doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun Cleaning (Quick Efficient)

Ballistol claims to remove lead...I think it contains a water soluable machine oil.

I have often wondered about that as well.
Hoppes is fairly mild (and smells great) but at the end of the day it does dissolve lead.(or at least I presume it does)
Ballistol works well for me too,esp with black powder.
I guess light oil cleans out the lead by getting in underneath it rather than dissolving it.
Recently I have tried youngs 303 oil,which is (or was anyway)mildly alkaline,and I don't think is a solvent.

Several have mentioned CLP. I don't know what that is. Also, what is the consensus on Eezox? And finally, for long term storage what do you all think is best to put on the guns? Jake

Cleaner--Lubricant--Protectant. Military cooks everything in the same (steel) pot.

jack

Also "QE". That's Quick and Efficient. Sorry, couldn't resist. Don't you just love military talk?

Blue shop paper towels are a big time saver in my routine. When I have several guns to clean, I take the assembly line approach. Strip the firearm and clean and lubricate the barrels of each, then the actions of each, then assemble and wipe down the exteriors.

For the barrels I use whatever solvent I have on hand, currently RB-17*, then follow up with Remington WonderLube (but any oil will do). I like to make several passes with the bronze brush with the solvents, then use an older brush (or even 20ga brush in the case of my 12 gauges) with a torn to fit square portion of a blue shop paper towel wrapped around the lose fitting brush to clean up after the tight fitting bronze brush. The paper towel around an old brush or smaller brush will fit in the bore tightly and covers the entire bore surface (and with a rifled barrel it will actually get down into the groves better than any jag).

For the actions, Remington WonderLube on a nylon brush, followed with the blue shop paper towel to remove the dirty oil, then lubricate with oil or grease as appropriate. Using the same blue shop paper towel (now oil soaked) I wipe down the external metal surfaces. Quick and easy as it gets---and the shop towels are cheap and disposable.

Doug

* http://www.rb-treasures.com/product3.html

A heated safe with resultant low humidity. I'm not kidding.

jack

Chuck, the copper solvents I know about contain ammonia which will react with copper, producing the blue patches we have all seen. I have heard that some of the newer bore solvents are ammonia free but will still remove copper fouling. I don't know how they work.

The reason I ask about lead dissolving solvents is that chemisty labs use lead pipe in their sink drains or at least they did.
With the rampant plumbun-phobia in society today, they have probably switched to something else.

OB

I use Birchwood Casey Bore Scrubber with a drill chucked rod for deep cleaning of bores. It has always been my impression that this stuff is more a wetting agent to facilitate scrubbing and lifting of crud than a true volatile solvent and I have no fear of its effect on solder. Follow with patches on a plastic jag....I like the rather new compressible plastic jags as they get a better surface to surface contact, including passage through the choke area, than a metal jag.

I do use BC Gunscrubber (very much like brake cleaner and definitely a volatile solvent) as a solvent to clean crud from trigger groups, etc but I am very careful where I get it. Generally spray, blow off with compressed air, then a little lite gun oil, blow off with compressed air, and the little bits are good to go.

I like BC Sheath (they rebranded it lately and I can't remember the name off the top of my CRS brain) for all outside metal surfaces as a rust preventative.

The German Army adopted Ballistol in 1905 as safe for wood, leather, and metal. According to USMC friends they are still using it in Afaghanstan, indeed they use it as a cooking oil. It works very well on copper/lead if sprayed on while barrel is still warm from shooting-like at the range before returning home. Smells a tad "funky" but it does work and is very economical. I believe it is mineral oil based. It is also used in Europe the way we use "Udder Balm" skin cream. Best, Dr. Bill