Gun Digest's Customize Your Revolver Concealed Carry Collection eShort. Grant Cunningham
takes up the space.) You can also use a wool mop, which I find more convenient.
That’s usually sufficient, although shooting a lot of Special loads in Magnum cylinders can sometimes leave a stubborn ring of combustion products that needs to be removed. The ring is a mix of carbon, jacket material and/or vaporized lead with burnt lubricant. The test is simple: if a Magnum cartridge won’t drop fully into the chamber without assistance, you’ve got a ring to remove.
The tool of choice is a stainless Tornado brush, again one caliber larger than the gun being cleaned. Dip the Tornado in cleaner then run it through the offending chamber(s) several times, followed by the drop mop or patch. I’ve never found a chamber which failed to come clean with this method. The Chore Boy trick works well for this, too.
Cleaning the exterior
The best course is to simply wipe the gun down with a rag that’s been moistened with some bore cleaner. This is generally sufficient to remove most grime, though the cylinder flutes will sometimes collect soot and lubricant residue from lead bullets. This takes a little more elbow grease to remove, and I find application of the toothbrush (dipped in bore cleaner) really helps. If the deposits are severe enough the Chore Boy can be of help, used simply as a scouring pad. Use caution on a blued gun, as it can slightly dull a high polish. If you’re cleaning a very polished blue cylinder, such as that on a Colt Python, I’d recommend that you limit yourself to brushing.
It’s generally a good idea to keep all cleaning solutions away from grips. Some solutions will deteriorate rubber grips or soften the finish on wood grips. Some people go as far as to remove the grips while cleaning, but I’ve never found that to be necessary if sufficient caution is exercised.
Your local gun store will have a wide choice of gun care products.
Bore cleaners
Bore cleaning solutions can be divided into two broad categories: standard cleaners and copper removers. A standard bore cleaner will generally remove everything that a revolver shooter needs to be concerned with. Copper removers, such as Hoppe’s Benchrest or Sweet’s 7.62, are really designed for precision rifles where small amounts of copper fouling can affect long range accuracy.
That’s just not a problem with handguns. First, because the lower velocities don’t result in as much (if any) copper fouling, and secondly because handguns aren’t expected to deliver fractions of a minute-of-angle accuracy. Copper removers require more care in use and require the use of less effective nylon brushes, because the cleaner causes bronze brushes to deteriorate.
My recommendation is to stick with a standard bore cleaner, even if you generally use a copper cutter in your rifles. I’ve used many different brands of bore cleaners, and while I’d love to shill for a manufacturer I must admit that they all work. As a result I don’t have a favorite, but others certainly do.
Many people love the slight banana odor of Hoppes #9, and it may be the quintessential bore cleaning product, but I’ve always liked Outers Bore Clean. (That could be because my first ever cleaning kit, a birthday present when I was about ten years old, was an Outers kit in a neat metal box. I got used to that smell, and to this day it reminds me of my old Winchester .22 rifle.)
My preference these days is for a popular homebrew formula known as ‘Ed’s Red.’ It was concocted some years back by C. E. ‘Ed’ Harris, an engineer formerly with Ruger. His formula is based on the old Hatcher’s bore cleaner, updated to use materials readily available in today’s world. The formula, along with his notes on its history and use, is included in the Appendix.
Author’s favorite oiler is a pliable plastic bottle with a precision needle tip which reaches even the least accessible places.
Oiling the point on which the cylinder pivots makes opening easier.
A drop of oil at the front of the cylinder will keep it rotating smoothly.
Lubrication
A revolver doesn’t demand the same attention to lubrication that an autoloader does. A few drops in strategic places is more than sufficient to keep your wheelgun running.
For proper ongoing lubrication, you’ll need an oiler with a long spout. I’m not fond of spray lubricants, as they deposit far more material than is necessary and usually just make a mess. A simple oil can with a spout that can deliver a single drop precisely is all that’s needed. I prefer a one-ounce bottle with a needle applicator, which will hold more than enough oil and allows me to quickly and easily lubricate as part of my cleaning routine.
After all the cleaning has been done, there are three points that need some lubrication. First, open the cylinder and apply a single drop to the crane pivot. Open and close the cylinder several times to ensure that the oil is distributed properly.
With the cylinder open, invert the muzzle and apply a drop of oil to the small gap where the front of the cylinder meets the crane. Spin the cylinder to work the oil into the mechanism, then apply a second drop and repeat.
Finally, cock the gun and apply a single drop to the sear surfaces deep inside the gun. This is why I prefer an oiler with a needle spout, as this is a difficult place to reach.
If you have a Smith & Wesson, occasionally put a drop of oil on the front locking pin under the barrel. If you have a Ruger, a drop on the crane latch will help keep it opening smoothly. After oiling either of these points, open and close the cylinder several times so the oil can work into the mechanisms.
On a Colt, a drop of oil behind the thumb latch will help reduce binding that these guns commonly experience.
Once a year you may put a drop or two of oil on each side of the hammer and let it sit upright overnight to run down into the frame. The oil should work its way down to the hammer pivot and help keep it lubricated. You can also do the same thing to the trigger, but the gun has to be stored upside down for it to reach inside.
That’s all you need to do. Any other oiling doesn’t accomplish much, because any of the places that you can easily reach aren’t important to lubricate, and you can’t reach the important parts without taking the gun apart.
Put a single drop of oil into the cocked action. Resist the urge to over-oil!
Occasionally place a drop or two of oil on each side of hammer, allow to run down into action.
About lubricants
There is more snake oil sold in the gun industry than was ever peddled in the wild west. The advertising hype is so overblown that you wonder how firearms even existed before the wonder lubes ever made it to market. All claim to protect your gun and make it operate under the most extreme conditions, conditions that ‘normal’ lubricants just can’t handle.
Here’s the reality: revolvers don’t make a lot of demands on lubricants, and it’s not necessary to have some wonder oil to make your wheelgun operate. No revolver operates under any sort of conditions so extreme that they would cause a lubricant to fail. Revolvers don’t subject their moving parts to an excessive amount of heat, none of the parts operates at high speeds, and none are subjected to huge wear-inducing frictional loads.
Much as it might cut into oil sales, it must be pointed out that you’d have no problem finding any number