Cleaning your gun. Solvents

[Pond, James Pond]

I own a Ruger Redhawk, and a Glock 19.

The latter may need a detail strip and clean. To degrease it, I was thinking what solvents I could use. There is soapy water, WD40 or... wait for it... brake cleaner!!

The reason I ask is, being an avid motorcylist, this potent stuff has been very handy in cleaning all manner of bits.

I actually have no concerns about sprayin the inside of the all metal slide compartment to dislodge any dirty or gunk. However, I am a bit more concerned about using it on the polymer frame.

Brake cleaner is a powerful solvent. Could it attack the polymer?

Yes, I could buy a stack of dedicated gun care products, but if in practical terms the stuff I have already bought can do the job, why blow more ammo/petrol/tyre money on it?

[Noreaster]

I'm one of those, never use WD40 on guns, people. I've never had problems with solvents coming into contact with Glocks. I did melt a set of Ppk grips once with some type of spray gun cleaner. I know some of the new paint on finishes (1911 desert finish...) you can't use solvent on them. You really only need solvent for carbon clean up. I use CLP for everything.

[sigcurious]

From what I've gleaned brake cleaner is ok if it's not chlorinated(how one determines this, I do not know), otherwise it may be a risk to the polymer. Hopefully Countzero will chime in, it seems he has taken a lot of time looking into cleaning and lubrication.

[TheGoldenState]

Never used break, but many do.

I:

-Strip everything down
-Run a dry patch through barrel
-Roll bore brush in Hoppes#9, and clean it until I see nothing when holding it to light
-Use brush, with Hoppes, to scrub all the internals of everything
-Rinse everything off thoroughly in HOT water.
-Use compressor to get all water out
-once over everything with cloth and barrel with dry patch
-RemOil everything, but not excessively so as to have to do wipe-downs of oil deposits later.


Bold are the solvents and lubricants

[AK103K]

I usually use Hoppes, Gunscrubber, and Eezox for most cleaning chores. I used WD40 for most of my life until I found Eezox, and never had any of the issues I see on the internet. Eezox beats it hands down as a lube and rust preventative.

Lately Ive been trying Frog Lube, and it seems to be working well too. No nasty smells and its supposed to be completely non toxic (even food grade) and safe for you and your guns. We'll see.

You could try the brake cleaner on a spot on one of your mags and see what happens. Ive used it (generic Walmart brand) and never had a problem. Its basically the same thing as Gunscrubber, just a good bit cheaper. Smell is a lot harsher though.

[psychohellbilly666]

I have always just used either Wonder Lube or Rem Oil. I use it for cleaning nd lubing. Never had a problem with either and while some may question its effectiveness for cleaning, it gets them clean very well.

[TGDKY]

Using non chlorinated brake cleaner is fine- works very well. It will say it right on the can. After that use rem-oil or birchwood casey grease. I use the rem oil on everything but the rails and the bore. That goes to the grease.

[Bill DeShivs]

Brake cleaner can dry the surface of some plastics, causing them to lighten. Just give the plastic a wipe-down with WD 40 to restore color.
Brake cleaner will also strip any oil out of the working parts of a gun. I use WD 40 afterwards, to get rust preventative into all the crevices and inacessible areas. Then , I oil the working parts.
WD 40 won't hurt your gun-Internet myth.

[Prof Young]

I've been using carb and choke cleaner for years. Doesn't seem to hurt the non metal parts of guns. Way cheaper than "gun scrubber."

Live well, be safe
Prof Young

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I"ve heard of people using charcoal starter fluid. It should be cheap to use in large quantity. I was thinking about using it as a overnight soak for some parts.

[C0untZer0]

I don't know about WD-40 "hurting" your gun, it can gum it up with tacky varnish-like residue. But it's nothing that won't clean up. I think you could probably use K1 Kerosene or mineral spirits, it would come off.

BTW, this isn't some accident, WD-40 was originally designed for aerospace applications like protecting electrical contacts and the outer skin of rockets - like the Atlas missle. It was never intended to lubricate moving mechanical parts.

So it's good for displacing moisture and leaving a coating that provides some protection, but it's not a long-term lubricant.

As far as the Internet myth, my company armorer told me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't check a weapon back into the armory that had WD-40 on it. I had to use CLP to get the WD-40 off of it. Our comapny armorer explained to me that WD-40 is not a lubricant and over time it becomes tacky. This was in 1985 before the wide-spread use of http "browsers". ARPANET was around, but "Internet" was not a term that many people were familiar with, so the talk of WD-40 not being suitable for gun lubrication didn't spring up with the Internet.

[AK103K]

I suppose if you over did it, and loaded the gun up and didnt wipe it off, you might get some sort of tacky film, but if the excess is wiped off, as its supposed to be, its not a problem. Most other things are the same way, and will give a similar result.

Like I said earlier, prior to Eezox (I used WD40 more as a rust preventative than anything else), I used it most of my life with no problems what so ever. Never had any type of residue anywhere on the guns it was constantly used on.

These days, I mostly use it to get the sticky residue stuff of things, and for getting tar off the car, etc. Eezox is a much better rust preventative.

[C0untZer0]

http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

[C0untZer0]

You don't need to "degrease" your gun.

You just need to clean powder residue, copper or lead fouling.

If you have cleaned the metal parts that have carbon / gunpowder residue on them and then you oil those parts, some carbon will lift out of the metal in a few days. If you go back and clean a pistol that you had cleaned and oiled, go over it with a white cloth, your cloth will pickup black smudges off of parts that you thought were clean. It's the carbon bleeding out of the metal.

Anyway, I don't want a degreased firearm, I want a clean firearm that has some type of lubricant and protectant in the microscopic pores of the metal.

I definately wouldn't use Simple Green or any kind of water-based or hygroscopic cleaning solution of your firearms.

[C0untZer0]

Charcoal starting fluid is something like $3.25 for a 32oz can, thats a little more than a dime per oz.

You can get K1 Kerosene for $35.00 for 5 gal, thats like 6¢ per oz.




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[sliponby]

That dad gum Hickok45 has gotten me trying Ballistol (so far only on my G26), for about a month now. He swears by it and uses nothing else. I normally use Hoppes solvent for cleaning and Rem oil for lube and TW25B for light grease on rails.

I've not noticed any rust on any of my guns (LCP, PM9, G26, 442) and I exclusively pocket carry here in the hot and humid south.

[montelores]

Ballistol has been a great discovery for me.

One can use it like a CLP, and it apparently won't harm wooden stocks and has no "hazardous" components.

If anyone is concerned about exposure to toxic chemicals, Ballistol might be worth a look.

Monty



Hazardous Ingredients Information -

Ballistol-Lube does not contain any components classified "hazardous" by OSHA

Ballistol-Lube contains only one ingredient with TLVs

Ballistol-Lube is based on medicinal grade mineral oil

http://www.firehawktech.com/Ballistol/index.html

[ClydeFrog]

There are many top notch cleaning & CLP systems on the market.

I'd suggest buying a bottle or 2 of these CLPs(cleaner protect lube);
Weaponshield, LPX(Mpro7), Eezox, Slip2000, Gunzilla, Ballistol.
Hoppes #9, Birchwood Casey Synthetic Gun Cleaner & a Hoppes Viper barrel snake may be good too.
The LPX & Gunzilla are in use with many US combat troops in SW Asia with great results.
Ballistol is non toxic, has no CFCs and has a light pine scent. You can use it on wood metal, polymers, rubber too.
NOTE: Eezox states you must wipe off the excess fluid off of some surfaces.
Stay safe & stay legal:
ClydeFrog
www.Brownells.com www.natchezss.com www.weaponshield.com www.midwayusa.com www.cabelas.com www.policehq.com www.gunzilla.us

[Bill DeShivs]

Ballistol is Germany's WD 40.

[bacardisteve]

Only thing i use on my guns is hoppes #9 and breakfree clp. Breakfree clp is what the military uses for everything and it works great.

[Pond, James Pond]

Thing is, folks, I don't have access to most of these brands. At the moment, I use WD40 on a rag to clean the gun, the wipe it down and use the Forrest gun oil spray.

My post was mainly to glean whether or not brake fluid would be OK on the slide . A spate of failure to fires has meant that I'll be wanting to do a detailed strip of the slide. I could fiddle around with a cotton bud and WD40 to make sure it's clean, I could just wash it in soapy water, or... I could blast whatever should n't be there out with brake cleaner.

The latter is easiest by far.
On the slide it should be OK.
However, if it is OK on the polymer, then even better: makes my job easier there too.
That was the crux of my question rather than getting alternative products.

According to one of you, non-chlorinated is the way forward.
Otherwise, I'll just use white spirit (the stuff to clean paint brushes after oily paints).

[excelerater]

Brake cleaner does a good job,kinda harsh though
I own a parts washer,if I have a lot of cleaning Ill use it but
for the most part its either Hoppes or CLC and or both
depending on how rightious I feel like being...

[Sport45]

I use brake cleaner when I think it will be useful for flushing things out. This is mainly because I always have it anyway for brake work, of all things.

Anyway, I use the O'Reilly's brand red can stuff. Don't know if it's chlorinated or not but I have seen no ill effects on the polymer parts of my XD or 22/45. I don't let it get near any wood.

[Captains1911]

Hoppes #9 and/or Breakfree Powder Blast has always worked for me, no issues with Glock polymer. I've heard Breakfree Powder Blast is essentially the same as non-chlorinated brake cleaner, somebody else maybe able to confirm.

[JWT]

MPro-7 works fine for me and it has no odor so my wife doesn't get on my case if I end up cleaning guns in the house.