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Old April 8, 2013, 09:19 PM   #1
ffs1942
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Simple Green as a gun cleaner?

What are the pros and cons of using Simple Green as a parts and bore cleaner?

We used it sometime in the Army
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Old April 8, 2013, 10:42 PM   #2
NESHOOTER
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I personally have not had good luck with this, I would not chance it with any of my firearms, Hoppe's #9 is cheap.
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Old April 8, 2013, 11:54 PM   #3
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the only thing that was ever recommended for the M16 while I was in the Navy was good old fashioned CLP.

for people that shoot a lot of corrosive surplus they recommend windex, something to do with the amonia...

I would assume simple green would act in much the same manner.
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Old April 9, 2013, 12:00 AM   #4
Jim Watson
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Simple Green is hard on aluminum and should be rinsed soon.
Just another detergent improvisation on steel and plastic.
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Old April 9, 2013, 01:56 AM   #5
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I use a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water in an ultrasonic cleaner for my guns. It will absolutely STERILIZE the gun--no carbon anymore, and it will also do a good job of loosening up the other fouling in the barrel.

Here's a caution, though--I also use an air compressor to blow all the parts dry, then I give them a good coating of WD-40, and let it sit for about an hour while I do other things. The WD-40 displaces any moisture left over.

I then wipe dry, and re-lube with a good medium weight oil.

Works great for me!
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Old April 9, 2013, 03:34 AM   #6
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I used Simple Green on a surplus 91/30 covered in cosmo. It did ok there is other products that work better.
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Old April 9, 2013, 09:08 AM   #7
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Simple Green and water was what we used in our parts washer in the gunsmithing shop I worked at. Worked great.

Don't leave blued parts soaking in it over the weekend though. Ask me how I know.

Seriously, it works great on duck guns that have two decades worth of unburned powder caked in the receiver.
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Old April 9, 2013, 02:28 PM   #8
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I used it to clean the Cosmo off my 91/30. Other then that, nope not for my guns.
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Old April 9, 2013, 05:35 PM   #9
ffs1942
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My SG CMP M1 saw service from 1943 into the 70's.

Seems in pretty good shape, but some rounds aren't ejecting far enough to chamber another round. I want to give the gas tube a good scrubbing.

I think we used Simple Green on M16's, M60's and M9's because it was "green" and CLP isn't. The federal govt is the first to suffer from its own stupid policies.

We continued to use CLP in the field. We used brake cleaner or hot water when we were lazy. We were even allowed to use a Safety Kleen sink, but that was 1 sink per 40 men.

I note that the bore cleaner that Beeman airguns sells is just Simple Green, but airguns have seals that are easily damaged by firearm products. I personally see no point in cleaning the bore of an unrusted airgun, even a match gun.
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Old April 9, 2013, 09:03 PM   #10
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There are tools designed specially for the purpose of cleaning the gas block. I'd really suggest buying that, rather than risking permanently damaging a classic firearm.
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Old April 10, 2013, 08:50 AM   #11
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Google "Ed's Red". It's a concoction of four ingredients that many use for cleaning guns. Inexpensive and good.
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Old April 10, 2013, 12:39 PM   #12
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I used it on my Cosmo 91/30, that was more grease than gun, Tried that afterr straight acetone wasnt doing the job either. Ended up running it through a dishwasher (dont laugh, it worked) with 2 cups of simple green and got rid of the cosmo, now on it is straight CLP
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Old April 10, 2013, 04:49 PM   #13
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Railcar, a dishwasher?

I've used a dishwasher on paintball gun parts and my old AMT Back-Up.

The dishwasher and normal dishwasher soap are tough on anodizing and plastic parts, but my only aluminum marker is a milsim (Tippman A5) and a rough patina on my vintage hopper looks good with the worn brassbrown finish of my only hopper fed Sheridan pump.
I might have run that marker through the dishwasher accidently once. No harm.

My AMT showed rust spots on its non stainless parts immediately, so I stopped that for all non stainless gun parts.

I use my dishwasher for anything from watches to Hot Wheels to litter boxes , though I might run it empty a few times after washing something nasty
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Old April 10, 2013, 06:29 PM   #14
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I'm personally not fond of any water-based cleaning solutions except for very specific purposes (ie removing corrosive salts after firing corrosive ammo).
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Old April 10, 2013, 08:01 PM   #15
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I didnt think it was an ideal solution either, but after 2 cycles with only simple green in the machine, I managed to remove all detectible cosmo, and after a couple thorough oilings, it has soaked up good clean gun oil and looks beautiful
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Old April 11, 2013, 08:09 AM   #16
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I saw a video where someone used simple green and a bunch of 9v batteries in an anodizing process to give some titanium parts a gold colored coating. I'm thinking that's what Magnum Research uses on its titanium gold colored DE's.
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Old April 11, 2013, 08:18 AM   #17
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I have used Simple Green to clean extremely dirty guns. Mostly crew-served after extended firing. Also, I did not own those guns. Worked well, but must be absolutely dried afterward if the gun has any aluminum parts.
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Old April 11, 2013, 09:16 AM   #18
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I've been using simple green for years, but only on full detail strip and cleans. Since it removes ALL lubrication residue... you want to be sure to thoroughly rinse, dry, and apply a light coating of oil back to the metal.

It was recommended through the AGI(American Gunsmithing Institute) training courses. It works very well and has caused no problems on any of my guns be it polymer, aluminum, stainless, etc. It's also non toxic and non abrasive to the hands, and doesn't smell terrible so you can use it inside.

I use RemOil after that for a light coating again. For actual lubrication points, I usually use MPro-7 or BreakFree CLP for oil - for sliding grease areas, such as on an AR BCG or 1911 rails, I'm a big fan of red axle grease(a little goes a long way).
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