Gun Maintenance: That Brown/Black Oil...

[sgt127]

Old gunsmith gave me a formula for a cleaning soak. In a 50 cal ammo can, half kerosene. Half WD40 and a cup or two of marvel mystery oil. Take the grips off, soak it, work the action, scrub what you can reach, slosh it around a few times and blow everything out with a compressed air hose.

The kerosene and WD40 act as a solvent and a flush, the thin film of Marvel keeps everything lightly, but completely, lubed.

All the gunk settles at the bottom. I'll use the same mix for a year or so and, if feeling cheap, run it through a coffee filter and keep using it, or, just mix another batch.

 

[GP100Wii]

Wait, now that my memory serves me correctly -- for a GP100 especially, there is no screw besides the grip screw that requires removal for basic disassembly. There's no harm to a firearm just for pulling the pieces apart, correct? I'm not abusing any threads/screws or anything.

 

[Water-Man]

I use 3M High Power Brake Cleaner to blow it out and then use G96 Complete Gun Treatment.

 

[BCRider]

Well! This topic sure created a flurry of replies....

The Gun Scrubber flush certainly does work. But I tend to dislike it simply because Gun Scrubber is a degreaser from all I've read. It flushes away any trace of oil along with the fouling and any grit it can. I figure that it's highly likely that it's simply brake cleaner solvent with a new name on the can.

Instead of such a degreasing solvent I'm a big fan of the easy and cheap to mix up Ed's Red soup of ATF oil and solvents. It not only cleans out grit and fouling well but when it drains away then evaporates the solvents you're left with a light coating of ATF oil on all the surface in in the joints. It may not be the best oil in the world but it does do a great job of resisting the onset of rust and it's not THAT bad a lubricant.

GP100Wii, if you remove the grips on either a S&W or a Ruger you'll find that there's this great big hole along side the main spring where it disappears up into the guts of the revolver. Between that opening, the opening at the hammer and the trigger and cylinder bolt openings there's lots of spots to flush and drain the insides without disassembling the gun.

 

[Waveski]

GP100Wii ---

If the GP100 is built like the SP101 then yes , there is no sideplate or screws. The gun can be disassembled into a number of groups , such as the trigger assembly , which drops right out of the frame.
WARNING - Great care must be taken when handling these groups. Example : If you move the trigger the slightest bit while the trigger assembly is free of the frame (and it is darned near impossible to resist pulling that trigger in the interest of "seeing how it works"...) - TINY itty bitty parts will launch themselves to far , dark corners of your workspace.

Or so I've heard.

 

[MikeJackmin]

Yes, disassembling a GP100 is nothing like taking the sideplate off of an S&W. So long as you can resist the temptation to take the trigger group apart, there is no harm in opening it up.

 

[GP100Wii]

Checking back in: I disassembled the GP100 and ran gun scrubber through the component parts. Using a Keyboard cleaner (compressed air), everything dried really quickly.

With trace amounts of hoppes oil, I relubed everything I could. Reassembled. Good to go, it seems.

One note: I highly doubt I'll doubt I'll do it again. Even though there was some dark oil that had me concerned, the inside was very, very, very clean to begin with.

 

[MrBorland]

Even though there was some dark oil that had me concerned, the inside was very, very, very clean to begin with.

Told ya'

You asked if a drop of dirty oil is evidence that the innards of your gun are too dirty & need cleaning. My answer and personal opinion was and is "no". Even a little dirt will darken lube, so it's not a sign it's too dirty in there.

I understand a little peace of mind is a good thing, though, and I'm glad it went ok for you.