Someone over polished the silver on the pistols whose photos I have posted here, but that was before they were covered with the nasty linseed oil. The ammonia removed the tarnish from the silver along with the dried linseed oil. I wouldn't normally recommend using ammonia to clean silver furniture on antique weapons.
It is best to be extremely conservative when it comes to "cleaning" antiques. In most cases leaving valuable antiques just as time made them is probably best. It is heartbreaking to see the damage that has been done with buffing wheels and polishing compound.
I have had good luck removing rust with clean 0000 steel wool. The steel wool should be replaced frequently during the process. Adding WD-40 to the mix is controversial with some because they believe rust particles can more easily become suspended in the oil and scratch the surface.
Thanks for the info Philip and rickystl, I'll give the stainless steel gun scrubber a try on something inexpensive and see how it goes.
Doug Wicklund from the NRA Museum wrote this article on Caring For Your Collectable Firearms:
http://www.nramuseum.com/media/94096...vationinfo.pdf