goopS, SoUpS & SaUCeS cheMical cocKTails for your cannon. y go-to gunsmith and I recently launched a methodical, documented project to evaluate a wide range of lubes, cleaners, protectants, rust removers and other goops for a monster feature in one of our Special Editions. Besides, it’s kinda interesting and fun, and another excellent excuse to shoot more. But just in case I drop dead or see something sparkly in the distance and wander away before it’s done, I wanted to share some early winners with you, OK? M John Connor stinky, noxious single-purpose cleaning agents. FIREClean is odorless, non-flammable, non-toxic and biodegradable. It’s expensive by the ounce, but after initial treatment, very little is needed to keep your carbon-caker clickin’. Hey, it’s not just for ARs, either. One of the worst lead-fouling situations occurs when you put thousands of lead .22 LR rounds through a suppressor. Pretreated with FIREClean, lead fouling just pushes right out of the baffles with a swab. Think of your applications, and try it. SlIP 2000 EWl The first time I used this non-toxic non-hazardous lube was on a 5.56 carbine being test-fired at sub-zero temps with wind chills to 40 below zero. It had been very sparingly lubed with SLiP 2000 EWL (Extreme Weapons Lube), and it performed beautifully. A few days later, without cleaning or refreshing the initial lube, testing was repeated at below-freezing temps, shooting the carbine hot, leaving it cold, shooting it too hot to touch again, and freezing it—with the same results. Snow blowing into the action had no dilution or displacing effect. It cleans easily and doesn’t gum up. Since then we’ve tested it on autopistols and other guns. Performance has been the same: superb. My gunsmith, who always wears nitrile gloves when working, told me it’s so slippery that after he lubed the bolt of a semi-auto .22 LR rifle with it, he couldn’t install the bolt because it kept slipping out of his hands. He had to remove his gloves to finish the job. I highly recommend it for tightfitting and hot-running weapons in extreme weather conditions. You should thoroughly clean other lubes from your weapon before applying SLiP. Their 725 Gun Cleaner Degreaser is a good choice for that. We’re still testing their orange-scented Carbon Killer Bore Cleaner and so far, it’s working just fine. FIREClEaN We’ll kick this off with FIREClean, first, because it’s new on the market and second, because we got such impressive results with it. The blurb reads “Cleans, Lubricates, Conditions,” but its prime claim is that it virtually shields firearms from carbon buildup and speeds cleaning. We found those claims were understated. How rare is that? We pulled an older direct gas impingement (DGI) AR-15 out of storage. It had been banished because, for whatever reasons, it has a nasty reputation as a carbon-fouling magnet, frequently requiring pain-inthe-butt scraping of the bolt tail and carrier. It received a solvent tank deep cleaning, after which we treated it with FIREClean. Gathering up the dirtiest-burning 5.56 and .223 ammo we had, including some Turkish, Serbian, Wolf and 40-year-old military ball, we shot the snot out of it, put it back on the rack for two weeks, and then sent another couple of hundred rounds through it. Check the photo, folks. From funky to shiny took six .22-cal patches, two 3x3-inch patches and a cotton swab. Sparkly! As for “conditions,” even after the second cleaning, it was obvious the steel had really absorbed the goop, and retained a high state of “residual slickness.” I give it five stars as a lube too, with great performance under heat and friction. No matter what it had previously been lubed with, during travel of the charging 78 handle and carrier, this AR had always had kind of a slightly gritty “drag” to it, which disappeared completely after treatment and lubrication with FIREClean. As a further test I used it on some carbon-caked gun parts, which had not been pretreated, and just as advertised, it dissolved the carbon as well or better than very aggressive, Slip 2000 EWL (above) puts two capital S’s in “Super Slick.” FIREClean (below) took a fouled AR from funky to sparkling fast, with minimal effort. FRoGlUbE The more I use this stuff the more amazed I am with it. Developed by a former Navy SEAL officer, it’s not only non-toxic and “eco-friendly,” it’s actually a food-grade cleaner, lube and protectant. Yup, you can eat it with a spoon. I admit I haven’t. I’m afraid it’ll taste like Vegemite, and no offense to my Aussie mates, but… Yucch. W W W. G U N S M AG A Z I N E . C O M • O C TO B E R 2 0 1 3
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