Ed's Red Experiment - Long

[Charles L. Cotton]

Let me see, how can I make this remotely CHL-related? Oh yeah, this board is about carrying a gun. If you carry a gun you need to practice. If you practice, the gun’s going to get dirty and a dirty gun needs to be cleaned. There you go; now it’s “on topic.�

Like many of you, I love to shoot but hate cleaning guns. I’ve been cleaning 1911's since long before my oldest now-married son has been alive, so I’m no rookie. I can do a field stip cleaning in about 15 to 20 minutes, but to fully strip the slide and receiver, clean it and the barrel, and reassemble will take me 45 minutes. I will use a field strip cleaning only if relatively few rounds have been fired. Otherwise, the guns gets fully stripped. Multiply that by 2 to 4 guns and that’s a lot of work friends. I know some people say they can do a full receiver and slide strip and clean in 20 minutes per gun, but I suspect many of those claims are like those 700 and 800 yard shots on Whitetail’s we all hear about, usually after a few beers. Either that, or we may have different definitions of “clean.�

So, in my quest to find an easier and faster way to clean the pistolas, I started experimenting with Ed’s Red. My goal was to maximize the number of times I can do a field strip cleaning between fully stripping and cleaning the pistol. The experiment started by fully stripping two pistols (Commander and TRS), throughly cleaning them, then going to the range and shooting at least 400 rounds through each pistol. Sometimes it was closer to 700 rounds. I then took the pistols home, field stripped them, wiped the slide and receiver with a paper towel to remove bulk grime, and let them soak in a metal pound cake pan in Ed’s Red for varying times. After the designated period, I would take the receiver and slide out, very lightly brush them with a tooth brush, and wipe the barrel bushing, slide stop, guide rod, recoil spring plug and recoil spring with paper towels. (I mean wipe, not scrub.) The barrel was cleaned last and was left soaking in the Ed’s Red until the rest of the gun was finished. Then, everything was hosed down with break cleaner, paying special attention to the inner parts of the slide and receiver. Finally, I used my air compressor to blow out any remaining fluid. Except for soaking time, the entire cleaning process takes about 10 minutes per pistol.

After this was finished, I then stripped the guns to see how well the receiver, slide and inner parts had been cleaned. (The gun was reassembled without any addition cleaning.) Obviously, this varied by the length of the soaking time, as well as the number of rounds fired. It would also vary by the powder used, but I use either WW231 or Clays for .45 ACP, so I don’t have much of a variable. ( If you fired 200 rds loaded with Clays, the pistol would hardly show any evidence of being fired. If you fired 50 rds loaded with Unique (old formula) it would be filthy.) I started with a soaking time of 30 minutes and worked up from there. The number of rounds fired at each range session varied somewhat, but I tried to keep them close to 400 to 500 rds per gun.

Results: A soaking time of 2 hours seems to work for me, my guns, my powder and roughly 400 to 500 rds per range session per gun. It do not yet have sufficient data to feel comfortable offering an opinion as to how many times I can clean the guns with this procedure, before a detail stripping will be necessary. The obvious areas of concern are the extractor tunnel and on Series 80 Colts, the plunger tunnel in the slide. I will say that I am up to multiple range sessions without requiring a full receiver and slide stripping.

Observations: 1) The Ed’s Red does an excellent job of loosening the grime and it greatly aids in cleaning the barrel. It is not a copper solvent, so if you have a build up, Ed’s Red won’t get it. 2) A good hosing down of the receiver and slide inner parts with break cleaner at the end of the cleaning seems to be a key step in flushing out the grime that was loosened during soaking. 3) The high pressure air is also an important step, but less so than the break cleaner. 4) Wiping down of the receiver and slide with paper towels before soaking undoubtedly shortens the required soaking time and extends the useful life of that batch of Ed’s Red. 5) When soaking, I fully submerge the Commander in the Ed’s Red, but the TRS has night sights, so I fill the pan only to the point where the slide is covered, but not the sights.

Sorry for the length of this post and I hope some find it useful.

If anyone wants the Ed’s Red formula, it can be found at: http://www.majorsgunclub.org/edsred.html I don't use the Lanolin.

BTW, I was only kidding about the “on topic� stuff. This is exactly why dws1117 suggested a truly general "gun, shooting & equipment" forum unrelated to CHL. It was a good suggestion.

Regards,
Chas.

[BobCat]

Charles,

Thanks for an informative post. Ed's Red is what I use mostly - Hoppes copper solvent sometimes but for regular cleaning, Ed's Red. My biggest problem was finding containers for it after I mixed it up, since the acetone in it will eat plastic. I found some little 1 pint metal screw-top cans like those Kroil comes in, and they work well.

Do you clean your carry gun at the range after you shoot? I bring my "range" guns home to clean, but am nervous about having a gun that smells just-fired in my holser. I field-strip / clean at the range before reloading/reholstering. Probably stupid - never been stopped and had the officer ask to see my sidearm (or sniff it) - but it just seems better to have it clean, holstered.

Also, I know this thread is about Ed's Red, but what about lubricants? As hot as it gets here, I use Lubriplate on slide rails and on the barrel where the bushing rides, instead of oil. Anyone see a problem with this approach?

Anyway, Happy New Year, have fun.

Regards,
Andrew

[Charles L. Cotton]

Andrew:
I had the same concern about a container, but was told that the plastic gasoline containers would work fine. I've been using a 1 gal. plastic gas “can� for a little over a year and don't see any problem thus far.

I don't clean my carry gun until I get home, but I also live about 10 minutes from the range. I doubt you'd have any trouble with having a dirty gun on the way home from the range, even if stopped. If the issue ever came up, you'll have your range bag with you as evidence you have been to the range. I can't imagine this would ever come up, unless you or your car fit the description of someone or some car they were trying to find.

I don't know about Lubriplate for regular use on a gun that has already been broken in. I use it on all new automatics for the first 700 to 1000 rounds. This is on the recommendation of the pistolsmith I use. I've tried several lubricants, and the one I'm currently using is FP-10.

Regards,
Chas.

[Lindy]

I typically shoot the Glock I routinely carry a couple of hundred rounds per range session, and only clean it every two or three sessions. I don't worry about carrying around a pistol which has been fired without cleaning, from a legal standpoint. If I were stopped for some reason - and I don't remember the last time that happened - I'd just tell the officer that I shoot regularly, and have no need to clean the pistol every time it's fired.

As far as lubrication goes, I just use Breakfree on everything except my sniper rifle, which gets some white lithium-based grease on the bolt lugs, to prevent galling under the high pressure of those rounds. My AR, which gets nothing but Breakfree, goes 500 hundred or more rounds without problems.

Brake cleaner, which has the same stuff as Gun Scrubber in it, works fine on everything but copper in the barrel, and I use Montana Extreme on that. Be sure to use eye protection when using brake cleaner spray. I use 99% isopropyl alcohol on a few patches after the copper solvent, to ensure that none of it is left in the bore.

[dutchman]

Well, Charles, I guess you convinced me. :D I have put off mixing a batch of Ed's Red for 3 years now. I am an expert procrastinator. I just never could convince myself that Ed's Red could be much better than my method, which dates back to the 1940's. I simply disassemble, scrub and brush like hell, oil lightly and reassemble. That takes a hefty hunk out of an hour of my time. Time that could be spent sleeping, OR shooting.
When I get this stuff mixed, I have a couple of .45's that dearly need cleaning.
dutchman

[SRVA]

Cleaning?...what's that all about? Oh, I remember, it's that thing I do to my firearm once a year, whether it needs it or not!