Yesterday I bought some Hoppe's Blast n' Clean. It's one version of the newer type of gun cleaning products that comes in an aerosol can and uses pressure to power solvent into nooks and crannies. I had never tried an aerosol cleaner, so I thought I'd experiment with it.
First impressions: This stuff seems to be very similar to another solvent I keep in my shop for automotive tasks, Carb cleaner. It works about the same way. A high speed jet of solvent is directed at fouling and softens it and washes it out of the way. This stuff seems to work very good, although I'm not convinced that carbeurator cleaner wouldn't work just as well. Guns and carbs are both steel machinery with lots of little crevices to attract crud. The cost of each type is about the same.
It did a good job on carbon fouling around the face of the breech. One shot of solvent and one wipe with a patch and old fouling came off in chunks.
I used it on the Model 12, which is difficult to detail strip. The Model 12 is certainly more difficult to detail strip than the newer Remington 870 or Win 1300. Both of those I can strip in a few minutes. The Mod 12 seems a bit more intricate. Still, I've known Model 12's in service for 50 years that have never been detail stripped.
If you're going to use spray cleaner, go to a tools store and pick up some inexpensive safety glasses. I've seen the same glasses in the outdoor section of Wal-Mart, and four aisles down in the tool section, with a $5.00 differential in price. Get the ones in the tool department. You will get some splash-back from the spray and having a jet of methyl-ethyl ketone sprayed into your eyes isn't a good thing.
Don't spray this stuff in your wife's kitchen. It'll probably play hell with linoleum floors and it'll make a heck of a mess. It dripped all over my bench and cleaned up some old grease stains.
It sure got the crud out of the innards of the shotgun. A quick oiling with Break-Free and I was done.
6 comments:
I am currently using Brake Cleaner. Brake or Carb, whichever is cheaper, it does the job. Since they DO tend to take things down to "bare metal", a follow-up is necessary, (I use Breakfree CLP).
Good Morning, you're correct about the carb cleaner, and I've found brake cleaner works just as well.
talk around here has a rumor that carb cleaner leaves a residue. Brake-cleaner does not (so they say).
Anyway, brake cleaner is easier to find, nowadays it seems.
I've had and would use either in a pinch.
After ruining some plastic trigger group parts in my Camp 45, I don't use ANY chlorinated solvents on guns.
They DO remove ALL the oil from the pores, and you might not get enough oil back into the pores on your first re-oiling. If the weapon is Parkerized, I GUARANTEE you won't get enough oil back in.
The trick with the cans is the pressure they develop, and you can shoot ANY SOLVENT down a pressure tube with the right equipment. Auto parts places used to carry the "touch-up" spray can which you charged with air from your compressor (or bike pump) after filling it. You can make any sort of tip into a stream-shooter by drilling it out.
The Army weapons maintenance manuals say no brake cleaner, no carb cleaner and no WD-40. The Army, of course, has a very good bore cleaner, which has too much methyl-ethyl badshit in it for civilian use, but over at Father Frog's website, they have a formula so you can make it up in the bulk. It's called "Ed's Red", because the Mercon or Dexron 2 tranny fluid in it makes it red.
If you shoot Ed's Red under pressure into the nooks and crannies of your weapon, it WILL get clean, and still be lubed.
There are several dozen branded automotive spray lubes on the market, with and without silicone. Make a point of cruising the sales notices for your local auto parts chains, and buy the cheapest spray lube you can find, and it will be half the cost of Gun Scrubber.
I haven't gone the Ed's Red route just because you wind up with over a gallon of the stuff when you do the recipe, and I don't need that much.
So what is the receipe for Ed's Red
Leon
Leon, Google is your friend.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Ed's%20Red
I've been meaning to whip up a batch, thanks for the reminder.
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