testtest

HELP!!!

As Hopp's has been around many decades begs me to ask a question, maybe? I've used it for 40 years and it seem to have changed or the brushes (not Hopp's) have?
 
Bore cleaners that remove copper will eat up your normal bronze bore brush. I've become a huge fan of the Real Avid bore brush, jag and patch kits. They are incredible. They will not transfer metal like a brass or bronze brush. In the past I used stainless steel bore brushes and the cheap harbor freight stainless steel brushes you get in either a kit of several sizes with the nylon brushes. The blue scotch pads for use in teflon pots and pans are also very good to remove stuff without harm to your finish.

https://www.realavid.com/product/bore-max-speed-jag-patches/



If you have a Bass pro or Farm and Fleet near you they carry a large selection of Real Avid gear.
The stuff is incredible good the patches are really reasonable and you can buy just the patches in large packs when you run out. It's super simple to use and one of the few patch, jag and brushes that punch way above others I've used in the past.
I posted about those a while back and finally received my order, but haven't used any yet. How well do you like the speed and/or outcome?
 
I didn't think Simple Green was a Detergent based cleaner, but I don't really know. It is supposed to be cut with water, so yes, it is safe to assume that most bottles you purchase have at least some water in them.

Simple Green is banned for aircraft because it is bad for aluminum. It has something to do with how alkaline its PH balance is. (AR-15's have aluminum receivers as well lots of other parts of the rifle, lots of pistols have aluminum frames)
Yet it is used in automotive that has lots of aluminum without any damage.
I think the difference you see here is, if the Simple Green is rinsed and flushed away, it won't won't damage the aluminum. Which is fine for Automotive, but the High Level of Systematic Safety of Aviation has banned it simply on the risk that it could seep in to places on all aluminum aircraft, and not get flushed away and thus do damage.

I use simply green all the time on all sorts of things in all sorts of applications, it is my Go To cleaner. I have never encountered it causing rust.... ....until recently, to degrease my slide and some of its parts for cerakoting, I immersed them in a tray of simple green, then got involved in other projects and forgot about them and let them soak for several days, instead of the hour or hours that is usually all that is necessary, I pull them out and find rust, not bad, but these are on coated treated parts... It looks like the few rust spots grew out of tiny unseeable by the human eye scratches in coating/treatment. So this confirms what you say.... ....I'll only add its not as likely to cause rust as water, and won't if you flush it out or neutralize it after use, but it is possible...

People talk about using Hoppe's #9 to clean this or that or the entire weapon, I always point out, it is called Bore Solvent, not Firearm Cleaner. That doesn't mean you can't use it as a solvent as needed, this thread is a perfect example, it means you shouldn't make a habit of it to use it to clean everything all the time.

Since there are schools of thoughts that cleaning of firearms is different than everything else, it has been taken too far sometimes (especially from the Military). The military decided to dumb down cleaning to only using the same thing as the lubricant and protection. Which works, its just not as effective. They didn't want servicemen damaging the weapons experimenting with different ways of cleaning, and even good ways can damage the weapon if you do it right. While cleaning with the same lubricating oil, you can't screw it up.

When you do household cleaning, you never rinse or wipe away the solvents or nasty detergeant you use, you just leave lie on the surface? Of course not. People cleaning their car with detergents and soaps, or cleaning parts with solvents or degreasers, just leave those products on the paint or on the part? Of course not, you rinse them away or flush them out.

In my firearms cleaning box is the common cleaning and protecting products, like CLP, Bore Solvent, etc, it also has spray bottles of Simple Green, Denatured alcohol and even WD-40. I use the latter as appropriate, in fact the alcohol is for flushing out the simple green if I use it so it doesn't seep into nooks and crannies to remain and do damage. I don't use the Simple Green on my AR-15 because of all the aluminum, that could suffer worse damage than steel if any is left behind. WD-40, since its a mild solvent, to spot clean a stain, and to wipe down the exterior metal of firearms as corrosion protection.

So I use Simple Green on Firearms, as well as Denatured Alcohol and WD-40, sometimes even soap and water, along with all the other more common cleaning and lubricating/protecting products specifically for firearms. BUT, AND THIS IS KEY, I use them appropriately and in a thought out systematic process. Not as a mindless, replacement of one for the other. Like the guy that decided simple green is such a good cleaner, he wipes down his firearms with it before putting them in the safe, Huh? Simple Green is NOT a substitute for gun oil, you're using it totally wrong!

I have been building two 80% frame pistols and cerakoting them. I have taken individual parts from a completely disassembled weapon and cleaned them in the sink with hot soapy water, then thoroughly dried them and treated them with a protectant oil product. It works very well, especially when you have parts covered in particles from filing. That doesn't mean a good way to clean a firearm, even field stripped, is in the sink with hot soapy water, no matter how well you dry it, water will get trapped in the assembled parts and rust will start.
And here I thought I was long winded. :D Solvents are solvents I suppose, I stand corrected on undiluted simple green and maybe I'll give it a try one day. One thing though, you say you rinse things then go on to say you can't get the water out so it rusts. This is circular logic.

Solution:
I also don't usually recommend flooding assembled parts, but I do actually use the dish water to clean my cap and ball pistol which gets residue in ALL the places, just pull the grips and drop it right in with a bottle brush to clean the black powder residue off. Then I run patches through it with hoppes(gasp) and dry it in a toaster oven on low till it's very dry. It's been 20+yrs with no rust, but then again it's not made of unfinished 21'st century chinesium either.

The oven works on cameras phones and wallets that went swimming too, but that's for another forum. ;)
 
Last edited:
I posted about those a while back and finally received my order, but haven't used any yet. How well do you like the speed and/or outcome?
I love them! I still use stainless steel bore brushes sparingly as they do work and are not affected by cleaners. The Real Avid stuff especially the patches are fantastic. No more siting around cutting down patches to fit a particular bore size. They fit so well around the jag that you can get a good back and forth cleaning going.
Over the years I have acquired a serious selection of all kinds of different jags. My last set were hard chromed to combat the leeching of brass from copper remover cleaners. The Real Avid's have now replaced them. The length of the Real Avid's really help get a lot of junk out of the lands and grooves. A good foaming more cleaner and a set of Real Avid gear and cleaning is much quicker than days of past.
I can't be happier.

One other thing I've found to be a huge asset is the Remington bore squeeg-e


Saves on patches. You can get the first bit of crude out rinse and use over. Then get down to business with your patches.

There are actually a few companies that make a squeegee Jag. The remingtons were just the easiest for me to find online at the present.
 
Here's my real avid collection
20221016_172902.jpg
 
Oh, I think you're right on Simple Green, at least for the most part, it can cause rust. But the only time I saw it cause rust was when I left metal immersed in it for days.

And because of that, and the whole bad for aluminum thing, I insist on rinsing, flushing the simple green away after cleaning if I use. I've seen people that have never even considered that were wiping their weapons down with simple green like gun oil.
...One thing though, you say you rinse things then go on to say you can't get the water out so it rusts. This is circular logic....

I might not have been clear, yes I wouldn't use simple green on a firearm and then rinse it out with water.
But I do exactly that for automotive and household cleaning.

If I use Simple Green on a Firearm, I flush it out with denatured alcohol....
And you should see what near pure alcohol does to Parkerizing or some PVD coatings, It dries them out, the Parkerizing will have white fog in the grain, some of the matte PVD will dry out so much, it looks a shade lighter, and even the slightest trace of carbon show as streaks on the surface.
BUT, just wipe the surface down with oil and it goes back to looking the exactly the same as before.
 
Oh, I think you're right on Simple Green, at least for the most part, it can cause rust. But the only time I saw it cause rust was when I left metal immersed in it for days.

And because of that, and the whole bad for aluminum thing, I insist on rinsing, flushing the simple green away after cleaning if I use. I've seen people that have never even considered that were wiping their weapons down with simple green like gun oil.


I might not have been clear, yes I wouldn't use simple green on a firearm and then rinse it out with water.
But I do exactly that for automotive and household cleaning.

If I use Simple Green on a Firearm, I flush it out with denatured alcohol....
And you should see what near pure alcohol does to Parkerizing or some PVD coatings, It dries them out, the Parkerizing will have white fog in the grain, some of the matte PVD will dry out so much, it looks a shade lighter, and even the slightest trace of carbon show as streaks on the surface.
BUT, just wipe the surface down with oil and it goes back to looking the exactly the same as before.
"If I use Simple Green on a Firearm, I flush it out with denatured alcohol...." And that's a good tip too. 🤠
 
Truth is when I wrote that response I had just finished cleaning a shotgun and a pistol from Saturday morning's range trip and the whole house smelled like CLP.
 
Back
Top