I use water and Ivory soap to clean my sixguns. I cut a few slices from an old bar of Ivory soap into a small spray bottle, add water to nearly full and voila'! Black powder cleaner.
Others also do the same but add alcohol or vinegar. Never tried that. This seems to work well so not had the occasion to change it.
Once a year or more often, depending on how many shots I've put through the revolver, I totally disassemble it and toss it into a plastic tub full of boiling water with chips from old Ivory soap bars.
With brushes that get in corners, and some cloth swabs, this really cleans the ol' beast.
Water immersion really loosens fouling and, just as importantly, carries the fouling away from the metal surface.
A quick drying in a baking pan in the oven, set at 150 F with the door open to allow moisture to escape, ensures all parts are dry.
Wunder Cleaners are fine in the field, I guess, but for a thorough cleaning I've never found anything better than hot water and a bar of Ivory soap.
Why Ivory? It floats! This makes it easier to find. Other bars sink and you have to grope for them.
I place cleaned parts into a small, plastic collander in my plastic washtub, leaving the cleaned parts immersed. Removed from the water, they'll begin to rust within minutes but left underwater it takes longer.
When all parts are clean, I rinse the same parts in the colander under a stream of hot water from the tap. Then, pat dry with paper towels, run a couple of dry patches through the bore and chambers, and place in the oven as outlined above.
I leave it in the oven 45 minutes or so. And don't forget to position the parts so moisture can easily escape. I place my Colt Navy frame upside down, so moisture gets out of the screw holes quickly.
Once dry, I liberally coat the warm metal with mutton tallow (regular Crisco is also good, don't use the butter-flavored stuff) and allow the parts to cool with a good coating of tallow or Crisco.
Don't forget to run a patch soaked in tallow down the bore and into the chambers too.
During reassembly, I put a little extra lubricant into the action. Don't put too much or it will draw dirt and crud or stiffen in cold weather. I don't use petroleum oils in my revolver.
Then, I reassemble the revolver and wipe off the excess lubricant.
Yep, it sounds like a lot of work but as I say I don't give my revolvers the hot bath treatment every time I return from shooting. Here in the Utah desert the humidity is low and I can get by for months without cleaning, and never see a speck of rust from black powder fouling.
However, if I lived in Seattle or New Orleans where humidity is high, then I'd have to clean more often.
