Seems to work but as stated the crud comes back after 3 or 4 boxes of Special. But how much fun is Special in a Magnum?

 

[ZeeOSix]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I have some MMO someplace in the garage, so will try that next time. Wonder if auto tranny fluid would work also ... I know it's a pretty good solvent.

 

[2cool]

I have had great results with Rand CLP for the barrel and cylinder. To clean the front of the cylinder, I've had great results with Lead-Away cleaning cloth (smells like coconut, I swear). If you can't find it, I have also used, with much success, Liquid Wrench penetrating oil. If you want to use brake cleaner, make sure that you use NON-CHLORINATED brake cleaner. I think it was S&W had cracking issues in barrels, and it was eventually found that the cutting oil had chlorinated solvents as part of the formula. When they went to non-chlorinated, problem solved.

 

[novcz]

Originally Posted By: bsmithwins
M-Pro 7 really does work on cylinder front carbon better than anything else I've tried. It's a water based soap and it's also useful for degreasing parts.


I agree mpro7 cleaner is one of the better things I've used to clean up the carbon rings. I few sprays of this cleaner, along with a little gentle scrubbing with a brass brush, cleans things up pretty quickly.

 

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted By: 2cool
I have had great results with Rand CLP for the barrel and cylinder. To clean the front of the cylinder, I've had great results with Lead-Away cleaning cloth (smells like coconut, I swear). If you can't find it, I have also used, with much success, Liquid Wrench penetrating oil. If you want to use brake cleaner, make sure that you use NON-CHLORINATED brake cleaner. I think it was S&W had cracking issues in barrels, and it was eventually found that the cutting oil had chlorinated solvents as part of the formula. When they went to non-chlorinated, problem solved.



FWIW when I was deputy at the academy (Virginia) they told us not to use WD-40 or any kind of penetrating oil on our weapons. It can leach into your ammo and cause misfires. We had a trooper click off all six rounds and none of them fired. He got shot and killed by the suspect.

 

[jkasch]

Originally Posted By: novcz
Originally Posted By: bsmithwins
M-Pro 7 really does work on cylinder front carbon better than anything else I've tried. It's a water based soap and it's also useful for degreasing parts.


I agree mpro7 cleaner is one of the better things I've used to clean up the carbon rings. I few sprays of this cleaner, along with a little gentle scrubbing with a brass brush, cleans things up pretty quickly.


It's the best I've used. It seems like you're using water, but cuts through deposits better than the most noxious cleaners I've tried.