Gunk removal problems

[steelslaver]

Although I myself usually give my own "new" old guns a tear down, I have also used and recommended the take the stock off and spray it with carb type cleaner method.

But, a couple weeks ago I was camped on my step brother's place and spending time with him hunting. He had a Winchester model 70 30-06 he got from our one step father ( I got a Winchester dbl barrel). He wanted to check the scope's sighting and use it for old times sake. Thing was the trigger was horrible, very heavy. I knew it had been setting for years and suggested we give it the spray and lube treatment. Didn't change much. Got out some tools and took the trigger assembly apart. The trigger spring and parts had lots of VERY hardened oil (turned to varnish) that had NOT dissolved from the spray and came out in chunks with a razor blade and small wire brush. It may have with a long soak, but a whole can of spray had not got it to dissolve and a lot of it was still hard. After physically cleaning and a light lube the trigger was great.

Sometime the only thing that really works is an actual tear down. I suppose a day or so with the action in a bucket of acetone may have done it.

One stepfather haha, His mothers husband as apposed his father who married my mom. My family was really blended. Every one pretty well just accepted everyone who was in anyway connected.

 

[armorer951]

I've seen a similar amber colored "varnish" created after years of hosing the revolver down with WD-40 coupled with total inactivity and neglect of the action. Almost impossible to remove, even with soaking and scraping.

I hope everyone has learned to stay away from the stuff.

 

[Alk8944]

What I use for really filthy guns that are full of fouling residue, grease, etc. is I use a dip type of carburetor cleaner like Berryman's "Chem Tool", Gunk "Dunk Kit", etc. Comes with a basket in a gallon paint can. Just dunk the gun with any plastic or wood parts removed and let it soak for 20 minutes or so. This is an emulsifying cleaner so it can be flushed off with hot water and blown out with an air gun. It will remove any oil, grease, varnished grease, paint, etc. then wipe the parts down with an oiled patch or rag and you are done. All that will be left before wiping is a light film of oxide and dust. Any scaly rust will still be there.

This will thoroughly clean any recesses and crevices that are difficult or impossible to clean any other way.

 

[muddocktor]

If you have access to it or feel like mixing it yourself, a 50:50 mixture of xylene and isopropyl alcohol should do the trick too. We use this mixture for breaking down emulsions of water-in-oil emulsion based drilling fluids and I haven't found anything petrochemical based that this won't break down so far. We get the chemical for work and I brought some home for thorough cleaning and grease stripping. You should be able to make the same thing by buying a bottle of xylene from a paint stare and cutting it with some 90% isopropyl alcohol from the drug store.

Use it outside and wear gloves because it's smelly and will strip any and all skin oils out your hands.

EDIT: It's also very flammable, so no smoking or open flame around it. And be careful with plastic parts, because it will screw up a lot of plastics.

 

[chief38]

I've always had pretty good luck with Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber. It's always come through for me when working on really filthy and gunked up guns. There are times that I've let the working parts soak in a bath of Hoppes and after a few hours a stiff nylon brush gets whatever else is left.

 

[Nacho Man]

I like using Gunzilla. I have a old Stevens 520A shotgun I got on a local board. It had alot of that dried oil varnish in the action. Gunzilla got most of it out but theres some spots where that stuff is not coming off, heh. Maybe if I shoot it and get it hot, it will loosen up possibly?

 

[chief38]

After thinking about this for a few days or so I can recall ONE instance that I encountered with a Belgium made Browning A5 Bolt. The Bolt (untreated steel finish) had so much yellow Varnish on it that no solvent or nylon brush would help. I had to completely disassemble the A5 and the Bolt itself and use 0000 steel wool on it in conjunction with Hoppes #9 to remove the varnish stains. After thoroughly cleaning off all the steel wool dust, a bath in some clean Hoppes and a scrubbing with a nylon brush left the A5 Bolt in pristine condition. While I was at it I also replaced a damaged inside extractor that needed to get done anyway. After some mild polishing the A5 Bolt was as good as new.

The A5 is from the 1950's and was otherwise in pristine condition. The only thing I can think of that stained the Bolt like that was maybe some Cosmoline or similar applied by the previous owner and left on there for quite some time. I bough the Shotgun in the 1990's and so it might have sat that way for 40 years. That was an extreme case!

 

[BruceM]

When I recommissioned my Greek return H&R M1 from CMP, I soaked all the parts I could in containers filled with Mineral Spirits. That rifle was thickly covered and packed full of some kind of grease they used for long term storage. It definitely was not cosmoline. I used more than a little of the MS and Simple Green on the wood furniture. With a little patience and some elbow grease, I got all the old grease off of and out of everything. Then refinished wood and re-lubed entire gun. Coated the bore and all external metal surfaces with Birchwood Casey Sheath. Came out great.

Bruce.

 

[Pocchr]

I remember cleaning old Military Rifles that were coated in cosmoline(?)(spelling). We used gasoline. Took all the metal parts and dumped them in a drum with regular old gas. Let them soak for a few hours, fished them out and blew dried with compressed air. Worked just fine. Caution: NO SMOKING.

 

[BruceM]

Yep. Today mineral spirits, lacquer thinner or even acetone work as well or better and those solvents are a lot less likely to turn the user into a human Roman Candle.

Bruce

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

A good soaking in Eds Red has worked wonders with several revolvers I've bought that were gunked up to the point of inaction. Mix up a gallon at a time with equal parts mineral spirits, kerosene, acetone and Automatic transmission oil. It's best kept sealed in a metal container as the acetone in it it will weaken some types of plastics. I keep it in an old Cole fuel gallon can.
Recently acquired and older pre 18 that I cleaned up by spraying out with carb cleaner before oiling. After shooting a couple of cylinders full at the range the cylinder began to not follow up or lock about every 4th or 5th shot. Back home I removed the stocks and soaked the gun in Eds Red for several days. Works fine now and no disassembly was required. The acetone will dissolve all sorts of gunk and the auto tranny fluid cleans and coats all the metal parts.
I use it in place of Hoppes #9 as well.

John