Thread: Another Cleaning Class for newbie !

Hello, I went shopping for what i thought was a easy and cheap product to find. A decent spray for all the little nooks and crannys in our guns, Mostly the area inside the battery, I think its called, Well i was surprised to find out most sprays are 7-12 bucks a can. Here is my question anyone use WD-40 for cleaning out this area, Is it safe to use ? Or do i really need to spend 8 bucks a can for spray cleaner, How do you Pros clean your little areas inside the gun ? I have the barrel figured out fairly well, Oh and how often does folks clean there guns,

I've heard that it (wd-40) can gum up the works, so to speak. Just spend the 10 to 15 bucks on some decent spray and let your firearm know that you care.

I use this.

Yes it's $10 a can, but one can lasts me a year or two. And it works well for knocking debris out of hard to reach places.

Originally Posted by Kaltbluter

I use this.

Yes it's $10 a can, but one can lasts me a year or two. And it works well for knocking debris out of hard to reach places.

I second that one, its worked for me for years and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Oh I missed the "Pro" part I don't qualify. As for cleaning, all the time on my daily carry but not as much as I should on my range guns.

For hard to reach cleaning of nooks and crannies I use a nonchlorinated brake cleaner. I find it especially helpful in blasting out any remaining cleaning solvent in those difficult to reach areas. It generally cost $2-$3 a can.

If that out of reach area needs a film of lubricant then I follow up the dried off brake cleaner with a shot of Breakfree.

I find this method to be very effective as well as inexpensive.

Thanks Ogre

Originally Posted by ogre

For hard to reach cleaning of nooks and crannies I use a nonchlorinated brake cleaner. I find it especially helpful in blasting out any remaining cleaning solvent in those difficult to reach areas. It generally cost $2-$3 a can.

If that out of reach area needs a film of lubricant then I follow up the dried off brake cleaner with a shot of Breakfree.

I find this method to be very effective as well as inexpensive.

Excellent ! I was wondering about this also,

I have used WD 40 in the past for the purpose you mentioned (for example cleaning the action/bolt on a field stripped Ruger Mark II) and it works pretty well as far as the cleaning part goes. If you were to put the firearm back together and fire it with a lot of liquid remaining in the mechanisms it could indeed "gum up" and cause some problems when you fire the gun, but there are easy ways around this. For example either wipe off the excess with a cloth or better yet blow it out from all the nooks and crannys with high pressure air from a compressor. You can also wipe it down and put the parts in the sun (like inside a south facing window sill on top of a paper towel) and the excess will evaporate pretty quickly. If you really want to save money go buy a gallon of liquid WD40 at your nearest farm supply store and fill up a plastic spray bottle with a trigger and adjustable nozzle and use this to blast out debris. The commercial aerosol can solvents work well and evaporate rapidly. But besides being relatively expensive, the bad thing about many of the aerosol solvents on the market is they can damage the finish on your stock or any plastic parts (like plastic pistol grips) so you have to be careful to not get it on those parts. They are also chlorinated solvents or other volatile solvents so make sure you use them in a well ventilated area and don't breath the fumes. You also don't want to get it on your wife's nice oak dining table. I never have known WD to melt away a wood finish or plastic part though. A lot of folks think WD is also a good lubricant but its really made as a water displacer. It will work ok as a temporary lubricant but its really too light and volatile for a good long lasting lubricant. So get rid of the excess, apply a thin coat of gun oil or 3-in-1 oil to moving parts and you're good to go. Sometimes I will mix a little WD with a gun oil and apply to a bolt. The WD evaporates relatively quickly and leaves behind a nice thin uniform coat of lubricant. Good luck.

I used to use WD40 on my guns, but stopped using it years ago. In talking to a gunsmith I know he said that WD40 is a penetratining oil and in rare cases it can penetrate a primer pocket and deactivate the primer, particularly on reloads. I figured that even if it happened only rarely, why take the chance. I currently use EEZOX on all my guns and really like it. It's one of the best rust preventatives out there as well.

http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

Cougfan: I am sure your gunsmith was right, and that is another reason one never leaves excess amounts of oil or other solvent on/in a firearm---although I must say in 30+ years of using WD 40 I have never had a centerfire hand-loaded or commercial round fail due to a primer not going off. But oil seeping into a loaded round can be a problem. And that's also one reason these days if a part needs lubrication I prefer to use the Dillon's Microlon Ultrablue gun lube (a light wide temperature range penetrating grease) which (unlike oil) tends to stay where you put it and not get into places you didn't put it intentionally. It also has a wide enough temperature range that you don't need to worry about it freezing up in the cold. The EEZOX looks to be a superior rust preventive and something I might want to try next time I am going to be hunting in wet weather--south central Washington is dry enough that we generally don't have much of a problem with rust. How does EEZOX compare to other choices in terms of lubrication properties?

Cougfan: I am sure your gunsmith was right, and that is another reason one never leaves excess amounts of oil or other solvent on/in a firearm---although I must say in 30+ years of using WD 40 I have never had a centerfire hand-loaded or commercial round fail due to a primer not going off. But oil seeping into a loaded round can be a problem. And that's also one reason these days if a part needs lubrication I prefer to use the Dillon's Microlon Ultrablue gun lube (a light wide temperature range penetrating grease) which (unlike oil) tends to stay where you put it and not get into places you didn't put it intentionally. It also has a wide enough temperature range that you don't need to worry about it freezing up in the cold. The EEZOX looks to be a superior rust preventive and something I might want to try next time I am going to be hunting in wet weather--south central Washington is dry enough that we generally don't have much of a problem with rust. How does EEZOX compare to other choices in terms of lubrication properties?