I may sacrifice my Sig in the name of science

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Why make is so complicated? You don't need brake cleaner, mercury or ultrasonics to clean your gun. All you need are:

Patches
Bore brush & Jag
Toothbrush
Pipe cleaners
Hoppes #9
Hoppes Gun Oil


Maybe $15 in supplies. :neener:
 
If you spend more than 15 minutes on a gun, you are over cleaning.
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It used to take me at least ten minutes to get the series 80 levers back in. That only leaves 5 for disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and function check (ok so that doesnt take long). It's not much of a problem anymore...
Clean? Guns? You have to CLEAN them?!?!?
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And that's why the Series 80 parts are no longer a problem. My cleaning routine is simply a boresnake and some lube, occasoinally I pull the slide off and wipe the rails down. I detail strip my 1911s every ~2000 rounds and clean thoroughly, mainly just to look for worn parts.

I know taking the time to clean a gun isnt that big of a deal, I used to do it religiously. After enough weekends of taking half a dozen (or more) firearms to the range, spending all that time cleaning guns got old.
 
I've used nonchlor brake cleaner on my *hands* before... I think it's metals-safe for just about anything. I wouldn't get it on the furniture though, gun or house :)
 
Just because it didn't react with your hands doesn't mean it won't react with the finish on your firearm. I don't know the chemical makeup of the nonchlor brake cleaner, but I would be hesitant to use it on a gun anyway.
 
I hate to say it but I think you are a little too concerned about cleaning your guns. I clean mine every couple of range trips and they seem to do just fine. All I use is some hoppes and a rag.
 
A lot of the gun-cleaning fanaticism is inherited from the military where pristinely clean guns are required. The military does it that way for several reasons:
1. They used to use corrosive ammo and not cleaning a weapon quickly and thoroughly after firing resulted in damage to the weapon.
2. It's easier to judge whether a weapon is completely clean than it is to judge whether a weapon is simply clean enough.
3. It gives DI's one more thing over which to scream at recruits.
4. It is desirable to keep the enlisted personnel as busy as possible, so they should be cleaning their weapons at moments when they haven't been assigned some other task.
 
One of the simplest ways to dry out a gun is with alchohol. It absorbs the water and then evaporates quickly. It also is pretty good at desolving grease and residue. 95% isopropyl alchohol is what I use. Most drugstores will order it for you. It is not toxic and it is not very expensive if purchased by the gallon. It is used for rubbing/disinfecting skin in hospitols.
 
Zach S,

It used to take me at least ten minutes to get the series 80 levers back in.
Click to expand...

The universe is trying to tell you something.

(It's part no. 876-011-780 at Brownell's, btw... ;) )
 
Hoppe's, Qtips and an old t shirt work for me, but cleaning guns is still a PITA. If ya find a better way, let us know.
 
If you use brake cleaner on your guns with aluminum parts, you MUST use the non-chlorinated stuff. Look in any high-school chemistry book and there will be a table of elements that are highly reactive with each other. Aluminum and Chlorine are at the very top. It doesn't matter what else is in your Al alloy, the Al with react with the chlorine.

That said, CLP, and a cleaning kit are all I use on mine. Maybe a little WD-40 on the AR bolt carrier assy. parts if I feel lazy with CLP afterwards.
 
Hmmm...

"GLOCK frames begin to degrade in water above 120deg. or so. Basically Nylon 66 with some carbon black added."

Looked up the MSDS for Nylon 6, and:

Nylon 6 MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet): melting point is 216 degrees C (420.8 degrees F). Flash ignition at 305 degrees C (581 degrees F).

So, JMan, if you've seen MSDS or other info pertinent to the matter, it would be great for you to share. Just surprised me to know that 6 would degrade during a Vegas scorcher.
 
15 minutes...okay

buy an HK P7

shoot Hell out of it

Take it apart (1.3 seconds)

Clean it.

Put it together (5.6 seconds)

Leaves you fourteen minutes and 53 seconds to clean it.
 
A while back, I had an odd thought... Could you clean a gun by filling up some kind of vibratory device with brass-tumbler media (corncob, or whatever) and letting the granules vibrate the residue off? Seems to me that if it's good enough to clean the burnt powder off fired brass, it ought to clean handgun parts pretty good. No messy chemicals or high temperatures, either. (120 degrees? Really? Happen to know what kind of plastic a CZ 100 frame is made of?)

Two things stopped me from trying it out: 1) Lack of corncob media, and 2) Lack of an adequate vibratory device. If anybody out there wants to be first, I'll license the idea to you for a mere 85% of the gross...
 
Only problem with tumbling a gun would be having to CLEAN the gun to get all the bits of media out of it! Probably have to detail strip it to get it all too...

I'm not a big fan of cleaning guns either. It has become a bit of a chore, really. But, cleaning rod, brush, hoppes, patches, q-tips and occasionally Gun Scrubber, then CLP where it's needed. It's not too bad. And on occasion, my brother will drop by after his USMC reserve weekend. I always offer him my AR15 to 'inspect' and of course it's absolutely disgusting for him! Not up to Marine standards! Then he'll clean it to show me how it's done. (Although, I think he's catching on to my scheme though...darn.)
 
citrus based degreasers

I've had outstanding luck using citrus based degreasers as gun cleaners. Orange Power and Quick Peel are the two brands I've used.

(I still use GI RBC or Hoppe's or something for the bore and for carbon fouling, but the citrus degreasers on everything else. In 7 years of use, the citrus products have not harmed the finish, the grips, or the night sights on anything I've used it on, mostly Beretta M9s, Sig 226s, and AR-15s)

And, when you go shooting and the gun heats up, it smells like oranges.
 
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