Gloves recommend when cleaning guns?
- Thread starter Venom1956
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sirgilligan
New member
When I have been shooting lead bullets I use those blue gloves. If I have been shooting full metal jacketed bullets, I usually don't use the gloves.
I have been tempted to wear a painters mask at the indoor range. Ventilation is slow there and a lot of shooting can overwhelm the system for a while.
I have been tempted to wear a painters mask at the indoor range. Ventilation is slow there and a lot of shooting can overwhelm the system for a while.
The detergent and the water are solvents, just not petroleum/oil based solvents.
As far as petroleum/oil based solvents damaging wood, that can happen--it can happen with water and detergent as well. In fact, water and detergent can damage metal gun finishes as well.
I'd like to hear an example of a petroleum/oil based solvent intended for use on guns damaging the metal finish on a gun when used as the manufacturer intended.
Most of the shooting exposure to lead is from the primer smoke and residue, not from the lead bullets themselves. If you're worried about lead exposure and that's why you sometimes use gloves during cleaning then it makes sense to use the gloves unless you're shooting lead-free ammunition with lead-free primers.
I boil one of my firearms in water with a drop of dish detergent. It's a blackpowder revolver. The water evaporates quick; the parts are hot after removal from the pot. Then I spray with WD-40 when cooled, wipe off, clean as normal, and oil. Sounds like it takes a long time, it actually pretty fast.
No issues with getting water on steel if you don't ignore it. I've removed the crankshaft from my car, installed new bearings, polished out a scratch on a main journal, scrubbed the crank with hot soapy water and a bottle brush, cleaned it off with the garden hose, sprayed with WD-40, wiped clean, installed the crank and driven to work the next day. No problems
ScottieG59
New member
As a teenager, I figured quickly that dish detergent and hot water was the best way to clean a cap and ball revolver of most of the grime. It's important to dry it well. I would not want WD40 residue in the chambers fouling the powder.
My non-black powder guns do not get the water and soap treatment.
The idea of gloves is worth considering. Whenever I handle a gun, I wash my hands well. I am concerned about the cumulative effects to lead residue.
My non-black powder guns do not get the water and soap treatment.
The idea of gloves is worth considering. Whenever I handle a gun, I wash my hands well. I am concerned about the cumulative effects to lead residue.
"The detergent and the water are solvents, just not petroleum/oil based solvents."
True enough. I thought it was obvious I was talking about petroleum based solvents. Hell, pure water is a solvent!
"I'd like to hear an example of a petroleum/oil based solvent intended for use on guns damaging the metal finish on a gun when used as the manufacturer intended."
I just re-did a gun where petroleum based solvents made a mess of the finish. And the paint I used would be similarly damaged if exposed to petroleum based solvents.
Many guns now days are NOT blued or browned, but are painted. Some of the best paints (read more expensive) are resistant to petroleum based solvents. But because of their price, like bluing and browning, are not suitable for refinishing a gun that is only worth $150. You dont want to be putting more into a gun than you can get out of it unless its an heirloom.
True enough. I thought it was obvious I was talking about petroleum based solvents. Hell, pure water is a solvent!
"I'd like to hear an example of a petroleum/oil based solvent intended for use on guns damaging the metal finish on a gun when used as the manufacturer intended."
I just re-did a gun where petroleum based solvents made a mess of the finish. And the paint I used would be similarly damaged if exposed to petroleum based solvents.
Many guns now days are NOT blued or browned, but are painted. Some of the best paints (read more expensive) are resistant to petroleum based solvents. But because of their price, like bluing and browning, are not suitable for refinishing a gun that is only worth $150. You dont want to be putting more into a gun than you can get out of it unless its an heirloom.
Are these finishes actually finishes intended for firearms or are you talking about something a hobbyist or someone else applied in place of actually getting a gun properly refinished?
I thought we were talking about actual gun finishes and not simply any imaginable type of finish that someone could potentially apply to a gun.
stephen426
New member
If you guys are using evaporating cleaners such as Gun Scrubber, I strongly recommend you wear chemical resistant gloves. As already mentioned, many chemicals are eaily absorbed into the skin. I started wearing gloves after my hands started tingling after cleaning my guns. I use Gun Scrubber to blast out the Hoppes 9. Better safe than sorry!
While we are on the topic of safety, I strongly advise wearing safety glasses when cleaning your gun with something such as Gun Scrubber. I had that stuff splash back in my eye and it hurt like heck!
While we are on the topic of safety, I strongly advise wearing safety glasses when cleaning your gun with something such as Gun Scrubber. I had that stuff splash back in my eye and it hurt like heck!
I knew when this started that it would come to this. Use of words like "hobbyist" and "properly" and "any imaginable" show a deep seated bias against thinking "out of the box".
A Gunsmith is just what it says, Gun Smith. A Gunsmith is a "smithy" that works on, creates, manufacturers, guns for his/her clients (if properly licensed). You can be a "gunsmith for the museums", or a "gunsmith for the people", or both. A gun can be either a museum piece or it can be a tool, or BOTH!
A gunsmith must decide from questioning his client whether the gun will hang in a humidity controlled case or will be used by a craftsman as a tool.
If the client brings in an original 1851 Navy revolver for restoration to original and has the money to do the job, bluing, a highly toxic and labour intensive process, is indicated, if needed.
If the client brings in a unique, original, octagon barrelled, muzzle loader that he wants and has the money to restore, then browning, less toxic, but still labour intensive, may be indicated.
The hours needed to produce these finishes will be expensive to the client...unless the gunsmith just loves doing the work and doesn't charge what he/she is worth.
On the other hand, if a LEO brings in a Saiga 12 (AK-47 in 12 gauge) that he keeps bouncing around in the trunk of his squad car along with a tire iron or two, its a tool that needs to work when asked to and needs to be rugged enough to be used as a tool. A beautiful bluing job is counter-indicated. It wont last a week in the trunk. A good hard coated paint job is what he needs.
Or a rancher wants an AK-47 built so he can kill wild pigs that are ruining his cattle's watering holes, a gun that can get 6 to 8 pigs before they scatter, he doesn't want a fancy blue job. He may want a camo paint job. Bluing doesn't come in camo.
There are a couple of very good paints, Duracoat, Ceracoat, and probably others that are epoxy based. Some are petrochemical resistant. But as with bluing and browning, the high end paints are labour intensive and expensive compounds. Not necessarily suited to the trunk of a car or hunting pigs.
Then for the guy that walks in with a Stevens 820B (worth $150 at the top end) or a $450 AR15. There are the "other" paints.
The Stevens took 20 minutes to strip down, 30 minutes to sand down the flat black engine paint the previous owner had applied and subsequently ruined with a transmission fluid soaked rag, and 20 minutes with an air brush and deep green Rustoleum to make "pretty". After repairing two springs and adding a new bead sight, he had $150 invested in a home defence gun that still looked good. He was happy with his tool. The Rustoleum can be repaired in minutes with an air brush if it does become chipped.
I am gunsmith to several law enforcement officers and also to ranchers. I am a gunsmith to the people. But if asked I can create a museum piece, if you have the money for it. My speciality is custom AK-47s in any calibre you want....within reason LOL.
Most of my clients don't have the money for a museum piece in the bed of their pick up or the back of their squad car. They want a tool that works and doesn't rust.
You don't know how wrong you are.
I'm an engineer, a hobbyist and a tinkerer. I actually enjoy hearing about how people have come up with ingenious ways to solve problems with unorthodox solutions.
I don't have any problem with people using expedient finishes on guns either to save money/time or because it suits their particular application better than other finishes available. That's not an issue at all as far as I'm concerned.
What I don't agree with is saying that typical gun-cleaning solvents will damage gun finishes. They don't. They may damage finishes that aren't typically thought of as gun finishes but that's another story entirely.
I was primarily responding to the comment: "Solvents are not needed with modern ammo and can damage the finish on a gun or on the wood." That makes it sound like we all risk damaging the finish on our guns every time we clean them with typical gun-cleaning solvents which isn't really the case.
HOWEVER, if someone has applied some sort of aftermarket finish to a gun, a finish not typically used on factory firearms and one that's not commonly used to refinish firearms, then it is certainly true that gun-cleaning solvents might damage such a finish since there's no way to know what finish might have been applied or what solvents it is compatible with.
Thats great. I tread it wrong, sounded sort of snobish, sorry I mis read your words. A hazard on the internet.
I too am an engineer, a hobbyist and a tinkerer. But then I guess I wasnt completely clear when I said "damage the finish on a gun". To me "a gun" meant ANY gun, not just those with traditional finishes.
But then we cant be all bad, we are both Texans if I read your sig line correctly.
I'll happily give you the benefit of the doubt--as for me, I'm pretty much all bad.
I can't really claim to be a Texan since I was born in South America. But maybe I can get half-credit for having a dad who is from TX and for living in TX since 1976 (other than a 3 year stint while I was in college in a state immediately to the north which will remain nameless) .
I can't really claim to be a Texan since I was born in South America. But maybe I can get half-credit for having a dad who is from TX and for living in TX since 1976 (other than a 3 year stint while I was in college in a state immediately to the north which will remain nameless) .
Have you ever tried Krylon BBQ grill paint on any firearms? I've heard some people recommend applying it, letting it harden overnight and then baking it on as if it were a bake-on epoxy type finish. The result is supposed to be durable and more solvent resistant than most paints.
I've also heard good things about using the same basic approach with the Duplicolor high-temperature engine enamel paints.
I've also heard good things about using the same basic approach with the Duplicolor high-temperature engine enamel paints.
I have only tried Rustoleum because I did a brush paint job on my El Camino that looked like it was sprayed using thinned Rustoleum and it came out GREAT. Attached earlier the gun heres the El Camino
The gun is post #27 on the thread, "What kind of paint for a gun"
The gun is post #27 on the thread, "What kind of paint for a gun"
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Edward429451
Moderator
If you're married or have a GF then you'll want to use gloves. She don't like coming to bed smelling like solvents. That's putting it mildly, lol. Gloves are cheap and I use them like chicks use kleenex.