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Gun guys - advice on restoring a water logged pistol

Duty weapon = Sig P226 9mm (old school, no tactical)
Back up = Sig P230 .380

This S&W was simply another piece to run around with. Won't be too heartbroken if it needs to be retired.

This isn't looking too good........ This is just from trying to get the slide removed from the chassis......

P1010819.jpg


Under the grips......

P1010821.jpg


I didn't take into account that the constant water motion along the shoreline where it was found was certainly keeping dirt stirred up around it and through it...... damn.

I just blasted it with water and then some compressed air keyboard cleaner. It still feels like it's got crud all in the mechanics when cycling the slide..... Gonna need to be torn down and given an ultrasonic bath.
 
Heh heh....... I'm still shocked that I got the gun back. Especially the long shot odds that some kids fishing at that lake would see it in the water and turn it in. I figured that if it did turn up again, it'd be found in the waistband of some banger getting arrested.

Just weird, dunno whether to go buy a lottery ticket or shut myself in the house for a week...... :eek:
 
YELLAHEEP said:
Heh heh....... I'm still shocked that I got the gun back. Especially the long shot odds that some kids fishing at that lake would see it in the water and turn it in. I figured that if it did turn up again, it'd be found in the waistband of some banger getting arrested.

Just weird, dunno whether to go buy a lottery ticket or shut myself in the house for a week...... :eek:
Click to expand...

ROFL, there ya go. I'd soak that bad boy in CLP before tearing down further. :) Ultrasonic would be a great way to get most of the CRAP out. :D
 
Take the grips off and disassemble it a bit, then wash it in the top rack of your dishwasher, you can wash the grips too but don't let them go thru the high temp drying cycle. If you got rusted in parts make up a mix of 50/50 AT and Kero then let that soak in.
 
Replace the sights and any non-CRES metal parts (springs, small pins, and probably the barrel) out of hand. Assume they're shot - it's the safe way to bet.

Disassemble pistol totally (not a "field strip") and run the CRES (stainless) parts through the dishwasher. Remove from dishwasher while still wet, heat oven to 250*. Detail clean any blind holes or small bores, then pour isopropyl over the whole thing (the isopropyl bonds with water - useful for the next step.) Shake dry, then put in the oven for 10 minutes (this thorougly dries the thing.) Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Reassemble with new non-CRES parts. The grips can be cleaned - they're synthetic anyhow.

That crud that fell out is likely partly rust, partly dissolved solids from the water, and partly just plain ol' lake silt. However, if there's even a spot of rust on springs that doesn't come loose without brushing - just replace the thing. The spot of corrosion causes a "stress riser" in the metal - which will cause the spring to fail at the worst possible time...

If the frame and slide are CRES, the pistol is salvageable. How much you're going to spend salvaging it depends upon how many of the smaller parts are CRES as well...
 
Look at the positive side, by selectively going thru the brownells catalog you can add some better components, how much of a race gun you want is up to you but you can build it better than factory.
 
PB blaster deep creep etc first to loosen it up. Then soak it in some thin oil like diesel etc. Plenty of lube then start moving things. Use a brass tooth brush and remove as much rust as possible before pulling pins.

that way when you pull the pins etc. You will drag as little corrosion product as possible through the holes.
 
Would it be possible to send it back to S&W and have them go thru it?
Wayne
 
From what I can tell its a s&w right? If so throw it back the the pond it was recovered from! (personal issues with s&w) but seriously it looks like a pretty easy clean you should be able to do yourself.
 
LOL! Uh, no - I didn't try shooting it...... that's the purpose of this thread! To GET it shooting again - safely.

Lots of great advice guys! I gave it a hot water bath to loosen the dried crud and it looks a whole lot better than I expected as far as the non CRES parts go. The recoil spring, trigger spring in the frame and the sights are the only things with crusty rust and even that seems to scrape off with a fingernail. The barrel looks just fine, no pits or rust. I did keep it well lubed since it spent most of it's time stowed away in the holster.

Since I'm no armorer and don't wanna risk not being able to re-assemble the receiver and firing pin block, I'll leave that to the armorer. I think this 3913 will probably be back in business pretty soon.

I met with the State Parks Patrol Officer this afternoon that took the report and met with the people that found it. He took me to where it was found by two 10 year olds that were exploring a marshy tributary creek to the mouth of the lake. They found it submerged in about 2" of water, the holster was about 5' away. No mag to be found in the area. This area where the kids were exploring was hundreds of yards away from any camping, picnic or boating/beach area and about 15' inside a dense scrub oak and cottonwood tree filled ravine. All I can gather is that the gun was probably tossed into where it was found as there really isn't any path through the vegitation. Talk about a needle in a haystack! What were the odds?

I called my pops to tell him the gun had been found and where. He's a metal detector nut and now wants us to go back with the detectors and see if we can find the mag. The crooks also took a shoulder holster rig with 2 more mags so I'm wondering if that might also be in the area - but then again, who knows how many times this gun changed hands in the 2 months it's been missing..... :dunno: I'll let ya know if we go searching for the mags.

I also got the phone number for the kids and their dad that found it. I'm gonna at least give 'em a call and commend those kids for doing the right thing when they found it. Gotta think of something cool to send them as a Thank You.....
 
Any steel parts can be cleaned with water - provided you don't let the part sit as it dries. Either the oven (probably best) or a hair dryer will serve - in a pinch, you can use the "wire dryer" spray you can get at most parts houses - but unless the surface of the part is hideously complex, 10 minutes at 250*F does the job without wrecking the heat treatment of the steel.

As far as the "Thank You" goes - even a little personal attention (go thank the kids in person) will probably have a greater effect than you can grasp right away. The idea of "doing one's civic duty" is nearly dead - it should be acknowledged, but "rewarding" one's duty is a bit much. How often do the older among us do what's right without expecting anything at all?

Of course, men now wear hats indoors, which I think is also symptomatic of the decline in proper behaviour...
 
Well, I soaked the entire gun in WD40 overnight. That in itself got the thing good and cleaned up! I was able to call one of our armorers today and he just talked me thru the tear down over the phone. Came apart really simple and easy. I was able to break down the trigger parts, and the receiver and the firing pin block. I took all parts and put them into a sonic jewelry cleaner my wife rarely uses (Shhhhhh :shhh: ) and got lots of crap out of the crevices. I then bathed everything in gun oil during reassembly. Once all back together, I used my air gun to blow the excess oil away.

It looks as good as new! The only thing I couldn't get apart were the sights. I don't have the correct allen wrench for the rear sight, and the front didn't want to come out using a drift and hammer, so I'll leave that to the armorer. Those are the worst rusted parts anyway. All the springs and other CRES parts cleaned up great - just surface scaley rust that came off easy with a toothbrush.

I'll need to order a magazine or two before I can shoot it, but I have no reservations about doing so now.

Before:

P1010814.jpg


After:

P1010834.jpg






Thanks again guys for all the help and advice! :thumbup:
 
Last edited:
Those sonic cleaners come in handy for stuff. My mom had one and I used it now and then for small stuff. Guess it went in the house sale when she moved to florida years ago, I know that once in blue moon I'll be cleaning something and a bit of wishfull thinking comes up when I'm doing some really tedious detailed cleaning. Just out of curiousity while you have it out, stick a rusty suspension bolt in there and see how well it cleans it up. I never tried that, I used it on tiny O gauge and HO scale train parts. However if it cleans up rusty bolts well I might break down and buy one...
 
RichP said:
Those sonic cleaners come in handy for stuff. My mom had one and I used it now and then for small stuff. Guess it went in the house sale when she moved to florida years ago, I know that once in blue moon I'll be cleaning something and a bit of wishfull thinking comes up when I'm doing some really tedious detailed cleaning. Just out of curiousity while you have it out, stick a rusty suspension bolt in there and see how well it cleans it up. I never tried that, I used it on tiny O gauge and HO scale train parts. However if it cleans up rusty bolts well I might break down and buy one...
Click to expand...

Cleaning up rusty screws does well with a brass tumbler loaded with crushed walnut hulls. It's what I use...
 
5-90 said:
Cleaning up rusty screws does well with a brass tumbler loaded with crushed walnut hulls. It's what I use...
Click to expand...

Yea, I do that too but I hate picking out the really small parts, especially the ones that slip through the sieve that came with the tumbler... and I've already been yelled at for using the one in the kitchen we use for draining pasta...
 
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