I have heard of "Ed's Red" for many years. Didn't know it was a home made brew. I can't say I would recommend including lanolin in the formula, it is an optional ingredient, as it's function is to make the solution "STICKY" so it won't run off. Not much of a performance requirement for a bore "cleaner". So, looking for some bore cleaning instructions I happened on to the formula.
I have been reading up on the subject and also visiting barrel makers sites and discovered that Ammonia in concentrations greater than 10% is considered destructive. That advice to pour Ammonia down the barrel is fine if the concentration isn't too high and that advice pertained to household ammonia that is highly diluted but I think the caution was missing. i am starting to worry a tad about this and Windex has a pretty weak concentrations. There is a Windex product that has vinegar in solution and vinegar is an acid. I don't think that could be a good idea. Someone here quoted his uncle "ammonia won't dissolve salts' or something like that. But it does neutralize acids if they are weak.
Looking for advice on the Ed's Red mixture. ATF all by itself is a superb anti rust oil....simply superb....and miles better than straight petroleum oil.
"Ed's Red" has been around for many years. Lots of shooters swear by it, but I've never used it. There are several ammonia-based copper solvents on the market that will dissolve copper deposits much better than conventional bore cleaners. Following the ammonia-based solvent with a conventional solvent will remove the ammonia.
If memory serves, the lanolin in "Ed's Red" was intended to act as a rust prentative in the bore.
There are lots of relatively new bore cleaners on the market. I have used, and have had good luck with the "Wipe Out" foam cleaner, and "Gunzilla". One that I haven't tried, but intend to try is "Frog Lube". Yeah, I know, but those that have used it seem to be impressed with it.
Among gun-owners, cleaning regimens are quite subjective, let alone the solvents/chemicals used in that cleaning. It's a case of whatever suits you best.
If memory serves, the lanolin in "Ed's Red" was intended to act as a rust prentative in the bore.
That is true....in a way. all petroleum oils really don't like metal. The petroleum will migrate away from the metal and leave it exposed to air and moisture in which case it will rust. Lan has a great affinity for metal and even considering the point that it thickens oil it also lets the oil get a grip on metal and "stick" around forever. Pun intended. This is the performance of ANY SYNTHETIC though they are not all created equal....some stick better than others. But put Lan in the mix and you have tenacity.
I learned this researching formula for black powder applications lubricants. Did you know that bees wax doesn't water proof metals? It is made up of microscopic sheets that allow water to pass between....stranger'er than fiction is fact.
ATF is great stuff and not really a petroleum product. ATF is part synthetic and highly refined petroleum. Think about it..., if you ever looked inside a automatic transmission and seen how clean and pristine it is. Many even suggest throwing a quart of ATF in your gas tank or substitute a quart of engine oil for ATF to clean a sludged engine. ATF can withstand friction, heat, oxidation, and has far more detergent ability than Motor oil does. I think a transmission also experiences more heat than engine oil does. The parts in your transmission and your engine block aren't much different than a rifle bore. Steel parts that can rust . ATF and engine oils aren't just oils. They have cleaning detergents, anti oxident additives, anti friction additives, additive to strengthen film strength, etc etc. You get all that from a cheap quart bottle from a autoparts store. Add Kerosene which thins it down and cleans and is a light lubricant. Mineral spirits is probably the active cleaner in Eds Red and Acetone or MEK gives it penetrating power. The 3 cleaning ingredients evaporate and leave the ATF behind which lubricates. The idea behind Eds red is that it is a Preventative. It's not s copper cleaner even though I ve seen some blue come out with it. It just removes carbon, nothing else except plastic fouling for shotguns. BUT........it decreases all types of fouling with routine use. So, before using it, remove all copper fouling in your guns with Sweets, Kg12, Ammonia 50/50, etc, since Eds Red won't do much to remove CURRENT copper fouling. For a rough bore, run some JB compound and JB Bore Shine to polish the barrel. Also with corrosive ammo, do your routine cleaning for that prior to Eds Red, whether you do boiling water or Ammonia 50/50 and wipe that all out dry prior to Eds Red. Then use Eds Red with 2 dry patches after the last wet patch, to leave some lubrication in the barrel but to wipe out the excess. By providing this lubrication, the barrel will be 1. Less likely to grab at the copper jacketing of the bullets which increases accuracy and bullet energy and decreases copper fouling and 2. Makes deposits less likely to stick to the barrel including carbon and copper. This makes all the carbon wipe right out after shooting. Copper will have to removed still probably but not that often I bet. Plus the coating of ATF will help protect against corrosive ammo and moisture. However, I will still clean promptly for corrosive ammo and with either boiling water or ammonia. I would add the lanolin if storing it away over a year. But I would imagine ATF alone would protect quite awhile. I would not try to add ammonia or anything to give it copper cleaning ability or for cleaning corrosive. Do those things seperately. I recommend KG-12 for copper fouling and Ammonia/ water 50/50 for corrosive ammo, but will also remove copper. And of course JB Cleaning Compound and JB Bore Bright, but only that if you got a heavily fouled or rough bore like a Mosin. And I wouldn't use it all the time since its abrasive not chemical action. Same with the copper solvents. Eds Red, however, is good and beneficial for the bore. I used hoppes until I realized Eds Red cleans more and provides more residual lubrication than Hoppes. However, the only bad thing is its more messy than Hoppes, dosent have the nice smell, and dosent have the copper cleaning ability of Hoppes. However, Eds Red does a lot more to prevent copper fouling in the first place. But will clean some copper but just really slow acting on that compared to carbon.
ATF is great stuff and not really a petroleum product. ATF is part synthetic and highly refined petroleum.
This was a superb post. I regret that I didn't learn much from it but I sure hope you hang tough and keep the cards and letters coming. I have little doubt that I will learn a lot from you if you do.
Synthetic is exactly that....synthetic. I have read this more than once: The Germans invented the process cause we deprived them of petroleum in WWII. Turns out their process can make almost anything, fuel and oil wise, form almost any hydrocarbon. Their favorite was natural gas and coal gas...methane. But, peanut squeezing s and paint thinner work as well and even petroleum will work as the feed stock. It doesn't have to be and the syn is so far superior in all aspects of lubrication and combustibility it isn't fair to compare the two. If the jug says contains petro then it is a blend and there is lots of stuff out there that is "pure" with additives. I might be picking nits with that but be assured I am with you 100%
I also happen to be a auto mechanic also. Interestingly enough in strange way , I don't find automobile engines much different than a rifle bore. Worn cylinder walls=bad, same with a rifle bore. Higher octane gasoline= higher flashpoint and slower burn rate increasing compression. Same with a slower burning powder, but we would call it higher pressure. Etc etc, silly I guess, but I just know a automobile engines and transmissions are high wear places and auto products work great for guns if common sense is used. Brake cleaner is a great cosmo cleaner or for anything, just don't get it on the stock because it will remove the finish. CARB cleaner and brake cleaner are different in this respect. CARB cleaner leaves residue, Brake cleaner does not. ATF, Mobil 5w-20 are good gun oils. I think Terra Gun grease is not much more than PTFE lubricant like Superlube and the special lubricants for Driveshaft slip yokes and CV joints. My Motorcraft Driveshaft Lube has the exact same color,texture, and feel of Tetra Gun Lube and if not more slippery. Some people mention Eds Red with GM Upper Cylinder cleaner. Well, that's basically Eds Red. It's basically Kerosene, Mineral Spirits, and Acetone or Toulene or something. GM is not easy to get. Tete a old standby for cleaning engines, called Seafoam, only called that because it was originally made to clean boat engines. But, its basically again the same ingredients as the GM. Sure cleans out an engine. There's Marvel Mystery Oil, I think a large part of its Kerosene, but it contains Oil of Wintergreen, that you can get at a drugstore. Well, this a really good penetrating and lubricating oil. And it has a nice smell!! I almost thought about adding Oil of Wintergreen to Eds Red, but nobodys mentioned it. People mention adding Marvel Mystery Oil, but Marvel Mystery Oil is not much different than Eds Red except the Oil of Wintergreen.
I'll stick with my Ballistol. it seals metal. best way to describe it is like when you seal a cast iron frying pan. get it hot and keep rubbing oil on it. when the pan stops smoking, apply oil. do it over and over, pretty soon nothing will stick in it.
Ballistol works similar, with out the heat.
it cleans and lubes better than anything on the market. its the end all beat all of gun cleaner and lube, IMO.
What you are describing is "seasoning" a frying pan. From then after you must avoid getting the pan too hot and charring that seasoned surface cause then you start over. That was the way of cast iron. The oil used for that process was vegitable. Fat doesn't work so well and petro won't work at all. Remember when all race engines had caster bean oil in the gas and the air at the races reeked of the stuff? Until synthetics, caster bean was the absolute best lube anywhere. It also gummed the rings so the racer guys had to tear down the engines after evey race or so. No biggie to them. I wouldn't want this in my barrel or chamber but otherwise I am with you 100%
Dang, That brought back memorys of my dirt bike racing days in the late 60s-70's. I used to love the smell of castrol mixed with gas in my 2 strokes at the races, still do, but hardly anyone use's it anymore,all synthetics now
Dang, That brought back memorys of my dirt bike racing days in the late 60s-70's. I used to love the smell of castrol mixed with gas in my 2 strokes at the races, still do, but hardly anyone use's it anymore,all synthetics now
Hey, I did that. Tell me you never heard of Mako and their world champ Ake Johnson. Anyone that used caster oil had stuck rings after a single race. We knew caster was the best lubricant but we ran Petro. When Klotz came out we discovered it actually cleaned out plugs and we put old fouled plugs in a warmed engine and ran them a half hour till they were pristine clean. You remember any of that? Southern California, now. My experience with synthetics back then is much of the reason I am such a strong proponent to this day. Gun folk must be a very strong adherents to traditional products. My observation, anyway. I just recently found a pure synthetic gun oil named Lucas but then my life has been sheltered. I admit. All my MNs took a bath in the stuff when I first bought it.
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