Best way to "deep" clean pistol internals

[fabb600]

What's the best way to clean all the crud from the pistol internals that aren't easy to get to? I've seen some examples online where people are using pressured spray products and blasting the product through the gun over a catch bucket. This is the cruddy portion I'm referring to:

[ZardozCZ]

Looks like my CZ75B. I'd disassemble it a bit to be sure of cleaning it well. There are pretty clear utube vids on it.

Getting the seer cage out would be good enough to spray that out, the rest would clean well with toothbrush and cotton swabs. I replaced hammer, spring, and seer, and it wasn't bad, but then I'm mechanically inclined and have the tools. YMMV. Mind the safety position pawls and springs. They'll pop out when you don't expect them to.

[tenmilmag]

In the sink spray out with good solvent cleaner rinse with hot water and blow out with air hose!

[gman1868]

First I wipe most the gunk off with rags or patches. Then I use Synthetic Safe Gun Scrubber from Birchwood Casey ( a Minnesota company ), usually on a Q-Tip to limit overspray. Then I use compressed gas in a can to blow out the excess. I try not to use too much water based stuff but I do occasionally use Milcomm MC-25 biodegradable cleaner to clean out the dry dirt or gun powder residue.

[jshuberg]

The best thing you can do for a deep cleaning is to give it a dunk in an ultrasonic cleaner. I can completely disassemble and clean a pistol, only to throw it in an ultrasonic cleaner and watch the crud stream out of it. I usually give my pistols a bath every couple thousand rounds or so. They seem to like it

[fabb600]

yeah, I'll be somewhere around the 2000 mark by the weekend. And although it's never missed a beat, I can see it's time to do some preventative cleaning before I get a unwanted malfunction during a match - which is exactly where I'll encounter my first malfunction I'm sure!

[Hmac]

I've used Gun Scrubber for that and it works well, but what I do now is blast it with mineral spirits out of a siphon sprayer on my air compressor.

If you can detail strip the frame, the dishwasher is a great option.

[RJWesleyIII]

The best thing you can do for a deep cleaning is to give it a dunk in an ultrasonic cleaner. I can completely disassemble and clean a pistol, only to throw it in an ultrasonic cleaner and watch the crud stream out of it. I usually give my pistols a bath every couple thousand rounds or so. They seem to like it

^^^this

[OldmanFCSA]

For my Stainless Firearms and only selected Blued Firearms:

First remove anything rubber, plastic, or wood, then use Contact Cleaner or Brake Cleaner from a pressurized can, and repeated ly blow off with compressed air in small nozzle. Repeat as required. Oil pivot and sliding areas LIGHTLY. Do NOT OVER-GREASE. Extra oil and grease just collects powder and dirt residue, making any excess oil turn into lapping compound. In the WINTER, I run semi-auto's near DRY. Very, very, lightly oil sliding areas only.

Re-assemble as required.

Pic provided in first post is an example of over-oiling.

[Hmac]

Contact cleaner, Gun Scrubber, and brake cleaner used to contain trichloroethylene. That was a really great solvent that had little effect on associated parts, but as a halogenated hydrocarbon there is that whole ozone layer thing, plus skin absorption and possible liver toxicity. As a result, most of those spray cleaners have gone to other solvents, including acetone. I haven't looked in while, but you used to be able to still buy trichloroethylene-based carb, brake, and contact cleaner, usually marked "halogenated".

I'm kind of uncomfortable using acetone solvents on my firearms, hence my use of Stoddard solvent to spray the things out and get the crud out, followed by good old Hoppe's #9 and a toothbrush.

[gunforhire]

I would use Italian gun grease Carbon eliminator. get yourself a quart, put your small parts and even the frame in the cleaner in a sealed container and let it soak. you probably won't have to leave it overnight, but you can if you want. scrub parts as usual, lube (with IGG original or tactical formula), reassemble. and DONE! If you want, you can use a paint strainer to reuse the cleaner, as long as it's sealed. Igg is not harmful to plastic, polymer, stainless or rubber, so there is no need to worry about that. It also does not leave a residue for you guys with polished steel or aluminum parts on your guns.

If you are wondering more about the weapons cleaning system in question, check out http://www.italiangungrease.net

Derick @Midland Armory stocks it right now or you can order it online at the above link

[JFettig]

Ultrasonic

[Hmac]

The ultrasonic thing is intriguing, and I can always use one more gadget. What kind of solvent do you use in it? Do you just dunk the whole gun, turn the machine on and walk away, or is some disassembly required?

[RJWesleyIII]

In mine I use hornady gun solution for ultrasonic cleaners. It works pretty good. I clean alot of glocks in it. All I do is field strip it, dunk it in, turn it on and walk away. Once done, rinse it off in the sink, blow dry it, and spray it down with MP spray. Wipe off and put it away. I still scrub the barrels with a brush and solvent. But when I'm done, they look brand new!

[XDM45]

The best thing you can do for a deep cleaning is to give it a dunk in an ultrasonic cleaner. I can completely disassemble and clean a pistol, only to throw it in an ultrasonic cleaner and watch the crud stream out of it. I usually give my pistols a bath every couple thousand rounds or so. They seem to like it

Several questions for you....

1) Do you need ti disassemble it entirely?
2) Can you just take it down to the level where you would normally clean it at after range use? I really don't want to have to detail strip it.\, pull the entire trigger assembly apart, etc.
3) What cleaner (make, model, etc) and do you use and where did you get it?