Cleaning pistols

brakarzac · Post by **brakarzac** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:27 pm

At the moment I only clean my guns after every 500 rounds or just before a big comp.
My cleaning includes a light oil and bore snake through the barrel.

I have been told than every 1000 rounds I should immerse the whole gun in 2 stroke petrol (1:25 mix) to soak, then let it air.

Is this reccomended by others, or is this very bad advise?

cheers

Popeye · Post by **Popeye** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:58 pm

You go from one extreme to the other ! - a light oil, and then... dunking in petrol!

The interim step would be using a solvent to clean the barrel, and only if a pistol is caked in crap would you immerse it. If I had to "deep clean" a pistol, I would prefer to use Kerosene, and then clean and oil the barrel.

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:28 pm

Popeye wrote:...I would prefer to use Kerosene, and then clean and oil the barrel.

There are two types of kerosene: a) power and b) heating/lighting.

Heating/lighting kerosene (the usual type you can purchase) is abrasive and should not be used on moving surfaces (unless you want to hone down the surfaces).
Heating/lighting kerosene has been used as a final polish medium on car paint!

Power kerosene is non-abrasive.
It was (50 years ago) quite common as a low cost fuel for farm machinery and these days difficult to source. I am not sure but J2 aviation fuel is probably the modern equivalent.

brakarzac · Post by **brakarzac** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:45 pm

Popeye wrote:You go from one extreme to the other ! - a light oil, and then... dunking in petrol!

The interim step would be using a solvent to clean the barrel, and only if a pistol is caked in crap would you immerse it. If I had to "deep clean" a pistol, I would prefer to use Kerosene, and then clean and oil the barrel.

Cleaning the barrel is the least of my concern, as the bore snake does work great.

My biggest concern is cleaning the parts of the pistol you cant access easy, especially with my Matchguns MG2R and MG4.

Cheers

Leon · Post by **Leon** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:28 pm

What about using an ultrasonic cleaner? I believe they normally come with both cleaning and lubricating fluids...

brakarzac · Post by **brakarzac** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:53 pm

Leon wrote:What about using an ultrasonic cleaner? I believe they normally come with both cleaning and lubricating fluids...

Thought of that, even priced them.
For for about $800 I can clean with 2 stroke a lot longer...

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:16 am

Leon wrote:What about using an ultrasonic cleaner? I believe they normally come with both cleaning and lubricating fluids...

I am a great believer in, and user of ultrasonic cleaning of guns and gun parts, but there can be some pitfalls for the unwary

some info on care and abuse of ultrasonic cleaners at http://www.australiancynic.com/uc.htm

pgfaini · Post by **pgfaini** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:41 am

When I had my shop, I used to clean local customers' inexpensive .22 autoloading rifles, by removing the stocks, and soaking the actions by immersing them in a 5gal. bucket of petroleum solvent (paint thinner), then blowing them out with about 90psi of air. This dissolved and carried away old dried, caked-on lube and powder residue, and the thin film of solvent that remained, protected the metal surfaces, the guns only requiring a bit of lubrication on moving parts. This saved a lot of labor in dis-assembly/assembly, and customers' $$$.
Paul

A74BEDLM · Post by **A74BEDLM** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 3:15 am

I think you might be over cleaning - I have both these pistol types for over 1 and a half years and have never had to resort to this.

Boresnake - before and after competition.

Nylon Brush/Kitchen roll - brush mags and firing pin/block face - before and after competition

Every 500/1000 rounds - strip pistol - clean a bit more thoroughly with Gun Cleaner - particularly cradle and pin face - lightly oil pivot points - particularly cradle pivots - clean slide cover area around Bullet Insetion Lever - assemble

Make sure you put the recoil buffer back in correctly - small cut profile at bottom where mag inserts - if not it cracks.

Bakerman · Post by **Bakerman** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:31 am

In my opinion it's unnecessary to clean the .22 so frequently. For example I clean the barrel of my Izh-Hr-30 once 1-2years! And about once a month I clean the main mechanisms.
And I wouldn't also recommend cleaning the gun right before the competition. In USSR national team it was even restricted to clean the gun less than a month before the competition, of course you can clean the magazine and the chamber, but not the barrel. :)

Freepistol · Post by **Freepistol** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:08 am

I don't understand how a dirty barrel with flecks of lead will shoot better than a clean one.

Bakerman · Post by **Bakerman** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:04 am

Freepistol wrote:I don't understand how a dirty barrel with flecks of lead will shoot better than a clean one.

I didn’t say that it will shoot better, most likely it will just shoot the same, but a 100% clean barrel will definitely shoot less accurate. For example a time ago at the beginning of the matches there was a special time given for the shooters to warm up (shoot some rounds) their barrels.

zoned · Post by **zoned** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:07 pm

Freepistol wrote:I don't understand how a dirty barrel with flecks of lead will shoot better than a clean one.

The "flecks" are unburned or carbonized grains of powder, not lead.

FrankOmega · Post by **FrankOmega** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 3:45 pm

Thanks for pointing out some of the pitfalls, Spencer.

What I would recommend for cleaning guns via ultrasonics:

1. Use OmegaBlue at >130F. This will clean the oils without removing the bluing -- very important.
2. Rinse soap with water then air wash.
3. Dip the gun in ultrasonic with Omega Rust Protectant
4. Air wash
5. Oil mechanism
6. Reassemble

Hope that helps,

Frank

Leon · Post by **Leon** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 4:15 pm

Just a wild idea...

Why don't you take off the grips and stick it through the dishwasher?

Blow it dry with a 90 psi air hose and lubricate afterwards...

zoned · Post by **zoned** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:22 pm

Leon wrote:Just a wild idea...
Why don't you take off the grips and stick it through the dishwasher?
Blow it dry with a 90 psi air hose and lubricate afterwards...

Why not just pee on it, that will do about the same job. We're talking about machinery here, not ceramics and biodegradable waste. Dishwasher compound is not good for steel and dangerous for aluminum.

FYI, the best gun scrubber I've found to date is Simple Green worked manually with brush, or in an ultrasonic.
http://www.simplegreen.com/home.php

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:33 am

Leon wrote:Just a wild idea...

Why don't you take off the grips and stick it through the dishwasher?

Blow it dry with a 90 psi air hose and lubricate afterwards...

works for stainless steel black powder pistols AFTER you remove the springs:
- rinse off with boiling water
- dry thoroughly
- oil
- reassemble
- put away until next use

fc60 · Post by **fc60** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:33 pm

Greetings,

The Simple Green Company has many formulations. I contacted the company in California and asked what they recommended for firearms that had black oxide (blued) finish, aluminum, titanium, copper, etc parts in them.

Their recommendation was "Extreme Simple Green", Part Number 13406.

It is approved by Boeing for washing Aluminum airplane skins.

Beware of some cleaners with "green" chemicals. Often they have Citric Acid, which cleans brass cases very well; but, removes rust (bluing).

Check with the manufacturer of your cleaning solution BEFORE you dunk your blaster in it. One shooter on another forum was not so thorough in his (lack of) research and his formerly blued gun is "in the white" ready to be re-blued.

I purchased my item from Grainger.

Cheers,

Dave

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