Excess Hoppe's #9 a problem on MkII?

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Buck13

Buck13

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I hadn't notice how dirty my MkII was getting until the bolt release began to fail to engage on an empty magazine recently. I'm not competent to disassemble it (or rather, I'd probably get it apart, but not together again), so last night I tried to clean up the accessable areas that I had been neglecting, meaning everything but the bore. I dribbled a few drops of Hoppe's #9 through the ejection port onto the release about 3 times, working the release up and down many times while holding the bolt back. The piece may be a little more free, but still sticks too much going up to lock the bolt open. It's a little looser going down now, so at least the release may be easier.

Of course, the stuff was coming out all over (yay, cleaned up the trigger!), but I haven't made any attempt to clear out the last dose. Left it laying left-side down overnight, in hopes that a 24 hour soak may improve things. Is leaving #9 all over the gun a bad idea? I'd probably take it to a shop eventually to get it opened up and cleaned (unless I get brave enough to try to learn Ruger gunsmithing from YouTube), but the slide release problem is a very low priority.

Is there any concern with leaving excess solvent in the mechanism or grip plates that should make me NOT employ my usual super-powers of procrastination, or should I get the thing dried out ASAP? I'd never thought before about removing the solvent before oiling, but I don't usually apply it so freely. Based on some other comments I've read, I'll probably switch to CLP in the future, but #9 is what I have on hand now.
 
If you don't want to take it apart, get some cheap brake parts cleaner and flush it out.

Its what I generally do as the MK and 22/45 series are amount the biggest PITA to take apart and reassemble that I've yet encountered. Although the Buckmark is a close second seeing how it needs two different sized hex head wrenches, but it is so open on top doesn't accumulate anywhere near the crud the Rugers do.
 
I'd do the brake cleaner deal too. Really just blast it (wear glasses etc), cycle it etc and then blast it with air - if you don't have a compressor, you can get cans. Then douse it with like Ballistol or something and then hit it with the air again. Realize though that many brake cleaners will disolve/destroy many plastics and or finishes like laquered grips.. it'll be fine on steel.
Really, just go to utube for dissasembly tutorials.. there's probably like 10,000 on how to break that thing down and put it back. It's pretty simple.
 
There is a product called "Gun Scrubber" by Birchwood Casey that does the same thing as brake cleaner without the concern about dissolving anything...Although I have never had any trouble with brake cleaner. The Gun Scrubber comes in a pressurized aeresol and with the spray tube attached you can get into the innards of almost any mechanism. The air pressure blast is a good idea too. That said, soaking in Hoppe's will not harm your gun. Many collectors use a Hoppe's bath to clean up vintage guns. Just be sure to follow that with an air blast and lubricant.
 
Before you go the brake cleaner route, I'd take the grips off at least.

And keep it off sight paint or fiber optic rods.

rc
 
I suggest taking it apart and cleaning properly. There are step by step youtube videos as well as a site with great step by step photos.

Take down and assembly can be difficult at first but after a few times it's an easy 5 minute chore.
 
Take down and assembly can be difficult at first but after a few times it's an easy 5 minute chore.
Click to expand...

Sure I can do it in five minutes, but its still a PITA to futz around with the hammer strut, at least he has a MK II instead of the MKIII which adds the extra futzing around with the mag safety to drop the hammer the two times you need to do it.

Besides most other pistols come apart and go back together in a minute or two once you've done it the first time.

The Ruger's remind me of a Chinese puzzle, sure its easy once you know the tricks, but guns just shouldn't be this way.
 
Using brake cleaner, Hopps, or any other solvent only sounds like trouble to me. Wouldn't you then left with a clean but completely un-lubricated pistol? If you insist on not taking it apart then maybe you should use one of the 2-in-1 products like Break Free CLP. That said, re-assembly of your MkII isn't that difficult with the aid of a decent photo or YouTube tutorial. When you first get it apart you might want to take a picture just in case any additional parts come out that you didn't mean to remove.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
 
Using brake cleaner, Hopps, or any other solvent only sounds like trouble to me. Wouldn't you then left with a clean but completely un-lubricated pistol?
Click to expand...

No matter how you clean, you still have to re-lube afterwards. Non-issue.

you might want to take a picture just in case any additional parts
Click to expand...

The problem is futzing about with the hammer strut and getting the hammer to be "cocked" when it needs to an be and then uncocked again at the right time. Be pretty hard to get good photos the "window" where the strut has to be for the final reassembly step -- too far one way and you can't retract the bolt after you think you're done, too far the other and you can close the latch.

Like I said, not hard but a PITA, break parts cleaner and CLP has done the job for us for years and many 10s of thousands of rounds with a whole lot less frustration.

Most folks over clean their .22s anyways.
 
Give it an overnight soak in naphtha (available by the gallon in any hardware or big box store), blow any remaining crud out with compressed air, re-lube, and you'll be good to go. You'll be amazed at the amount of crud floating in the naphtha bath by morning.

Naphtha is commonly known as cigarette lighter fluid...
 
I only use Hoppe's on bores, and I'm careful not to let it let anywhere else.

I would strip as far as I could, hose all the parts with brake cleaner twice, and let everything dry thoroughly. Then I would lube it up with break-free and put it back together.

Some agents are lubricants. Some agents are cleaners. A few act as both, but I find they do an ok job of both, not a great job of either. I really don't want a cleaning agent mixing with a lubricating agent.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. After spewing 2/3 of a can of Brakleen red label through all the relevant and semi-relevant gaps in the gun, letting it dry a couple of hours then oiling the crap out if it, the slide release is not much improved, but everything else is much smoother. At least the area around the feed ramp no longer looks like the upstream side of a sewage treatment plant!

I'd live with the slide release, but I don't count shots, so that leads to a dry-fire every magazine, which can't be good. Also, it looks like the extractor is causing wear at the edge of the chamber mouth. I guess that would be worse when the bolt is snapping closed on an empty chamber.
 
nazshooter wrote,
Using brake cleaner, Hopps, or any other solvent only sounds like trouble to me. Wouldn't you then left with a clean but completely un-lubricated pistol?
Click to expand...
wally wrote,
No matter how you clean, you still have to re-lube afterwards. Non-issue.
Click to expand...
Not if you're using a CLP product.

I see no advantage to using a degreaser unless you are applying a new finish or trying to get something else to stick to your pistol like sight paint.

One example of CLP use is Hickok45 using Ballistol on a Glock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZf4mUM10Vc
 
If its anything like the 22/45 Mark III it's not really that hard to take apart/reassemble. It probably needs a good cleaning inside and out....22s are filthy. I clean mine after every range trip.
 
I found several good videos for take-down as far as getting the reciever off and removing various parts from the bolt, but not yet the removal of the bolt stop. Anyone have a URL for that? It seems like removing the receiver might help with poking a feeler guage or something into the gaps, but I'm not sure that is the solution.

I forgot to put my organic vapor mask on for the first few minutes of the Brakleen bath, and I think my balance has been impaired! Hard to be sure, since my balance was pretty poor to begin with. But any suggestions for a decent CLP product that is not too heavy on the volatile toxins?

(Pet peeve: volatile =/= flammable. Chloroform is very volatile, but it is completely non-flammable (unless you are in an atmosphere rich in fluorine, :uhoh: in which case you almost certainly have more to worry about than burning chloroform.))
 
any suggestions for a decent CLP product that is not too heavy on the volatile toxins?
Click to expand...
There are lots and lots of non-toxic CLP's, and there seems to be more popping up every day.

I'm currently using SLIP2000. I've also used Ballistol. Both work well and are non-toxic (I've even seen a hardware store guy spray Ballistol on his hands and lick it off), but Ballistol has somewhat of an "odd" smell. I mostly use it on garden tools now.

You may find some recommendations in this thread.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=678094
 
JTQ said:
(I've even seen a hardware store guy spray Ballistol on his hands and lick it off)
Click to expand...

A stunt like that may show that it's not immediately lethal at that dose, but it doesn't indicate it's non-toxic. Just sayin'

Not that I'm not a big fan of stunts. My favorite at work is to dump a pint of liquid nitrogen (-320 degrees F) over the top of my head. This usually works out fine, but one time a big drop got caught in my hair, and frost-bit a spot the size of a dime so that the hair fell out. It grew back.

Disclaimer: Don't try this with your head.
 
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