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I was wondering if any of you fellows hang on to the old ways of doing things? When I was young we cleaned our guns with kerosene and used 3in1 oil them. I still field strip my guns and clean the powder and dirt off with kerosene, blow them dry with compressed air. I use other stuff for copper or lead removal. Mostly CLP and a little grease if needed and put them back together.

I have done it that way from the nothern woods of Indiana to the swamps of Florida, and never had a rust problem.

I still like the old way of using Hoppe's No.9 and Hoppe's gun oil. I still use rods and brushes, no bore snakes for me. I grease a few places with white lithium from the hardware store. All this worked good 30 years ago, so I guess it still works now. I'm grateful I can still buy the old stuff.

I don't see why kerosene wouldn't work. Similar to all the old/new stuff that use hydrocarbon cleaners.

Straight kerosene works just fine. Hoppes #9 has Kerosene as one of its base ingredients. Which is one reason why it works so well.

R,
Bullseye

Modern products just trying to re-invent the wheel, most made or repackaged for marketing/sales and newbee/wannbees.

Here's the recipe for Ed's Red Bore Cleaner
1 part Dexron ATF, GM Spec. D-20265 or later.
1 part Kerosene - deodorized, K1
1 part Aliphatic Mineral Spirits
CAS #64741-49-9, or substitute "Stoddard Solvent", CAS #8052-41-3, or equivalent.
1 part Acetone, CAS #67-64-1.

(Optional 1 lb. of Lanolin, Anhydrous, USP per gallon, or OK to substitute Lanolin, Modified, Topical Lubricant, from the medication store).

The link is: http://home.comcast.net/~dsmjd/tux/dsmj ... ds_red.htm

I fellow named Grant Cunningham (a pistol-smith in Oregon-grantcunningham.com) also has done some research on gun lubricants and says Dexron ATF is very good, if you don't mind the smell. We sometimes forget that some of the "new and improved" is the same as the "old reliable" with a new package.

The transmission fluid is the "red" in Ed's Red.

R,
Bullseye

I've used diesel fuel as an expedient, and was pleased with the results. This is another smelly solution.

The diesel fuel cleans up quickly, and leaves a thin, oily film behind that discourages rust.

I've used it on machinery for years, and recently tried it on a few firearms.

The ATF sounds interesting, but I don't want that red color getting on a stock.

Now I am curious as to whether diesel fuel would melt paraffin... It might be good for guns that are going into storage.

Ed's Red with acetone sounds a little vicious. With all the polymer, plastic, components to today's guns I'd be very careful about some of the cleaners and lubes out there. Some of this stuff sounds like it could dissolve anything......

Most all gun Cleaning solvents have acetone or MEK or something similar to dissolve plastic's. But in low amounts. If your not dealing with shotgun ammo you can do with out the plastic solvent. Most all of the todays ATF is some form of syn lub, so it works very well as a lubricant. I've started using it for all rotating surfaces and bolt lube.

Diesel will dissolve Alsphalt's and/or tar. Great cleaner for the car to remove the tar spots. Not sure if it will do anything on paraffin.

Paraffin is a petroleum based wax and Kerosene or White Gas will dissolve it.

R,
Bullseye

Ed's Red:
Four of those ingredients are solvents. How many are really needed? It would most probably work as well if it was just the tranny fluid and the kero - or the two separately.
Pete

The acetone in Eds Red is so diluted it does not harm or disolve plastics. I keep it in a plastic bottle with no problem. I use a bit of 30W chain lube in the mix just for the adhesion additive... helps to keep a film of oil on the gun.

Best stuff I ever used for cleaning, but I use only a fraction of the acetone. Great for scrubbing or using in an ultrasonic unit. Unlike brake cleaner, you know all points have some lubrication and not "dried out."