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What's the best way
Laredo Lefty
Member Posts: 13,451 ✭✭✭
To remove plastic melted onto a very hot rifle barrel.
Comments
Some ways that could work:
Scrape it off with something else made of hard plastic (or wood. . . or SOFT metal) that will remove the plastic but not mar the barrel steel. Assuming a smooth barrel and not a lot of plastic, you can probably start and end right here.
Freezing the plastic with ice or dry ice might make it brittle and easier to remove.
Alternatively, you could try heating it (eg with a heat gun) to soften it up again, then wipe it off with a piece of burlap or coarse cloth.
In terms of solvents, that could work too, BUT you have to know what kind of plastic you've got to know which solvent(s) will work best.
Simple acetone (ie nail polish remover) will dissolve some plastics. Methylene chloride (found in some paint stripper and brake cleaners) will also dissolve come plastics. Some plastics will dissolve in toluene or benzene.
The caveat with all these things is that anything that will dissolve plastic is also potentially going to wreak havoc on a gun finish, let alone your skin and lungs! These things have to be used CAREFULLY, with good ventilation, ideally outdoors, and you try not to get any on your skin or breathe in the fumes.
EDIT:
Melted plastic bag? Try some nail polish remover/acetone. That's probably the single least offensive of all the solvents, and it just might work:
If that doesn't work, you can probably just heat the stuff up to soften it, then scrape it off with a plastic putty knife.
I was out shooting my new Ruger SR 762 today, and to finish off the session I went thru 40 rounds rapid fire. It got smoking hot and I layed it in my SUV to cool. The barrel ahead of the forearm contacted the plastic and before I could react, it stuck and melted.