Here I am watch AGI armorers videos to simply learn more about guns. In video after video his gun cleaning method is the same. It is not the normal method that you might be use to. He uses Simple Green and a nylon brush for cleaning all gun parts. Blue, plastic, stainless, it does not matter. He took this nasty S&W revolver and let the totally striped gun sit for about 30 seconds and all that dried and varnished oil just came off by hand with a brush. He says that to do the same job with something like Hoppe's #9 would have taken a brush on a power tool. Next the gun parts are placed in a container of hot water and simply rinsed off. Then he dries them by hand, blows them out with air. For lube in his opinion he has found nothing better than Break Free CLP. He soaks the gun parts in it and then wipes off the access, then puts the gun back together.
This was not a field striped gun, this was a gun taken down to its components. He still uses the same method for cleaning and oiling on a basic field strip cleaning. I thought I would share this as I found it very interesting as it is not the normal way of doing thing.

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Livin’ Life From The Blindside

Anybody else have results with Simple Green?

I have personally tried this method one time. It was with my cousin's Springfield 1911 after putting 100 rounds through it at the ranger when I went to visit him. I used the Simple Green method shown in the video and use whatever oil he had around....I think it was Remoil. The cleaning worked great and the cleaned parts were totally oil and powder free. This was not a dirty gun to begin with, but that is my experience. It works well.

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Livin’ Life From The Blindside

I use simple green to clean the floor of my garage, but would not use it to clean raw steel because of the water content (rusting issues).

MAYBE if you are a Pro and you get a LOT of really disgustingly dirty guns and need to do quick (time is money) cleaning job, that might be the way to go, but I personally never let my guns get like that so to me it is a non issue. I use the traditional cleaning method using Rig #2 Oil.

Chief38

I have to admit that with him being a pro and doing it for a living and with the time is money idea...then yeah I can see why he would clean a gun this way. The parts would not be sitting long enough to have rust be a concern. I just thought the idea was interesting and certainly different than the norm we might be use to. I guess as a gunsmith you would see some nasty guns from years and years of buildup until one day it just did not work properly....which was the case with that S&W revolver.

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Livin’ Life From The Blindside

I have never tried Bob's cleaning method, but it looks like it would work.

I have also never tried prying off a sideplate as he recommends.
Not only that, when he explains the "pry method" he acts like those
who don't do it that way just don't get how it's supposed to be done.

Every time I watch that video and see him pry the sideplate off of that S&W, I flinch.

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Ogy

Never used the Simple Green, but I have cleaned probably 20 old, gunked-up S&Ws by taking off the sideplate and immersing the entire gun, without grips, in a large pot of boiling water and dishwashing detergent. Grease and gunk float away. Rinse with clean boiling water, and the moment everything is dry (not long, with the hot metal) spritz everything down with CLP. Quick, easy, harmless to the gun, and more thorough than scrubbing.

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Pisgah

This is what we've always done with black powder guns. Hot, soapy water ,make sure everything is dry ,then oil it. Got to admit Ive never tried it on guns shooting smokeless though.

Using a strong soap type cleaner to deep clean a totally disassembled gun works well.
However, if it's an old gun and has very light rust on parts the cleaner will not remove the light rust.
This will be most noticeable on bare steel like springs. You'll notice a light brown color that can be wiped off with a cloth. For that you need a solvent or oil based cleaner.

You do have to rinse in hot water, and dry and lube immediately to prevent rust, especially of springs. If you don't have compressed air, an even better drying method is to use a hair dryer to warm the parts. NOTE: Hair dryer, NOT torch or heat gun.

One caution: DO NOT USE SIMPLY GREEN or other of these strong soap cleaners on aluminum parts.
These cleaners will do serious damage to aluminum FAST. They can strip the anodized finish off then start eating the aluminum in a very short time.

When I disassemble any gun at the start of a project no matter what the work may be,,I scrub it out under hot water and soap.
I use common laundry soap (what ever is handy next to the wash tub).
A selection of well used soft paint brushes of various sizes, a couple of regular tooth brushes and an M16 cleaning brush get into any and all the crevices and corners.

I put a piece a plywood down inside the wash tub to place the parts on while I'm working on them.
Small stuff stays in a shallow tray.
The bbl(s) lay accross the top over a couple layers of canvas shot bags to avoid damage.
Scrub down and rinsing is quick and very effective.
I shake them of excess water and dry them w/paper towels. The residual heat of the parts takes care of anything else.

I use the same cleaning technique for the pre-clean before rust bluing. Nothing more than that.

Much better than solvents like mineral spirits and the like IMHO.
It's just soap and water after all.
I've used it on everything from J.Stevens to J.Purdey

I've never used Simple Green or any of the other save the planet cleaners. I do know there are a dozen or more different mixtures of the stuff for different applications even under the name Simple Green. Some of the heavy duty application stuff may well give you some problems,,any of it may increase it's effectiveness when heated,,extremely hot water may do the trick.
Best to check labels or MSDS sheets before using. Even then test it out on something disposable before dunking Uncle Joe's bring back Luger into it for a quick strip and clean.

Never tired this method on a handgun. Looks like it works.

Once upon a time I shot a lot of corrosive 8x57mm ammo in various Kar-98 rifles. I routinely cleaned the barrels w/ boiling water and dish washing liquid. I never had a single problem with this method.

One afternoon I had a "M" split w/ some Yugoslavian ball. That was a very bad afternoon indeed. A church member picked brass out of my forehead and eyebrow, etc. Because gas had been released throughout the bolt and action, I stripped the rifle down and immersed it in boiling water in the bath tub. I was amazed at the amount of gunky grease/oil that floated to the surface of the water. When removed from the water, the metal of the rifle was so hot that it dried itself. Of course I oiled everything before reassembly. The rifle was in perfect condition as the "M" split caused no damage and the corrosive residue was entirely eliminated by the boiling water/dish washing liquid cleaning.

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I have used this method for years on shotguns. Along with a love for S&W revolvers, I am an avid skeet shooter. I quick clean the guns just by wiping them off and re-greasing/oiling them regularly but yearly I strip them COMPLETELY and do the Simple Green thing. I too first saw it in a Dunlap video. It works very well but I would only do it if the gun is stripped down to individual parts not assemblies. You do not want any water getting trapped in joints between parts. Other than that I recommend it highly. For revolvers I tend to rely on Ballistrol or. if necessary, Kroil.

Stan

According to the Simple Green web site, it should be used with caution on aluminum. As I understand it, the Air Force prohibits its use on airplanes.

I have several of the AGI DVD's and will state that they are very good in instruction. I will not agree with Bob's removal of the side plate. Popping it off, like he does, just about always boogers up the top corner of the plate. Very easy to spot this defect on many guns. I was also wincing when he was dropping the pieces of the M29 into the bucket of water. Each piece would give off a resounding CLINK as it smashed into the other pieces.

As far as the simple green it does remove the old varnish quickly. I just don't agree with putting the gun in a bucket of water. If oiled good afterwards maybe no issues. I'm just not going to do it.

I expect that if you were a gunsmith, the cost of cleaning supplies would mount up and a cheap effective detergent like SG would be attractive. And effective.

Jim,
I'm sure you are right on the money with your assessment. Also I think SG might be better in regard to the health concerns. We all love the occasional whiff of Hoppes #9 but I would think being subjected to it all day, every day, might be a problem.

I know a whole lot of GI's that washed m-14's and 16's in the shower.

AFS

Haven't used the SG treatment, but I use the boiling water & detergent thing on stuff I want to get all the crud out of. The only limitation is finding a can big enough for larger parts. I usually end up
scooping hot water down the barrel into a bucket and then the same with plain hot water. Works like a charm and is guaranteed to remove some really bad caked on dreck.
As long as we are on the subject... when the parts are dry, which is pretty quick when you take 'em out of boiling water, I usually give everything a good dose of thin oil, like diesel, #2, or K1, and wipe 'em down, then give 'em the regular lube. I may be imagining things, but it is my belief that some thin oil in the tight cracks & crevices will improve flow characteristics of the lube, and do a more thorough job getting the product into the blind & narrow recesses. Thin oil will evaporate fairly soon. #2 and diesel both have some lube value; K1 not so much.
I have boiled a lot of my guns.
That's my story an' I'm stickin' to it.

For all steel it's a good method. The key is lots of compressed air and quick to oil.

Lucky you weren't arrested.

You dont want to use Simply Green on an aluminum frame gun...bad things will happen

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The American dream is alive

LOL, in my defense it was a very honory truck.

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Livin’ Life From The Blindside