Use Brake Parts Cleaner?

So, tell us again if Brake Cleaner can be used on wood varnish or plastics…

Kidding

I used to use Brake Cleaner on on my guns until I discovered Hornady One Shot CLP spray. It cleans like brake cleaner but lubes and protects. Good stuff!

I only use non chlorinated brake cleaner to degrease parts for refinishing

I've used brake cleaner quite a few times. It's probably the best bang-for-buck option to clean up seriously gunked up dirty guns. I don't have plastic except for a few grips (which I remove), so it doesn't worry me. Afterwards, I do tend to oil things up.
A common practice is to strip down a pistol (at least field strip, maybe further), and after cleaning and degreasing it with brake cleaner or another strong solvent, I let them dry (sometimes using compressed air), drop all the parts in a ziploc bag, shoot a couple sprays of ballistol (the handpump can) or similar in the bag and rub it around, and let it sit on top of my stove awhile. I have an old stove with a big flat cast iron skillet, and the pilot light keeps that area quite warm to the touch.
About an hour sitting there, the oil has spread over the warm metal completely in a thin film. It's usually still a bit oily, so I wipe it off with a soft cloth. Add a little to the slide rails and barrel lugs etc, and reassemble.

I don't do this every time, but whenever I do, the gun is super-clean and runs great.

Man I use brake clean for tons of stuff, including cleaning guns, I don’t use it anywhere it may get on wood.

I only buy and use the non-chlorinated as well but mainly because I occasionally use it clean off some metal I’m about to weld, and welding metal cleaned with chlorinated brake clean can kill you.

I forgot to add that I have used brake cleaner to do a quick cleaning on my Glock frames and the internal components without disassembly.
I would have never experimented with that but my neighbor showed me that he used it on his Glocks and it works fantastically. No issues with the polymer frame. I have used it on 7 different Glocks with no issues. I don’t do it often. Maybe every few months, but I haven’t use it on my Glocks in a year since I started using Hornady One Shot.

I don’t use Brake Cleaner in the slide unless I have completely stripped it. I don’t use One Shot on the slides at all.

Nope. I moved the non-toxic direction even if it means more physical scrubbing.

The right tool for the right job.
In certain circumstances, that's brake or carb cleaner.

Actually used that when I refurbished my dad's old double-barrel. Took the stock off and sprayed it up into the back end, scrubbed, sprayed again, wiped out, oiled.
Afterwards he told me the last time he oiled inside was the night he bought it. In the late 70's or early 80's. Probably its only oiling since it was new, pre-WW2. Looked like a coat of shellac. Now it's clean and shiny again.

Use Brake Parts Cleaner?

Outdoors.

I distinctly recall cleaning the action of my late uncle's .25 Colt with BPC after removing the wooden grips. Out on the back deck with the wind to my back.

edwardware said:

Ah, that. No, you can't heat residual chlorine compounds fast enough (before they evaporate) to produce phosgene in a meaningful amount. You can produce phosgene with the UV discharge off a welding arc, hence one of the uses of flammable Break Clean.

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I'll take your word for it. I'm not keen to try it myself.

I use non-chlorinated brake cleaner quite a bit for AR parts. It greatly reduces the cleaning time if I just pull out the BCG, disassemble it, and then hose it with some brake cleaner. Obviously you need to make sure you re-lube the parts since brake cleaner strips them of lubricants, but it's a faster process for a thorough cleaning in my opinion. I'm also not sure there's any notable difference between the cheap and easily available brake cleaner you find at every auto parts store and the more expensive gun scrubber stuff you find at gun stores. I just use the brake cleaner for this purpose, and have done so for years now.

The only guns I use brake parts cleaner on is my two .22 handguns which aren't easy to strip down, the Buckmark and the Mark I. I'll hold them over a trash can and absolutely soak them in brake parts cleaner, let dry, then re-oil. I've yet to disassembly the Ruger, but I did have the Browning apart last year. It was surprisingly clean inside.

Can brake cleaner be used? Yes, however, it should not be used, as mentioned, on rubber or plastic parts. Cleaning out one of my Colt 1911 guns I missed removing the grips which were rosewood with a plastic coat. It literally took a second and I knew I screwed up.



A quick fix was replacing the grips. Eventually I finished stripping them and rubbed them out with tongue oil. I knew better as quick as I hit the nozzle but too late.

Ron

I do not. I use WallyWorld's carb and choke cleaner. I have tested it on quite a few different things and it damaged none of them.

I use it on gun parts, like bolts, firing pins and firing pin springs, triggers, ect. I'm careful to be sure there are no plastic parts in the triggers. I also use it do degrease bullet molds.

I mostly use it to degrease cases that I have resized.

Like the others have said, it can damage plastic and some stock finishes. And beware that it strips off all of the oil and grease.

tws3b2 said:

Does anyone use Brake parts cleaner to flush out the old oil and grime in semi auto rifles? The reason I ask is years ago I used gun scrubber to clean out a old lever action rifle I picked up at a pawn shop that needed a good cleaning. At the time I did not know how to disassemble and reassemble the gun. Later when I did learn how to disassemble I was surprised to see how clean the action was. Fast forward, I have learned to disassemble and reassemble all guns I own, lever actions, pumps and semi autos. Every year or so I disassemble each for "rag on" cleaning. Now I come against the Remington 550-1 and it's dreaded sear spring cup/screw. I can do it. I just don't want to. Using break parts cleaner to clean barrels and parts for re-bluing. I found it works very good removing old oil and grime.
Now, my question. After all that. Does anyone use Break parts cleaner to flush out actions rather than disassembly ? I can re-oil from outside.

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I use brake cleaner after almost every session with my Ruger Mark IIIs. They are a pain to take apart and put back together so I rarely do it, maybe once a year. I do run a bore snake down the barrel and use q-tips to get the crud from around the chamber clean.

My Mark IVs I use MPro-7 cleaner and take the gun down. I still use the brake cleaner to flush out the frame of most of the burnt powder.

tws3b2 said:

Does anyone use Break parts cleaner to flush out the old oil and grime in semi auto rifles? The reason I ask is years ago I used gun scrubber to clean out a old lever action rifle I picked up at a pawn shop that needed a good cleaning. At the time I did not know how to disassemble and reassemble the gun. Later when I did learn how to disassemble I was surprised to see how clean the action was. Fast forward, I have learned to disassemble and reassemble all guns I own, lever actions, pumps and semi autos. Every year or so I disassemble each for "rag on" cleaning. Now I come against the Remington 550-1 and it's dreaded sear spring cup/screw. I can do it. I just don't want to. Using break parts cleaner to clean barrels and parts for re-bluing. I found it works very good removing old oil and grime.
Now, my question. After all that. Does anyone use Break parts cleaner to flush out actions rather than disassembly ? I can re-oil from outside.

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Why not continue using Gun Scrubber? You said the gun was surprisingly clean? Gun Scrubber works very well for me along with compressed air from my compressor and I do not have to worry about damage to vulnerable surfaces. I shoot quite often and rarely disassemble.

Being a gearhead, I always have CRC non-chlorinated brake cleaner around. It’s cheap and effective. I don’t see an occasion where an oiling wouldn’t come after a cleaning anyway, so it works out fine.

I had a couple of old revolvers that had what appeared to be wheel bearing grease or something like it inside them.. Both guns didn't really work, or look all that great. I took the grips off and sprayed them with about half a can of brake cleaner, and what came out of them was pretty disgusting. One of the guns, an S&W 60, came to life and it would actually turn the cylinder and lock up, the other, an old Colt had to be broken down and cleaned out by hand, there was some really hard old stuff inside there. Once it was clean, it shot ok too. I just traded both those guns off to a friend for a new in the box PC I needed. My friend has a thing for old police guns, and these two were old, nasty looking police guns. He made the offer, I took it! I didn't care about either of those two rough trade ins.

I actually prefer Carb Cleaner as it works faster when cleaning. I use either of them out doors and watch out for plastic or varnished surfaces.

I use cases of brake cleaner in my shop. (Usually red crc. About 10 seconds of spray in a can. Lol). Ive never seen a problem on plastic or rubber. The entire splash guard gets coated in it. Its plastic. Same for insides of bumpers and such. Wheel speed sensors. Brake line holders......My brake line crimper is plastic and has been bathed in brake parts cleaner thousands of times. Never wiped off of cleaned. Still works. Still looks fine. I dont personally use a lot of it but one guy in my shop is on a strict limit because of his bathing things in it. At 8 bucks a can it gets annoying. He is a 20+ year tech and like me, hasn't seen any problems. He is also the least likely to have a brake job come back over an annoying squeak or noise.

The slide boots/bleeder covers and gaskets. Brake lines etc etc can all be rubber and again, ive never seen an issue. There are different types of rubber sure but ive never seen an issue

Id be willing to bet that the average brake job has more rubber exposed to brake cleaner than a whole arsenal of guns would. And brakes are usually considered pretty important too.

Same for carb cleaner. Take apart a single carter/rochester/holley/predator/demon etc etc etc carb. How many rubber lines and gaskets and o-rings are still from 1970? After many a bath in carb cleaner. Generally if they fail its from being smashed beyond what they were made for, UV damage, or drying up. Ive seen some oils that ruined them in cylinders. People spraying an air line full of wd40 to buy them a week or two and then the seals turn to goo..... But never saw carb cleaner or brake cleaner do that

I do not use brake cleaner on guns. I use gun cleaner on guns. Brake cleaner on brakes. Carb cleaner on carbs. Mass air flow cleaner on mass air flow sensors. Contact cleaner on contacts..... etc etc No need to make something multitask.. And I'd be concerned with getting it on wood.

I use carb cleaner or break parts cleaner to clean the cosmoline off the metal parts of any mil-surp guns I buy. But I only use it on metal it's not good on the wood or plastic parts.

crestoncowboy said:

I do not use brake cleaner on guns. I use gun cleaner on guns. Brake cleaner on brakes. Carb cleaner on carbs. Mass air flow cleaner on mass air flow sensors. Contact cleaner on contacts..... etc etc No need to make something multitask.

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^^^^^^^^^ What he said.
I believe the common denominator you will find with guys that use brake cleaner on guns is that they are old (school). Nothing wrong with that but we do live in the 21st century where gun cleaner and gun lube are readily available.

Pat Riot said:

So, tell us again if Brake Cleaner can be used on wood varnish or plastics…

Kidding

I used to use Brake Cleaner on on my guns until I discovered Hornady One Shot CLP spray. It cleans like brake cleaner but lubes and protects. Good stuff!

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That sums up my experience, also.