Carb cleaner yes or no

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I use the supposedly non-toxic non-chlorinated brake cleaner on bare metal parts of a used rifle when I acquire them. I often find the bargains among the dirtiest, filthiest, nastiest of parts and rifles.

For soaking, I prefer odorless mineral spirits and then a good scrub. I also use things like simple green and its clones for just dirt. For the most part, even a mild solvent/oiler such as CLP will keep stuff clean after the initial purchase as I simply do not get my firearms that dirty.

I always oil after cleaning with anything that removes oil or grease--always.
 
Don't know about carb cleaner as I never tried it, BUTT, brake cleaner really eats up cosmoline in all those hard to reach cracks/crevices really well.

Lube/rust preventative as necessary afterwards.
 
Carb cleaner, brake cleaner, break free powder blast and a host of others work just fine for cutting gunk and old hardened oil buildup. Note the warnings:
This product is a powerful solvent. DO NOT APPLY TO RUBBER OR PLASTIC GRIPS OR PARTS.Remove promptly with a cloth to avoid possible plastic damage. Powder Blast may damage painted finishes, camouflage finishes, and wood finishes and most polymers. Use with caution.
Click to expand...

When I strip and clean one of my 1911 guns I always remove the grips. One time I forgot and hit the stripped frame with Powder Blast and the moment it hit the plasti coated grips I knew I was screwed:

Grips%202.png

Temporary fix:

Grips%203.png

I need to strip the original grips and refinish them. Soon as that cleaner hit I knew I did a bad. Melted that Plasti-Kote in a heartbeat. So while any of the cleaners mentioned do a great job you do need to note what you are cleaning. :)

Ron
 
OK on non-polymer guns I'm not particularly attached to (ie. SKS, AK, etc) that I consider "Hardware". Even still, I've followed this up with a rinse in boiling water followed by drying / oiling. I've used it as a step in getting cosmo out of mummified weapons. Not on wood or plastics or blued weapons.
 
Carb/brake cleaner yeah, i give em a blast and while they are still wet and another blast from the compressor to blow out the grit. Hold the gun in a towel and never had a problem with polymer frames. Wood grips i remove. In the desert not much humidity so condensation is not an issue.
 
I use it on "beaters". Beaters would be guns like SKS, AK, cheap 20 year old DPMS AR, norinco 870, gen 2 Glock- you get the idea. Beaters are NOT Colt gold cups, all-correct Garands, precision rifles, etc.
 
I try to keep up with cleaning so I don't need to get that extreme.
I have used a spray cleaner from ''Paslode''. It's used to clean my Paslode nail gun. Cleans great, evaporates instantly. Nothing cheap about it though. I imagine it's something Pep Boys prolly sells.....lol.
 
Forget carb cleaner, use brake cleaner; it's more betterer, especially on delicate finishes & plastics. And be sure to only use it in direct sunlight in an enclosed area.
 
barnbwt said:
Forget carb cleaner, use brake cleaner; it's more betterer, especially on delicate finishes & plastics. And be sure to only use it in direct sunlight in an enclosed area.
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What about in an enclosed area with a flame lantern?

I have a work bench that right next to my gas water heater in my garage. With the doors closed is kinda dark so maybe a propane camping lantern could helpful?
 
Carb cleaner? Nope. Plenty of products out there less toxic and just as effective (and smell better).

Just how dirty and crusty do some of you let your firearms get, anyway?
 
Naw. I can't think of any reason to use it really...or brake cleaner either. Poly safe Gunscrubber or Remington shotgun choke cleaner work well enough for me, and if it costs anymore, so what? I'm not using it by the gallon. A can or three a year ain't going to break me.
 
CajunBass said:
Naw. I can't think of any reason to use it really...or brake cleaner either. Poly safe Gunscrubber or Remington shotgun choke cleaner work well enough for me, and if it costs anymore, so what? I'm not using it by the gallon. A can or three a year ain't going to break me.
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If you read the MSDS ingredients on those products you'll see they are pretty much identical.
 
I've used carb cleaner, brake cleaner and even electrical contact cleaner to clean the gunk out of triggers, bolts, ect. Just keep it off the stock and grips. Also remember that it removes any protective oil so you need to lube everything after its clean. It don't hurt to be in a well ventilated area as some of this stuff has a few warnings on the label.
 
Snyper said:
If you read the MSDS ingredients on those products you'll see they are pretty much identical.
Click to expand...
The ingredients may be simliar, but the products are not. The amounts and proportions of each ingredient make a difference.

Carb cleaner is NOT the same thing as brake cleaner. Carb cleaner has a lot of solvents designed to dissolve gasoline residue and they'll do just as good a job on plastics and stock finishes. Brake cleaner is much safer to use.
 
I've acquired a quite extensive collection of cleaners and still always get suckered into trying yet another. The other day I sprayed my stainless Ruger Redhawk down with PB Blaster penitrating oil. I've never had a SS gun clean up that easily. The black crud just wiped off without any effort. It didn't touch the front of the cylinder, but nothing else has either.
 
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