Nickel plated guns - if not Hoppes, how do you clean them?

[IMtheNRA]

My usual way is to brush, rub, and soak the gun parts in Hoppes, then blast everything with brake parts cleaner. This method gets my guns very clean and ready for re-oiling.

However, now that I have a nickel plated Hi Power (circa 1981), this is probably not a good idea any more. Hoppes could dissolve the copper layer under the nickel plating. Furthermore, I sometimes see a blue flake on my guns, which is probably leftover bullet jacket copper reacting with the brake parts cleaner.

So my questions is, how do you guys get your nickel plated guns squeaky clean?

 

[Walt Sherrill]

There's a lot of cleaners out there that don't have Ammonia in them. Hoppe's isn't the best for cleaning and preserving, and has almost no rust-preventative characteristics. Just use CLP or something similar for the exterior.

(Not all guns with nickel plating have a copper base, but if they do, it's good to be concerned. The Electroless Nickel plating doesn't use a base of copper. I suspect the BHP does -- but don't know for sure.)

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I have a plated gun, do not shoot it a lot, and only use Remoil. So far, it works fine for me.

 

[Fremmer]

I was gonna say just use oil and a tooth brush/q tips/patches.

 

[BigG]

CLP, copper brushes, swabs, toothbrushes, and patches. Clean as a whistle.

 

[ku4hx]

Clean and protect: Birchwood Casey Barricade (formerly Sheath). Clean only: Kroil ... if you don't mind it's odor.

For a mild ammonia based cleaner to damage your plating, it'd have to sit on it for an extended period of time. I've been cleaning guns like yours for decades with Hoppes #9. One of my plated guns was made in the early 1900s and its finish is undamaged. You'll damage you gun more by shooting and handling it than by cleaning it with #9.

There are products out there that contain far more ammonia than #9 but they are purpose built and not for general gun cleaning. Those you might want to avoid on your gun's finish.

 

[bannockburn]

I typically use WD-40 or CLP to clean the nickel parts and then a light coating of RemOil for protection. For cleaning off the tarnish on the plated surfaces I use Flitz.

 

[hedrok]

I have a 1930s S&W nickel plated revolver that I want to be sure to use the correct type of cleaner/solvent on. So, what the consensus is to stay from any ammonia content and just basically a good oil and all should be good to go and not yellow stain the finish...correct?

 

[dogrunner]

I own a nickled model 19 (no dash #) that I carried as a duty gun for over two decades....I have ALWAYS used Hoppes as a bore and wipe down solvent on that gun with utterly no indications of adverse reaction to it's finish.

I do recall a complaint by one person relative to de-nickling his M/29 cylinder by immersing it in Hoppes for an extended period of time. I'm also aware that the formula for the stuff has changed but I remain unsure as to when and don 't know if the damage issue was involved in that change. Still, as I say, I have never had an issue with using it as intended....Further, I always follow up bore and cylinder cleanup with an oily rag....darkened with whatever gun oil comes to hand!.

The only finish change my gun has is a slight loss of nickle on the upper frame portion near the stock that occurred in a droppage while I was engaged in a fight on a asphalt highway.........other than normal finish CARRY wear....that's it, and that gun has had many, many thousands of rounds thru it.

Hoppes has damn well not harmed that gun!

 

[MADDOG]

What about Hoppe's Elite?

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Traditional nickel plating was done over a copper foundation -- because copper bonded to steel better than nickel. The newer Electroless Nickel uses a different (chemical) process that doesn't require the copper base. Hoppe's uses a lot of ammonia; ammonia dissolves copper.

Nickel will eventually develop micro-cracks -- so small you can't see them, but large enough for ammonia to get through. Anyone who has seen really old revolvers that are nickel-plated has seen the flaking that CAN (not WILL or MUST) occur when the ammonia gets through the cracks in the nickel layer and hits the copper. Then the foundation disappears in that spot, and nickel starts to flake away.

I suspect you can use Hoppe's on a nickel gun if you're careful, but there are many better cleaners, lubes, and preservatives available when you're not cleaning the bore.

.

 

[Dframe]

I've used CLP for years. Hoppe's can be used for cleaning, but nickel guns or parts should NEVER be soaked in it, and it should be thoroughly removed after the gun is clean. Otherwise it can work it's way in through micro cracks and attack the underlying copper layer. Most people just avoid using hoppe's with nickel guns.

 

[TonyT]

Break Free CLP

 

[Slamfire]

GI bore cleaner or Ed's Red. Neither is a copper remover so they are safe on nickle.

CLP is hideously expensive but it would work.

Ed's Red is a great idea.

http://home.comcast.net/~dsmjd/tux/dsmjd/tech/eds_red.htm

 

[hedrok]

Anybody have experience with Balistol?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Mpro7 is what I use on my nickeled's.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A copper solvent like Hoppes No. 9 will damage nickel plating because it penetrates the porous nickel and attacks the copper - which is put on similarly to primer before paint - underneath. It still takes time; it won't happen right away. On the gun in question, just clean the bore with the Hoppes. Surely the barrel isn't nickel plated, and the inside of the bore definitely won't be. For a revolver, clean only the bore and chambers with the Hoppes and wipe off any spatters.

 

[Jim K]

"Surely the barrel isn't nickel plated, and the inside of the bore definitely won't be. For a revolver, clean only the bore and chambers with the Hoppes and wipe off any spatters."

No, the bore and interior of the chambers are not plated, but nickel in the area around the muzzle and the front of the chambers can be compromised by normal firing and give an ammonia based cleaner a way to attack the undercladding as pointed out above. It is best to not use any such cleaner on a nickel-plated gun.

Jim

 

[orionengnr]

Ed's Red is easy to make and will not harm anything that I have found so far...although I would not bath wood stocks/grips in it.

Perhaps I should have said that Ed's Red will not harm anything made of metal or plated metal.

Do a Google search, mix some up and give it a try. It is my go-to cleaner, lubricant and protectant (CLP) for all handguns.