cleaning up brand new Ruger sp101

Status
Not open for further replies.
tightgroup tiger

tightgroup tiger

Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
5,929
Location
Piedmont/Triad, NC
I recently bought a new Ruger SP101 in 327 Fed Mag. It is stainless steel and is a beauty. Ruger test fires all their gun before shipping and this gun looks like I bought a used revolver.
I tried to clean the cylinder and barrel but the carbon doesn't want to come off.
Is their anything that will clean the stainless up to keep it looking reasonably new, I used Hoppes 9 on it and it didn't touch it.

thanks
 
Try a green Scotchbrite pad with Hoppes & a VERY LIGHT touch. That's brushed (not polished) stainless so you've got a little margin-of-error. Try to rub in the same direction that the matt-finish already shows. Be careful! Or leave it on there. I've actually used Mother's Mag Wheel Polish with some success, 'cause that's what I already had in the garage. :eek:
 
Has anyone ever tried "Never Dull"? I will have to bring and old piece of polished stainless home from work and expiroment with it. I have always been curious about how it would do on a bright finish.
I plan on shooting this gun alot and if stainless gets that dirty that quick and is hard to clean up it will just have to stay dirty looking.
This is my first SS gun and I didn't know what to expect.
thanks
 
Never-Dull will work too.

I didn't mention it because most folks wouldn't know what it is or where to get it.

If you already have some, you are set.

rc
 
Are you kidding?!? I love the smell of Hoppes #9. Especially the OLD formula before they made it so safe & environmentally friendly. Why do you think so many gray-bearded shooters (like me) on this forum are kinda'..., uh, slow? Too many Hoppe Highs! Heck, (IMHO) if tests don't confirm a product causes some form of cancer in California rats, it won't clean a gun worth spit! Funny, I've never seen a California rat clean a gun. I'm sure California has some gun law restricting their use, or the rats have GREAT collective-bargaining. Or they might be illegal immigrant rats, so then they get EVERYTHING they want! :evil:
 
I had an old 1952 Marlin 336rc that had no blueing left and the stocks were split on it. I would still shoot a 2" group at 100yds so I sanded the steel down with 400grit wet or dry sand paper, buffed it with rubbing compound, and polished it with Never Dull. Sent it out to get blued. I sent for some good walnut blanks and cut out new stocks for it. It's not quite a traditional Marlin finish but it turned out really good.
Thanks for the advise.
 
Last edited:
A lot of the products mentioned in this thread are abrasive. I'm not saying that you shouldn't use them but it would not be good to use them frequently as over time and with repeated use they WILL remove metal. And when we're talking about metal around the chamber mouths that is affecting the size and shape of the cylinder gap and the ability to control the gas flow.

In particular the suggestion to use a Scotchbrite pad made me shiver. This is a product that really should only be used in a last resort sort of deal. And then only with extreme care. Flitz, Mothers and Never dull all have various amounts of extremly fine white polishing compound in them. Yes, it makes the metal shiney. But it does so by removing the surface metal until it cuts down to the bottom of the grooves of the fine scratches that comprise the "brushed" finish. So again these are products you really shouldn't be using on the critical shape areas of a gun on any sort of regular basis. For example like the front face of a cylinder or on the muzzle crown.

Basically if a "cleaner" has a creamy and cloudy look to it there's a good chance that it also has some of this white type of polishing compound in it. If you can use it on a clean piece of metal and it comes away black then that's not dirt that was embedded in the metal. It's particles of the metal itself which shows that the "cleaner" has some abrasive in it.
 
Ghost Tracker said:
Are you kidding?!? I love the smell of Hoppes #9. Especially the OLD formula before they made it so safe & environmentally friendly. Why do you think so many gray-bearded shooters (like me) on this forum are kinda'..., uh, slow? Too many Hoppe Highs! Heck, (IMHO) if tests don't confirm a product causes some form of cancer in California rats, it won't clean a gun worth spit! Funny, I've never seen a California rat clean a gun. I'm sure California has some gun law restricting their use, or the rats have GREAT collective-bargaining. Or they might be illegal immigrant rats, so then they get EVERYTHING they want! :evil:
Click to expand...
Ya' mean "Hoppes #9 Men's Cologne?" Been using it for years!!
 
You couldn't get it off with #9? That's all I use after a 100-150 round trip to the range. Then I scrub the hell out of it with a brass brush. It takes some work, but it always comes off.

And yes, Mother's Mag Polish does wonders on an SP101. Mine is starting to have a mirror shine after about 5 hours of polishing it by hand during footbal games on Sundays. I need to take a few picture.
 
Never Dull took the black stains off without hardly trying. I rubbed the whole pistol down with it, it shined it right up. If this gun shoots true it will get used a lot, after the novelty wears off I will just stick to the Hoppes. It just bugged me that it looked used out of the box.
I'm happy now.
thanks
 
I also have a new sp 101.

Will the darkness on the front of the cylinder make any difference performance wise or compromise the integrity of the metal?
 
No, it won't. In fact, you're probably better off leaving it there than using one of the abrasive methods listed above for removing it.

Try MPro-7 or Hoppes Elite Guncleaner and a nylon brush. I've been very impressed with how well those two cleaners work on carbon staining/fouling. Anything that doesn't come off that way won't hurt anything.
 
You are definitely better off not worrying about stains or buildup that are about .001" of an inch thick on your cylinder's face. Constantly trying to scrub it off is pointless and will simply accelerate wear. Don't worry about it on a gun you plan to shoot and enjoy. Just soak some solvent on it and whatever wipes off is just fine. Don't use any kind of abrasive brushes or pads on it. Worrying about carbon rings on your cylinder's face is like worrying the dirt on the bottom of you car. People will think you're weird.
 
460,

Ha! I thought I was the only one who had a penchant for doing that when the Bronco's play! I never gave the idea of using Never Dull to clean that black off the cylinder face, I have some, will try it. Show us the pics of the shiny piece!
 
You should live that long!! Cleaning the front of a cylinder will (over time) increase the cyinder gap. Hello! Smith has stated the gap on their newer guns should be between .005 to .009 thousands. time was when .006 was considered time to "set" the barrel back a turn.
 
My problem is that this thread has no pictures yet of that lovely SP-101. Bonus points posed with carry ammo of choice!
 
I don't plan on polishing mine down to a shine and as you can see from the picture of mine, I didn't hurt the finish by cleaning it up from the factory firing. As I said in an earlier post, once the "new novelty" wear off the carbon stains will have to wear off also.

thanks guys.

Kodiak, I would still like to see a picture of your work in progress on yours. I'll bet it will be nice when you get it completely finished.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
  • Locked
Ruger SP101 .327 Federal, Any recent news?
Replies
11
Views
2K
ahpd1992
A
P
  • Locked
Why No New SP101 3" inch .327 Federal?
2
Replies
35
Views
7K
expat_alaska
expat_alaska
S
  • Locked
How do they do that?
Replies
9
Views
849
Majic
M
D
Ruger SP101 327 Federal Now Shipping
2 3
Replies
57
Views
3K
dickydalton
dickydalton
Y
  • Locked
new SP101: three questions
Replies
13
Views
1K
ugaarguy
ugaarguy
Back
Top