How do YOU clean your ROA?

[oldwolf]

What methodology do you use to clean your Old Army after shooting it? I have a stainless and am going to shoot it for the first time soon.

The Ruger method, as outlined in the manual, says to put the cylinder and nipples into hot soapy water and brush them out, and also to run hot water down the barrel and brush it out. They say not to get any water in the lock work. After this dry the  parts out and lube.

I have read where some people dunk the whole gun in hot soapy water, after removing the grips of course, and then brushing all parts out, followed with a fresh hot water rinse, then drying time in the oven set to low and finally lubing.

I don't relish the thought of putting the whole gun in water, but will if that is the best method.

It would be interesting to read what the old Revolutionary and Civil War military manuals recommended back yonder.

[knucklehead]

this method takes me about 10 mins to clean my roa without heatin up water or gun.

get a can of ballistal.
get a empty spray bottle.

pour ballistal into the spray bottle to about 1"-2" in the bottom part of the spray bottle.
now add water to the top. shake up real good.

spray this mix in your barrel and other areas that need cleanin let soak about 3 mins.
run a .45 bore snake through the barrel till its clean(usually takes 2 times).
use a dry cleanin rag and wipe down the other areas.
lube with bore butter.

your done.

[oldwolf]

Knucklehead - Do you clean out the lock work now and then too? Do you do a full disassembly for that or spray cleaner into the lock work through the openings?

Thanks - Oldwolf

[knucklehead]

Oldwolf,

I have not cleaned out the lockwork yet.
I have only owned my ruger old army for about 3 months now.
I have only shot about 300 rounds through it so far.
I have looked at the lockwork and saw no gunk build up yet. I do spray straight ballistal into the lockwork everytime i clean it.
I also use a cart conversion cylinder in my ruger old army for the most part.
I like the hassle of loading shells at home more than the hassle of loading each chamber at the range. also it likes to rain alot here in oregon, wet powder doesn't work to good.

I shoot h777 2f in my ruger old model vaqueros .357 for 3 years now. I have yet to clean out the lockwork on them.
I do inspect the lockwork every once in awhile but for the most part i just spray straight ballistal into the lockwork.
Hopefully Dick Dastardly will see this thread and post some information for you.
He shoots ruger old armies and has a great way to clean em from the top to bottom.
You might want to send him a message on this forum for some information.
He also makes the molds for the big lube bullets.

[oldwolf]

Thanks for all the info.  The Ruger manual does not say you need to remove the nipples when you soak the cylinder in water and detergent for cleaning. But I wonder if you should. I think I read in one of Sam Fadala's books that he recommend doing this step. What do you think? By the way, my revolver is a stainless model.

[knucklehead]

Yep I remove the nipples for cleanin when i shoot that cylinder.
I just drop em in a small bowl with the ballistal/water mix and let em soak till the rest of gun is clean.
when its time to reinstall the nipples i blow em out real good with a air hose reinstall em.

mine is a stainless model too.

stainless seams easier to clean up to me than blue models.

[Flint]

I squirt or run whatever I'm cleaning with through the action after removing the grips.

Sometimes it's hot water, sometimes Ballistol, sometimes MP7.
As long as you dry out the innards after water (air hose is good) and re-oil with Ballistol or Break-Free, there's no problem.  I don't like heating the whole gun in the oven....

The blued gun requires more careful drying, the Stainless is, naturally, faster and easier to clean.