[SBCastellani]

I have acquired an 1851 Navy Colt revolver with brass frame. The cylinder is seized solidly to the pin presently. I have completely disassembled the firearm and have tried using penetrating oil on the cylinder and the pin in hopes to get it to break free so I can clean the both separately. However that is not proving to do much of anything other than get me all oily. I have also tried using soft tools to tap the cylinder loose to no avail. Would heating the frame, cylinder and pin prove useful or should it be avoided due to the brass? I have seen it recommended for steel frames, never brass. Short of replacing the frame, pin and cylinder, I am running out of ideas.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Stick it in the over at about 200*. Then, in the freezer for a while. Hot/cold may brake things loose.

 

[Diamondback]

Immerse the parts in light oil and let it set for about a week. If you can induce vibrations it will work even better.

 

[SBCastellani]

Thank you both very much. I shall attempt both avenues of remedy. One question however, how long should I bake the unit at 200*? I would imagine not too long, somewhere between 5-10 minutes?

 

[jim brady]

You either have carbon from the black powder - or maybe (hopefully not) rust on the pin and the inside of the pin hole in the cylinder. Light oil or penetrating oil might break up or soften the carbon. You will have to soak it a long while - maybe a week or two - to enable the oil to penetrate and soften up that carbon.

I don't shoot black powder much anymore, but one lesson that I learned when I did was to clean, dry and lubricate the daylights out of black powder guns after use. You can "get by" with casual cleaning with smokeless powder for longer periods than you can with black powder. Might help to use a good grease on that pin and in the cylinder pin hole once you get it free to help avoid this again. I've always been amazed as to how much carbon works it's way onto that darn pin with black powder.

 

[nmckenzie]

If your local hardware store carries Kroil Penetrating Oil give that a try. The soak may take a week, but if anything can break a rust bond it's Kroil.

 

[Double D]

P.B. Blaster....

 

[tedwitt]

I have acquired an 1851 Navy Colt revolver with brass frame. The cylinder is seized solidly to the pin presently. I have completely disassembled the firearm and have tried using penetrating oil on the cylinder and the pin in hopes to get it to break free so I can clean the both separately. However that is not proving to do much of anything other than get me all oily. I have also tried using soft tools to tap the cylinder loose to no avail. Would heating the frame, cylinder and pin prove useful or should it be avoided due to the brass? I have seen it recommended for steel frames, never brass. Short of replacing the frame, pin and cylinder, I am running out of ideas.

PB Blaster will free it up.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

I've had range brass at least 200*. Hot enough from laying in the sun that you can't hold it in your hand so being in a hot over for 15 to 20 minutes shouldn't be a problem. I dry my cleaned brass fresh out of a soapy water wash at 200* for a longer length of time. Steel and brass will both expand and contract at different temps so that in itself may do the job.
A good penetrating oil will get into places from the heat. Let us know how you make out.

 

[Hawg]

Kroil is better than PB Blaster but a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone is better than Kroil for soaking.

 

[Grizzley1]

Kroil is better than PB Blaster but a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone is better than Kroil for soaking.

Amen.

 

[tedwitt]

Kroil is better than PB Blaster but a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone is better than Kroil for soaking.

I have never heard of Kroil. Where do you get it? Who makes it?

 

[Broot]

Quite a few places have it. Made by Kano

 

[Twicepop]

Try Coca Cola. Several years back I was trying to remove a bronze propeller from a red brass prop-shaft. Tapping it, then beating it didn't budge it, heating the prop with a torch didn't help. I broke a screw type puller while apply heat and beating the snot out of the end of the shaft, it still wouldn't budge. As a last resort I poured Coke on it and let it set for about an hour, them with a light tap of the hammer, it came loose.

 

[Hawg]

Coke will ea

Try Coca Cola. Several years back I was trying to remove a bronze propeller from a red brass prop-shaft. Tapping it, then beating it didn't budge it, heating the prop with a torch didn't help. I broke a screw type puller while apply heat and beating the snot out of the end of the shaft, it still wouldn't budge. As a last resort I poured Coke on it and let it set for about an hour, them with a light tap of the hammer, it came loose.

Coke will eat corrosion from brass, copper and lead. It's great on battery cables but it doesn't do anything for steel except get it wet and sticky.

 

[Hawg]

I have never heard of Kroil. Where do you get it? Who makes it?

Walmart has it as do auto parts stores etc.

 

[soundguy]

if you are going to heat the part.. heat and then quench it.

For parts like that, I'd take a bucket big enough to lay that frame and cyl down in, and put in a gallon of diesel fuel. it will cost less than the kroil ( I LOVE KROIL BY THE WAY!! ) and then heat that gun lightly and toss it in the diesel fuel.. and forget about it a week. when you come back, tap on it lightly with a brass or copper hammer in a few spots and set it back in. come back every few hours on a day you are home and do this. if it's going to come loose, it will. if not.. you are out a 149$ gun new, or about 100$ used.

I've use the diesel bath on tractor parts for years. It's amazing. toss in a froze up assembly and a week later you can tap it apart.

 

[CCHolderinMaine]

P.B. Blaster....

PB Blaster was always my personal and my shop's Go To.
It's definitely good stuff.
However, there's something better. A lot better, but it's not sold retail.
Liquid Torch by Castle products is, well, miraculous.
Have to find a local guy, it took me a while to get a guy to come sell me stuff and I'm a multi-million dollar shop. Castle products sells a boatload of other specialty products as well. Not cheap, not real available, but the best stuff we've found.
They sell to a lot of dealerships.

 

[Hawg]

Never tried Liquid Torch but there's a product called Free that is really good. It's hard to find and isn't cheap either. Penetro 90 is good. Kerosene is good all by itself but it takes some time to work but it will eventually seep through a metal bucket and once it does it will still hold gasoline but will never hold kerosene again.

 

[runes]

The blast from the barrel gap finds its way into the cylinder pin and locks them up with
crud. You might strip it down and run it through the dish washer. Might work and won't hurt it.