what cleaning chemicals is everyone using?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hot Water is all I have used for over 30 years to clean.

Gibbs Brand lubricant to finish the process.
 
Pancho said:
If cold water can do it anything that improves on water can't be bad.... Today we have a variety of chemicals that will help us clean our guns better and faster.
See, the thing is, what does 'better' and 'faster' mean?

I've tried the chemical concoctions and see no 'better' results; the gun is just as clean with plain water as it is with any of the homemade recipe or commercial products I've tried.

The damaging compounds - salts - are water soluble; it dissolves the salts and carries them away. For that matter, all of the black powder combustion byproducts are either miscible or 'suspendible' in water. They don't need 'fizzing action' or magic, special chemical reactions to be dissolved in or suspended in water and then washed away.

And as for 'faster', how does having to clean out the cleaning compounds make them 'faster'? Or having to spend time mixing them up?

Maybe I just have magic water in my well...

Driftwood Johnson said:
most respondents on this thread preferred to shout me down
Actually, most of the people who posted in this thread simply provided their own experience, rather than shouting anyone down.
 
Driftwood...
That's the very same info I have but it would have taken me too long to dig it out and scan it...thanks for saving me the trouble. I did forget to mention "corning" along with the charcoal types. Corning came about primarily because originally they would send the powders pre-mixed to the battles but along the way the chemicals would separate, so they tried mixing them at the battle site but found too time consuming. Corning was then discovered/invented and has remained in the final manufacturing process to this day.
 
soap and water and any non petroleum oil (petroleum oils and black don't mix)
I will use Kroil oil to lift any leading but clean that out with electro clean and use soy oil to protect.
 
Interesting...glorified steam cleaner! I can think of better things to spend my money on though...LOL
Did anyone notice the guy never loaded any bullets in that flintlock? Just powder and wads!!! :what:
 
I'm guessing steam won't clean out lead from a rifle or pistol bore...it's just not hot enough...it takes a good nylon or bronze brush to loosen that up. I've always used a nylon brush...always worked for me.
 
I had a tip from a friend about a very good solvent for our purposes.

Oxidane CAS 7789-20-00
One of the most powerful solvents we have around.
Should work wonders on BP fouling
 
I use 3 Rivers cleaning/patch lube to clean and hydro clean in a bucket.

It's cheap, probably a variant of moose milk but green.

I buy it at The Gun Works in Oregon, Joe and Suzi are great people.
 
Anyone else used carby/throttle body cleaner?

I find spraying it in there gets the carbon from where a brush or patch cant get into and dries pretty quick. But it is also good for getting out oils before shooting. a quick shot into the chambers and nipples and i can avoid a hang-fire without wasting caps.
 
I use the spray starting fluid.
yep ill use this also if im out somewhere and need some cleaning otherwise just
dishwashing liquid or soap and water followed by a blast of air if i have a compressor
available to dry it quickly.
 
in the feild, i use Rusty Duck solvent between shots, and if i have shot at the end of the day. when i get home, i use hot soapy water, followed by the Rusty Duck solvent, dry out the bore very well, and then a generous slathering of Bore Butter for storage.
 
I like water, then when things look good, run a patch soaked with Montana Extreme's Cowboy blend, to make sure there's no lead, then a dry patch and then use the Montana Extreme Bore conditioner when the gun is put away.
For checking for lead in a "clean" barrel a patch soaked in turpentine on a jag will let you know real quick if there's any lead hiding in there.
 
cleaning

I use a spray can of "SWIPE" made by Wechem...will melt BP residue ...spray it down use a toothbrush on the nipples, run a brush/swab through bore /cyl. & blow it off with compressed air ...you're done... oil it down with Mobil 1 ...unless you use the hose outside hot water in the house is a PIA [stain in the sink...wife bitching]....quick & clean ready to go next week...Kent :)
 
the MSDS for 'swipe' by Wechem shows it to be:

Liquefied Petroleum gas
2-Butoxyethanol
Sodium Metasilicate
 
Sodium Metasilicate is nothing more than sodium silicate..."waterglass"...once used as a food preservative...adhesive used by Colt to cement paper cartridges together...and even to coat and bind the hard sawdust exterior on the firework "cherry bomb".
Here's an interesting link on Wiki about sodium silicate/metasilicate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
 
The answer is water, a chemical compound obtained by combining two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen.

Any questions?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top