On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:57:21 -0500, Alex wrote:

I thought you were suggesting mineral spirits and oil in the ultrasonic
cleaner. How is mineral spirits in firearm finishes?

===

If in doubt try a little WD-40. It is about half mineral spirits and
half kerosene.

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:58:23 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:44:09 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:27:32 -0500, Poquito Loco
wrote:

If you get sand into a mechanism, you have to remove all the grease to clean it. The ultrasonic bath
excels at this task. My guns have thus far been spared, but I've used it to clean bicycle chains and
freewheels, as well as carburetors.
===

In basic training we used to get sand in the M-14 trigger mechanism
all the time. The unauthorized but effective cure was to wash it
under hot soapy water, rinse, dry, and re-oil immediately.
How did you dry it?
That is the reason for the very hot water. The metal will be hot and
dry right away.
I may have to try this with a cheap gun to test the results.

I am not sure I would do that these days. It was just a GI trick for a
gun that they did not own ;-)
The reality is water is net really that bad for metal as long as you
get it back off right away. Most military guns need to shoot after
being under water as part of the performance testing. My father said
his M1 worked fine after wading ashore in France but water squirted
out the first time he fired it (pretty much right away) It was a while
before he had a chance to clean and oil it too.

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:41:04 -0500,
wrote:

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:57:21 -0500, Alex wrote:

I thought you were suggesting mineral spirits and oil in the ultrasonic
cleaner. How is mineral spirits in firearm finishes?

===

If in doubt try a little WD-40. It is about half mineral spirits and
half kerosene.

When my neighbor took his truck for a swim he used WD-40 to get the
water out of his "chief" when we recovered it. I found it under the
seat
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/uboat%20com...commander.html

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:58:23 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:44:09 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:27:32 -0500, Poquito Loco
wrote:

If you get sand into a mechanism, you have to remove all the grease to clean it. The ultrasonic bath
excels at this task. My guns have thus far been spared, but I've used it to clean bicycle chains and
freewheels, as well as carburetors.
===

In basic training we used to get sand in the M-14 trigger mechanism
all the time. The unauthorized but effective cure was to wash it
under hot soapy water, rinse, dry, and re-oil immediately.
How did you dry it?
That is the reason for the very hot water. The metal will be hot and
dry right away.
I may have to try this with a cheap gun to test the results.

Alex, in the barracks we had very hot, scalding water - well upwards of the 140 stuff in your normal
water heater!

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:01:07 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:47:52 -0500, Alex wrote:

Poco Loco wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 12:30:59 -0500, wrote:

On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:27:32 -0500, Poquito Loco
wrote:

If you get sand into a mechanism, you have to remove all the grease to clean it. The ultrasonic bath
excels at this task. My guns have thus far been spared, but I've used it to clean bicycle chains and
freewheels, as well as carburetors.
===

In basic training we used to get sand in the M-14 trigger mechanism
all the time. The unauthorized but effective cure was to wash it
under hot soapy water, rinse, dry, and re-oil immediately.
We washed our M-14 under hot (really hot) soapy water in OCS. Then we rinsed them in hot (really
hot) water. Each individual then waved the hot pieces around to air dry them. Worked well.
Did you do a full take-down or just separate the upper and lower and
pull out the bolt? How heavy was the oil they provided?
===

The M-14 is quite a bit different than an AR-15 in that there is no
separate upper and lower receiver. It's been a long time but my
recollection is just the trigger group which pops right out. The oil
was very light.

I was thinking of the M16. I forgot how old John is!

Funny!

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:35:38 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:57:21 -0500, Alex wrote:

The oil will be in solution with the mineral spirits. I am not sure
how you would keep it out. There is no water in mineral spirits. You
really do not need to worry about it just air drying and that will go
pretty quickly if you wipe everything down when you pull it out.

I thought you were suggesting mineral spirits and oil in the ultrasonic
cleaner. How is mineral spirits in firearm finishes?

I was talking about the cleaner but I am not sure about finishes. I
don't think it hurts bluing and the various military finishes but if
you have something exotic, it might be worth googling. Mineral spirits
is on the "oil" side of solvents, unlike hotter solvents like lacquer
thinner. When I was a lot younger I used "gun cleaner" on my old .38
with no ill effects. Then I found out they meant "spray guns" and it
was a hotter version of lacquer thinner. It did clean all of the gum
out of the operating mechanism from some over zealous "greasing" by a
previous owner. When I took the side plate off it was packed with some
gummy kind of stuff.

When I bought my last Mosin Nagant, I soaked all the parts in mineral spirits overnight to get the
cosmoline off. It did nothing to the finish.

wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:58:23 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:44:09 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:27:32 -0500, Poquito Loco
wrote:

If you get sand into a mechanism, you have to remove all the grease to clean it. The ultrasonic bath
excels at this task. My guns have thus far been spared, but I've used it to clean bicycle chains and
freewheels, as well as carburetors.
===

In basic training we used to get sand in the M-14 trigger mechanism
all the time. The unauthorized but effective cure was to wash it
under hot soapy water, rinse, dry, and re-oil immediately.
How did you dry it?
That is the reason for the very hot water. The metal will be hot and
dry right away.
I may have to try this with a cheap gun to test the results.
I am not sure I would do that these days. It was just a GI trick for a
gun that they did not own ;-)
The reality is water is net really that bad for metal as long as you
get it back off right away. Most military guns need to shoot after
being under water as part of the performance testing. My father said
his M1 worked fine after wading ashore in France but water squirted
out the first time he fired it (pretty much right away) It was a while
before he had a chance to clean and oil it too.

Water doesn't compress well. That first shot would be a little unnerving!

wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:41:04 -0500,
wrote:

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:57:21 -0500, Alex wrote:

I thought you were suggesting mineral spirits and oil in the ultrasonic
cleaner. How is mineral spirits in firearm finishes?
===

If in doubt try a little WD-40. It is about half mineral spirits and
half kerosene.
When my neighbor took his truck for a swim he used WD-40 to get the
water out of his "chief" when we recovered it. I found it under the
seat
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/uboat%20com...commander.html

That's a bad day. Even worse that it tipped to the side - like Guam if
too many people inhabited one side of the island!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7XXVLKWd3Q

Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:35:38 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:57:21 -0500, Alex wrote:

The oil will be in solution with the mineral spirits. I am not sure
how you would keep it out. There is no water in mineral spirits. You
really do not need to worry about it just air drying and that will go
pretty quickly if you wipe everything down when you pull it out.
I thought you were suggesting mineral spirits and oil in the ultrasonic
cleaner. How is mineral spirits in firearm finishes?
I was talking about the cleaner but I am not sure about finishes. I
don't think it hurts bluing and the various military finishes but if
you have something exotic, it might be worth googling. Mineral spirits
is on the "oil" side of solvents, unlike hotter solvents like lacquer
thinner. When I was a lot younger I used "gun cleaner" on my old .38
with no ill effects. Then I found out they meant "spray guns" and it
was a hotter version of lacquer thinner. It did clean all of the gum
out of the operating mechanism from some over zealous "greasing" by a
previous owner. When I took the side plate off it was packed with some
gummy kind of stuff.
When I bought my last Mosin Nagant, I soaked all the parts in mineral spirits overnight to get the
cosmoline off. It did nothing to the finish.

That might be worth a shot!

On Wed, 30 Nov 2016 19:55:44 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:58:23 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:44:09 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:27:32 -0500, Poquito Loco
wrote:

If you get sand into a mechanism, you have to remove all the grease to clean it. The ultrasonic bath
excels at this task. My guns have thus far been spared, but I've used it to clean bicycle chains and
freewheels, as well as carburetors.
===

In basic training we used to get sand in the M-14 trigger mechanism
all the time. The unauthorized but effective cure was to wash it
under hot soapy water, rinse, dry, and re-oil immediately.
How did you dry it?
That is the reason for the very hot water. The metal will be hot and
dry right away.
I may have to try this with a cheap gun to test the results.
I am not sure I would do that these days. It was just a GI trick for a
gun that they did not own ;-)
The reality is water is net really that bad for metal as long as you
get it back off right away. Most military guns need to shoot after
being under water as part of the performance testing. My father said
his M1 worked fine after wading ashore in France but water squirted
out the first time he fired it (pretty much right away) It was a while
before he had a chance to clean and oil it too.

Water doesn't compress well. That first shot would be a little unnerving!

I the guys he was shooting at were more unnerving ;-)
When you look at the operating system of the M1 (or M14) you quickly
see, there is no place to actually trap the water but it will be
coming out in a number of places. Most drains almost immediately, by
design. I am not ready to try it with my M1A but I bet it shoots
underwater.