Safe Solvent/Cleaner For Old Gummed Up Parts

[azbiker]

A friend called me today for a recommendation on a cleaner for his dad’s old shotgun. He said his dad was never big on cleaning the gun. He has taken it apart and removed the trigger and everything seems like it’s almost “glued” together. I only use M-Pro 7 and Bore Tech cleaners for simple gun cleaning of new guns I’ve kept maintained. I though this might take something different, but safe for 50-60 year old Winchester shotgun parts. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[B y r o n]

This may be old school but why not soak the parts in Kerosene?

 

[alamo5000]

Use disc brake cleaner. Only the non chlorinated kind which usually is in a green spray can.

 

[E. Bryant]

Start with brake cleaner, but if things are really nasty and there are no delicate plastic parts involved, then I'd go with some acetone or MEK. If by chance you come across carb cleaner with methylene chloride, that will break up damn near any "varnish", but I don't believe that it's widely available nowadays, and I'm not sure that the risk of toxic exposure is worth it.

 

[Zuul]

All metal parts? A little bit of gasoline and an old tooth brush should dissolve whatever grease, oil, gunk, etc that’s built up in there. Back when you could find SKS’s caked in cosmoline everywhere I went through a lot of gas, lol.

 

[Baron23]

A friend called me today for a recommendation on a cleaner for his dad’s old shotgun. He said his dad was never big on cleaning the gun. He has taken it apart and removed the trigger and everything seems like it’s almost “glued” together. I only use M-Pro 7 and Bore Tech cleaners for simple gun cleaning of new guns I’ve kept maintained. I though this might take something different, but safe for 50-60 year old Winchester shotgun parts. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Kerosene works but I use Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber on my shotguns for a solvent. Works well.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

You could alternate between the "solvents" and an ultrasonic cleaning bath.... For those hard to reach places.

 

[308pirate]

Start with brake cleaner, but if things are really nasty and there are no delicate plastic parts involved, then I'd go with some acetone or MEK.

This is the way

"Green" cleaners suck

 

[Baron23]

Oh, and never use WD40 on guns IMO cause it will lacquer up and is a PIS to get off.

 

[Kalthoff]

If its all metal and no wood or plastics, then use diesel or a mixture of diesel and ATF.

 

[Boxerglocker]

You would be surprised how well plain old hot water and a little simple green works for cleaning gun parts.

 

[azbiker]

Thanks guys!! I appreciate the help! I see him tomorrow and will pass along your recommendation.

 

[308pirate]

Oh, and never use WD40 on guns IMO cause it will lacquer up and is a PIS to get off.

The blue can WD40 correct

WD40 also markets a whole line of products that don't

 

[Baron23]

The blue can WD40 correct

WD40 also markets a whole line of products that don't

HI Friend - Yeah, just the plain old Water Displacement OG blue can stuff.

I have seen lots of people at skeet shoots over the years spray their barrels down with it and use it on trigger groups and IMO its not good for those applications. It takes some time to build up...but it does particularly if used on trigger groups...or at least that's my subjective observations.

But I can't remember what I had for breakfast anymore so take anything I say with a grain of salt! haha

Our skeet lead off for many years was Bob Uknalis and he used WD40...but he was a sponsored Krieghoff shooter and lived in Philly near Krieghoff USA. Hell, he never had to even clean his guns...he'd just drop them off and went it got too used for his taste, they just gave him another.

Me....I think he got me a hat once! haha

Cheers

 

[Highbrass]

ED's Red
Equal parts
transmission fluid ( NON SYNTHETIC)
mineral spirits.
10 or 30 wt non detergent compressor oil.
fantastic for cleaning
light lubrication
and a great penetrating lube

 

[308pirate]

HI Friend - Yeah, just the plain old Water Displacement OG blue can stuff.

I have seen lots of people at skeet shoots over the years spray their barrels down with it and use it on trigger groups and IMO its not good for those applications. It takes some time to build up...but it does particularly if used on trigger groups...or at least that's my subjective observations.

WD40 does work to dissolve plastic wad residue in bores. That's all I ever use it for.

Our skeet lead off for many years was Bob Uknalis and he used WD40...but he was a sponsored Krieghoff shooter and lived in Philly near Krieghoff USA. Hell, he never had to even clean his guns...he'd just drop them off and went it got too used for his taste, they just gave him another.

Ha! must be nice

 

[azbiker]

Thank you!

 

[strikeeagle1]

Rogers Advanced Gun Cleaning Solutions. Done.

 

[308pirate]

Rogers Advanced Gun Cleaning Solutions. Done.

Acetone, mineral spirits, and alcohol are dirt fucking cheap and work incredibly well

You and that Rogers guy. Go cup his fucking nuts somewhere else.......

 

[akmike47]

You would be surprised how well plain old hot water and a little simple green works for cleaning gun parts.

Worked good on my nitro rc cars back in the day, they gum up bad.

 

[strikeeagle1]

You would be surprised how well plain old hot water and a little simple green works for cleaning gun parts.

Bob Dunlap @ American Gunsmith Institute popularized this method and is shown in almost all of his videos.

 

[strikeeagle1]

Acetone, mineral spirits, and alcohol are dirt fucking cheap and work incredibly well

You and that Rogers guy. Go cup his fucking nuts somewhere else.......

While you are at your keyboard why don't you order some and try it. Cease and desist commenting about which you apparently don't know shit about the product as you have zero experience. Everyone knows how to dump parts in toxic hydrocarbons. It's 2022, catch up.

 

[308pirate]

Cease and desist

Fuck off

 

[sinister]

You can get a can of plain old mineral spirits at any hardware store. Enough for scrubbing and douching-rinsing, then it'll evaporate off.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Ballistol?

 

[gunsnjeeps]

...works great for black powder residue and makes a pretty decent cutting fluid though.....

My biggest use was quick cleaning .22 lr bolts at the range. I'll keep it in mind for blackpowder.

 

[Jumper]

Lacquer thinner.

 

[billm2067]

For parts that gummed up from years of oil sitting...nothing works like kerosene and a stiff brush.

 

[gnochi]

Pardon me while I laugh my ass off - because the Rogers solution is literally a bunch of toxic hydrocarbons, mostly alcohol and aminated variants, mixed with water and adding some fluoridated and chlorinated compounds for flavor.

MSDS:

• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...action_gun_cleaning_gel_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327
• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...gers_gun_cleaning_rinse_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327
• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...d_gun_cleaning_solution_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327

It may very well work, but it’s not appreciably better for you than carb cleaner, brake cleaner, kerosine, lacquer thinner, or any other strong solvent with adequate ventilation and appropriate PPE, and you probably need quite a bit more to get the same job done.

So, OP, use what you have. If you don’t have anything, get pretty much anything that’s been listed in this thread (except the blue bottle WD40).

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

ED's Red
Equal parts
transmission fluid ( NON SYNTHETIC)
mineral spirits.
10 or 30 wt non detergent compressor oil.
fantastic for cleaning
light lubrication
and a great penetrating lube

That is a lubricant, its shitty for cleaning. I have used over 20 gallons of it over the years.

OP, nothing really works as cheap and as effective as gasoline. Even better if you can put them into a sealed glass container and use an ultrasonic cleaner. Just need to mind the vapors and ensure its sealed.

Guys who work on small engines parts and clean them use gas for a reason, it eats carbon and gunk like nothing else.

I have tried MEK, Mineral Spirits, Acetone, Kerosene, all the commercial shit they sell at HD and nothing works as well as regular gasoline for stripping and cleaning parts short of mechanical methods.

 

[Highbrass]

its shitty for cleaning. I have used over 20 gallons of it over the years.

Used 20 Gallons?....That's a lot of something that didn't work?? I will admit gasoline is a great cleaner, but might be a bit harsh. On Gun and user.
I'm not really looking to degrease a Harley either.
I use my Ed's Red on an almost daily basis. Cleans pretty good for me, especially in my ultrasonic cleaner.
leaves a nice light oil film.

 

[hlee]

I dropped a foiled muzzleloader breech plug in a cup of Bore tech carbon remover. I meant to get back to it in an hour or so. But, I forgot about it and left town for work. It was a week before I was able to retrieve the part from the cleaner. No damage to the metal, and the fouling wiped off. I have no fear of Bore tech C4 for gun cleaning...

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

Used 20 Gallons?....That's a lot of something that didn't work?? I will admit gasoline is a great cleaner, but might be a bit harsh. On Gun and user.
I'm not really looking to degrease a Harley either.
I use my Ed's Red on an almost daily basis. Cleans pretty good for me, especially in my ultrasonic cleaner.
leaves a nice light oil film.

Go back and re-read what I wrote. I never said it didn't work. It works great as a cheap lube, its a shitty cleaning agent.

There is nothing mentioned in this thread that will not harm something that gas will. All the mentioned agents will attack plastics and organics. For metals, Simple green is more likely to damage AL than Gasoline will. Its why they make a specific forumula for Aluminum/aircraft.

 

[308pirate]

While you are at your keyboard why don't you order some and try it. Cease and desist commenting about which you apparently don't know shit about the product as you have zero experience. Everyone knows how to dump parts in toxic hydrocarbons. It's 2022, catch up.

Pardon me while I laugh my ass off - because the Rogers solution is literally a bunch of toxic hydrocarbons, mostly alcohol and aminated variants, mixed with water and adding some fluoridated and chlorinated compounds for flavor.

MSDS:

• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...action_gun_cleaning_gel_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327
• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...gers_gun_cleaning_rinse_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327
• https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...d_gun_cleaning_solution_MSDS.pdf?v=1609868327

It may very well work, but it’s not appreciably better for you than carb cleaner, brake cleaner, kerosine, lacquer thinner, or any other strong solvent with adequate ventilation and appropriate PPE, and you probably need quite a bit more to get the same job done.

So, OP, use what you have. If you don’t have anything, get pretty much anything that’s been listed in this thread (except the blue bottle WD40).

Quoted for posterity