Ed Red barrel cleaner

I

imota

New member
Rating - 100%
6   0   0
Hi folks;

Came several times across Ed Red (ER) bore cleaner which is a mix of kerosene, acetone, ATF, Varsol and Lanolin (5 components if I got it right from the article).
1/ Any comments on that cleaner? Is it good and really "universal" as advertised?
2/ What exactly is the sequence and safe way of mixing those things together to avoid ending up in burn's unit of the hospital? The original instructions are very hazy. The author advises "warming up" lanolin and starting adding this to ATF and next...acetone.. - won't spark or something?
Are there anybody who actually did this and use this?

Thanks,

I.M>
 
Ed's is a good carbon cleaner, but I have found it does little for removing copper fouling.

When I mixed up a batch, and it was years ago now, I never heated anything, nor would I.
 
I use it for field and occasional range cleaning. I use equal parts kerosene, acetone ,ATF and varsol. I also add some carb cleaner ( about half as much as the other ingredients.) It works well for removing wad residue from shotguns but as mentioned does not touch copper.
 
I go through gallons of it for myself and buddies. It works better than Hoppes by double but only one tenth the cost. The last guy I convinced had just cleaned his rifle with Hoppes to where the patches came out clean, then used Ed's Red to pull out dirt and black for five or six more patches.

Its much cheaper to buy the components by the gallon than by the liter. I have a jerry can full of it in the shop.
 
I am gathering all the ingredients since the weekend. Have read all kinds of good reviews.I also read that for copper remover, add 10-12 % ammonia. If the stuff doesn't work it will be of not much cost (most stuff I have at work and home already)
 
I don't - I just use it by itself. Ed's Red 1st, then ammonia, then Ed's Red again, followed by a light lube and then a dry patch.
 
The ammonia won't mix with the other ingredients since it is water based, there is and old recipe for adding ammonia that I think includes using some type of soap, you could google to find out. I just use CR10 to remove copper periodically, not every time I clean a rifle.
 
I use it all the time too. In fact I just mixed up my second batch last weekend. A couple of years ago I gave a litre of it to an RCMP friend of mine who uses it to clean his service pistol. He is now a hoppe's convert. It really does work. I use it on my SKS for cleaning corrosive ammo and have started using it on my muzzle loader. I have many mil surp rifles and they all benefit from the use of this mix. I will use wipe out every now and then to get at the copper fouling.
 
As an aside for the soap comment:

Plain Dove soap contains stearic acid, which acts as a catalyst. I use it for binding bullet lube components together, as well as my tung oil finishing wax compound. Whether it would work for Ed's Red + Ammonia, I don't know, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything.

What you do is take a razor blade, and cut small slivers off of the soap bar. Over low heat, heat the Ed's Red, and slowly add a soap sliver. Stir until dissolved. Add just enough soap until the visually apparent "layers" disappear.

I learned about soap from Felix Lube, a commonly referenced homemade bullet lube.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom