Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Suave on April 29, 2007, 07:22:44 PM
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How do you clean your rifles and handguns? What agents and tools do you use?
Hops No.9? CLP? Urine water? Dishwasher? Sandblaster? A pull-through of knotted boot laces?
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Hoppe's 9 unless its a black powder weapon.
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Hoppes 9 with a pull through snake.
Light coat of CLP over all exposed steel.
Dab of grease on my M1A's bolt roller bearing.
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yup on the hoppe's 9
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Hoppes 9 for general work, but you have to use a good copper solvent occasionally for the barrel. 9 will not take away the copper fouling.
A good grease for the wear point and slide rails.
CLP is a good oil for areas that need a light coat of oil.
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I just finished cleaning four rifles from a fun day at the range today. I use to use Hoppes no.9 but I'm trying to get away from petroleum based cleaners, mostly for potential health reason. I use a foaming bore copper cleaner if I need to remove copper. I then normally use Hoppes Elite (non-toxic) to clean the bore. Sometimes I use boresnakes for quick cleans. For more in-depth I use a Patchworm (http://20-20.8m.com/ (http://20-20.8m.com/)) I bought in the past. It's basically a heavy-duty nylon string used to pull through patches. I finish off with a little oiled patch and then a clean one to remove the excess.
Oh, if I shoot corrosive ammo, I saturate the bore with Windex to dissolve the salts, then clean as normal.
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I use a mix.
Soap and water followed by solvent based cleaner and oil for black powder.
Hoppes for general cleaning.
I use an ammonia based cleaner for copper fouling. That's primarily in my high power 22's. I'll use it also in my 30 cal. rifles occasionally.
If by any chance you have a nickle plated firearm, do not use hoppes #9 on it. It tends to remove the finish.
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OK you can believe me or not but the best thing I have ever used to clean any weapon has been Scubbing Bubbles bath and tile cleaner. Spray everything down with the stuff, let it sit for about ten minutes and drop everything in the bathtub in HOT water and soak for five minutes. Rinse everything off with fresh warm water and let air dry or if you have an air compressor blow it dry. A hair drier works well too. Run a couple of dry patches down the barrel and chamber. Lightly oil with CLP and your good to go.
For black powder I'll pour a 50/50 mix of Hydrogen Peroxcide and Murphys Oil Soap in the barrel until it's maybe a 1/4 full, then fill the rest of the barrel with hot water. Let soak for ten minutes, drain the barrel, run a brush down the barrel, then a couple of dry patches to get everything out, then wet patch the barrel with peanut oil.
I know it all sounds crazy but it works. WD-40 also works real well as a cleaner and lubricant on stainless weapons but it will mess up a blued finish.
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I just can't bring myself to was a weapon in soap and water.
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Very hot water works very well on really dirty guns, like after an ftx. It's one of the most usefull lessons that my drill sgt passed on to us at the end of basic training. Beats toiling for an hour with a toothbrush.
Just be sure that that it's scalding hot water so that it will dry fast. And keep it on the down low if you're active duty.
Cleaning weapons after recovering from a field problem is great busywork to give soldiers since it generally takes hours. I'd knock mine out in 15 minutes and then ghost like Swazey.
I've heard of people using dishwashers with the heat dry setting, but I've never tried it. Some people say that wd40 is too corrosive. CLP is pretty poor bore solvent.
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Also, soap and water is the easiest way to clean the salts out left from corrosive ammo. Oils won't work.
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Originally posted by Dago
I just can't bring myself to was a weapon in soap and water.
Why not?? Soap and water won't hurt them. You wash your car right? Ever wash the engine of your car with soap and water? I do and that has more moving parts and electronics to boot than a firearm. Hell I've cleaned computer mother boards with soap and water and they worked just fine afterwards.
Just have to make sure the parts are dry and then properly oiled on a firearm.
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Originally posted by Hornet33
Why not?? Soap and water won't hurt them. You wash your car right? Ever wash the engine of your car with soap and water? I do and that has more moving parts and electronics to boot than a firearm. Hell I've cleaned computer mother boards with soap and water and they worked just fine afterwards.
Just have to make sure the parts are dry and then properly oiled on a firearm.
Cars often are rusty corroded things. My guns never are rusty or corroded.
I typically tend to drive a car until the body is shot, and when it is just too rusty, I get rid of it. I have several firearms approaching 40 years old, not a spec of rust on any of them. I have one firearm that is 70 years old. No rust. But then I don't use water on them, and if they get wet while hunting, it gets a complete dissassemble, clean and oil as soon as I get home. If I anticipate moisture in the air while hunting, I slip a small can of oil and a few patches in my hunting jacket and oil the weapon during the hunt.
I have seen rusty guns. I have never owned a rusty gun.
Bad comparison, cars to guns.
I never use WD40 on a firearm. It dries off to much and leaves the weapon exposed.
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double post
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OK I can see your point on the older firearms in addition I wouldn't use soap and water on a weapon that has a wood stock. I use soap and water on most of mine because they are modern military style weapons. I've never had any problems with rust on any of them.
Now my 30-06 I use regular cleaning sovlents and gun oil. It's a Remington 700BDL with a very nice solid walnut stock. Everything else I own has composit stocks.
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Water and dishsoap for all the stuff and can take down to small parts. Places I am not sure I can get the water out I use a little bit of Hops 9 on a rag.
Bore snakes rock BTW.
I don't like any of the oil based cleaners cause they always end up running out of all the small nooks and crannies you can't get to.
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Originally posted by Blooz
Hoppes 9 with a pull through snake.
Light coat of CLP over all exposed steel.
Dab of grease on my M1A's bolt roller bearing.
I tried that once, she slapped me before we got outta the bar!
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Do not, I repeat DO NOT use WD-40 or any other penetrating lubricant not specificly designed to clean a firearm. It will contaminate the ammunition long after the cleaning. The solvent seeps into the ammo and fouls the powder and primer. It can possibly ruin an entire clip. That's not something I want to have to rethink when I am relying on the weapon to work properly.
I normally use a Remington or Winchester cleaning kit.
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I use hoppes 9, brass brush, toothbrush, and a .45 jag. I brush the barrel twice and follow with a fresh patch on the jag until clean.
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Wanna know the best way to clean your M-16 in the field?
1 tooth brush
1 small wire brush
1 can of foamy shaving cream
Disassemble weapon and cover everything in foamy shaving cream, even into the barrel. Use wire brush and tooth brush to give everything a good scrubbing, you may have to use firing pin to scrape built up carbon. Rinse preferably with hot water, if not available any clean water is fine. Wipe down with towel or rags making sure weapon in nice and dry. Apply CLP to a rag and rub down each item with CLP covered rag. Reassemble weapon, rock n roll... I've found nothing in the field cleans my M-16 more thoroughly or quicker.
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I guess I am the only one not a fan of hoppes #9
I used the stuff for years but it just doesn't do that great a job.. smells nice tho.
For normal cleaning I use shooters choice or dillons solvent... For real dirty bores on military rifles or used guns that have never been cleaned or.. that once a year "take em all apart and clean em" I use Mpro7 or blue wonder gell. For copper... sweets is best. Dilllons and shooters choice are best for lead and carbon.
Hoppes does about nothing for lead or copper.. it just smells nice.
I run a solvent soaked bore brush down the bore and cyls a few times and then brush down the rest of the action with a solvent soaked toothbrush. Wipe everything down and then spray with clp (I buy the stuff by the quart) wipe everything down again with a rag and then run a bore snake down the bore and cyls that has the last few inches sprayed with clp.
Grease on the guns that require it.
lazs
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Lately I have been using Bore Tech Eliminator (http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=225250). It's Petrolium and Ammonia free. It does a wonderful job. This and CLP are my only chemicals for cleaning the smokeless firearms. (Got a whole different set for the blackpowder guns...)
Terror
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Originally posted by Masherbrum
I use hoppes 9, brass brush, toothbrush, and a .45 jag. I brush the barrel twice and follow with a fresh patch on the jag until clean.
Why only brush twice? That's enough to get the copper out?
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Armalite's advice on cleaning armalites.
http://www.armalite.com/library/techNotes/tnote29.htm
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Originally posted by Makarov9
I use to use Hoppes no.9 but I'm trying to get away from petroleum based cleaners, mostly for potential health reason.
Ditto. Break Free Powder Blast (citrus based) works great.
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Household sudsing amonia, copper solvent and Remington teflon lube.
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i use old break free my self:) soap and hot water for my black powders..then i finish every gun i have with break-free....been the best stuff i ever used..plus its not very spendy;)
Break-Free is a leading manufacturer of synthetic based lubricants, cleaners and preservative compounds for military weapon maintenance, law enforcement, civilian firearms/sports equipment and industrial machinery. Break-Free's flagship product Break-Free CLP® was specifically developed to provide reliable weapon lubrication in battlefield conditions and to remove firing residues, carbon deposits and other firing contaminants. Moreover, Break-Free CLP® was designed to repel water and dirt and prevents corrosion, keeps weapons combat ready and functional in steamy jungles, dust-blown deserts, salty air of sea and coast, and cold and icy climates of winter and the Arctic.
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When firing corrosive ammo (about all I shoot but for the pistols and carbine and garand) I run a few patches of WW2 surplus WATER based brown "posion" bore cleaner before the 1.5 hour drive home from the range.
Once home I put a pot of water to boil on the stove, and using my funnel pour it through the rifles from the breech end while hands-off supported on my back yard fence -- just like they did in WW2. I let it air dry then finish cleaning with CLP. After a few session I give it an addtional cleaning with a bore cleaner that dissolves brass build up, etc. With non-corrosive I skip the boiling and range treatment and go straigt to the CLP. With the semi autos I generally field strip and clean the accessible gas piston components.
I then lightly oil/grease as required.
My goal is "pretty clean to very clean" vs. "Army white glove inspection clean," which is more than good enough.
Charon