Good general purpose solvent?

[gmantwo]

Just thought I'd throw this out there, not that I put it on my guns, but here's a homeade solvent that is great for nuts and bolts and anything that is likely to rust and not move when it should. Got it from a guy who worked where they make wd-40.

1 ounce battery acid

6 ounces transmission fluid

fill the rest of a 1 gallon jug up with diesel fuel(121 ounces)

Not only does it smell like WD-40, it works as well too. And much cheaper. You can put it in a spray bottle or brush it on stuff.

[Jman]

Odorless mineral spirits.

...tough to beat.

Jim

[LPatterson]

As long as the parts are not aluminum Simple Green works great for softening carbon and it is water soluble.

[RiggerJJ]

soak/vibrate in an ultrasonic cleaner with simple green, then bathe in dry lube/water dry.

jj

[Gregory_k]

Odorless mineral spirits.

...tough to beat.

Jim

+1

[Bacon]

I use Gunzilla by top duck products on all our M-4's.

[Tin Can]

Do a search for Ed's Red. I only put in half of the ATF. Everything is available at Wal-Mart. K-1 at hardware stores.

[FLL1911]

Kerosene.

Cheap, does not evaporate like odorless mineral spirits, safe for all metals and most of syntactic parts, and non-toxic. It has been my all around cleaner / degreaser / solvent for decades. At Lowe’s for about $7-$8 / gallon. For copper removal a use Hoppes #9, but I do not let it stay for long before cleaning.

The other things, I use are WD-40 for “pressure cleaning” shotgun action and inside the barrel (too big to soak in Kerosene), and Break-Free LP and CLP. There are other very good products out there, but I got used with these 4 items. They are not expensive, easy to find, safe for indoor use and they are all around cleaning / lubing solution for my handguns, rifles and shotguns.

Edited May 23, 2009 by FLL1911

[HRider]

Try Ballistol, it is availible from Brownells. It has been around for a hundred years and works pretty good at dissolving carbon.

Hurley