# I told him I wasn't a gunsmith , but I got his .357 / .38 spl Marlin 1894C cycling



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

A friend who as many of us with .357s used the less expensive .38 cartridges jammed his up trying to cycle a .357 after running many .38s through it.

I don't know how many .38 rounds he ran through it over the years but he had so much .38 chamber crud built up in it that it took me cleaning sessions spread over 4 days to get it all out after doing a complete take down to get the jammed cartridge out using my owner manual as reference to be sure not to miss any steps.

When I started the crud clean out he asked me if using the .38 ammo could have eventually blown his rifle up and I told him old gun owners and the gunsmith who calibrated the lifter on mine to better cycle when switching from .38 to .357 all told me to clean the chamber on a rifle and clean a revolver after each session of using .38 in a .357 weapon if intending to switch between ammo calibers to reduce the crud the shorter .38 produced and the smith at the shop where I bought mine said to never use wad cutters in the rifle.

I reiterated the fact that I was not a gunsmith as I explained that although I watched the gunsmith bench vise the lifter of mine as he heated it with a pencil torch and tap calibrated it , he knew what heat color to reach to not stress it and I didn't and field stripping and cleaning wasn't gunsmithing, only maintenance.

When he said he didn't have the money for a visit to a smith, I told him guns are a expensive hobby and instead of target shooting two or three times a week to cut back and use the saved ammo money to get his lifter smith adjusted and clean it after every .38 shooting session as I was told to do with mine and my Trooper revolver.


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

A clean gun is a happy gun.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I have a 92 Rossi in .45 Colt. I shoot .45 Scholfield in it because the brass is stronger and I can get more reloads. I scrub it out every time I use it. The magazine holds eight .45 Colt, or ten .45 Scholfields. They are much shorter.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

a brass brush on a section of rod chucked up in the cordless drill with chore boy wrapped around it cleans that crud out quick.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Funny that you mention a cordless drill. To maximize the twist of the brass brush at the gunk ring, I chucked a rod section in my hand crank drill and centered packed the rod with oiled patches as I hand cranked the brush on the worst of the crud.


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Just make sure not to accidentally hit reverse and unscrew the brush in the chamber.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

the chore boy copper dish pad strands are important in this , because the brass brush will lay over and not provide as much contact , but wrapping a fresh strand of chore boy copper definitely increases the crud cutting ability.

when you get a leaded up barrel chore boy on a brass brush scrubbing on the bore helps to scrape the lead from the rifling , you would be at it a long time and wear out a few brass brushes without the chore boy.

but make sure it is the all copper chore boy


----------



## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I have a S&W 585 that I had the same problem with. I cleaned it well and now only shoot 357 cartridges in it. I reload very mild loads for target practice, cheaper than I can buy the bulk 38 reloads for. Now the only problem is what to do with all the 38 brass I have.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> the chore boy copper dish pad strands are important in this , because the brass brush will lay over and not provide as much contact , but wrapping a fresh strand of chore boy copper definitely increases the crud cutting ability.
> 
> when you get a leaded up barrel chore boy on a brass brush scrubbing on the bore helps to scrape the lead from the rifling , you would be at it a long time and wear out a few brass brushes without the chore boy.
> 
> but make sure it is the all copper chore boy


GCP,
Thanks for the details.

Hopefully I won't have to clean one as bad gunked as his was again, but will add the chore boy to my cleaning lessons because of the solvent I went through soaking the gunk and brass brush before using a grill brush to tease fluff the brass brush that I pretty much wore out.


----------

