Cleaning Powder Residue?

[Denny Crane]

Example: S&W 25-2 .45 acp beautiful high polish blue

Shoot a few rds and spend an hour cleaning the residue. The cylinder flutes seem to be the hardest place to get the residue off.

Soak in Hoppes #9, Kroil, seems to make no difference. Nothing but elbow grease and lots of time will get it off.

It's almost enough to make a guy not want to shoot it! And I like to shoot everyday.

So far it has mostly been factory ammo but will soon be reloads and I plan to use Titegroup.

Is there anything I can coat the gun with that would help the cleaning process?

Is there enough difference in the residue left by different powders to make one stand out as the cleanest?

Any cleaning tips?

Thanks

 

[hancjamk]

Flitz polish will remove powder residue in no time...

 

[Black_Talon]

Powder residue on blued revolver cylinders was the bane of my existance for years. My standard load was always 2.7gr of Bullseye under a 148gr HBWC. I always hated cleaning up after each range trip.

After 20+ years of putting up with it I finally decided to try using different powders to see how much difference it would make. I wanted a cleaner powder, but not at the expense of accuracy. Long story short, I tried a bunch and found an excellent replacement for good 'ol BE. WW WST has replaced BE for me, and it makes a huge difference in the amount of fouling left on the gun.

Two other tricks also help me with cleanup:

1) I leave a fairly thick coating of gun oil on the gun while I shoot it. This seems to help prevent the residue from sticking as bad, and:

2) I clean the outside of the gun as soon as I am done shooting it. It is way easier to clean the crap off when it's still warm and fresh, right at the range before I even put it back in it's case.

Flitz polish will remove powder residue in no time...

...as well as the bluing, if used very regularly.

 

[Walkalong]

WST is a clean one, and excellent in that application. (It is what I use for light .45 loads for my 25-2) Solo 1000 or Competition will also work well. Those will all leave much less baked on carbon than Titegroup, which is a high nitro content powder that burns very hot compared to low nitro content powders and especially single based powders with no nitro content.

 

[casian]

Back in the day I used to care about having a clean weapon. Now I have a saying: "Guns are for shooting, not for cleaning." I don't care what my pistol looks like, I just keep the rust at bay and lube the innards to prevent moving parts from sticking to each other. Unfortunately I still clean my house and car though. As soon as I get me a woman, I'm gonna let that habit fade too. Well, on second thought that is against my religion to live in filth so maybe I should clean all the junk I own.

 

[Denny Crane]

I have been shooting 148 gr HBWC's with 3 gr Titegroup in blued Pythons and Officers Models. The residue hasn't been as bad as it is with the .45 acp's but still worse than I would like. I spend twice as long on clean-up as shooting. The bore is easy, it's that residue on the cylinder that takes all the time. Even then I am not completely cleaning the front of the cylinder. That would take all day.

My OCD won't let me leave the residue on that beautiful finish.

I can see how an abrasive would help but I doubt I will go there.

Surely there is something that would keep it from sticking so bad??

I have never tried car wax?

I think I read somewhere not to try a RainX type product?

We need to come up with something and market it as "Gun Pam"!

 

[Hondo 60]

I'm confused in hearing you spend "hours" cleaning.
I have 2 M10s, & a 36 that are blue & I use titegroup.
The only "residue" that doesn't come off easily is on the business end of the cylinder.
On the rest of the gun, just a quick wipe with Hoppe's 9, or CLR & it looks great.

On my stainless M66 & Ruger SP101 I use just a touch of Flitz on the flutes of the cylinder to get the burn marks off.

 

[Denny Crane]

I haven't shot any .45's with Titegroup yet but I have fired a few .38's & .357's. Not really enough to know how bad the residue is.

My complaint is the .45's I have been shooting. No idea what powder is in them but I do know I don't want to use it and will be glad when they are gone. It only takes a few rds to put a tough to remove film on the cylinder and if you shoot a couple hundred rds prepare to spend some time.

I bought 2k rds of reloads at a gun show several yrs ago and have been trying to use them up. They are 230 gr RN lead and no idea what powder.

Or is it just the nature of the gun? (S&W 25-2)

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Like Hondo, my only problem is on the end of the cylinder. I do keep my guns oiled with Break-Free.

 

[jcwit]

I use Gum-Out to clean out the carbon ring from firing 38 Spec. in a 357 Mag.

I should clarify, I used to, now I use 357 Mag. cases and no longer encounter the problem.

In any case you might try Gum-Out, it worked for me. Still does for the front of the cylinder.

 

[Jeff H]

Shoot a few rds and spend an hour cleaning the residue. The cylinder flutes seem to be the hardest place to get the residue off.

Soak in Hoppes #9, Kroil, seems to make no difference. Nothing but elbow grease and lots of time will get it off.

It's almost enough to make a guy not want to shoot it! And I like to shoot everyday.

I don't think you would be one of the people that I would recommend lead bullets and Bullseye powder to...

 

[Denny Crane]

Gum Out spray carb cleaner?

I used to use carb cleaner but started using brake cleaner when I learned the carb cleaner leaves a residue. It's not a problem unless your degreasing for hot salts.

Maybe I should try it on the powder residue. I was trying to avoid removing the grips/stocks everytime I clean.

 

[jcwit]

I didn't use to remove the grips of my S&W. Just wrapped the grip area with a couple of clean shop rags, and be a little careful where you spray.

 

[Walkalong]

Spray the rag, wipe the gun.

 

[raisedin99]

I will second the brake parts cleaner. In over 50 years of shooting I have found nothing better

 

[Denny Crane]

Spray the rag, wipe the gun?

Now why didn't I think of that?? Seems like I have always used the spray tube to both clean and blast the crud out of the nooks and crannies. It gets everywhere and requires the gun to be stripped to only what the brake cleaner won't harm.

For the powder residue on the exterior "spray the rag, wipe the gun" should work great.

See why these forums are great! Sometimes the solution is very simple after you know what it is.

 

[fourdollarbill]

I'm not sure if it will work on Blued guns but on my SS revolvers I use a handheld self contained sand blaster with baking soda inside. It will clean the oldest deepest caked powder gunk off your gun within seconds. You should see it clean around the forcing cone!!! It never changed the finish of the SS so I could just do small sections and not have to feather it out or the whole gun to make it match. I don't own a blued gun or I would try it. I have been meaning to take pics and show it on the tips and tricks page but I'm always out of time.

 

[noylj]

If powder residue bothers you, don't shoot that gun. There is no way to maintain a "like new" gun and shoot it. "You can't have your cake and eat it, too."
I find that a soak in Hoppe's for a day or two works wonders. Was even better when there was still nitrobenzene in it.