Hydrgen Peroxide?

[Billnpatti]

Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer. The hydrogen peroxide molecule is a water molecule with an extra oxygen atom attached. A water molecule is quite stable but by adding an extra oxygen atom, it becomes unstable, that is, it is more reactive than water. It wants to give up the extra oxygen atom and become more stable. The way it gives up the extra oxygen atom is to give it to something with which oxygen wants to combine or react. The thing it finds in your bore are the iron molecules in the barrel. Oxygen and iron love one another and readily form iron oxide (rust). And that is how hydrogen peroxide causes rust in your bore. Many have used it and many more continue to use it to clean their bores. But, after hydrogen peroxide has given up its extra oxygen atom, it becomes water and that is what is doing the cleaning. Why not just start with water to begin with and eliminate the rust problem?

And thus, endeth the lesson.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

And GOOD lesson, thank you.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Rust? great now take that extra oxygen molecule and add it to rust....what does it create?

and this is of course after we add the Hydrogen peroxide to the murphy's and the isopropyl which both love that extra o2 molecule as does the fouling in the bore. Remember when hydrogen peroxide bubbles that's that extra o2 being given off into the atmosphere. :grin:

 

[Billnpatti]

The lesson has ended. Take the knowledge and do as ye will.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Over the years I have found and used many recipes and bottles of elixirs for cleaning BP. I even have a friend who swears by break fluid.

The key word is cleaning. Unless you find a way to wave the solution over barrel and the fouling falls out; you are down to rod and patch.

I have yet to find anything simpler than hot water with a few drops of Murphy’s or other soap pumped through the barrel. This is followed by plain hot water and a patch to dry the barrel out. Next I spray WD 40 down the bore to drive out the water and wipe it out with a patch. Finally I wipe the bore with 100% Balistol and leave the patch and ram rod in the barrel.

Just one of many ways to skin the cat.

 

[gonpce]

I just use windex for cleaning, let dry a few minutes and then oil. No problems been doing it this way for years

 

[Col. Batguano]

While I understand the natural human curiosity of wanting to find new ways to trap a new and improved 21st century mouse, at the end of the day, it's still just a mouse that you want to trap.

Our goal is just getting rid of fouling and to prevent rust. They don't learn our tricks the way that mice do. Soap and water still work.

 

[good ole boy]

Brake fluid! :nono: That stuff would gum up and be a huge mess I would think.Maybe you meant Brake cleaner which I,ve never used on a rifle but do use it for a lot of degreasing and cleaning chores and it dries fast with no residue.

 

[eaglesnester]

The United States and Great Britain used Hydrogen Peroxide as an oxidizer in their torpedoes. (hydrogen peroxide and alcohol, called Navol) The former Soviet Union still used it as a propellent and I think Russia still does. The US and Great Britain stopped using it when the British had a catastrophic failure with one of their fish on board a submarine. Seems the hydrogen peroxide leaked inside the fish and came into contact with a material that caused a sudden explosion and the subsequent detonation of the warhead, with the loss of the entire boat and crew. Hy Per. is not a good material to clean your firearm with. I think when it comes into contact with burnt black powder and carbon U will get mucho heat real quick.

 

[MacRob46]

Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer. The hydrogen peroxide molecule is a water molecule with an extra oxygen atom attached. A water molecule is quite stable but by adding an extra oxygen atom, it becomes unstable, that is, it is more reactive than water. It wants to give up the extra oxygen atom and become more stable. The way it gives up the extra oxygen atom is to give it to something with which oxygen wants to combine or react. The thing it finds in your bore are the iron molecules in the barrel. Oxygen and iron love one another and readily form iron oxide (rust). And that is how hydrogen peroxide causes rust in your bore. Many have used it and many more continue to use it to clean their bores. But, after hydrogen peroxide has given up its extra oxygen atom, it becomes water and that is what is doing the cleaning. Why not just start with water to begin with and eliminate the rust problem?

And thus, endeth the lesson.

That is why I thoroughly dry and heavily oil the bore. I have had NO rust from this process, ever, and it cleans the bore thoroughly. The foaming action of the H30 seems to be what removes the fouling.

 

[robinsroost]

Brake fluid! :nono: That stuff would gum up and be a huge mess I would think. Maybe you meant Brake cleaner

Brake cleaner or carburetor cleaner work very well to clean the burnt carbon out of small hard to get to areas, like patent breech's or nipples. The little red straw that comes, attached to the can, just fits in a nipple. Keep yer powder dry......Robin :wink:

 

[FishDFly]

The United States and Great Britain used Hydrogen Peroxide as an oxidizer in their torpedoes. (hydrogen peroxide and alcohol, called Navol) The former Soviet Union still used it as a propellent and I think Russia still does. The US and Great Britain stopped using it when the British had a catastrophic failure with one of their fish on board a submarine. Seems the hydrogen peroxide leaked inside the fish and came into contact with a material that caused a sudden explosion and the subsequent detonation of the warhead, with the loss of the entire boat and crew. Hy Per. is not a good material to clean your firearm with. I think when it comes into contact with burnt black powder and carbon U will get mucho heat real quick.

Seems you have never used a combination of hydrogen peroxide, alcohol and Murphy's soap. Your thinking is not correct and lacks experience.

Have you actually used it? I have for about 30 years and have not seen mucho heat real quick.

 

[curator]

Using H2O2 to clean "reenactor" fouled muskets for many years, I know that much heat is generated. Sometimes the barrels become almost too hot to touch.The "foaming action" literally scrubs out the caked-on fouling like nothing else. When shooting patched ball or even minie' bullets, no where near that amount of fouling is created,and there is also some oil or wax in the barrel as well.

Hydrogen peroxide will cause rusting if not neutralized properly. However, if cleaning two dozen replica Brown Bess muskets with barrels pinned to the stocks, the time and effort savings is considerable as well as the cleaning much more thorough. I have inspected the bores of these guns using a endoscope to be sure ALL the fouling is removed and I could see absolutely no pitting or erosion from more than 15 years of using this procedure. Believe me, our muskets got a lot of use in the several living history reenactments we put on each year.

Having inspected muskets brought by outside reenactors, and cleaned using water or other "proprietary" cleaning solvents, I nearly always found hard carbon deposits (as well as pitting or rust) in the breech area that a breech plug scraper could not reach or remove. I have considered this to be a safety issue as residual carbon deposits could be responsible for a "cook-off" after several rapid shots and then powder is poured down the hot barrel. This could be even more dangerous if ramming a ball as the compression of the air in the bore could excite a smoldering ember.