AR15 degreaser

D

David L

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Couple years I've made the mistake to put STP oil treatment on the bolt carrier of my AR. You know what: it's stick like hell, specially in the winter.
So i want the remove all the sticky stuff and recondition with militec.
How to remove that"glue" without harming the metal?
I thougt of break cleaner but someone told me it was too tough.
Someone suggest varsol? Others gazoline?
What do you suggest?
 
David L said:
Couple years I've made the mistake to put STP oil treatment on the bolt carrier of my AR. You know what: it's stick like hell, specially in the winter.
So i want the remove all the sticky stuff and recondition with militec.
How to remove that"glue" without harming the metal?
I thougt of break cleaner but someone told me it was too tough.
Someone suggest varsol? Others gazoline?
What do you suggest?
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Any of the above should be fine. I clean my handguns with break clean all the time and have never had a problem. It will desolve some threadlockers though so watch that. If you are worried about that then use varsol because it is less harsh. Citrus cycle degreaser will work too as said. I dont know why people are so worried all the time. Unless you have a special coating on you BCG or any other part you should be fine. Its just metal man. I used to clean parts off 15 thousand dollar race bikes with break clean and varsol at work all the time.
 
You could always buy one of these CRT-15's - great tool to have in your bag anyhow.

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David L said:
Couple years I've made the mistake to put STP oil treatment on the bolt carrier of my AR. You know what: it's stick like hell, specially in the winter.
So i want the remove all the sticky stuff and recondition with militec.
How to remove that"glue" without harming the metal?
I thougt of break cleaner but someone told me it was too tough.
Someone suggest varsol? Others gazoline?
What do you suggest?
Click to expand...

O, you might want to look for another lubricant too. Militec is a terrible rust inhibitor and not a very good lubricant overall. I think it is Kevin B from Knights Armament has posted a test on it a few times. It failed 9 out of 11 of the militaries tests. I would recommend Mil-Comm products. They are all I use now and they work great. They are endoresed and recommended by many major firearm companies and used in many advanced US military weapon systems.
 
Brake cleaner is a pet peeve of mine. I would never use it.

At Depot we were actually banned from using the stuff. Oiling it after doesn't fix the problem. My pistol even with lots of oil always seemed brittle. The slide had small scratches on it. It seemed to take a long time to clean as well. The previous user had used brake cleaner on it.

Metal conditioners are the only to fix a brake cleaned firearm. G96 for me. It still took a few applications before the metal wasn't so dry and brittle. Now I just wipe off the carbon.

In your case I'd spray some wipe out bore cleaner on it and leave it a few hours. Then clean it off. rubbing alcohol sometimes works depending on what the stuff is. After that a metal conditioner and then oil the high wear areas such as slide rails.
 
Epoxy7 said:
Brake cleaner is a pet peeve of mine. I would never use it.

At Depot we were actually banned from using the stuff. Oiling it after doesn't fix the problem. My pistol even with lots of oil always seemed brittle. The slide had small scratches on it. It seemed to take a long time to clean as well. The previous user had used brake cleaner on it.

Metal conditioners are the only to fix a brake cleaned firearm. G96 for me. It still took a few applications before the metal wasn't so dry and brittle. Now I just wipe off the carbon.

In your case I'd spray some wipe out bore cleaner on it and leave it a few hours. Then clean it off. rubbing alcohol sometimes works depending on what the stuff is. After that a metal conditioner and then oil the high wear areas such as slide rails.
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Brittle what do you mean brittle? I think you are imagining things my friend. Dry and free of oil and dirt maybe. If you can use break clean on high performance racing rotors and the like its fine one much cheaper firearms. It will strip all the oil in the metal but like you said re-oil and your good to go. I use G96 on the outside and Mil-Comm TW25B and 2500 on everything else. I have been doing it for years and my firearms are in far better condition then most peoples I know even with twice the rounds through them. The key is re-oiling with quality oil after cleaning. Half of the gun scrubbers and degreasers strip all oil in the same way. Break clean is the fastest way to clean. Thats why I use it. But, you can do what you want with your firearms cu there yours:). O, and whats DEPOT? A military term?
 
Dsiwy said:
Go to the bike store and buy some orange chain degreaser

Then oil it up after
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Another thing that works really well is a bucket with odourless mineral spirits, and break free. Put the bolt parts in there to degunk, take out, shake off, add more BF, and go.

The same works really well on bike chains. I keep one in the bucket, and one on the bike.
 
Slip 725 or Star Power followed by a bristle brush scrub and a hot water rinse. Clean as anything will ever need to be in a firearm. Lube with a quality lube and call it good.

I stopped using Militec because it smells like burnt hair when hot. I have since learned that it is as bad a s steel wool for starting rust.
 
Tachead,

No I wasn't imagining it. Excess wear from the holster, the slide had small scratches and there was always extra friction. The regular gun oils would only be on the surface and either dried out or would become ineffective with the carbon. One other point, Ive seen a pistol fail after having brake cleaner and a few hundred rounds used. Not enough oil and excessive carbon build up.Metal is pourous, especially the bead blasted stainless steel finish on my pistol. The brake cleaner removes the oil not just on the surface but also in the pores.

Yes G96 does fix this because it's a conditioner not just an oil. Also works well in -50. But I found it took a few applications to fix the removal done by brake cleaner. Also after the G96 soaked in I only had to wipe the carbon off except for the barrel. This cut my cleaning time in half. I don't use cleaners anymore other than for the barrel. I just wipe off the carbon, spray some more on and oil the slides. Works great and very fast.

Keep the brake cleaner for brakes where no oil increases performance. In otherwords the exact opposite of a firearm.

If something is so gunked up then brake cleaner will work. Just keep in mind it will take more than splashing regular oil on it to protect it. For regular cleaning I would never use brake cleaner. In fact your cleaning will be even faster if you use metal conditioners instead. Works on the same principle as going to straight synthetic over regular engine oil in a vehicle.
 
Should add for degreasing without going as extreme as brake cleaner give rubbing alcohol a try.
 
Epoxy7 said:
Should add for degreasing without going as extreme as brake cleaner give rubbing alcohol a try.
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I agree with you that break clean strips all the oil even in the pores but, I think any wear you are talking about is caused by using a low quality oil as a replacement. I use a synthetic gun grease on slide rails and a sythetic gun oil on the rest. Both products want you to strip the old oil before using they come with a degreaser. Both products use a particulate ptfe in them and after I clean the slide is so smooth to operate I know the metal is being protected. That is why I dont use some other oils because they dry out quick and you can actually tell the difference when working the slide. I will try your method though to see how it works. I just use break clean because you have to use a lot and firearm degreasers are expensive. And, it is very fast with its blasting action. You can get way down into all the nooks and cranies without disassembly. I personally believe, as I was a professional mechanic, that disassembling a firearm all the time does more wear/damage on it then shooting it. All I do is remove the slide, take out the barrel, take out the recoil rod, grips off, and clean from there. I never drive any pins out unless I am changing parts. Even bolts and the treaded holes they go into have a limited number of ins/out before they are damaged even when torqued properly. I have yet to have a problem and my firearms show very little wear even in the high wear areas. As I said, I believe a high quality synthetic firearm oil/grease combo is the key.
 
O, I should add. This is the method I use for a thorough cleaning. In between these cleanings I often just wipe off all the powder residue and crap with rags and q-tips and re-oil. lol forgot we are talking about AR's. Same rational applies.
 
Tachead said:
I agree with you that break clean strips all the oil even in the pores but, I think any wear you are talking about is caused by using a low quality oil as a replacement. I use a synthetic gun grease on slide rails and a sythetic gun oil on the rest. Both products want you to strip the old oil before using they come with a degreaser. Both products use a particulate ptfe in them and after I clean the slide is so smooth to operate I know the metal is being protected. That is why I dont use some other oils because they dry out quick and you can actually tell the difference when working the slide. I will try your method though to see how it works. I just use break clean because you have to use a lot and firearm degreasers are expensive. And, it is very fast with its blasting action. You can get way down into all the nooks and cranies without disassembly. I personally believe, as I was a professional mechanic, that disassembling a firearm all the time does more wear/damage on it then shooting it. All I do is remove the slide, take out the barrel, take out the recoil rod, grips off, and clean from there. I never drive any pins out unless I am changing parts. Even bolts and the treaded holes they go into have a limited number of ins/out before they are damaged even when torqued properly. I have yet to have a problem and my firearms show very little wear even in the high wear areas. As I said, I believe a high quality synthetic firearm oil/grease combo is the key.
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Also as you mentioned you're using high end stuff. The problems I've experienced and seen are when the brake cleaner is used, and just regular cheapo gun oil is used. You're asking for extra wear/tear and failures. Yup I'd agree that was the most common problem.

Oh and yup I use the same cleaning regiment for my AR rifles. Actually for all my rifles. Except with the bolt actions I don't use oil, just the G96. I only use the oil on the slides for semi autos.

A buddy of mine has some new concoction that he swears is the best thing in firearms oil ever. So Ill be checking out what it is. But even then I'll be using that G96 stuff as a base. There's nothing like just wiping the carbon off with a patch and Q-tips. No scrubbing. I use this same system with my CZ858 and no rust issues either.
 
Epoxy7 said:
Also as you mentioned you're using high end stuff. The problems I've experienced and seen are when the brake cleaner is used, and just regular cheapo gun oil is used. You're asking for extra wear/tear and failures. Yup I'd agree that was the most common problem.

Oh and yup I use the same cleaning regiment for my AR rifles. Actually for all my rifles. Except with the bolt actions I don't use oil, just the G96. I only use the oil on the slides for semi autos.

A buddy of mine has some new concoction that he swears is the best thing in firearms oil ever. So Ill be checking out what it is. But even then I'll be using that G96 stuff as a base. There's nothing like just wiping the carbon off with a patch and Q-tips. No scrubbing. I use this same system with my CZ858 and no rust issues either.
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Yep, good stuff that G96. Smells great too. One of the best rust inhibitors I have found. All my firearms get a wipe down with it before going back in the safe.
 
O, let me know what he's using when you find out please. I am always up to try new products. Best by far that I have found is the Mil-Comm products. There is a reason the military uses it in their advanced weapons systems.
 
For degreasing I used Birchwood gun cleaner. Worked like. Charm. Lot of alcool in it because of the smell. After I used militec with a hair dryer and some mpro7 oil.
I will see what it will do to my Ar
 
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