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Mineral Spirits as a Gun Cleaner
Captplaid
Member Posts: 20,296 ✭✭✭
Found this somewhere else as I was researching paint thinners.
12-18-2009, 07:44 PM
Our local hardware store sells paint thinner that is labeled in smaller print as being 100% mineral spirits on the label. If you need mineral spirits, just check the paint thinner labels and you should find some listed as 100% mineral spirits.
Another use for mineral spirits, is for general firearms cleaning. Very good for semi auto firearms to remove any carbon buildup on the operating parts. I use a plastic spray bottle to spay it on my semi auto pistols and watch the black crud flow off the slide and frame. Use a toothbrush for stubborn areas give second coat of spray and blow off with a air hose nozzle.
Remove grips prior to spraying. I learned this use of mineral spirits at the Beretta Armours course i took about 12 years ago. At that time Beretta was advising not to use Hoppe's #9 to clean their firearms if Winchester ball powder was being used in the ammo for law enforcement departments. They reccommended mineral spirits be used instead of the Hoppe's #9 to prevent a carbon buildup in the firing pin chamber that led to numerous misfires in the Beretta firearms being used by a North Eastern state police agency.
Never heard mineral spirits recommended as a gun cleaner before.
12-18-2009, 07:44 PM
Our local hardware store sells paint thinner that is labeled in smaller print as being 100% mineral spirits on the label. If you need mineral spirits, just check the paint thinner labels and you should find some listed as 100% mineral spirits.
Another use for mineral spirits, is for general firearms cleaning. Very good for semi auto firearms to remove any carbon buildup on the operating parts. I use a plastic spray bottle to spay it on my semi auto pistols and watch the black crud flow off the slide and frame. Use a toothbrush for stubborn areas give second coat of spray and blow off with a air hose nozzle.
Remove grips prior to spraying. I learned this use of mineral spirits at the Beretta Armours course i took about 12 years ago. At that time Beretta was advising not to use Hoppe's #9 to clean their firearms if Winchester ball powder was being used in the ammo for law enforcement departments. They reccommended mineral spirits be used instead of the Hoppe's #9 to prevent a carbon buildup in the firing pin chamber that led to numerous misfires in the Beretta firearms being used by a North Eastern state police agency.
Never heard mineral spirits recommended as a gun cleaner before.
Comments
Mineral Spirits is Petroleum based...a VERY mild thinner, degreaser.
...Lacquer thinner is a paint thinner too, but it is HOT & will remove most wood finishes, be careful.
...Mineral spirits is a VERY cool thinner and will NOT hurt most wood finishes if you dont allow it to set for a long time.
Neither will hurt SS or Blue finishes....but IF there are areas on the steel where a pen type blue applicator was used to apply a "touch up" blue, it may remove THAT blue. The type of blue that is applied with a pen type applicator & generally used to touch up small scratches.
MS works great when you have an entire action (large piece) to clean, use a parts cleaning brush or a small 2-3" bristle brush for washing.
MS will NOT rust on any metal since its oil based.
Lacquer Thinner, Acetone base however, & WILL rust metal if part & pieces are left to soak a long time...but the rust will wash/wipe right off wthout leaving any trace or damage.
LT is great for cutting aged, tough or shellacked oil/grease...just rinse w/MS, wipe dry & lube, oil as you normally would.
Both are good cleaners and cheap if you use a lot of cleaners MS & LT will save you some bucks while doing the job...Ive used both for over 30 years...[;)]
tree huggers took over the world, we had a 100 gal. tank at
the shop for MS. It is a super solvent for almost all things
petrolem based. It was also great for a concrete floor cleaner,
Those black stains from the old diesel engine oil would lift
right out. Just pour about a cup or two of MS on the stain,
let it sit for a few min. work it around with a push broom,
then cover it with some oildry, work it around with the broom
sweep it up, hose it down, and your stain is no more.
For deep stains that have been there for years, it mat take
several apps.
Also was a great fuel for our turbo heaters, now we use diesel
fuel, and the fumes will run you out of the shop.
Some say you can even use it to thin paint, and clean brushes.
Neal
Ive also used Seafoam's Deep Creep and PB blaster as a gun cleaner before (actually advertises it on the can). Just recently I also used brake cleaner on a gun as I didnt want to use PB blaster on a poly frame pistol (Ive seen PB blaster do some pretty crazy stuff to plastic)the brake clean really cleaned it well without being harsh....It really gets oil out of everywhere so I had to be careful about relubing all those moving parts. I finally got to the store the other day to pick up some CLR.