cleaning percusion revolvers.

[Mike.357]

I thought a discussion of this might be good to have.

Remember it is very important to clean you percussion guns within a day or so of shooting. The powder is somewhat corrosive and I also assume the percussion caps are as well.

I lost track of rounds through each gun yesterday but I am guessing it was around 40 to 50 rounds each based on the caps I went through.

I have a fairly large table I use for cleaning guns. I broke down each of the three and put the parts in "Glad" bowls. Most of the parts were fairly gooed up with fouling and that is normal. Note that if you tear down more than one gun at the same time to keep the parts for each gun seperate from the parts of other guns. While the parts look alike they are not always interchangable. That's where the plastic "Glad" bowls come in handy. I also kept my piles of screws seperate. Again they are going to be specific to a particular gun.

Once the guns were tore down I took the bowls to the kitchen sink. I ran tap water and got it as scalding hot as the water heater allowed. I applied a liberal amount of liquid dish soap into each bowl and over the gun parts. Then filled the bowls with the very hot water. Gun frames that did not fully submerge into the soapy water were hosed down with the hot tap water.

I use a brass rod with a bore mop. I soap up the mop and run it through the barrel. I then use the mop and go up and down into the chambers of the cylinder. The fouling comes out fairly easily. I also use a toothbrush to get into nooks and crannys on the cylinder. Again soak it in hot water to rinse. Clean the other various parts of the action by using a toothbrush and a rag. Make sure the fouling that hardened due to oil all comes off the parts. Dry the parts as well as possible. ( Some people bake the parts in the oven at about 200 degrees to remove moisture. I do not do this and have not had trouble ever with rust of moisture. But feel free to try this if you will.)

Once the parts are all clean and dry move on to the next gun. Repat the processes until complete.

As I reassemble the gun I do it in reverse order of disassembly. It is very important that the parts go back in correctly, DUH!! Pay attention and you will be fine. remember as you action the gun do not force it. If you feel resistance you did something wrong.

As I reassemble I sparingly apply oil. Lots of different schools of thought on types of oil. Experiment if you will. Many people swear that dino based oils are bad news, I am not so sure. I do know that olive oil turns to glue after a couple of weeks sitting on a gun in a safe. Works fine if you are shooting again in a day or so. I currently am trying RemOil. I do know that the knock on dino oil is that the fouling will harden, this I fidn to be true. It has not caused me problem to date. Remember if you action your gun and it is stiff to not force things. Determine where it is binding and then decide on a course of action. Normally the cylinder pin is what goows up and binds things a bit.

Key things to remember, do or have on hand.

1. Good screwdriver designed for use on guns. If you look around you will find one size will work for all screws on a Colt or Remmy. I recommend the Grace USA Screwdrivers and the 8 piece set. For thirty bucks you have lifetime warrented screwdrivers. Budget buy would be the G3 sized Grace screwdriver. It virtually fits every screw head on a Colt of Remmy. not perfect but servicable for all the screws.

2. in a pinch, with no time to clean the gun in the forseeable future, Windex with ammonia is a substitute for proper cleaning. Soak down the action of the gun, chambers and bore. Wipe the outside of the gun with and oily rag. The ammonia will stop corrosion from powder and caps. Not a cleaning substitute mind you but it will buy you time.

3. Stiff toothbrush for getting into small spaces.

4. Tight enough is good enough, do not overtighten screws or force the barrel key in too far.

okay, that is all for now. I will probably remember some other things and add to this if I do.

What do you all do?

[Mike.357]

in laymans terms for simplicity ,this is specifically for a Colt 1851, it should still apply for a 1860 or 1861

1. Remove barrel and cylinder

2. Remove screw on base of grip (note: if you have a screw in the center of the grip remove it and take grip pieces off of grip frame.)

3. Remove two screws on side of hammer, and remove grip and grip-frame

4. slide hammer spring to the side removing pressure on hammer

5. Remove screw in front of trigger guard on bottom of frame.

6. Remove two screws to the rear of the trigger guard and pull piece from frame.

7.Carefully loosen cylinder bolt and trigger spring. ( I have always found this to be the most difficult screw to remove), remove this screw and remove the forked spring.

8. Remove screw from frame that holds in the trigger and pull trigger away from action.

9. Remove screw that hold cylinder bolt in place and pull away from action

10. Remove screw holding hammer in place. Slide this down carefully and watch for the hand and handspring to come out with it. Pay attention to how the hand sits on the hammer for re-assembly purposes.

11. Using a proper nipple wrench remove nipples from each chamber on cylinder. ( this step does not need to be done each and every time IMHO, ymmv, But if you can do it you should)

12. loosen loading leaver from latch on barrel, remove screw holding it to the barrel and pull out of barrel

You have now totally taken your Colt revolver down. Note: there is a piece here and there we are not taking apart. I have never found a need to break down the gun any further than this.

[Mike.357]

Schematic and parts list for Colt revolver

http://users.adelphia.net/~danwagner/uberti1851navy.html

[Guest Mugster]

I used to break the gun down (removed barrel and cylinder) and put it in a quart of kerosine, minus the grip (mine was one piece). I had a couple of nylon brushes i used to get most of the gunk out...I used real 4f BP and packed crisco in each cylinder, so around 18-24 shots was about all i'd want to do. I'd use the "dirty" copper bore brush for scruubing that part down in the kerosine.

After that, I cleaned it like normal using mostly 3 in 1 oil as a lube. I never liked washing with water, my bluing jobs would come right off/i'd get surface rust.

I think I probably shot about 3 pounds of black powder through the thing, over 3-4 years. Mine is a CVA 1861 44 replica, that I got from walmart about 25 years ago, if I remember right. I still have it, but its in pieces from a last bluing attempt...I was going to try and hang it on the wall I think and lost interest somewhere along the way.

[Mark@Sea]

Mike, I should've done better but I was pressed for time. Actually didn't clean until this morning - 7:30 to 10:30 for 7 pistols and a cannon. I just gave them a quick scrubdown with jags, patches, boresnakes, Hoppes BP solvent, and then lubed with Eezox.

I need to do a more thorough job, and hope to be home next weekend, so maybe I'll have the time.

Thanks a bunch for cleaning up the mess in the shop, by the way! Sorry I didn't have more time to chat, was pretty busy at that point.

Just now back at the hotel and calling it a night.

[Guest BG38357]

I have a brass framed Remington .44 .

Ran mine through the dishwasher without the grips. Then oiled it up.

How do you load yours? I used Pyrodex, a felt wad, cornmeal a .454 round ball and Crisco.

Fun to shoot!

[Mike.357]

sounds like you got the most important stuff Mark. I do like to at least break open the frame and eyeball the action. I have found a spent cap in one before.

Using hot water and soap is good for shortcutting the total break down. The soap and water will get everywhere and neutralize the corrosives.

BG, you should have made the trip up to Mark's, big fun alright.

I load by using powder (depends which revolver how much) grits if I need to fill space, round ball and cover with Crisco. I am not sure about them wads. I used some Saturday for the first time but did not notice any improvement. I think they would be handy to use if you intended to leave the gun loaded for a few days. but some people swear by them.

[Mark@Sea]

I'm using the wads and skipping the crisco. Between the ball 'shave to fit' and the lubed wad behind it, I'm not worried about chainfires caused from that end of the cylinder.

[Mike.357]

I think the biggest thing the Crisco does is keeps fouling soft and helps keep the cylinder pin lubricated. The wad helps reduce fouling I think.

I have shot without using Crisco and the cylinder bound up after about 20 rounds.

I think I will experiment next time using the wads and no Crisco to see about cylinder binding. Maybe by reducing fouling the wads also will enable the cylinder to continue to turn freely.

I have doubts about the spark making it past the ball and causing chainfires. I have never had one. (knock on wood)

[molonlabetn]

I've heard more than one person say that they just use the dishwasher...

[Mike.357]

I have heard the dishwashe thing before too. Maybe I will try that. Run the gun through completely assembled and then take it down to see how it did.

I know if it works it would be a real time saver.

[Guest tokarev]

Has any of you tried the Triple Seven powder in a cap 'n ball revolver yet? I have a Colt Navy clone that I haven't fired yet and was wondering how the Triple 7 would workin it, as I know that it cleaned very easily when used my muzzle loader rifle.

[Mike.357]

Triple Seven powder in a cap 'n ball revolver yet?

reduce the load by 15% to be safe