Cleaning Solvent

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Bud33
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Cleaning Solvent

Post by Bud33 » Sun Nov 05, 2006 1:13 pm

When I was young (and that was a LONG time ago) we use to soak our gun parts in Carbon Tetrachloride (sp?) but they decided it was a health hazard. I then found that the Navy had Dry Cleaning solvent in 5 gal cans that work just as well. Now since I am no longer in the navy I am looking for a good cleaning solvent.
I have used Birchwood Casey "Gun Scrubber" which seems to work OK but I like to soak parts in a pan to dissolve the oil and grease.
Can you buy the Gun Scrubber in bulk or does anyone know of a good cleaning solvent that does come in other than a spray can?
:thanx:
Bud

Beware the man who only has one gun.
HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

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Bullseye
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Post by Bullseye » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:35 pm

According to Birchwood Casey's MSDS, Gun Scrubber is made with trichloroethylene (TCE). You can scroll down to the Gun Scrubber listing and view it for yourself here. http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/sport/msds.asp

Many hazard warnings associated with TCE, not many places allow the use of this chemical anymore.

PD-680, Military Dry Cleaning solvent suffered the same fate as the health hazards became known. It had CFC's and is on the banned list for depleting the ozone layer.

Many people use Chem Dip, which is a solvent used primarily for automotive use. It can be found in auto parts supply stores in 5 gal quantities. But using this material can damage wood and plastic components, so these must be removed prior to usage or they will be damaged by this solvent.

Using Kerosene is another alternative. Kerosene is one of the main active ingredients in Hoppe's Cleaning solvent. You can scroll down here to view Hoppe's MSDS. http://www.copquest.com/knowledgebase/index.htm Just be sure to relubricate all the metal parts after using Kerosene for gun cleaning/carbon removal.

If you want a good homebrew recipe here's one for Ed's Red. http://www.building-tux.com/dsmjd/tech/eds_red.htm

Hope this helps.

R,
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toyfj40
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Post by toyfj40 » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:59 am

I'll add a 'vote' (since they're still counting them...) for "Naphtha".
dad used to have it by the 55G-drum for use in his lawn-mower shop.
as a teen, I could clean up a greasy/grimy lawnmower in about
2-3 minutes with an AirCompressor/Atomizer/Sprayer unit we used.
We soaked carburators and other parts in a pan of Naphtha, too...
Seems it would be a good GunSoaker/Solvent (with synthetic-parts removed).

and... when it is "used"...
it makes good FireAnt-Food or DriveWay-Grass-Edger :lol:

Naphtha: wiki - OSHA

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Ripsaw
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Post by Ripsaw » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:03 am

I've been using Ed's Red without the lanolin for about 2 years. My reasons were purely economical, I use a lot of gun cleaner. It works well, and is as good as Hoppes, but I miss the Hoppes scent that Ed's Red doesn't have. Like Hoppes, Ed's red will remove copper fouling but it is slower than a product like Sweet's 7.62 solvent. It removes copper by sort of "Floating" it off the bore by slowly creeping underneath it, allowing it to be scrubbed out.

Ripsaw

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