Ed's Red Bore Cleaner

[1hole]

1 qt Mineral Spirits is about $8.00
1 qt ATF is about $4.00
1 qt Kerosene about $1.00( [SIZE=2]1 gallon is about $4.00

....without the acetone since I was concerned with any plastic parts being affected,.....

Nope.. I think I will stick to Ed's Red, without the acetone...

I use what I'll call "Jim's Pink", just a version of Ed's Red and I can't tell any difference in effectiveness.

First, I am loath to use acetone too, it's harmful to some plastics AND some stock finishes and I doubt it helps as a bore cleaner.

Second, kerosene and mineral spirits/paint thinner are virtually the same thing chemically so why use both? Especially since Walmart sells Odorless Paint Thinner and Auto Transmission Fluid by the quart for cheep. My simple bore mixture of the two works, it doesn't stink to high heaven and it's harmless to use.

"Jim's Pink Bore Cleaner, Fishing Reel and Door Hinge Lube" ( ) is a low cost mixture of (approximately) equal parts of Walmart's synthetic ATF and odorless paint thinner.

Try it, if you don't like it add the other stuff and you'll have Ed's Red!

[JBinMN]

I use what I'll call "Jim's Pink", just a version of Ed's Red and I can't tell any difference in effectiveness.

First, I am loath to use acetone too, it's harmful to some plastics AND some stock finishes and I doubt it helps as a bore cleaner.

Second, kerosene and mineral spirits/paint thinner are virtually the same thing chemically so why use both? Especially since Walmart sells Odorless Paint Thinner and Auto Transmission Fluid by the quart for cheep. My simple bore mixture of the two works, it doesn't stink to high heaven and it's harmless to use.

"Jim's Pink Bore Cleaner, Fishing Reel and Door Hinge Lube" ( ) is a low cost mixture of (approximately) equal parts of Walmart's synthetic ATF and odorless paint thinner.

Try it, if you don't like it add the other stuff and you'll have Ed's Red!

I will give this mixture a try. I have a few firearms that need attention & I can mix some of this up pretty quick as I am out of kerosene, but have the ATF & MS. ( I still have some Ed's Red, but I am willing to try this mix right now/soon, while it is on my mind.)


Thanks! for mentioning this.

P.S. - I have a couple of door hinges that could use a bit of sound suppression as well, so I will try it there as well. LOL

[mdi]

I keep a container of Ed's Red (and/or my version) on my bench. One batch I ran out of ATF so I substituted Kroil, works great, and I often just use "paint thinner" vs "odorless mineral spirits" (stink don't bother me). I also have a batch, kept separately, with some added ammonia for bore cleaning.When some dies get a bit dirty, I'll drop them in the container and let them soak a couple days (or until I remember to take them out). I also have some Arkansas stones that I'll soak when they get dirty, "clogged". Good general tool cleaning, rust preventative.

[Outpost75]

I use Ed's Red without the acetone and without the lanolin, just the K1, Dextron III and odorless mineral spirits.

[rat44]

Didn’t I read somewhere the acetone was for cleaning the wad residue out of shotgun barrels? I don’t put it in mine either.

[NWPilgrim]

Didn’t I read somewhere the acetone was for cleaning the wad residue out of shotgun barrels? I don’t put it in mine either.

Yes that is my understanding as well. I have used ER for many years, down to my last cup or so from the first gallon I mixed. I also leave out the acetone but add the lanolin which is supposed to increase protection against rust and is easier on the hands when I forget to put on nitrile gloves. Also use it as a general cleaner, lube, penetrating oil around the shop and house.

I like Hoppes too, so I occasionally buy it to get the handy size dispenser bottles in various sizes and refill them with Ed’s Red. It is so cheap I am pretty liberal with it when cleaning bores and guns.

I store the big mixture in a one gallon plastic gas can. The Sharpie marking got erased and I mistakenly used it for my chainsaw since I store the 50:1 mix in same type of gas can!! It ran very rough and I was
Puzzled until I saw another can nearby marked 50:1. Uh oh!! I was amazed ER ran the saw! Now I store the 50:1 in metal gas cans and ER in the plastic.

[higgins]

The original formula called for Dexron GM-spec ATF. Has anyone read of a good reason why Harris specified GM-spec ATF instead of Mercon(?) Ford-spec ATF? Did he ever say that it really mattered which ATG was used? Being cheap, when I mixed mine I used whatever I had at hand; I don't remember what it was.