Smelly grease

[McShooty]

I love my Smith & Wessons but experiences of youth gave me a soft spot for Harrington & Richardsons such as this "Defender" model that I picked up recently. It's a topbreak .38 S&W chambering (five shots) built on what H&R called the large frame, the same as the respectable Model 999 Sportsman. The Defender dates to about 1947 and may have had some relation to the past war effort but I don't know.

When my dealer brought it out and opened the plastic case it was in, fumes immediately attacked our senses. He said his wife told him he had to get rid of it pronto because she couldn't stand the smell of it. Maybe that's why I got a pretty good deal.

At home we were not safe from the odor if we were in the same room with the piece. I always thought the worst smells were from rotting organic matter but this is not like that. More like rotting petroleum, if you can imagine that. Taking off the grip (note the coil spring) revealed a lot of grease gobbed on the grip frame, which I have removed and I am going to try to wash out the action with carb cleaner or WD40 or such without dismantling the gun. It shoots pretty good based on limited trials. Anyone else ever find anything like this?

 

[kraynky]

Try using the spray cans of brake cleaner, but be sure you wear gloves & eye protection and try to do it outdoors. The brake cleaner can be hard on some plastics, but as a grease and crud cutter, it's hard to beat. Old rear end grease has a very distinct foul odor that will run you out of your garage if you leave any dirty rags or containers out.

There are many of us that enjoy the old H&R guns. Good luck with it.

 

[DWalt]

Never smelled anything all that bad resulting from petroleum products, although sour crude isn't perfume. You'll have fun with the Defender. It was in the H&R lineup for quite a long time, through WWII, then it was resurrected in 1964 (stopped in 1984) without many changes, except for the grip. The later version (Model 925) was offered with 2" (most common) and 4" (mine) barrels. I have noted previously that my Defender will group as well at 25 yards as my Model 14. One of the older editions of Gun Digest (can't remember which) has a pretty good feature article on the Defender. Only problem is that .38 S&W ammo is a bit pricey and hard to find, but if you reload, there are no such problems.

 

[BC38]

Never smelled anything all that bad resulting from petroleum products, although sour crude isn't perfume...

Then you must've never drained the rear differential on an old car. As Kranky said, it can smell pretty foul - kind of a mixture of rotting fish and dirty motor oil.
I suspect what the OP is talking about is something like that.

 

[SteveA]

Before my Dad left for the Army in World War II, he packed the bores of all his guns with grease. Did the same with all his acquisitions from that conflict when he went to Korea. When I got interested in guns as a kid in the late '70s/early '80s, most were still loaded up with the stuff, except a couple he used. They had a distinct smell to them. Wasn't overpowering to me, but the town in which I grew up had a meat packing plant and a Dolly Madison cake plant, both of which constantly attacked my olfactory senses to the point it takes something smelling bad enough to send a coyote away retching before I notice it.

 

[DeathGrip]

Have you ever smelled some old Craftsman screw drivers. It comes from the plastic breaking down.

Funk.

 

[ameridaddy]

Have you ever smelled some old Craftsman screw drivers. It comes from the plastic breaking down.
Funk.

Oh yeah!!
My big Craftsman set dates from ~1973, and I dread opening the screwdriver drawers - the odor from the plastic handles would knock a buzzard off a honey wagon.
The screwdrivers that sit out in the open in my tool bucket of oft-used tools are fine, but the closed drawers in the tool box seem to help the plastic handled tools in there ripen/rot/ferment whatever it is they've been doing for 40+ years.

 

[Rule3]

Take the grips off open it up if you can and "hose it with" Brake Kleen. Really bad grease I use a tooth brush and Hoppes. let it sit then use the Brake Kleen.


If those grips are plastic, Bakelite they could be the smell also.
The plastic case could also be a source.


Sniff out and destroy!

 

[mckenney99]

Cleaned an H&R once that was brought into the shop with the plastic grips (don't recall exact model). When I took the grips off, the most FOUL smelling semi solid off white oil or runny grease came out of the interior recesses in the grips. Damned near had everyone in the shop gagging. Figured it must have been rancid Sperm Whale Oil or something worse. I took the grips to the restroom and put them in a pot with some Dawn dish washing liquid detergent and HOT water and let them soak. Hosed the frame down with one of the spray degreasers and wiped it down as best I could and immediately took the trash out. Dropped the whole revolver into the ultrasonic cleaner and evacuated and closed up the back room. Could not get that horrid smell off my hands even using bore cleaner then Dawn. When I got home my dogs took one whiff of my hands and took off and wouldn't have anything to do with me.

 

[Fishslayer]

Then you must've never drained the rear differential on an old car. As Kranky said, it can smell pretty foul - kind of a mixture of rotting fish and dirty motor oil.
I suspect what the OP is talking about is something like that.

Sea Doo used to use an oil in their prop hubs that sounds similar. It was some pretty foul stuff!

 

[2152hq]

Any hint of a Vinegar smell somewhere in that nasty odor?

If there is, then the plastic grips may have or still are undergoing a breakdown process from being in a closed space.

Many of the grips are Tennite from that era, but other plastics are fair game to the degrading too.
Older motion picture film ,acetate film, is lost to this quite often too.
The film restoration folks call it Vinegar Syndrome when dealing with trying to save old film.

But the problem is the same with most older plastic items

In a normally ventilated area, the gases given off are not noticable in most cases, but the degrading still takes place.
Keep the object up in a container and the gas and smells are near over powering sometimes when opened.

The inside of the container also absorbs the smell depending on the material as well as any other objects or materials in the container.
I would suspect that any grease/lube in or on the gun is also contaminated with the smell.

The Tennite was popular for both long gun and pistol grips just before and after WW2.
The degrading issues were seen more in surface cracks and shrinkage as the guns were generally out in the open or at least in a breathable case.
But Tennite is an early cellulose acetate plastic like some others and will break down when enclosed and give off the Vinegar Syndrome smell too.

 

[Rule3]

Yep, if it is the grips(plastic) there is really no long term solution to get rid of the smell.
As mentioned I had some screwdrivers that smelled like that and tried everything, finally just tossed them in the trash,

 

[bill2000]

You have no idea what smelly grease is until you've cleaned a restaurant grease trap,

 

[Jessie]

Wow, when did Glocks first come out? 35 years ago?
Better start airing them them out!

 

[NYlakesider]

You have no idea what smelly grease is until you've cleaned a restaurant grease trap,

Cleaned many as a apprentice pipefitter many many years ago. The funny thing the better the restaurant the worse the trap was!