Brakleen vs Gun scrubber chemicals

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Wondering how many of you have tried non chlorinated brake cleaner for handgun cleaning. I pulled the msds for crc brakleen non chlorinated and it's very different from Birchwood Casey gun scrubber even though I have seen people using brakleen on other gun forums.

I think it gets more complicated when I noticed that not all brake cleaner seem to use the same chemicals.

Maybe it's easier just to look at the msds and see if they will harm polymer modern guns?

Here is the gun scrubber msds first. Mostly Hexane and Isopropyl alcohol.


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The brakleen has lots more stuff.

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Now looking at Gunk brand non chlorinated brake cleaner it's even more different.


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I might not be that cheap but gun scrubber is sort of expensive, about $10 on Amazon for a 13 oz can while brake cleaner goes on sale at least every month at the parts stores.

Thoughts?
 
I just put cheap 96% Isopropyl Alcohol in a generic cleaning spray bottle and use that to de-grease things. I follow up quickly with lubricants, so I am not worried about the small dilution of water.
 
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Alot of cops I know use Starting Fluid. Cheap, clean, dries quick and then lube them up. I see why carb cleaner wouldn't work as well as long as you didn't have rubber grips.
 
Starting fluid is mostly heptane. I use carb and choke cleaner usually.
 
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I'm not worried about the power of the brake cleaner, I'm worried about the compatibility with polymer and other Plastic parts.

From what I've read around the Web, some people use non chlorinated brake cleaner already but carb/choke cleaner has been deemed too strong for the plastics.
 
Brake cleaner, gun scrubber, etc, are just not needed. These harsh chemicals, are just that, harsh.

Soapy water is free and works perfect. This is assuming you break it down enough so no water gets trapped behind things and then use compressed air to dry. Of course, soapy water is over kill as well.

I just wipe everything down with a rag and toothbrush and then re lubricate.
 
Right now my current setup is MPro7 cleaner and MPro7 gun oil after cleaning, but I was exploring other options.

Something is just appealing about a high powered aerosol cleaner to get into all those hard to reach places that I use so many q tips on.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Something is just appealing about a high powered aerosol cleaner to get into all those hard to reach places that I use so many q tips on.


A coffee can full of clean Kerosene and a 1" paint brush, accompanied by an air compressor, will accomplish the same thing. Only better and a whole lot cheaper.
 
Been scrubbing dirty guns with MMO lately. It works well. I don't use it as the primary lube after cleaning although it does okay at that as well.
 
I've been using just Break-free CLP on my glock with great effect. Of course, they are notoriously easy to maintain.

I'll have to try MMO on my 11-87 next time. That takes a little more effort, especially around the piston.
 
Any cleaner that contains a Ketone such as Acetone or M.E.K. has the potential to affect wood finishes.

I would strongly urge anyone using these products to remove the stocks and grips while cleaning.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Any cleaner that contains a Ketone such as Acetone or M.E.K. has the potential to affect wood finishes.

I would strongly urge anyone using these products to remove the stocks and grips while cleaning.


But none of my guns have wood, they're all synthetic, so I could use them on polymer frames?
 
I've been using non chlorinated brake cleaner on my guns for years. Including Glock's and M&P's hasn't done anything to the plastic parts yet.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Any cleaner that contains a Ketone such as Acetone or M.E.K. has the potential to affect wood finishes.

I would strongly urge anyone using these products to remove the stocks and grips while cleaning.


But none of my guns have wood, they're all synthetic, so I could use them on polymer frames?


The Gunk spray cleaner should be sufficient to degrease, de-oil, and de-crud any gun safely.

The modern polymer "frame" materials are resistant to most solvents.

I would however test the polymer frame with repeated sprayings on a test specimen determine if there is softening or mis-shapenning of the polymer material.
 
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