Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Slippery Dave!...Gun Cleaner/Lube

Make your own Slippery Dave gun cleaner/lube and start saving money when you clean and lube your guns. I've tried many of the gun oils on the market, and when you study them you will figure out that there is no magical spout in the refinery that spits out gun oil. Gun cleaners and gun oils are basically solvents and oils in varying combinations, and if you know what you want, you can come up with a good combo yourself.  Ballistol, one of the favorite old-time gun cleaner/oils will mix with water for cleaning black powder residue, and will clean your action while leaving a coat of oil. That's easy to figure out. It will clean black powder fouling and mix with water because of alcohol in the mix, and it has hydrocarbon solvents, too, to clean and to thin the oil. Here's all you need to make your own version of that gun cleaner/oil.



Sea Foam is a mix of alcohol (smells like isopropyl), naphtha, (Coleman fuel) and kerosene. Marvel Mystery Oil is a light oil with oil-of-wintergreen added, which eats corrosion and is a degreaser. It has paraffin, which provides a protective coating to metal, and it smells good, too. Mix these together and you have a darn good gun cleaner/oil. I add about half an ounce of chainsaw bar lube to the mix, because it clings to metal really well. I keep a pump oil can in my cleaning kit for shooting this mix down the barrel, and it makes the bore shine. You can also put it on your barrel cleaning snake for a quick pull-through.  Instead of paying $16 a pint for a name brand cleaner, you will have about $6 or $8 in a quart. You can use any oil you prefer; some folks like 5W-30 synthetic, some like ATF.  Rather than buying Seafoam, you can substitute mineral spirits and isopropyl alcohol. You can get pure isopropyl in Iso-Heet gas line antifreeze from the car care section of popular stores or at an auto parts store.

Keep your mix in an airtight bottle, because the solvents will evaporate if given the chance. Don't use any gun cleaning product or solvent around an ignition source; and don't smoke while cleaning your guns. Beware of oily cloths from cleaning.


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4 comments:

  1. MerleDecember 10, 2015 at 10:05 AM

    Hmmm, I always used MMO all by itself, my Ruger 22 autopistols just loved it. I never considered adding anything to the mix. It's good to be thrifty!

    Merle

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  2. tsquaredDecember 10, 2015 at 10:18 PM

    Whats wrong with Hoppes #9?

    For gun lube I have used Tri-flow a teflon based lube with great success for the past 25+ years. The Hoppes comes out for the barrels.

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  3. David aka True Blue SamDecember 11, 2015 at 10:18 AM

    I like Hoppes, too, but I love to be cheap. I use PB blaster for hosing out barrels and actions, and like the $4 price for a big aerosol can. The smell of Hoppes takes me back about 55 years! I don't use the carburetor/brake cleaner aerosols much because the eat plastic and wood finishes. My Slippery Johnson mix was made up to be a cheap substitute for Ballistol, and it works for me.

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  4. skybillDecember 18, 2015 at 12:08 AM

    I Like Hoppe's too!! Also the MMO!! I found out at the range a week or so ago from Les the Range Master, (Retired Baton Rouge policeman) Don't use WD-40!!!!! Says Les, the BRPD found out after a on duty Officer got into a "Shoot Out!!!' and a bunch of his rounds "Did Not Fire!!" After a labratory analysis it was found that the officer had used WD-40 (Liberally) to lubricate his weapon and after "A While" a component of the WD-40 reacted with the primers in the ammo and rendering them ineffective!!!! Les Said the word got put out... DON'T USE WD-40 IN YOUR ARMS!! This brings to my mind the question, what ingredient or group of ingredients caused the primer failures????? This warrants further investigation!! If it can happen with WD-40, what else by itself or in combo with other agents can cause a similar reaction!!
    Got Gunz.....OUTLAW!!!!!
    III%,
    skybill-out

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