Cleaning Ap & Ball

[The Arctic Fox]

I got an 1858 Remington given to me a couple years back. It needed a couple hundred dollars in repro working parts to get it going.Now that it works I am concerned about cleaning it.
I use very hot water, and bronze brushes. After it air dries and I add oil to barrel, bore, action etc.
My question is what about oiling the cylinder chambers and nipples? Will the oil need to be cleaned off before putting in powder next time? Will just using caps clean off oil from nipples?

 

[napolean]

Hey Fox
Congrats on your now shootable revolver.
I certainly use a light coating of gun oil in the chambers of my Repo 58. I oil the outside the of the cylinder including the nipples.
All I do before loading is snap a cap on all 6 nipples. Seems to do the job for me. If I were ever going to load it and carry a while or plan to leave it loaded I would remove the oil from the cylinder w/ something like alcohol proir to loading.
Jon D

 

[token tory]

Jon pretty much nailed it :hatsoff:

I use an oily patch for the chambers & bore before putting away after firing & one whetted with alcohol as a de-greaser before firing to stop the ol' petroleum tar problems. Then I wipe bore & chambers with a patch coated with some kind of bore butter grease. It seems to work for me as I have no rust & no tar & the nipples are easy to remove when I need to.

I use lubed wads so the bore gets a bit of re-greasing with each shot so I like to pre-grease to keep shots consistent in the bore.

As for nipples mine are stainless, so a bit more forgiving than some, anyway, I wipe them with oil & use a dab of grease on the nipple threads as well & prick them before firing.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

I soak my nipples in Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine, wipe 'em off with a paper towel, blow through them, put a drop of oil on 'em (threads only) and then re-install them into the perfectly cleaned & oiled cylinder. Never get oil in the nipples themselves, so I don't even have to cap-off at the line prior to loading. I just run a dry patch through the chambers IF I've recently cleaned the gun, in order to avoid any oil issues.

Dave

 

[1911nutjob]

Hey Fox
Congrats on your now shootable revolver.
I certainly use a light coating of gun oil in the chambers of my Repo 58. I oil the outside the of the cylinder including the nipples.
All I do before loading is snap a cap on all 6 nipples. Seems to do the job for me. If I were ever going to load it and carry a while or plan to leave it loaded I would remove the oil from the cylinder w/ something like alcohol proir to loading.
Jon D

Ditto on this one. I've done exactly this and left a revolver loaded as long as a year with no problems. That was with holy black, I can't say how well it would work with pyrodex. FWIW, I keep one BP weapon loaded year round as a backup to my favorite pistol (see screen name). It spends the weekends sitting in a strategically chosen spot, but the rest of the year it sits in my humidity controlled safe.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

try some grease on the cylinder pin - I use bore butter or natural lube,
the nipples I use a dab of stiff grease or teflon pipe dope.
when camped out I take along a spray bottle of windsheild washer fluid and a parts brush to clean with. really cuts the crud off. wipe with a piece of old towel or flannel soaked in hot water, dry and re-lube, reload.
when I get home I do a strip down and hot soapy water clean or warm w.w. fluid.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I store my guns well-oiled. After cleaning, I use a small dab of anti-seize on the nipple threads. And by that, I mean small!
I don't like to waste caps if I can help it. The night before shooting I will usually wipe down the weapon of choice, swab the bore and cylinder with a dry patch, and ensure the nipples are free and clear by holding the business end of the cylinder up to a light source.
Seems to work well for me. :v