Don't want to damage my guns with glass cleaner so...

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Tallbald

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I've read that ammonia-containing glass cleaner in a spray bottle is good for cleaning off my BP revolvers at the range. I was polishing my newest ROA stainless and used ammonia-enriched spray glass cleaner into which I had added a very healthy measure of household cleaning ammonia to degrease between polishing grades. Did a great job of cleaning the gun up in prep for the next phase. I did get to to wondering though if the ammonia had harmful effects on the stainless (or blue if shooting Shemp, my blued ROA) if I couldn't wash them in clear water immediately after cleaning, as would happen at the range. Thoughts or experiences appreciated. Don.
 
I'll use windex w/ ammonia when shooting modern corrosive ammo or shooting my black powder shotgun handloads. With a revolver I need the bucket.
 
go with vinagar based cleaner....you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

It works for me. Many of the CASS shooters use Windex with vinegar (Now called Windex Multi Purpose Cleaner) to get the crud off their guns between rounds. It contains about three percent vinegar and it really cuts the crud left by blackpowder and BP substitutes.

Before leaving the range to bores of my BP guns get swabbed with Windex w/vinegar. At home the bore gets cleaned using Windex with vinegar and then oiled. Lots of guys make a ritutal of soaking an inline breechplug. It takes about 30 seconds for Windex with vinegar to eat up the crud on a breechplug-just spray it on. Then brush the soft crud off with a toothbrush and flush with clear water.

Windex with vinegar has never harmed my antique Winchesters or my muzzleloaders.
 
Ammonia is a base, so it will neutralize any acidic compounds that may get on your gun.
Ammonia supposedly can be bad for brass and other copper alloys.
Vinegar is a weak acid. The Windex w/vinegar is even more diluted.
I know guys who use window cleaner w/ammonia.
I tried Windex w/vinegar because Mike Venturino recommended it about 20 years ago in G&A.
I tried it. It works fantastically. I rinse well with water afterward.
Next, I'm going to try some Simple Green. I like the smell.
I tried some Clorox hippie-liberal-green-BS cleaner and it wasn't worth a darn.
Haven't tried windshield washing solution yet, but that could be a very affordable dunk-cleaning method.
 
If I had a big enough ultrasonic cleaner, I'd stick it in and let ultrasonic soapy water do the job.
Plain soapy water works very well.
 
Ages ago we used "Fantastik" spray cleaner to do field cleaning while being out all day doing re-enactments. I have no idea if that stuff is even around anymore, but it did the trick and never hurt my old orginal Gallagher Carbine either. But as I said, I don't even know it is still around......

Wade
 
Ages ago we used "Fantastik" spray cleaner to do field cleaning while being out all day doing re-enactments. I have no idea if that stuff is even around anymore, but it did the trick and never hurt my old orginal Gallagher Carbine either. But as I said, I don't even know it is still around......
Click to expand...

It's still around. Some WalMarts have it.

http://www.hillmansupply.com/Fantastic-Spray-Cleaner-32oz_p_142.html
 
Back in the 60's DGW sold a b/p cleaner concentrate that looked and smelled like Simple Green, it was also supposed to be non toxic. The only reason I remember is I found a small glass bottle with some in it about 10 yrs ago with my 3/4" bore cannon that my brother and I bought the barrel from DGW and built the carriage for a scout project. I've been using Simple Green since.
 
Water plus a mild soap, windex or vinegar/water all work and your nose will probablly be your guide...
Just get the job done in time BEFORE the corrosion sets in!
JMHO,
ZVP
 
Just a note about Simple Green. If not rinsed away it'll dry to a soapy film. Folks on the bicycle forums I also frequent found that when using Simple Green as a degreaser and leaving their chains in the stuff overnight resulted in the chain's metal being etched.

As a result I would not use Simple Green in any manner where it can't be rinsed away soon after the application with enough water to ensure that no residue remains.

Also FWIW the orange smelling citrus degreaser was found to etch steel during similar long term overnight exposures.

One nice thing about Windex is that it dries away completely. No residue is left that I've ever noticed on any mirror or window surfaces where even a thin film of residue would affect the quality of the image.
 
Put me in the hot soapy water column.
I break the gun down completely.
Plain old Ivory soap, hot tap water, and an old tooth brush. Rinse well.
Pop the loose parts in the oven for about 30 mins to dry.
Apply cooking oil on everything when parts come out of the oven.
Allow to cool. The gun parts are getting seasoned just like a cast iron skillet.
Re-assemble.
I do use a smidge of graphite grease on the trigger/sear/hammer parts.
Re-assemble.

Works for me.
 
WD-40?

anyone use WD for a cleaning agent? FIL uses it on all his guns...cuts thru the powder residue easily and really shows a clean patch when all is gone.
 
I've been shooting black powder since '74 and over the years I experimented with a wide range of products and combinations and most did a good job of cleaning my bp firearms. A great many of what I tried worked just as well as soap and water but none worked better than soap and water.
 
Remove the wooden parts.

Clean with hot soapy water. (Dawn dish soap works well.) I use a spray bottle from a garden shop. To rinse, dunk it in a bucket or run it under the tap in the tub.

Clean again with a mixture of 1 part Ballistol oil to 8 parts water. I use another spray bottle for this. Use the Ballistol mixture as a solvent on the patches for the bore.

Dry the gun. I use a paper towel. Push a wad of towel through the bore to dry it. You can bake the gun in an oven at 150 for 1 hour to speed the drying. The evaporation of the water leaves a little of the Ballistol behind.

Oil the bore and mechanism with straight Ballistol.
 
+1 for WD 40. I keep a can in my range boxfor cleaning if thing start to bind up, and use it at the end of the day to clean all the parts of my guns then wipe down and oil with olive or canola oil. so far no problems with rust inside or out.

G D
 
I tried Windex w/vinegar because Mike Venturino recommended it about 20 years ago in G&A.
I tried it. It works fantastically. I rinse well with water afterward.
Click to expand...

I used the Venturino Formula (diluted Windex w. Vinegarl All Surface) for several years
BPCR with no problems. I did not rinse, just dried, oiled, and recleaned at home with M-Pro 7. My supply met a horrible fate in The Incident and I could not find it in the stores.

I tried some Clorox hippie-liberal-green-BS cleaner and it wasn't worth a darn.
Click to expand...

So I tried some of that Clorox hlg BS cleaner, diluted as with Windex. It seemed to do ok the first time out, but yesterday, it caused trouble. I had just swabbed out the barrel with it and was called away for just a few minutes. The next patch through came out orange! Flash rust.
The bore is still bright and is probably not hurt, but that stuff went down the drain.

Since I was already using M-Pro 7 to reclean the BPCR and as a main cleaner for smokeless, I looked on their site. They claim it will clean up black as is, but since it is not a water mix, I will try it cut with water as they recommend for ultrasonic cleaners.

I wish I had my free sample of Gunzilla for which great things are claimed, black powder fouling included.
 
I have soaked a pistol in vinegar to remove the bluing. It worked. Windex makes a spray, a non amonia spray that I use and never had any corrosion problems. I give it a bath in hot soapy water after the windex. Overkill maybe but my guns show care.
 
I never use WD-40 on anything, ANYTHING!!
It gums up everything, and if I do use something that will do that, I use some other brand of "moisture guard, penetrant". Anything but WD-40. I put Rem oil on all my guns, because WD-40 is not a lubricant. Just my two cents.
 
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