doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Soaked a receiver and took the finish off !!!!

I have for many years soaked dirty rusty receivers in a bath of the following with nothing but great results.

Prolix biodegradable gun cleaner
A bit of Hoppes #9
A bit of Liquid Wrench
And I thought I put a dash of Simple Green now and then.

I have soaked many old SXS" in this many times with no adverse effects.

My partner topped the bath off with a bit more Simple Green
the other day.
Receiver soaked for 3 days and today took it out and the nice color case hardened metal is now a dull gray in some spots.
Out of the tank it was similar to paint coming off after using stripper. Maybe a clear coat.
Any ideas what happened?
Is it possible to have a fake or painted on color case hardened con job finish.
Thanks for any ideas.

It was a Hunter Arms Boxlock.

Same thing happened to me about 23 years ago with a NEW Colt SAA. The only thing it was soaking in was Hoppe's #9. It didn't get down to dull grey, just mottled, dim coloring.

I think the problem was the soak went over the intended time and lasted for 3 days.

Have you actually used all those ingredients for a e day soak of S x S's before and had no adverse effects?

This is one for the books. Tough way to get in the books, but that's life.

Yes have soaked many SXS" for several days in this solution w no problems.
Excepting a bit more Simple green in this one.
Maybe a Chemical reaction from too much Simple Green?

Case colors probably dimmed because your concoction stripped the laquer coating off. Sort of like taking the transparent top coat off your car's finish.

Im thinking all that stuff you mixed together created SOMETHING!

It sounds like all these chemicals were arbitrarily tossed together without regard for what their chemical content was and what they create when combined. My wife says I cook like that.

I never use concoctions. As noted, chemical reactions can occur and you have something different than what you started with. Lacquer thinner takes care of any petroleum based stuff, then Dawn and water or 409 takes care of any other stuff. I have never soaked anything more than a few hours at most.

This is not the first time I�ve heard about Simple Green ruining a gun finish. If you look up the MSDS for Simple Green it contains Sodium Citrate which I suspect is the culprit.

Any good cleaner will quickly strip off the protective lacquer that the factory originally applied.

Do not use Simple Green on guns. !! Or at least do not use Simple Green on guns you like.

Before I use any cleaning solution on a customer�s gun I will throw some test blued and CCH parts in the solution and let the sit for a week.

Often I get some really nasty guns here in the shop, so far I�ve found Brownells D-Solve or Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP), found in the local hardware store; heated in a crock pot works very well, good cleaning without injuring the finish (but they will strip the protective lacquer).

I would also stay away from Greased Lightning; it will cause some type of electrolysis between dissimilar metals.

I also no longer use ultrasonic cleaners, I find that they micro etch polished surfaces, esp. with the commercial models.


Mike

Simple Green has some interesting test results at the following link, related to aircraft aluminum but I think relevant for delicate steel finishes. I use it on unpainted car parts, but nothing polished, and wash off immediately.

http://simplegreen.com/pdfs/aircraft.pdf

3 days? Were you cleaning a gun, or making kimchee?
It seems to me that deep cleaning on a shotgun comes down to removing one of two types of goop-old, factory or otherwise applied varnish, or old lubricant, that with the passage of time, and addition of various contaminants, has simply become another form of varnish. You won't remove rust from a gun with a soak type of cleaner that won't also remove case colors or blue. Period.
For either varnish form, nothing works better than old fashioned, dip type carburetor solvent. It is designed to safely remove varnish from aluminum, brass and steel parts, although there is usually a warning on the can NOT to soak aluminum or non-removable phenolic parts overnight. I've used it on cyanide and bone pack case colored parts with no ill effects, ditto on hot and rust blued parts. I've never had to soak gun parts for more than about 20 minutes. 5 or 10 minutes usually is plenty.
The stuff is nasty, and I typically follow the soak with a very hot water rinse, followed by a soak in mineral spirits and a spray with a light lubricant to hold off oxidation until I get back to assembly.
Do not attempt to use dip carb solvent indoors. Use gloves when you are around it. I've found nothing that works better, or faster.

Best,
Ted