Cleaning The Inside of a Gun

[Hickory]

I bought a Colt Army Special 32-20 revolver a week ago that was in very good shape.
The only problem was the action movement was sluggish, and sometimes the trigger would not return all the way.

I don’t normally work on my own guns. I am willing to have someone else do the work who knows what to do.
But, I wanted to at least have a look before sending it off to have repaired.
When I got the side plate off, I quickly saw the reason for the sluggish trigger action. The inside was caked with a varnish like coating and grit.

Now like I said I don’t work on the inside of my guns, but I looked it over real close and decided to disassemble it and am soaking it in kerosene over night to see if I can get this stuff off with a tooth brush.
Will this do the trick or should I use some sort of solvent?

[HATCH]

you could spray it with carb cleaner after soaking

[docone31]

I use Mineral spirits for inside soaking.
I remove the wood, and anything that will be damaged by the soaking. I then soak for a few days.
I get lots of stuff in the spirits. It turns black! Especially when I get a new pistol that someone had previously.
Gets the crud out.
Watch for the pieces that need the cover plate, or whatever to stay there.
When done, I spray with WD-40, then I use oil for the bearing surfaces. I wipe clean, then re-oil, and put away.
Lots of things start to work, when the crud is out.

[Shooter6br]

Some shooters (Target) soak their pistol in a bullet of WD-40,Remve the grips of course.

[Hickory]

I've it soaking now, and am going into town now.
I'll buy some carburator cleaner for tomorrow.

[deltaenterprizes]

Stay away from WD-40, it leaves a varnish after it evaporates and make the action sticky . Mineral spirits is good and does not remove all the oil.

WD-40 was designed as a WATER DISPLACEMENT for the aerospace industry, not a lubricant or cleaner. That is where the WD in the name came from.

[300winmag]

wal-mart $2.98

[Char-Gar]

Acetone and a used tooth brush will make short work of old oil, grease and crud.

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

Acetone and a used tooth brush will make short work of old oil, grease and crud.

Just test the toothbrush in the acetone prior to scrubbing the frame. Some will not withstand the chemicals and then you have melted bristle material to cleanout too. (I know from experience.:groner:)

Regards,
Everett

[Molly]

Try some kerosene or ordinary paint thinner. Cutting varnish is what it's designed for. Note: ALL organic solvents (like paint thinner) are highly flammable, and should be used outdoors! They will also dissolve the natural oils in your skin, which will then crack and split quite painfully. Use Butyl rubber gloves to prevent this.

Acetone is a powerful solvent, but so volatile that it will evaporate and leave whatever it dissolved as a residue. MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) will dissolve organics as well as acetone, but is a lot less volatile. Both are available quite inexpensively from Home Depot.

Molly
(The retired paint chemist)