The nickel finish on my P220 two-tone is easy enough to be worry-free as all it will ever see is some sort of CLP product, while the barrel gets the strong stuff.

My new-to-me nickel finish Colt SAA, on the other hand, is a different breed of cat. Looking to the SIGforum brain trust for cleaning and preserving recommendations. The big ones being safe cleaning/removal of leading and copper fouling of barrel and cylinder.

So far my searches have yielded a lot of confusing and contradicting information. Hoppe's is okay, Hoppe's is not okay; Flitz is okay, Flitz is not okay; etc.

One product I came across that I have not (so far) seen any contradicting opinion is Prolix.

I don't know what I don't know and am a bit confused at the moment so I would welcome some rock-solid advice from the members here.

I've always used just Ballistol on all my nickel plate. I know anything with ammonia will peel the finish with prolonged contact. I've heard some folks swear by Prolix.

If only there was a place to post about pistols....

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums?a=corfrm&cf=430601935

Clp type stuff is fine. Honestly I do not obsessively clean. Knock the stuff off you can and don’t worry about a little crud here and there. Clean enough to function is clean enough.

Most of the time when I clean, I don’t use any solvents at all, just some brush passes and patches.

Most residues wipe off nickel without much hassle

Anything that will dissolve or separate by copper fouling is dangerous to nickel. Nickel is not plated to steel. The steel is first plated with copper and then the nickel is plated to the copper. This is why copper solvents, of which ammonia is one, like Hoppes are risky.

^^^
Yep.

Copper is noble, so it is the strike layer to the base.

Nickel plated layer is a very stable base, with strong corrosion resistance properties and desirable appearance.
This is followed by silver, gold or chromium layer. (chrome being the most durable and hardened protective layer)

Chromium layer is pretty much "transparent", but it has the property of absorbing yellow wavelength light and results in the "blue" or "cold" appearance in chrome finished items.

Chemistry and physics is fun.

Back in the day, when most all LEO carried revolvers, and some of them were nickel, the general rule was not to spray them with WD-40. That was a relatively new product back then, and many people had started using it as a gun cleaner. Reportedly it could penetrate thru to the copper, which in turn would cause the nickel to turn "cloudy".

Unrelated to nickel but still related to WD-40, also back then we received a bulletin from the National Association of Chiefs of Police not to spray any revolver with WD-40 without unloading it first. Apparently some guys (yes, it was all guys back then) would take a short cut, pull their guns out, and spray them down, wipe them off, and re-holster. This supposedly caused primers to sometimes become deactivated.

Most of these cautions apply to electroplated nickel. Is the SIG electroless* any different? Does this also require an under-layer of copper?
*Guessing.

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
If only there was a place to post about pistols....

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums?a=corfrm&cf=430601935

Because pistols aren't the only items that can be/are nickel-plated, I thought it wise to post here in hopes of perhaps canvassing a few more members for input regarding cleaning and solvents that might differ from that used traditionally for firearms.

creslin relax man!

We have a moderator, he runs a pretty tight ship. If it’s an issue, he won’t be shy about it. There are several forums this could have been posted in, and it’s not your place to direct them or make snide remarks. The way you phrased it was a bit juvenile.

Please, let’s just enjoy the content. This place is a gem.

Hoppe’s is a no no. Many nickeled ex police guns have a cloudy finish due to its use.

Flitz has a few different formulations. The one for metal, plastic, and fiberglass contains ammonia, while the ones specifically just for metal do not. Regardless, bear in mind that when you use a polish like this, the dark stuff left on the rag when you’re done isn’t just dirt, it’s also nickel.