Brake Cleaner Bad For Grips?

[GASMAN]

I routinely(every few months) detail strip the frame of my SVI open gun(double stack,polymer frame) for a cleaning.I usually take the frame part off the grip,and then use brake cleaner to flush out the frame.Its a bit of a hassle taking off the grips each time and I also dont think that it does the grips any good .

The question that I have is,would it be harmful to the polymer grips to simply leave them attached to the frame and use the brake cleaner on them and the frame?Anyone had any bad things happen to the polymer grips on double stacks using brake cleaner?

[EricW]

Won't hurt them a bit. It's glass filled nylon. The only way you could hurt that would be to soak it for days.

Don't worry.

[Jake Di Vita]

No big deal. I clean the bottom end real good every time before a big match...brake cleaner hasn't hurt anything.

[Sherwyn]

Bad things can happen with brake cleaner and plastic.

Many moons ago, I used gunscrubber on an STI, did not notice anything odd, until I started to have misfires. Traced it down to the bore of the mainspring housing starting to shrink and restrict the plunger movement.

I now use WD40 to clean anything with non-steel parts. It is almost as good a solvent as brake cleaner and I've never seen it damage anything. Remember to remove the WD40 and relube the gun.

WD40 - Bad oil / good solvent

[EricW]

Bad things can happen with brake cleaner and plastic.

Many moons ago, I used gunscrubber on an STI, did not notice anything odd, until I started to have misfires. Traced it down to the bore of the mainspring housing starting to shrink and restrict the plunger movement.

If you soak any plastic for an extended period in a volatile organic, it will break down the plastic to some degree. (The only exceptions to that rule may be Teflon and Ultem.) If you pour brake cleaner into an assembled MS housing, it's going to puddle up in there and slowly degrade the plastic.

The other possibility, and a very likely one, is that the plastic was defective to begin with. STI grips and mainspring housing are definitely not molded at what one would call a "Tier-1" molder. I'm guessing that they're done at about a Tier-3 or 4 shop. You're dealing with a lot of ignorance at these shops. One of the things they will do is let plastic cook in the injection unit, then start molding parts. Nothing good happens with cooked plastic and in the effort to be cheap, the molder will not purge the barrel before molding and will ship the cooked stuff. I've been through it over and over where we've had plastic parts that never had a problem start disintegrating in the field. Polyester, PBT in particular is rather susceptible to heat degradation.

Properly molded nylon is virtually impervious to all solvents in any type of contact that would be considered normal. That is why it has been the material of choice to use in firearms for several decades now. There's not much you can put on nylon that will attack it that won't cause you serious problems too.

Styrenics, including ABS and particularly polystyrene have been abused to the point where all plastic has a rotten name. Damned near everything attacks and destroys styrene, and people have become so used to that fault in consumer products that they assume that all plastics suffer from the same problem. It is simply not the case. Why do companies continue to use PS? Simple. Money. Polystyrene costs a buck a pound or less. Compare that to the $3 to $10 a pound for a good engineering grade resin, and you can pocket big bucks in hurry by redesigning your product out of styrenic garbage.

[mcoliver]

For plastics, brake cleaner, yes. Carb cleaner, no. right?

[EricW]

For plastics, brake cleaner, yes.  Carb cleaner, no. right?

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Carb cleaner is pretty much bad juju for anything except carburetors.

[mcoliver]

Thanks.

[achard]

Thanks.

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How about wd40?

[GuildSF4]

Thanks.

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How about wd40?

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WD40 leaves a residue that turns to a varnish unless you clean it all off, and when it turns to varnish it is hard to remove...

[BSeevers]

Been using Brake Cleaner for around 10 years on a 125K+ rounds fired frame

[Precision40]

B12, $2 a can at Walmart. Best stuff ever.

[Wileecoyote]

It should not need to be said, but I'll say it just in case -

If you have one of the custom painted grips; (APS, SVI, etc.) forget about the brake cleaner too.

[dansy]

It should not need to be said, but I'll say it just in case -

If you have one of the custom painted grips; (APS, SVI, etc.) forget about the brake cleaner too.

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Also forget about any potten Bug spray on painted grip, keep away from your hands...don't ask How I found out.....!

[Thomas Moore]

i used gun scrubber on my shell plate for the dillon case feed and it ate up the plastic a bit.

so be careful what cleaners you're using with different types of plastic.

[GuildSF4]

i used gun scrubber on my shell plate for the dillon case feed and it ate up the plastic a bit.

so be careful what cleaners you're using with different types of plastic.

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There is a polymer safe cleaner that Gun Scrubber makes (wouldn't use it on painted surfaces though).

[jjanglin]

Hey Guys & Gals:

Brake clean is for brakes!!!!

Buy a sprayer and a gallon of minerial spirits and you wont have to

worry about cleaning anymore.

Best thing is to use cotton swabs and a brush!!

Look at Wil Schuemanns web site he has a very informative

section on cleaning barrels/guns.

One thing brake cleaner will do is get down inside the mainspring

housing and soften the polmer/plastic types and cause bad things

to come about.

Its just not good for guns period.

Jim Anglin