Bore solvents and gun cleaners?

[lh8611]

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this has already been covered.

I have a quick question on the use of bore solvents and general gun cleaners. As I understand it they contain chemicals that are designed to break down lead and copper fouling. Is there a possibility that they could compromise or lead to the breakdown of solder or braze used on the construction of barrels?

I currently use Napier gun cleaner and lubricant and haven't had any issues as such. I have sent a quick email to Napier and they have replied that it is safe on all metallic surfaces on guns. I was just wondering what other members thoughts or experiences are with the use of bore solvents and general cleaners and if they have had any issues.

Cheers

 

[jonz]

I’m no metallurgist but any solvent that would compromise the solder or construction of the barrels would have to be very strong and would carry H&S warnings regarding handling and fumes etc.. In 40+ years Ive used most commercially available products and never had any issues, I wouldn’t worry about using any of the products on the market

 

[Martinj]

I have a bottle of "bore solvent" that I bought when I was rifle shooting, I was told that rifle shooters use it to remove metallic fouling from the rifling in barrels. You soak a bronze brush in the stuff and scrub the bore, leave it for a while to soak then upend the rifle onto the muzzle and you might see bits of lead/copper making it's way out of the business end. I was told that it is nasty stuff and not to get it on my skin.
Again I was told that people don't use it on shotguns, can't remember why, maybe out of respect for the bores. Anyhow, one day I got fed up with never having really clean shotgun bores due to lead and plastic fouling etc. - no matter how much I scrubbed them with the bronze brush. The result was mirror clean bores for the first time since I bought the gun. I didn't use it again but logged it away in the memory banks in case I needed truly clean bores sometime, for example. when selling the gun.

 

[MartynB]

The old formula Hoppes No9 , was the best solvent for cleaning any bore fouling in anything . Long before they changed the formulation to something that was not a carcinogen , I’d ( in ignorance ) used bottles of the stuff and splashed it about with bare hands , and part of the experience was the smell . It was brilliant on plastic , lead , copper ( in rifles ) and powder . Now the rifle bore cleaner I have is far too expensive to use In shotgun bores . I just stick with Legia Spray or Napier , or my latest fad Pro-Ferrum , use it little and often , a Payne Gallway brush for the chambers , gun comes up like new . The more frequently I clean the less effort is needed . The fact that you can put stuff like Legia Spray on wood and leather tells you it not going to be an issue on any part of a gun .

 

[Luke_(NL)]

and part of the experience was the smell

And the missus asking why my workbench smells like week old banana-peels.

As the others have said, anything that could cause an issue with soldering would (a) not be sold as a gun cleaner without severe warnings and (b) could likely not be handled in your average gun-room / study / living room. Also, given that the major market for these types of product is the US, where anything that doesn't do what it says on the tin (or worse, dissolve more than just fouling) would get sued into extinction pretty rapidly.

For a non-carcinogenic but effective crud remover, I use Boretech carbon remover. I have two choke-tubes half filled with the stuff where I just pop in the used chokes and leave them overnight (or longer), and then usually just brush and rinse to bare metal without significant effort. I only replace the contents once it no longer works (which it does for a long time). Barrels I just swipe with a (Boretech) soaked small rag, then the odd brush and dry rags. I shoot quite a lot, but will usually run a boresnake through the barrels at the end of day as to get the worst out before the safe.

The way i see it, the less you clean the less you have to worry about a 0.005" difference in choke

 

[philpot]

I call into a real old fashioned gunsmith in Halesworth, Suffolk where guns are worked on in front of you and the one product you see (in fact there are usually 3 or 4 cans on the bench) is Garlands solvent cleaner, I buy half a dozen every time I go to Suffolk as my pals also love the stuff and certainly the best cleaner I or they have used by a country mile, as to care of the metalwork, well if these two old brothers who have forgotten more about guns than I would ever know, use the product, that's good enough for me.

 

[PhilFedUp]

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this has already been covered.

I have a quick question on the use of bore solvents and general gun cleaners. As I understand it they contain chemicals that are designed to break down lead and copper fouling. Is there a possibility that they could compromise or lead to the breakdown of solder or braze used on the construction of barrels?

I currently use Napier gun cleaner and lubricant and haven't had any issues as such. I have sent a quick email to Napier and they have replied that it is safe on all metallic surfaces on guns. I was just wondering what other members thoughts or experiences are with the use of bore solvents and general cleaners and if they have had any issues.

Cheers

Many years ago I picked up a recipe for a barrel cleaner from a USA site. It's called 'Ed's Red' and I've made gallons of it over the years. It seems to work but I don't hear anyone mention it nowadays. I don't think it's the reason my Silver Pigeon has fallen to bits either! [My gunsmith has plans to repair the Silver Pigeon using a high temperature adhesive before sending it for re-proofing.] We shall see.

 

[Deershooter]

For the last 20 years I have just used carburettor cleaner from Boyes £1.99 a tin then a bit of 3 in 1 oil

 

[Martinj]

Just found my bottle of Parker Hale 009 which I must have bought 24 years ago, it's still available for £4.49 a bottle which can't be bad