Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Does anyone have any experience making or using Ed's Red?

I've started to assemble the ingredients to mix up a batch. Have you used it? Do you like it?

Here are a couple of links if you haven't come across it before:

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

https://home.comcast.net/~dsmjd/tux/dsm ... ds_red.htm

http://handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=9

It would have never occurred to me to use transmission fluid as part of a gun cleaning solution.

I'm interested in how this works for you.

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Not surprised. I know guys who swear that a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone is much better at penetrating rusty nuts and bolts than PB Blaster or even Kroil.

FiremanBob wrote:Not surprised. I know guys who swear that a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone is much better at penetrating rusty nuts and bolts than PB Blaster or even Kroil.

I have never used it my self , but I have a friend that is always buying and repairing old firearms ...The older the better...And uses nothing but ATF and acetone !

I have a 22 revolver that gets really bad carbon deposits that take a hella long time to clean.

I love to shoot it. I probably put more rounds through it than all my other guns combined. But the buildup is killing me. So I'm looking for a better way. (See my other thread about dremels for instance.) I've tried letting the solvent sit for a while to soak in. I've even tried letting baste in CLP overnight.

I"ve seen descriptions of people removing the grips and dunking revolvers in a container of Ed's Red to soak for some time or even overnight. So I'm considering giving that a try.

If you completely remove the oil (has both a lubricating and preservative/anti-corrosion effect) then you'll need to insure that every crack/crevice is re-oiled after soaking/cleaning or you'll end up with rust growing in your guns.

M1A4ME wrote:If you completely remove the oil (has both a lubricating and preservative/anti-corrosion effect) then you'll need to insure that every crack/crevice is re-oiled after soaking/cleaning or you'll end up with rust growing in your guns.

Good point. Based on my reading of the articles, the transmission fluid as well as the Lanolin provide the lubrication and anti-corrosion function.

The acetone, mineral spirits and ATF I picked up the local home depot. The lanolin I bought on Amazon. HD was out of kerosene, so I'm going to look for it at my next stop at Walmart.

Try a gas station for kerosene. The ones near or in the country tend to carry it.

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Picked up the Kerosine at my local hardware store this morning. Gonna mix up a batch now.

I mixed up a batch using an extra ammo can and I've used it a couple times now. I have to say I'm very happy with it.

I remove the grips from my pistol and soak it overnight. I give it a cleaning and reassemble, or put it back in the can and return to the tough deposits to work them down some more.

It is at least as effective as other cleaners I've tried and the ease of use with the soaking makes much easier overall.

Just my .02,

As soon as I purchase a new gun or used gun for that matter I completely strip it down and remove all oil from the weapon. Then I apply a lot of fireclean to it, much more than they recommend and let it sit for a couple days. After that I will wipe it all down then apply the recommended ammount.

I say all that because I dont clean my weapons after every range visit, but normally after every 3 or so and even then I can take a basic Rag and wipe off all the carbon/what have you and the weapon looks brand new, with no effort on my part. Now I do put a few drops of fire clean on the parts that the weapon that see the most friction before I empty the last mag down range.

Take that as you will, I know I proably will get a ear full from some about my lack of cleaning, but I have only had a handfull FTF or FTE on all my weapons and thats using cheap steel cased Tulamo..... Not counting my .22 (not that it has a crazy ammount of failures) because that well it is a .22 semi-auto.....

anyways my .02