Gun cleaning solvents

[Daltex1]

Intrested and seeing what type of gun cleaning products people are using these days!

[AV8R]

Well, the trend seems to be in the direction of "Less is best." Barrels aren't particularly hard, e.g., my Glock barrels come in around 40-42 on the Rockwell "C" scale, tough rather than hard. Strong chemical and abrasive cleaners are not a great idea, because they can remove more metal from bores than shooting does, for a net loss of barrel life and accuracy. Kroil, and Hoppe's products, Breakfree, etc. are petroleum based, clean well, and are non-corrosive and non-abrasive. Personally, I use Marvel Mystery Oil, which is a product developed during WWII by Marvel Carburetor Co. as a carbon and varnish solvent for big radial aircraft engines. Its active ingredient is an ester, wintergreen oil, which is one of the best penetrating solvents there is. One thing not to do is use a bronze brush, which is as hard as the barrel. Time is your friend: let it soak in the solvent of your choice, and use flannel patches, the big square ones.

For frames and slides, spray cans of CRC Lectromotive, LPS Micro-X, or safety solvent are good. Naphtha is good, and inexpensive.

For lubricants, I have used about everything from #2 diesel to Red Line PAO synthetic oil. Here, it depends on climate, type of gun, and how you use the gun. Around seawater or sweat, a lubricant with a good corrosion inhibitor package is needed. Breakfree is good, as are EEzox products, and WD-40 (better anti-corrosive than most gun oils, loaded with barium and calcium sulfonates). Of course, after immersion in salt water, a good cleaning is necessary, and a soaking in fresh water may even be desirable to dissolve crystals..

If you're in a lot of fine dust, you can get by running the gun dry for a while, or apply a PAO synthetic and rub off as much as you can. For average use, Rem Oil,Breakfree CLP, etc. are fine. Guns don't need much lubrication, so just about anything used sparingly is fine. The exception is break-in, and my preference is to run wet the first box or so.

After cleaning a barrel, an old sniper's trick is to shoot one round through it. Supposedly, the powder residue has something in it that inhibits rusting in hot, wet climates.

[HighVelocity]

I use Hoppe's #9 for cleaning, Militec-1 for lubrication and white cotton patches along with various types of brushes and q-tips. Simple and effective.

[GlockenHammer]

I use Hoppe's #9 for cleaning, Militec-1 for lubrication and white cotton patches along with various types of brushes and q-tips. Simple and effective.

I also made up a little "Ed's Red".

[AV8R]

Ed's Red is something that I've been suspicious about, as the formula contains acetone. It is well known that acetone catalyzes rust on iron and steel surfaces. It even does it in a capped glass bottle when left near a clean steel surface. I've never heard of problems with Ed's, I just don't like the idea of acetone when there are better choices for solvents. Hoppes #9 contains an oil-soluble organic ammonia compound, which etches copper but is mild on steel, except in the presence of moisture. I like to follow it up with oiling. Militec seems to be a poly-alpha olefin synthetic oil, pretty much identical in properties to Red Line synth racing oils, with the major difference being about $50 a quart.

[cyphur]

I am in the process of trying out different solvents to see what I prefer. I use rem-oil in my Rem700 PSS, simply because it works and the gun doesn't need much oil to work.

On my Sig, I use CLP. Seems to hold up better and provides longer lasting effects.

I've tried the "cleaner in a bottle" Gun Scrubber, and found it not only kills my skin, it also leaves a nasty residue. We used 98¢ cans of brake cleaner in the Army, then sprayed it down with CLP, and wiped it down.

I've found CLP doesn't do the greatest job in cleaning, is there something out there that works as well as Gun Scrubber without the nasty side effects?

[AV8R]

Cyphur, my favorite spray solvents for actions are CRC Lectromotive and LPS Micro-X, both electrical contact cleaners. I've found the CRC at Auto Zone. Graingers, and other supply houses, carry LPS. If you have compressed air, a few minutes' soak in naphtha works well, and there's nothing in a gun it will damage. The brake cleaners I've used (not on guns) have contained methyl alcohol and will leave a moisture film on the surface. On barrels, I like Hoppe's #9, followed by Marvel. It's always surprising to me how much comes out on a patch after a good soaking with Marvel.

[MoJo]

Simple Green is an excellent gun cleaner. I dilute the concentrate 1:1 and soak the field stripped gun less grips, if removable, for 15 to 20 minutes, scrub with a tooth brush, rinse well with hot water and blow dry with compressed air. Be sure to oil well afterward as the gun will be compelely stripped of all oil.

[Venus Pax]

Hi MoJo. I haven't seen you here in awhile. WB.

I've never heard of using simple green. How long have you used this to clean your guns?

[MoJo]

Hi MoJo. I haven't seen you here in awhile. WB.

I've never heard of using simple green. How long have you used this to clean your guns?

I've been using Simple Green for a couple of years. I started using it after learning the Navy uses it to clean the guns on their airplanes.

[HankB]

For general cleaning, I used to use 1,1,1 Trichloroethane (OUTSIDE on the back porch!!) but that's no longer easily available. So now I use brake cleaner at less than $2 a can.

Original Hoppe's No. 9 is an old standby - it's safe on barrels, since they actually recommend it for longer-term storage - and ahh, the aroma . . . I have no qualms about corking up a fouled barrel and filling it with #9 to let it "soak" for a few days.

For more severe cases of copper fouling, Hoppe's copper solvent or Butch's Bore-Shine seem to work well, but I don't soak the barrel with these for extended periods.

I use Break-Free CLP in most cases to oil my guns, but sometimes use Tetra oil or grease, or even Plastilube, for guns like my M1s and M1A.

One thing not to do is use a bronze brush, which is as hard as the barrel.

I don't think so . . . got any data to show bronze brushes are as hard as steel, even if the latter HASN'T been hardened? I mean, they make some bullets out of bronze . . . if bronze were as hard as steel, just a few shots would swage out the rifling.

Steel & bronze hardnesses aren't usually measured on the same scale, and their hardness relative to their tensile strength doesn't follow the same relation, but from what I can see, bronze (say, phosphor bronze) will have a Brinell hardness in the range of 60 - 110. Machinery's Handbook shows the equivalent Brinell hardness of your Rockwell 40-42 "C" scale Glock barrels is somewhere on the order of 371-390, which, even making due allowance for differences in ferrous/nonferrous measurements, is a lot harder than bronze.

[NcongruNt]

Simple Green is a really great cleaner. If I ever wanted to strip my rifles and give them a really good cleaning, I might consider using it. I've used the stuff to degrease engine parts during a rebuild, and just setting them in a bucket of 1:10 simple green overnight makes them shiny new again with a little light wiping to finish them up. I imagine soaking the barrel in it for a little while and then hitting it with a bore brush would do wonders. Just make sure you're not cleaning any chrome - Simple Green eats it up. In fact, you can completely dechrome something by simply soaking it in Simple Green for a few days.

[pbandjelly]

I got a "Cleaning Kit" when I got my first HandGun. It came with Hoppe's #9, a rod with various end-pieces, and some oil.
I've never used anything else, as it is inexpensive (costs less than a box of 9mm) and seems to work well.

what are the differences between Hoppe's and some of these other cleaners, such as Simple Green?

[NcongruNt]

I got a "Cleaning Kit" when I got my first HandGun. It came with Hoppe's #9, a rod with various end-pieces, and some oil.
I've never used anything else, as it is inexpensive (costs less than a box of 9mm) and seems to work well.

what are the differences between Hoppe's and some of these other cleaners, such as Simple Green?

Well, Hoppe's is gun-specific. It also seems to be very widely used. I use Break-Fast, which I am told is what the Army uses. It's an oil and solvent in one, and is what I use. It's specifically good in my case because I shoot Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles with old corrosive surplus ammo, and the solvent takes care of the nasty corrosive stuff. Simple Green is a generic industrial cleaner that has many uses. It's a great cleaner, is biodegradable and non-toxic. I can see it being useful for cleaning guns in all of those aspects.

[Big Calhoun]

I've been using Hoppes #9 and Break-Free CLP. That's what the dealer through at me so that's what I've been sticking with.