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Murphy's Mix


German Jim

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Murphy's Mix (1/3 alcohol, 1/3 hydrogen perioxide, 1/3 Murphy's Oil Soap). Does it matter what kind of alcohol? Denatured, rubbing, Wild Turkey or what? I've been using rubbing alcohol and drinking the Wild Turkey :P

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Save yer money for everything but the Wild Turkey..., Use plain water to clean yer BP guns. Hot if you can get it, cold if you can't. Dry 'em good before oiling anything.

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Two Bits I use the 70% rubbing alcohol, pick it up at wally world or discount store. Important thing some of us have found is keeping the mix in the brown bottles the HO comes in as light breaks down the peroxide, it kills the fizz.

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Howdy

 

No, it does not matter, I buy denatured alcohol in the supermarket. I think it is about 80% alcohol, the rest is water.

 

For those who insist on chiming in and answering questions that were not asked, yes, water is fine to clean BP fouling. The advantages of Murphy's Mix are,

 

1. You don't have to heat it, it works fine at room temperature, and

 

2. You don't have to get it all out when you are done. Just leave it down in the gun. The water will evaporate, leaving behind the oil soap, which will infuse any fouling with oil, preventing rust. There will be no rust.

 

Good old H2O works great for cleaning BP fouling, but there are advantages to using Murphy's Mix.

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You can substitute windshield washer fluid for the water and alcohol, and then blend in a splash of the Murphy's. Just don't use it in your car. Makes a helluva mess.

 

For other purposes, I would suggest substituting George Dickel for the Wild Turkey.

Except while shooting or reloading, as we all know that whiskey and gunpowder don't mix - it tastes lousy, and doesn't shoot worth a darn. :P

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I use Isopropyl Alcohol, usually 80-90%.

 

Another thing that I do is 2/5 alcohol, 2/5 hydrogen peroxide, 1/5 murphy's. Seems to be a pretty good mix.

 

And this mix can be used for more than just cleaning. I use one small spritz in between stages to keep the action in my '73 clean, clear, and in working order. Otherwise, she starts gets gummed up towards the end of the day.

 

And, just a personal preference, but I prefer small batch bourbons.

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Murphy's mix is the only thing I use to clean my BP guns. I keep a small spray bottle of it in my cart if my revolvers get a little gummy during the match. :P

 

Dittoes on the 70-80% alcohol.

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Plus one for Driftwood. There is a good reason for the equal parts Murphy's, Alcohol and Hydrogen Peroxide. Murphy's leaves a nice oily film behind, the Alcohol acts as a drying agent and the Hydrogen Peroxide neutralizes the chemicals that contribute to corrosion.

Black Powder by itself is not very corrosive. It is hydroscopic and will absorb moisture and trap it next to the steel, hence, rust. The BP subs are corrosive by themselves and must be cleaned. Very important with brass frame guns.

Two of my main match guns now have severe pitting on the barrels because there was BP substitute on the "prop" and I set both guns down on it without realizing it was there. I was in the hospital and didn't clean the guns after the match (was in hospital). When I could get back to the gun safe, both had severe corrosion (rust) where they had touched the sub residue.

I are not happy about that. It just shows you must clean up after shooting subs.

 

Coffinmaker

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I sometimes use these ingredents, (Alch., Perox., and MO), but I mix one bottle of each from the dollor store in a gallon plastic jug, and fill it with water. Makes it go a lot further and still works well.

 

I do spray down with Ballistol when I'm done.

 

Simple water or washer fluid works as well as long as you spray down with the Ballistol when done.

 

The Alch, Perox, and MOil are available at all the Dollor stores in my area for $1.00 each bottle, and sometimes 2 for a Dollor.

 

I use APP powder exclusivly insted of real BP.

 

Greeenriver

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Greenriver - sorry to hear about your bad experience with subs. I'm kind of surprised, and am now also curious as to what kind of sub it was.

 

I use 777, and even though it's a sub I've never had a problem with corrosion, even after letting my guns sit for an extended (6 months following my heart attack) period after the last match of the year. I just end up with a grey powder that sweeps out with a few passes from a tornado brush, and then follow up with the liquid cleaning agent to get into the rifling.

 

I understand that Pyrodex is extremely hygroscopic, so maybe that's the goo you got on your guns?

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Good old H2O works great for cleaning BP fouling, but there are advantages to using Murphy's Mix.

+2 the Murphy's works great. Spray, wipe, and patch with Ballistol and yer done. :D

 

 

Murphy's mix is the only thing I use to clean my BP guns. I keep a small spray bottle of it in my cart if my revolvers get a little gummy during the match. B)

Yep, I keep a little spray bottle with about 1/4 Ballistol and 3/4 Murphy,s fer the same thing. ;)

 

Jefro :FlagAm: Relax-Enjoy

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My personal preference is to skip the peroxide as it is a strong oxidizer. In other words it will rust heck out of metal in a heartbeat if you're not careful.

 

Howdy Again

 

Drug store Hydrogen Peroxide is usually sold in a very dilute solution, usually about 3% Per Oxide to 97% water. If you further dilute it down 1/1/1 with Murphy's Oil Soap and rubbing alcohol, you wind up with a solution that contains 1% Per Oxide. With all due respect, that ain't gonna oxidize anything. As a test, before I began using Murphy's Mix on my guns, I coated a piece of low carbon steel with it and let it set for a couple of days until it dried. There was no rust. I repeat, I use this mix inside my guns, where it sits undisturbed for months, and when I finally take them apart, there is no rust.

 

The time to worry about Per Oxide oxidizing stuff is when it is in stronger concentrations, like the 30% stuff they use in hospitals for sterilizing things, or the 70% - 98% concentration that the Germans used as the oxidizing agent in the V2. Now you are talking about some pretty strong and dangerous stuff. But 1% ain't gonna rust anything.

 

The only reason I add the Per Oxide at all to my Murphy's Mix is to provide a little fizzing action which helps lift the fouling off. If one is worried about the possibility of rust, which I have already described as non-existent, one can substitute plain water for the Per Oxide.

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Greenriver - sorry to hear about your bad experience with subs. I'm kind of surprised, and am now also curious as to what kind of sub it was.

 

???????????????????? Think you got my post mixed up with the one before it, sir. I've used APP since before it was APP and still sold as CleanShot exclusivle since I started CAS, and have nothing but the best regards for it, or any of the BP subs. I've tried a bottle of everything once, and never seen a reason to use anything else in my CAS guns.

 

I use 777, and even though it's a sub I've never had a problem with corrosion, even after letting my guns sit for an extended (6 months following my heart attack) period after the last match of the year. I just end up with a grey powder that sweeps out with a few passes from a tornado brush, and then follow up with the liquid cleaning agent to get into the rifling.

 

I understand that Pyrodex is extremely hygroscopic, so maybe that's the goo you got on your guns?

 

 

I do use 777 in my 10mm ocasionaly, as it will provide enough push to reliable work the slide without changing the recoil spring. APP loads will work my 45 acp just fine. Both are Colts 1911's. I've often let my guns set over a month after using APP loads with no damage to them. Ac tialy, if you let the APP residue set a month or so, you can rap the gun smartly with your hand and use compressed air to blow most of the crud out. Much easer cleaning.

 

Greeenriver

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Around here the drug stores usually have a choice between isopropyl alcohol and ethanol. I like to use ethanol because it has a little higher vapor pressure and will evaporate quicker.

 

I also like to make up the batch fresh every time. Peroxide is light sensitive. Also, as the ratio of organics to peroxide is about 30 to 1, I am concerned that the mix loses it's hydrogen peroxide as it stands over time.

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???????????????????? Think you got my post mixed up with the one before it, sir. I've used APP since before it was APP and still sold as CleanShot exclusivle since I started CAS, and have nothing but the best regards for it, or any of the BP subs. I've tried a bottle of everything once, and never seen a reason to use anything else in my CAS guns.

 

Right you are Greenriver. I was responding to Coffinmaker's post, and apparently didn't read up far enough on my screen.

 

Sorry about the confusion.

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Of course, the problem could be eliminated, mostly, by shooting smokeless powder. :lol: -- GIT

 

What's that??? :D

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Is there a difference between denatured alcohol and isopropal/rubbing alcohol?

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Alcohol Differences

 

P.S. You can use any of them in Murphy's Mix, doesn't really matter. I usually use rubbing alcohol which is easy to find in the drugstore or drug aisle of any supermarket.

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I use Isopropyl Alcohol, usually 80-90%.

 

Another thing that I do is 2/5 alcohol, 2/5 hydrogen peroxide, 1/5 murphy's. Seems to be a pretty good mix.

 

And this mix can be used for more than just cleaning. I use one small spritz in between stages to keep the action in my '73 clean, clear, and in working order. Otherwise, she starts gets gummed up towards the end of the day.

 

And, just a personal preference, but I prefer small batch bourbons.

If you drink the 1 fifth, you probably wouldn't care till the next day or two.

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