Keeping stainless steel handguns looking "new"

I shot with some buddies last week. One guy had a really neat H&R Sidekick 10 shot, .22lr DA revolver. It was stainless steel. It was really covered with carbon around the cylinder. cylinder face, etc. I asked him if he minded if I took his gun home with me and gave it a good cleaning. Of course he jumped at the chance.

I gave it a good overnight soaking in Ballistol hoping this would dissolve some carbon. It worked ok, then I got out some Carbon Cutter, same result. There was allot I just couldn't get off.

I love stainless guns but cant stand the burnt on carbon look. Some guys like it, makes them look like proshooters, love the patina look.

Anyway, I'm looking at a stainless 1911 and wonder , those of you are anal OCDC like me, how do you maintain your stainless guns to keep looking new.

I watched Hickok .45 on YouTube and others, just wondered what all you other OCD members do beside by blued guns.

I have had decent luck soaking the "burnt" part in brake cleaner and giving it a good scrub. Nasty stuff, will take off most anything, especially parts you don't want it to.

After cleaning, I use Flitz metal polish on the burnt areas.

Yep

Try this, it works as advertised (not for use on blued finishes):

https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-c...-prod59702.aspx

I use "Mothers" brand metal polish on my stainless revolvers and stainless barrels/feed ramps on my pistols. You can simply clean the parts with a cloth, or bring them to a high polish level with a soft buffer wheel.

I've found that if you clean them immediately after firing they seem to do pretty well. The burnt carbon only bothers me on high-end 1911s.