Log In
Members
Home
Add Reply
Add Topic
I inherited several old guns that haven’t been cleaned in years. I’m trying to learn the best way to clean the exterior such a piece. (I think I can handle the barrel and cylinders). I purchased Tri-Max CLP product and applied to the outside of the gun, let it sit for awhile, and rubbed it off. As far as I could tell, it made no appreciable difference in terms of cleaning the firearm. I may be expecting too much. It may be that cleaning an old gun require special steps. I have metal and nylon brushes, but I was afraid to use the metal brushes in case they might scratch the metal. I’ll very much appreciate any tips the members of the forum might offer!
SkiKat
Make sure your metal brushes are bronze or brass and use them only for the really gunky stuff. Nylon brushes do most of the work fine. I use Ballistol for everything…..cleaning lubing and all…..it has a lot of good properties such as nontoxic, etc if you can live with the smell lol
You can also use fine copper wool with a good penetrating oil like Kroil, Break Free CLP, etc. Just make sure it is solid copper and not one of those kitchen copper-coated steel scrubbers. I’ve also used the edge of a real copper penny (1981 and older) with oil to carefully remove heavier rust spots. Pennies dated 1982 and later are not solid copper, but are copper coated zinc–do not use those. Copper or bronze will not scratch or remove the blued finish if used carefully with a quality penetrating oil.
Don
When someone uses the word cleaning, It can mean anything from wiping the gun with an oil rag to ruining it’s patina and age with something aggressive. Stopping rust is one thing, but changing the look of a naturally aged original gun is another. I have seen guns I previously owned have their value greatly reduced by “cleaning”. Antique guns do not need to be shiny. T/R
I would suggest not using anything metal. Nylon is best. Those that have been cleaning antiques for years know the proper way when using bronze or steel 0000 wool. Soaking can take days or multiple soakings. Keep the oil off the wood.
Post some pictures.
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/forum-rules-and-faqs/posting-pictures-2024/
If we’re talking about baked on carbon, dirt, or other hardened sludge on the external metal, I’ve found that soaking and letting it sit in CLP or even WD-40 will loosen up the crud well enough to wipe off or scrub off with a firm toothbrush. If you’re taking the internals apart, the same soaking and dental picks work very well on the internal parts that are caked with crud.
If you have a lot of surface rust on the blued parts, you can usually clean the rust off with the pads mentioned above, if you lubricate them liberally with some sort of oil and go gently.
You can try electrolysis to remove rust without risking scratching anything. All you need is a 5 gallon bucket, a 12V battery charger, a 12” piece of steel rebar, baking soda, and water.
Fill the bucket with water, add the baking soda (1 tbsp per gallon of water) and stir until it’s dissolved. Connect the 12V positive to the rebar and put the rebar in the bucket, remove all wood from the rifle, open the action if possible, connect the 12V negative to the receiver and place the rifle in the bucket. Be sure no gun metal touches the rebar. Turn on your 12V charger and watch the rust get drawn from the gun to the rebar. I let mine sit overnight.
The clips on your battery charger may get fouled, so may want to get a sub $20 from Amazon that you won’t mind ruining.
You can use a glass jar, 9V battery, 18 gauge wire, and a steel nail for smaller parts.
For general gunk I have found ultrasonic cleaning to work great. A decent heated ultrasonic cleaner is about $100-$120. A friend with a cleaner might cost you a six pack. Distilled water and Dawn dish soap is all you need as a solution.
Best results come from disassembled parts. I do not recommend disassembly unless you have the right screwdrivers as you will at best bugger the screw heads and at worst scratch the metal when the screwdriver slips.
These are two of my favorite approaches to cleaning old Winchesters as they don’t require any chemicals or significant scrubbing. ChatGPT is a great resource for specifics on both approaches as well as other methods.
Folks, in the for what its worth category, there are times to leave things alone. Example is an old 1873 with grunge around the screw heads. Screws unbuggered. Why mess with it as the grunge is not rust but dried oil and dirt etc. Basically function is not impaired and the rifle shows its age and shows its not been messed with. Those are scarce these days. If you aren’t careful you “clean” away a lot of history and potentially condition. Tim
tim tomlinson said
Folks, in the for what its worth category, there are times to leave things alone. Example is an old 1873 with grunge around the screw heads. Screws unbuggered. Why mess with it as the grunge is not rust but dried oil and dirt etc. Basically function is not impaired and the rifle shows its age and shows it’s not been messed with. Those are scarce these days. If you aren’t careful you “clean” away a lot of history and potentially condition. Tim
I second this!
Its kind of like the old saying about never pass up the opportunity to say nothing. Tim
November 7, 2015
Offline
tim tomlinson said
Folks, in the for what its worth category, there are times to leave things alone. Example is an old 1873 with grunge around the screw heads. Screws unbuggered. Why mess with it as the grunge is not rust but dried oil and dirt etc. Basically function is not impaired and the rifle shows its age and shows its not been messed with. Those are scarce these days. If you aren’t careful you “clean” away a lot of history and potentially condition. Tim
Absolutely! Awhile back I wrote about an 1841 “Mississippi” rifle that was discovered while plowing a Brazoria (Texas) County field about 50 years after it was likely buried by a CSA cavalry soldier. About 45 years ago it was taken to a gun shop in Houston where the gun was (somewhat accurately) identified and active rust was removed. When the gun came to my hands I determined it had lock issues but only disassembled it enough to check for markings. If I wanted to, I could make this gun shoot again, but doing so would destroy much of its historic value even though it has only moderate collector value. I can barely make out the stampings on the lock plate and the serial number is not legible. I am confident I could clean this rifle to make these markings more legible but it does not belong to me and I won’t destroy this rifle’s history to see lock markings I know are there or a serial number when I know there are likely no CSA records extant. If you’re a TGCA member you’ll hopefully be reading about this rifle soon. I’m thankful the Houston gunsmith stopped cleaning when he did, I certainly will not clean or repair it to working order….even though I must admit I’d love to shoot this rifle! It’s not every day we can handle or shoot a 175 year old rifle that likely played a role in an historic campaign. I’ll respect the gun’s history and enjoy it as is…until it goes back to it’s owner.
Mike
Thirty years ago a big dealer sold me a very nice deluxe 1876. He gave me some valuable advice, “don’t clean the grease halos around the unturned screws and edges”. I bought it because of condition and originality, his advice saved me from making a mistake I would have regretted today. The dried grease is still there and looks great. It only takes a quick look to tell the gun is right and unmessed with, no question, it’s not redone. T/R
November 7, 2015
Offline
TR said
Thirty years ago a big dealer sold me a very nice deluxe 1876. He gave me some valuable advice, “don’t clean the grease halos around the unturned screws and edges”. I bought it because of condition and originality, his advice saved me from making a mistake I would have regretted today. The dried grease is still there and looks great. It only takes a quick look to tell the gun is right and unmessed with, no question, it’s not redone. T/R
I like seeing those “grease halos”, TR. I also like a little gunk in the tang inlets and generally won’t remove the wood when it is present. I prefer an honest gun over a pristine safe queen, at least partly because the honest gun has more character and is generally more affordable.
Mike
1 Guest(s)
