[Roc Rat]

I know many use Windex, and ammonia to clean up after shootiing corrosive ammo,, I have two cans of the old military bore cleaner,,, the stuff thats poison and stinks,,, (in a good way),, Does that stuff clean out the salts?

 

[patriotpa]

Yes, it does. Also, Balistol works GREAT and it's non-toxic.

 

[Roc Rat]

Yes, but does it have that sweet smell of Victory,,, GI bore cleaner is nasty,,, but strangely,,, I like the smell.

Thanks,, I thought so,, I have used it in the past on many types of questionable ammo, and have had no rusting.

 

[brian]

all you need is water. nothing fancy, just water.

 

[DLansky]

while Windex works fine, do not use it or any other product with ammonia in chrome lined barrels or bores. the ammonia will brake down the lining.

 

[blkbd]

I use hot soapy water as the salts are hydroscopic and you want to dislove them and flush them away, I learned this when I was shooting black powder.

 

[Armorer]

There are more than one type of "old style GI bore cleaner". The real old stuff (WWII) was nothing more than Hoppes No 9. It came in metal cans. Most of this has been used up a long time ago. Post war bore cleaner originally came in cans also and will be labeled "2 ounce cleaner, rifle bore (CR) Spe. Jan-C-372, Stock number 51-C-1313-392, CONT-2217(52)' or something like that. More recently it came in plastic bottles labeled "Rifle Bore Cleaner, MIL-C-372E & AM2, 6850-00-224-6656. These are water base and are a good solvent for primer salt. More recently the army has gone to "Break Free" which is a good solvent for powder fowling but probably not primer salt. Hot soapy water still works very well. I sometimes use the water and follow it with Hoppes. Sometimes I just use Hoppes. They say it isn't a solvent for primer salt but it is a good solvent for powder fowling and the salts are mixed in with the fowling so it takes the salts with it. I have used Hoppes alone for 40 years and never had any rust problem.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

all you need is water. nothing fancy, just water.

Don't waste your breath Brian, they'll never listen.

 

[bigblock]

I use soap and water.

 

[brian]

Don't waste your breath Brian, they'll never listen.

normally i don't.
the less people that know how easy it is to clean up, the more cheap ammo for me .

 

[mt-ac]

Question on Bore Cleaner

Ok, so why are my little 2 ounce cans of WWII vintage GI bore cleaner rusting form the inside out? I have them in a nice dry .50 cal can so moisture in the room isn't the cause.

 

[woodsman]

Clorinated solvents!!!

Anything with clorinated solvents. Thats the ticket boys and girls. I have had wonderful success with Simple Green also when using corrosive primed ammo. I understand that you need to nutralize the Mercury fulminate that is the corrosive componant in corrosive primers. Just using an oil cleaner leaves the M.F. in the barrel to eat and rust. So when that really well cleaned rifle you put away last fall is pulled out. O MY God the barrel is pitted city. As someone mentioned earlier just don't leave an ammonia based cleaner in your chromed barrel for more than 15 min. and you will be O.K. Happy shooting

 

[Roc Rat]

This is the stuff that I have,,

 

[Armorer]

MT-AC maybe your rusty cans are filled with water base solvent. There may have been many types of solvent tried by the military in WWII and after. If it smells like Hoppes it probably is Hoppes. but I have never heard of it causing rust. I can't explain what the water base stuff smells like. I have a couple cans of bore cleaner that don't exhibit any rust inside. From the stock numbers they must be from the 1940's. What are the markings on yours? I have thrown away several plastic bottles of the water base solvent over the years because even bottles that still have the original plastic seal and have never been opened have leaked eventually. I don't know why. In the Military we use to store ours in .50 cal ammo boxes and when we opened them we usually found the bottom of the box full of leaked bore cleaner. I guess it was the quality of the plastic bottle not the cleaner.

I was just thinking somebody should bottle water and sell it as special nitro powder corrosive ammo, bore cleaner. They could make a mint. It would work as well as most expensive products. After all people drink bottled water that comes right out of city water taps.

 

[ArizonaBeagle]

Here is the WWII bore cleaner in 6oz containers. It appears to be the same stuff as Roc has in 2oz containers.
The funny thing is some is milky white cleaner and the other is kinda tarry black.
Same lot # both made in 1943.....

As stated above HOT water does the same thing.

They put poison on the cans so crafty GI's wouldn't be tempted to use them as liquor containers.