Gun Cleaning

[REX6859]

First let me say I love Winchester Power Blast. Works great but I found out one drawback the hard way. I was out plinking with an old H&R 32SW long today. Had'nt picked it up in a long time. Well long story short I got done & started cleaning it. Guess I was just being lazy but I didn't remove the grips to clean it (which I usually do). Well I started spraying the power blast on & the plastic grips started litterally melting in my hands. I was told that it's ok to use on polymer guns but now I'm skeptical. Anyone else had this happen?

 

[Extremely Pro Gun]

I melted the rubber on the underside of my cleaning mat with hoppes barrel blaster. The ****s crazy!!! I am very scared of it and plan to get some birchwood casey polymer safe gun scrubber.

 

[luigi]

JMO but anything that's that strong can not be good for your gun

 

[rcmodel]

Todays polymer guns are a far cry from the early plastic used on an old H&R 32SW.
The grips on it were probably some sort of styrene plastic and any powerful solvent would melt it.

Glass filled nylon, or neoprene rubber as used on most modern firearms frames & grips is pretty much impervious to anything.

Sight paint, stock finish, butt plates, etc?
Not so much.

rc

 

[Fremmer]

Try some Hoppes No. 9 instead. It'll clean very well, and won't mess with the plastic like that. Just some quick swipes with patch soaked Hoppes, and you're fine.

Edited to add: I've never used the Winchester stuff. I do recall using a blast-type cleaner a long time ago to blast out nooks and crannies in guns, but IIRC, it seemed to really dry out the metal (more so than Hoppees), and it left a white sheen on plastic parts. So I ditched it, and just use Hoppes w/patches and cotton swabs. Nothing scientific, just my own perception of those spray cleaners. There may be other brands that work just fine.

 

[williamd]

Not only that but Hoppe's smells great. Always wanted Hoppe's aftershave!

 

[Ed Harris]

Or mix your own Ed's Red and simply leave out the acetone. That way it won't attack the plastic, but the cleaner will be less agressive and you may need to let it soak a bit.