Watching youtube videos and on-line articles and some folks use Flitz or Nevr-Dull or some kind of mag wheel polish but I'm very hesitatant to use anything called a polish since I do not want to mess up the brushed finish. One fellow used Hoppes #9 on a green scotch-brite scouring pad and that seemed okay but you get the idea he sill put a fair amount of time and elbow grease into it. I've used a plain gum pencil eraser to pretty good effect.

So, how do you guys clean that carbon fouling or burn marks as some call them from the cylinder face?

mine get wiped with a cleaning patch
with bore solvent and that's it.
next time it's used those black rings
of tarnish will be right back on the
cylinder, so i don't fret over 'em.
i just get any residue and rock on.

Why clean them at all? That question aside, I have had decent results using a bronze brush and Hoppes #9.

M-Pro 7 and a bronze brush. Let the solution work, just make sure to keep it wet, don't let it dry out.

MAAS polishing paste, WENOL, SIMECHROME, Flitz... as mentioned.
All do a good job, used on a Q-tip./Patch wrapped on a popcycle stick.

INK eraser on pencil tip... does some good.
My own proprietary blend of solvents ( too strong for the meek)

Start with gentle ... & move to stronger & stop at the thought of wet or dry sandpaper.... that's a no-go.

Ditto bronze brush and Hoppe's #9.

Be careful mixing solvents unless you're a chemist!

A pencil eraser does a pretty good job.

Bronze brush and CLP. Also works well for carbon burn rings on semiauto shotgun tubes.

Shooter's choice and a bronze toothbrush.

Fouling and/or lead deposits anywhere on the gun come right off with just a little rubbing. Don't use it on blued revolvers, but it's fine on Nickel and Stainless.

It's a chemical - not an abrasive.

+1 after cleaning with the powder solvent of your choice. Not always perfect but better than other methods I've tried, without abrading the cylinder face finish,

I just got this gun back from the guy I sold it to about 20 years ago. It's got some scratches on face of the cylinder where he had tried to clean it with a brush.

The Lead Away removed it without scratching and it took about 2 minutes.

The Lead Away by BC or Kleenbore were recommended by a couple of folks, one guy was saying it smelled a lot like the Nevr-Dull stuff. I was thinking a chemical cleaner like that would work but my main concern is that did NOT polish or shine up the finish. I've read horror stories of someone who loaned his brushed finish SS revolver to a friend who "cleaned it up" with Flitz and polished the entire exterior to a mirror finish.

Fine steel wool.

As a simple experiment to address your concern, I just spent 2 minutes on the face of the cylinder with an Ultra-Fine Scotchbrite pad.

A few more minutes of work would likely restore the metal to something closely resembling the factory finish.

I don't clean ,except a wipe down with a cloth and Hoppes or whatever cleaning agent I am using at the time

I use Amway metal cleaner and a tooth brush, comes off quick and no scratches.

+1

Remington also made a Lead-away product and it works like magic on burn rings, etc.

Honestly? I don't remove the carbon ring on the cylinder face. It's gonna come back immediately the next time I shoot it.

I do not, wipe off the crud, oil, reload and reholster.

This is what I use, too. One package lasts years.

Yes it does! I think I've bought the stuff maybe three times in the last 35 years.

Yep, the rest is like wiping your ass before you shiet.

Though hard chromed this black is years old.

A grinder will remove even the most stubborn stain.

I use simichrome or Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish with a Q-tip. Comes right off. I seroiusly doubt you'll put a fine polish on the cylinder face using that method.

Wipe the face of the cylinder when I wipe the gun down after shooting. That's all I do. I've never had a build-up that interfered with cylinder rotation . If I cleaned it too much, I might not want to shoot it.

One thing to consider, use no abrasives on titanium cylinders like on the Scandium Smith's and the Taurus Titanium Tracker.
They are coated with something that helps prevent gas cutting.

Decided it wasnt a fight worth fighting, i just clean them with ballistol like clp, might hit the carbon with a toothbrush/ballistol if ambitious when hit the barrel throat, but doesnt bother me nor the revolver, so.

I guess it’s time to reveal the whole reason for asking. I never clean the carbon fouling either, heck, the revolvers are lucky to get a semi-annual cleaning at all. But I was thinking of selling one and wanted to show it to best advantage so was going to give it a thorough cleaning including getting the carbon off of the cylinder face and around the front of the flutes.



Plus I can use that great ambivalent saying in my gunbroker ad that so many use, “it looks like it hasn't been shot much...

There's a home made solvent you can make that does a decent job. A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. You have to mix every time you uses it as the two are not compatible for storage and will separate. But just mix a little of the two, then apply with some 0000 steel wool and it will do a decent job.

The lead removal cloths do an excellent job, just order a few of them at a time.

To get the face of the cylinder perfect, you will have to reach for an abrasive such as flitz, semi-chrome, or JB Bore paste.

Personally, I don't use any abrasives on my revolvers. If I don't have any lead cloths, then I use the vinegar/peroxide mix and if there's still a slight ring, I just live with it. But that's me, some a a bit more OCD about it.

And that's the best reason for getting it ALL off. Good luck with you pending sales.

flitz is non abrasive

https://www.flitz-polish.com/

Sure it is!

i don't clean the burn rings--i have too much fun putting the burn ring on the cylinder face in the first place.

i've not purchased a new stainless Smith since the mid 1980's, so i don't know much about what the cylinder face looks like right now when purchased brand new.

but, back in the early to mid 1980's, some of the new stainless Smith's i had purchased had three burn rings on the cylinder face, as they test fired them using every other charge hole. so in a sense, even when they were brand new, they were already half baked/burned...

when the cylinder face is cleaned up on a used rig, it makes a guy wonder what else may have been done to it.

how do you figure?

I don't.




Dave

It removes schit solvents can't.



Dave

I knock of the big chunks and leave the stain.

Same here. Clean them just enough so they reliably shoot. No more, no less.