Cleaning aluminum parts

Foohaus · Jun 9, 2021

I have a gen 1 Colt/Umarex 22lr “M4” that I believe is mostly aluminum. It gets absurdly dirty, and I’ve routinely used bore cleaner/powder solvent to clean it, but recently read some suggestions that those solvents might damage aluminum parts.

Is there any truth to that? If so, any recommendations about what to use? The solvent works really well, so I’m hesitant to ditch it.

Catch-10-22 · Jun 9, 2021

I use M-Pro 7 on all of my rimfires and haven't had any issues. It doesn't stink, is safe for aluminum, and does an excellent job.

https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...egreasers/solvents/gun-cleaner-prod23147.aspx

I also will use Hoppe's Bore Gel to deep clean barrels after a few thousand rounds (maybe more than that).

rbird7282 · Jun 9, 2021

Simple Green aircraft grade NOT regular Simple Green

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outrider58 · Jun 9, 2021

rbird7282 said:
Simple Green aircraft grade NOT regular Simple Green

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^^^this

kshaw · Jun 9, 2021

I was told by a dealer representative that many gun owners was using ACF-50 to clean their guns. I have used that stuff to resurrect electronic items that had stopped working. I also use it to prevent corrosion inside the wings of my Piper Cherokee. It should work very well on aluminum parts. https://learchem.com/products/acf-50.html

outrider58 · Jun 9, 2021

kshaw said:
I was told by a dealer representative that many gun owners was using ACF-50 to clean their guns. I have used that stuff to resurrect electronic items that had stopped working. I also use it to prevent corrosion inside the wings of my Piper Cherokee. It should work very well on aluminum parts. https://learchem.com/products/acf-50.html

As a cleaner?

Homesick Texan · Jun 10, 2021

I use the Simple Green Super HD (it's purple) in an ultrasonic cleaner.

slsc98 · Jun 10, 2021

Foohaus said:
..It gets absurdly dirty, … any recommendations about what to use? ….

Not so much aluminum-related but, I have several pcc’s (Colt AR-9 and KelTecs in 9 and 40 come to mind) and some rimfires that also get “absurdly” dirty with loose, “granular” crap more than anything like baked on carbon and the most effective, efficient and economical means of getting them all showroom clean again is to don nitrile gloves and a shop apron in front of a small workbench under the outside deck, field strip and use various brushes with low odor mineral sprits to flush the crap out followed by compressed air to remove traces of the mineral spirits. Re-lube as necessary and voila! factory exit clean again in mere minutes! :thumbsup:

boothdoc · Jun 10, 2021

Then soak it in Mobile one afterwards, sorry wrong thread, LOL.

Pinecone · Jun 10, 2021

outrider58 said:
As a cleaner?

The stuff is like SUPER penetrating oil. They spray it inside a wing and it crawls all over the inside, and creeps out and tries to coat the outside also.

I am sure it would penetrate and loosen crug.

Pinecone · Jun 10, 2021

slsc98 said:
Not so much aluminum-related but, I have several pcc’s (Colt AR-9 and KelTecs in 9 and 40 come to mind) and some rimfires that also get “absurdly” dirty with loose, “granular” crap more than anything like baked on carbon and the most effective, efficient and economical means of getting them all showroom clean again is to don nitrile gloves and a shop apron in front of a small workbench under the outside deck, field strip and use various brushes with low odor mineral sprits to flush the crap out followed by compressed air to remove traces of the mineral spirits. Re-lube as necessary and voila! factory exit clean again in mere minutes!

Years ago, I worked around some IBM typewriter techs. Yes, THAT long ago.

What they did was to mix light lube oil with solvent. Then they would squirt that into the stream of compressed air from an air gun. It would drive it throughout the typewriter (covers off, and over a trash can), and clean and lube all at once.

John from MD · Jun 10, 2021

kshaw said:
I was told by a dealer representative that many gun owners was using ACF-50 to clean their guns. I have used that stuff to resurrect electronic items that had stopped working. I also use it to prevent corrosion inside the wings of my Piper Cherokee. It should work very well on aluminum parts. https://learchem.com/products/acf-50.html

ACF 50 is a corrosion preventative made thin by carriers which evaporate leaving a film. While I like what it does for corrosion prevention, I don't think it is the best thing to use for cleaning.

Cleaning aluminum parts

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