What is the best way to completely neutralize / remove ammonia from a rifle barrel after using High ammonia cooper solvent’s.
I’ve read about using hot water or alcohol impregnated patches, which one do you recommend?
I’m a little concerned about leaving some cooper solvent behind in the barrel and causing it to rust.

Nsiro,

Any of your regular bore solvents will neutralize and remove the ammonia.

Follow the instuctions on the bottle. The manufacturer has figured this stuff out. They will not tell you to do something that will damage your rifle.

From a chemistry stand point, an acid would nuetralize an ammonia solution. Vinnegar?? I would not put and acid down my bore. Maybe dilute it with the white milky GI bore cleaner. Again follow their insturctions.

Ammonia containing bore solvents have about 3% ammonia in them. Even the very strongest preparations you can buy chemically have only 30% ammonia and this would be called ammonium hydroxide. You couldn't stand to be in the same room with it without breathing equipment.

Put a little Sweet's on a plate and leave it alone for 5 minutes. Then come back and smell it. All ammonia smell gone. It evaporates quite quickly.

Clean as per manufacturer recommendation and lightly oil. This is why I use Ed's Red. The lanolin is very good and the tranny oil stays put.

quote:

Originally posted by Nitroman:
Ammonia containing bore solvents have about 3% ammonia in them. Even the very strongest preparations you can buy chemically have only 30% ammonia and this would be called ammonium hydroxide. You couldn't stand to be in the same room with it without breathing equipment.

Put a little Sweet's on a plate and leave it alone for 5 minutes. Then come back and smell it. All ammonia smell gone. It evaporates quite quickly.

Clean as per manufacturer recommendation and lightly oil. This is why I use Ed's Red. The lanolin is very good and the tranny oil stays put.

Amen, brother!

I started making up my own “Ed’s Red†awhile back and I would never use anything else now. I just wish I could get it to smell as good as the old Hoppes.

My own “personal†formula uses Kroil instead of Kerosine...more expensive, but I just love Kroil!

Thank you for your answers,

Rick 0311
Does Ed´s Red remove cooper fooling, or you mix it with some ammonia for cooper removal?


Cheer´s

quote:

I just wish I could get it to smell as good as the old Hoppes.

Add some bananna oil and Nitro benzene. : )

quote:

Originally posted by Nsiro:
Thank you for your answers,

Rick 0311
Does Ed´s Red remove cooper fooling, or you mix it with some ammonia for cooper removal?


Cheer´s

I’ll be honest with you...after regular use of that formula copper fouling is just not a big problem for me.

I shoot my .308’s using nothing but Black Hills 175 grain match ammunition and I seldom need to use Sweets or any other copper removing products because I just don’t get much copper fouling. My barrels are all match grade...one is a Shlin, one is a Schnieder, and the other is an older McMillian and they shoot really clean.

I also regularly shoot an M1A, two 1903’s and two 1917 Enfields and I don’t have a problem with those barrels “coppering up†either.

I never use handloads and I clean about every 50 shots or so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I like shooting allot more than I do cleaning!

quote:

Originally posted by Scota4570:

quote:

I just wish I could get it to smell as good as the old Hoppes.

Add some bananna oil and Nitro benzene. : )

Thanks for the tip...I’ll pick some up today and try it out.

Nsiro,

I’m sorry, I just noticed that I really didn’t fully answer your question.

When I do see a need to remove copper fouling (which ain’t all that often) I use Sweets 7.62. I don’t mix it with anything...just the straight stuff. Then I follow with a normal cleaning with my Ed’s Red concoction...and then lightly coat the bore and wipe down the exterior metal with some Red’s and put em away.

That formula is available on line or in Hatchers Notebook. It’s actually just an updated version of the old arsenal formula used way back when...substituting tranny fluid for sperm oil. You can play with the formula and make your own brand, like I have, and about the only thing that is a little difficult to find in some areas is the pure lanolin.

Most health food stores carry it...or you can buy it in bulk from several places on the internet.

I cleaned rifle bores for years with just tranny fluid with a bottle of Hoppes mixed in and it work great. The tranny fluid alone would have probably worked fine...but it wouldn’t have had that GREAT smell!

If you want the modernized version of Ed's Red (easier to get components, & works a little better), do a search of the archives at this site for Steve's Squeeze.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
If you want the modernized version of Ed's Red (easier to get components, & works a little better), do a search of the archives at this site for Steve's Squeeze.

Have to be honest...I would much rather make it than buy it.

Me too!! Steve's Squeeze is not something you buy...it's something you make at home, just like Ed's Red.

Some, but not all Ace Hardware stores carry janitorial ammonia, which is 10%. Mix two parts of that with one part of the thickest liquid detergent you can find, to make something pretty much equivalent to Sweet's.

I've been making Ed's Red, but, darn, I have a hard time getting past the kerosene smell.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Me too!! Steve's Squeeze is not something you buy...it's something you make at home, just like Ed's Red.

Found it! Sounds good...but also sounds far more caustic than my home brew. Mine won’t eat through plastic and won’t harm wood or fiberglass finishes on the stocks.

One of the things I like about my mix is that I don’t have to be careful where it goes. I routinely rub down the outside of my rifles with a rag with the mixture on it and it has never hurt anything. I also tested it on the Devcon bedding material that I use and it doesn’t hurt that either.

If it ain’t broke I don’t try to fix it...and for now my bore solvent ain’t broke.

denton

This is just a guess (some of the chemists on board can correct me if I am wrong) but it seems like a bottle of deodorized kerosene like that sold in stores for lamps may solve your aversion to the kerosene smell. Will cost a little more but then a gallon of Ed's Red will go quite a ways for the money!

I leave the acetone out of all but a small amout of my batch or Ed's It works well for me and I seldom have a jacket deposit problem . . . IF I do, "Wipe Out" and 24 hours solves the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by denton:
Some, but not all Ace Hardware stores carry janitorial ammonia, which is 10%. Mix two parts of that with one part of the thickest liquid detergent you can find, to make something pretty much equivalent to Sweet's.

I've been making Ed's Red, but, darn, I have a hard time getting past the kerosene smell.

I always substitute Kroil for Kerosine in my homemade stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Scota4570:
Follow the instuctions on the bottle. The manufacturer has figured this stuff out. They will not tell you to do something that will damage your rifle.

They have figured it out alright. They will probably tell you to use some of their own products to do the job. A chemist would use water. The only drawback with water, from the copper solvent manufacturers point of view, is that it´s hard to sell canned and overpriced as all the other products on their line.