How do i clean black powder revolver cylinder bore

[Brandonherinckx]

I was planning on fully disassembling it and deeply cleaning it so i will to that before i soak it. Thank you for all the info and i will contact the outlaw kid and see if he can help. I also have a thompson center arms muzzleloader from mt grandfather from the 70s that needs some rust cleaning and rebluing so ill definitely check out that evaporust stuff. And thank you dave i am new to the revolver and black powder world so my terminology is definitely not there.

 

[J-Bar]

It does need to come apart but I don't know about wholesale soaking it in tranny fluid when the guts are still intact.
Then how to remove all of the tranny fluid?
.

The screws and nipples are likely rusted also. Soaking in Ed’s Red reduces the probability of breaking or buggering screws. ER can be removed with soap and water or blown off with brake parts cleaner. No biggy.

 

[Perun]

Never clean bp arms with soap and watter. Use pure water or ballistol mix. Soap remove all oils and make rust go even deeper. Soap an watter is worst that you can do on your guns. pure water melt residue but oil that left from last oiling prevent direct contact with metal in micro pores. I dont know who came up with soap idea first but that man didnt know anything about steel and nature of rust.
first oil your gun with ballistol and leave it though the night. Next day clean the cylinder with watter and brushes (ballistol will mix with watter and always leave oiled film on metal surface), barrel with watter-ballistol mix (with brushes). remove oil with dry clean rag and that is it. Bp is common sence weapon- no need for scientisticly-philosophical aproach. It is old school tool like steel hammer or so.

 

[American Finn]

I was planning on fully disassembling it and deeply cleaning it so i will to that before i soak it. Thank you for all the info and i will contact the outlaw kid and see if he can help. I also have a thompson center arms muzzleloader from mt grandfather from the 70s that needs some rust cleaning and rebluing so ill definitely check out that evaporust stuff. And thank you dave i am new to the revolver and black powder world so my terminology is definitely not there.

No offense to The Outlaw Kid, but I have a great blackpowder smith near me here in Michigan if he can't help; I would reach out to The Kenockee Tradin Post. They are excellent smiths and very reasonably priced; Judy and Anson are honest people. They should be able to help you with parts as well. Below is their website:

http://www.kenockeetradinpost.com/

 

[woodnbow]

Good to know. Anyone know where I could find a new trigger for this? I looked it up and i found one for the uberti version of this gun but the trigger looks slightly different. I dont know much about these guns so im not sure the difference.

There’s a Santa Barbara revolver collectors group online somewhere and they had a few suggestions for parts that could be fitted to the Santa Barbara Remingtons. Ummm actually the link is here! http://www.santa-barbara-1858.org/index.php/de/

 

[derek45]

as soon as I get home, I field strip my 1860, remove the nipples, and use HOT water and Dawn dishwashing liquid.

I scrub the bore and cylinders with a 45 bronze brush, scrub the nipples with a toothbrush.

I set all the metal bits on the stove, on very low, to evaporate the water, then lightly lube with BALLISTOL

next time I shoot it, I blow out the nipples by firing caps only, then load and shoot normally.

Never use regular gun oils like CLP, rem oil, etc, as they mix badly with black powder fouling

 

[robhof]

After further inspection it looks like most of whats in the cylinder is more gunk not rust but there is some. The little packer rod thing(dont know what its really called) has some rust in the tube which will be hard to get as seen in the picture. And i have just now ran into another problem. I was cocking back the hammer and it got stuck. I tried very hard to pull it back and nothing. I tried pulling the trigger and snapped it off. So now i need a new trigger and need to take it all apart which i was already planning on doing. And for whoever asked earlier its not Remington its a replica im pretty sure it says made in spain.

Yes not blued means you can soak the gun in rust remover and actually scrub the outside with 4-0 steel wool to remove surface rust and polish, be gentle around the engraving as it might reduce it somewhat.

 

[Fyrstyk]

When I had a BP revolver, I cleaned the cylinder, and the whole gun (minus the wood grips) in my ultra-sonic cleaner. An hour or so in the cleaner, and a few passes of a bore brush thru the barrel and I was good to go. Put a light coat of Barricade on the outside and a barricade dampened patch thru the bore and the cylinders and put it back in the safe until the next outing.

 

[woodnbow]

Yes not blued means you can soak the gun in rust remover and actually scrub the outside with 4-0 steel wool to remove surface rust and polish, be gentle around the engraving as it might reduce it somewhat.

It’s not blued but appears to be nickel plated. I believe I would steer clear of the steel wool.

 

[noelf2]

Never clean bp arms with soap and watter. Use pure water or ballistol mix. Soap remove all oils and make rust go even deeper. Soap an watter is worst that you can do on your guns. pure water melt residue but oil that left from last oiling prevent direct contact with metal in micro pores. I dont know who came up with soap idea first but that man didnt know anything about steel and nature of rust.
first oil your gun with ballistol and leave it though the night. Next day clean the cylinder with watter and brushes (ballistol will mix with watter and always leave oiled film on metal surface), barrel with watter-ballistol mix (with brushes). remove oil with dry clean rag and that is it. Bp is common sence weapon- no need for scientisticly-philosophical aproach. It is old school tool like steel hammer or so.

There's nothing wrong with using hot water and a bit of dish soap. Hot water will dissolve the corrosive salts but it has to be able to get to them, and sometimes they are beneath the oils. I've found (over the last 42 years since I started shooting black powder) that the little bit of soap breaks up the fouling much better than just hot water. Just rinse with more water and dry before applying a light coat of oil after cleaning, whether using just hot water or hot soapy water.

 

[Sistema1927]

Those of you using Ballistol, are you using the aerosol or the pump sprayer?

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Mr.articap, Thank you for the kind words and referral. I just got around to seeing the post. Mr.finn i take no offense to a persons personal preference of where they want to take their guns...especially when you find an honest gun smith. The only difference that i know of between me and some of the other honest reputable smiths/tuners is that i install custom two part wire torsion springs for the trigger/bolt spring (replaces the flat seer spring that tends to break easily), cap post, and hammer sheild to keep fouling and cap fragments out of the action. These are custom built parts and installations. That...and my turn around time is 24-48 hours. Most customers mail on a monday and have their gun done and in their hands on saturday or monday at latest. Most of the wait time is just shipping. I try my best to give great customer service and fast turn around time. I only know one other smith/tuner who does the same work....my friend and mentor mr.dragoon45 (mike) but hes booked solid for months sometimes due to his popularity and loyal following. Well worth the wait though. And im cheap lol..mainly because i do it more for a hobby than for a living...and to help my fellow black powder enthusiasts here on the forum. As far as cleaning...i have used just about eveey method. The best method i have found is using "L.A. Totally Awesome"...its only found at dollar stores. Its a cleaner and degreaser. To give an example of how well it cleans i have some white burshes used to clean baby bottles and they were stained black from cleaning guns...used eveey chemical i could to clean them even carb/break cleaner but could not get them as clean as i wanted. Then used L.A. totally awesome and it got all the fouling and lube grime off of them...back to its original white color. Trick to cleaning guns that have some rust is to remove all the waxy oily lube in the guns pores that has encased corrosive fouling..especially pyrodex...you got to get all the gunk out of the metals pores. This cleaner does that. Once u have cleaned it well using it...then you can use a brass/coppee brush to get the surface rust off..get it all off. Clean again with l.a. totally awesome, rinse and then oil well or you can use a mix of ballistol/distilled water to rinse and oil your gun in one step. I swear by this cleaner. Try it...its only a dollar, not much to risk/lose. Oh and it's safe on bluing.