Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Doing Some Gun Cleaning...

 ...for regular maintenance and in anticipation of selling some of them off. I hate it when I buy a gun and it's filthy. I figure the least I can do is a good field cleaning of them before I sell them. Actually I am going beyond that a bit, taking down the wood and steel ones and making sure to clean & treat the wood as well as the steel but am not taking apart trigger groups or bolts to clean them more thoroughly than a filed cleaning of them. It always amazes me, that a gun I know I cleaned not all that long ago, maybe a few months as most, winds up with fouling coming out of the barrel when I clean it again but it's just a fact of life, it hides and then seeps out of everywhere just like Cosmoline.

Anyway, while cleaning a few today, I also realized I am low on some cleaning supplies so I placed an order for several things. I'd rather not run short and sooner or later all the leftist rube newbies who bought guns, over the course of the last year's long or so buying frenzy (to date), are going to realize they need this stuff too. When they do, I imagine it will run low just like everything else firearms related and the prices will rise. Besides that, there is that tax on guns, ammo and maybe on firearms related equipment & supplies that Schumer is chomping at the bit to have legislated and enacted and you can bet it is coming sooner or later this administration!

Now is the time to, as they say in the stock market: BUY BUY BUY!

All the best,
Glenn B


5 comments:

Stephen said...

What brands of cleaner do you use or recommend?

taminator013 said...

Yeah, it's a bit irritating to buy used guns and find out how filthy they are. I picked up a Star BM 9mm yesterday and was pretty much appalled when I took it home and field stripped it. Besides the usual buildup of gunk it looked like someone put a glob of old axle grease on the feed ramp and also part way down the barrel. At least it cleaned up nicely and appears to be mechanically sound. It's starting to shape up nicely with a bit of polishing and touchup on the bluing. I don't intend on doing a lot of work on it since it will just be a shooter, but it should look a little better with the walnut grips that I ordered. I'll be spending a lot of time loading for it since this is my only 9mm and I have no ammo at the moment. I already have a box of 1000, 115gr copper plated RN, 1000, hard cast 124gr RN on order and 1000 once fired brass. The dies were delivered yesterday. I wanted to get a few HP for self defense, but there are none to be found unless I'm willing to remortgage my house for them.......

Glenn B said...

Stephen,

To clean my guns I use Hoppes No. 9, Hoppes Bench Rest 9 Copper Remover and Gunzilla. To lubricate I use just the Gunzilla or Break Free CLP.

Mostly as of late, I use the Gunzilla and the Break Free COP (can also be used to clean but to oily for me for that purpose). While Gunzilla supposedly removes copper fouling, if I think there is a lot of copper build up, I use the Hoppes Bench Rest 9.

Sometimes, in guns that I shoot with corrosive ammo, I use Windex; however Gunzilla supposedly removes the corrosive primer chemicals as well.

I usually do not clean with two different cleaners at the same time, mixing chemicals like that could possibly cause hazardous fumes or other dangerous reactions.

SteveP said...

I stopped buying expensive gun specific products a long time ago and started using homebrew chemicals. They're cheaper, often work better, and the panic won't cause supply problems. When things really go sour this will be good info to have.

You can get the recipes here:

http://frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

I still use Hoppe's #9 some but I've mostly replaced it with Ed's Red which, in my opinion, works better.
For copper fouling I use Bore Tech Eliminator but when my bottle runs out I'll just add a little ammonia to some Ed's Red.
For lubrication I use wheel bearing grease and 40 wt oil. They're designed for high heat, high pressure applications and water won't wash them out.
For rust prevention I use Eezox. I've never found anything that works anywhere near as well for keeping rust off a gun.

Enough makings for 2 gallons of Ed's Red cost less than 2 quart bottles of Hoppe's. I bought the 1 lb tub of wheel bearing grease that I keep on my gun bench 20 years ago and I still have enough left for another 10 years.
Eezox is kind of expensive at around $35/quart, but a quart lasts me about 2 years and its effectiveness makes it a good investment.

Stephen said...

Great info thanks!

I'm not so handy as to make my own but I'll try Hoppe's next time I need it.