Reddit reviews Kleenbore Gun Care Lead Away Gun Cloth

standard oils and cleaners that you would regularly use, but if it's really stubborn like the cylinder gap, you can use a lead free cloth

http://www.amazon.com/Kleenbore-Gun-Care-Lead-Cloth/dp/B002IEIDG4

Smells funky and wont come off for days so use gloves

I use a birchwood casey lead remover
https://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Casey-Remover-Polishing-6-Inch/dp/B00AU67BEM

But I think they are all the same
https://www.amazon.com/Kleenbore-Gun-Care-Lead-Cloth/dp/B002IEIDG4

You can also use flitz, Hoppes 9 and a brass brush or a few other ways to scrub them off but I find the Lead remover cloths are the easiest method. Be careful using a scotchbrite pad as another user suggested unless you gun is Matte finish it will end up matte finish wherever the scotchbrite pad gets rubbed.

those are normal carbon deposits, and can be removed with something like Birchwood Casey Lead Remover or Kleen Bore Lead Away cloths, meant specifically to take carbon deposits out of stainless steel (don't use on blued guns; it'll chemically remove the bluing).

Interesting that your gun has a color-case-hardened hammer; the 686 no-dash, -1s, -2s, and -3s all had silver-colored flash-chromed hammers (and triggers, like yours). The 686-4s and onward had color-case-hardened hammers. It's likely that your gun's hammer was replaced in its past.

Actually, now that I look a little closer, it appears that the hammer is a modified (and rather rare) L-frame target hammer - would have come with a wider and longer spur than the standard hammer. Yours appears to have been somewhat shortened and narrowed a little (perhaps to work with the Pachmayr Gripper grips that are installed on the gun, and perhaps the previous owner liked having a standard-width-but-not-standard-length hammer spur), but the spur is still larger than the standard L-frame hammer. That would explain why the hammer is color-case-hardened: I don't think I've ever seen an L-frame target hammer in flash-chromed finish.

This, or this, works wonders on lead removal on the end of the cylinder. Only use them on stainless steel, though, as they will remove bluing.

BTW, I carried that exact gun as an agency provided duty gun for about 15 years. Traded it in for a S&W 6906 when we transitioned to those. Wish I had kept the 64, it was the sweetest shooting gun I ever used.

Sigh ...

Just got a Ruger Redhawk about a month ago, was looking for something to clean the stainless with and found this. Be sure and get the ones that say Kleenbore. There are others out there that dont work as well from what I have heard. That and Hoppe's No 9 and CLP will clean and lube just about everything I own.