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I know there's a forum here for cleaning questions, but I'll put this here in hopes it might be seen by a few more folks. I have a stainless big bore autoloading magnum that hasn't been shot in a long time. I'm thinking of getting it out and cleaning it and thought maybe you guys would have some advice about something. It has sticky residue of past lubribation in the action, bolt surfaces, bolt lugs, chamber and barrel and I'm trying to decide the best thing for cleaning all that up before doing new lubrication. I'd be OK with buying something, but prefer looking first to what's already around the house. Possible candidates - denatured alcohol (I use it for cleaning carbon/oil/smoke build-up from non-stainless metal - in a non-gun hobby), and regular gasoline, and white gasoline like for lanterns and finally paint thinner. What do you think of those? I've heard kerosene suggested for this by someone who's considered knowledgeable, but I don't have a supply of that. I believe others have used carburetor cleaner. Don't have that either, but when I used that for its intended purpose, I remember how strong the stuff was and how careful you had to be with it. And then there's probably Goof-Off. I have a can of that. The BIG question is how does everyone feel about Hoppe's #9 for stainless? I do have that. After the cleaning and for the lubrication I have a supply of TW-25. I've seen FP-10 suggested. It apparently is highly recommended for stainless, however I don't know how to obtain any other than by special order. For stainless I'm told to be real careful about the lubricant or galling will appear. | ||
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You don't have to clean stainless steel guns -- that's why it's called STAINLESS steel. Dang, I thought everyone knew that.  "Ignorance you can correct, you can't fix stupid." JWP If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming. Semper Fidelis "Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time" | |||
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But Marko, he has buggered up cheap lube that got dried out. Hoppe's works just fine. If lube is real nasty, Coleman fuel and a toothbrush works great. | |||
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The solvents in Hoppes should disolve any dried out lube/varnish. I know gas or Coleman fuel works but I wouldn't use it inside. I wouldn't use it at all unless I absolutely had to. DW | |||
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My only reluctance on the Hoppe's is it's not cheap like the other alternatives. I also don't know chemically if it's the same result on stainless as on regular steel although I assume it is. I know of course you're not supposed to use it on nickel. I have a plentiful supply of the denatured alcohol and it's cheap and can certainly be used indoors. It works well on other applications. There's also the possibility of mineral oil, which is cheap too, can be used indoors and is good for other types of metal cleaning. At any rate, I want the first cleaning to leave as little residue as possible before applying the new lub. Some of what's there is a mess, decades old and sticky to the touch and it looks like I'm going to go ahead and do more than one gun. Much of it was applied by previous owners. Btw, the original factory lub was castor oil. I think they were trying to avoid petro based and galling problems. | |||
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I have never had a problem with Hoppe's discoloring a stainless gun. Even in my poor college days and poorer state of self-employment; buying cleaning products for my firearms has not been a problem; just do without a meal. Linebaugh uses regular alcohol for cleaning revolvers. The denatured stuff should work okay for cutting the crud. If ignorance is bliss; there are some blissful sonofaguns around here. We know who you are, so no reason to point yourselves out. | |||
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Used to work w/a physicist, the late Dr Malcom Judkins who worked many interesting projects like the Manhattan Project and others. His specialty was metallurgy. One of his many tales was that his college roomy was the fella that developed stainless steel. His assertion was that all will stain given the right conditions/circumstances and referred to it as stains-less steel. FWIW, said he couldn't get anyone interested and wound up selling the formulation/patent to the Japanese ~ Go figure. ==================================================================================================== Note: This post may contain misspellings, grammatical errors, disorganized sentence structure, or may entirely lack a coherent theme. These elements are natural to the process of writing, and will only add to the overall beauty of the post ~ Smartfix | |||
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Now that could be serious.. odoh, great post and quote. Stainless is kind of interesting. As I understand it, it's not a uniform surface and tends to gall quickly. I'm trying to avoid that when I select the final lubricant. Speaking of which, does everyone agree the replacement lub should be a synthetic for stainless? Like FP-10 or TW-25 B? Or how about a synthetic motor oil like Mobil 1? Anyway, I still have some of the castor oil but it's only 40 years old. They're just collectibles now. | |||
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CLP might be the best to do it all? | |||
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I think the Alky would be the best of what you have on hand for the cleaning task. Pull the grips and dunk it - it's probably going to need to soak awhile if it is gunky. The red can of carb cleaner is cheap and works well. It will allow you to hose out the innards without removing the sideplate. But you'll have to run to WhatEverMart to get some. I use RemOil after the carb cleaner, but that's cause I'm too lazy to pop the side plate  The only downside to Hoppe's and probably other concoctions, is that they will darken some brushed stainless finishes. Not a big deal, but the finish will dull/darken just a tiny bit. I don't think it bothers polished stainless though. Well, at least have an OK day  | |||
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Hoppes will do just fine. life member NRA (Endowment) member Arizona Big Horn Sheep Society member Arizona Antelope Foundation member Arizona Wildlife Foundation | |||
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Ahab....ever get up my way in Pinetop....? "When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all." Theodore Roosevelt | |||
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This was true when stainless guns first came out. The problem was all parts in the guns were made from the same steel. By changing the alloy slightly for each part, the problem went away. Long ago they developed a stainless lube but it is no longer needed. The chrome content in stainless guns is not high and you CAN get rust but it is rare. The worst thing to use on stainless is steel wool. Guns do fine with about any lube that does not dry out like WD-40. Any lube will pick up crud. I use STP on cylinder pins and the front and rear of the cylinder. Some creeps back into the action and does just great. Hoppe's works super cleaning even STP off. I made Ed's Red to try and Hoppe's is still the best to start with and then M-Pro 7 to remove carbon if you want. Real dirty guns get taken apart and go outside with a little pan of Coleman fuel with a brush. Copper still gets Sweet's, then a Hoppe's wash. My cap and ball gets the grips removed, tossed in the laundry tub with soap and water. I squirt hot water through the action and when almost dry I spray Birchwood-Casey Sheath through it. Flushes any water out of the stainless and lubes. A little STP for the cylinder and it is good to go. | |||
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I've usually used rubbing alcohol as a preliminary cleaner on dirty guns. I use Hoppe's Elite - no longer comfortable w. eezox, since I had some build up issues - on stainless, and ballistol on everything else. Plastic guns just get rubbing alcohol, and some slide-glide. If you end up seeing some pitting, etc - try to find a local dairy/food processing plant. We use something called "non-stick" to re-passivate the stainless after the caustic stage of our CIP - I believe all plants use a similar process. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. | |||
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I have a nickel 629 (older pinned barrel model) and have used Hoppe's on it since I've owned it. Never heard you weren't supposed to use Hoppe's on nickel, and I've had no problems. Is there really anything to this? | |||
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thanks Shack. That both makes sense, and scares the crap out of me. That 629 is the wife's gun, and if I'd have screwed it up, she'd never listen to me again. That would be tragic, since she does everything I say right now....  | |||
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For the heavy cleaning I"m also considering using this - http://secure.armorholdings.co...bore/product180.html. They have it at the local gun shop for $7.00 plus tax per air spray can. It's 15 oz. That's more than the price shown on the web-site. But for about $5.00 you can get a 14 oz can of 3M brake cleaner. What I'm wondering is, are there likely any differences between the Kleenbore dedicated gun product and the automotive product besides price? Also, are we pretty much in agreement that the final lubricant used on stainless should be synthetic instead of petro based? I'm thinking TW-25 B on the grounds that it's found at local gun shops whereas FP-10 seems to be special order. Mobil One I guess would be the non-gun choice.. | |||
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ONe word FLITZ | |||
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