the water we use

[buckknife]

The water we use to clean and in say our moosemilk.Would it be better to use distilled water with a ph of 7 which is netural in acid.What happens if it lens toward the alkiline side with a ph of 10 or so.
I use well water which has nuthin added like clorine or what ever,but i wonder if it has a ph that is less than 7,like a 4 ot 5 like acid rain.
No i dont drink it :haha:
Is there a chemist in the house who could explain some of this and would distilled water be better if you have no idea what the ph levels are in the water?I found out most alcohols have a ph of 6,could that patch i run down the bore help dry it or remove lube before shooting attually promote rust?

 

[Legionair]

I'm no scientist.

That being said, I would think clean rain water would be best.... Less'n you live in 'Jersey.

Just an opinion....

Legion

 

[Swampman]

I've used all kinds of creek water and even water from mudholes. Coffee works pretty good in a pinch. As long as it isn't hot, there won't be a problem. I use alcohol to swab the bore prior to hunting season and leave the barrel unlubed for up to 3 months after that until the hunting season ends.

 

[buckknife]

Give you an idea of what thinken about[url] http://ga.water.usgs[/url].gov/edu/phdiagram.html
When water is mixed with dish soap or murphys oil soap will the ph level rise?Or will it become more alkiline.If it becomes more alkiline is that better?Lye is more alkline than water yet ive been told it is corrisive to metal.
thats why im asking if there is a chemist in the house.

 

[roundball]

"...could that patch i run down the bore help dry it or remove lube before shooting attually promote rust?..."

An answer from a chemical engineer might be intersting, but from a practical point of view, you could just stop using the alcohol patch.

My bores are kept well lubed with borebutter but all I do before getting ready to shoot is dry patch it once to remove excess lube...I really don't want to remove every trace of lube...but that's just the way I do it.

 

[trent/OH]

Anyone who owns a pool probably owns a pool test kit, which usually can measure chlorine concentration and pH.

 

[Mad Professor]

The water we use to clean and in say our moosemilk.Would it be better to use distilled water with a ph of 7 which is netural in acid.What happens if it lens toward the alkiline side with a ph of 10 or so.
I use well water which has nuthin added like clorine or what ever,but i wonder if it has a ph that is less than 7,like a 4 ot 5 like acid rain.
No i dont drink it :haha:
Is there a chemist in the house who could explain some of this and would distilled water be better if you have no idea what the ph levels are in the water?I found out most alcohols have a ph of 6,could that patch i run down the bore help dry it or remove lube before shooting attually promote rust?

Yea I'm a chemist (pH D), teach at a college.

The water will depend on both whats dissolved in it and the pH. Salts are corrosive, chlorine's an oxidizing agent (pure clorox will eat through stainless steel), and low pH promotes iron oxidation (rust).

Rain water may have corrosives in it, (e.g. nitic and sulfuric acids) acid rain has been measured lower pH than vinegar, but this will vary, in theory it's been distilled by mother nature it's just a matter of what man has added upwind of you.

Slightly alkaline/basic water may inhibit rust. Adding soaps (salts of fatty acids) will make things slightly basic, lye (sodium/potassium hydroxide) strongly basic. Strong bases are corrosives.

That being said, is better to clean than not clean even with the stuff Swampman has tried above! For instance coffee contains caffine an alkoloid making it weakly alkaline, might inhibit rust? Clean creekwater in most cases is quite benign , unless there's a lot of minerals dissolved, avoid mineshaft runoffs though, quite acidic.

If you use alcohols isopropanol (dry gas is 100% don't use the drugstore stuff, 29-9% water) is prefered to methanol ("cheap" dry gas) as methanol is surprisingly acidic. This goes for dry gas in your cars too, do you enjoy rebuilding carbs/injectors/pumps and replacing gas line? Most of the ethanol (the stuff you can drink, "grain" alcohol) is 95% with the rest water so you're still left with water, although it's not as acidic as methanol. Has the benifit that you can take a sip when done cleaning :grin:

CAUTION: they "denature" ethanol with stuff like benzene to prevent comsumption if the vendor has not paid uncle Sam his take; know you're source!

 

[oomcurt]

Just my two cents...nothing wrong with what you are doing or looking for info on...but, methinks you are getting a bit to well....technical for the job you wish to do..cleaning the gun. I don't test the water I use for ph..nor do I know of anyone that did..until I read your post. I've used well water, ditch water..you name it over the years and never ran into a problem. Nor do I use alcohol of any sort to help dry the barrel after cleaning, I do squirt WD 40 down it and swab that with a dry patches on a worm, inspect the patches each time until I am satisfied.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Opinions are akin to that certain bodily orifice, we all have one.

But, whatever ph H2o you use, after it hits the fouling, bear in mind. The quality of oats at the horse's mouth, is not the same as that exiting the horse's other unnamed orifice.

In short, no matter how pristine the water starts out, BP fouling is one pretty corrosive mix.

After several decades of cleaning with whatever water was available, I have found no adverse effects from any.

 

[buckknife]

Thank you,that is what i wanted to know.

 

[buckknife]

If you guys are wondering ware i was going with this it is that i have very hard water.There is limestone in the ground everyware around here and some coal deposits that are high in sulfur.
Distilled water is cheap and i have feeling its got to be better than the hard water im using.

 

[sidelock]

L&C used to test the water with a chem set every nite before cleaning ---- just in case their GRIZ load for the next day would go off without a rusty gun problem. :hmm: If the water was realy hard they would use spacel grind stones to soften it up. :hmm:

 

[buckknife]

If L&C would just use there wd40 or clp they would never had to have any concerns at all. :snore:

 

[JeffinNZ]

MAD PROF: Can you define 'denatured' for me please? :hmm:

 

[Mad Professor]

MAD PROF: Can you define 'denatured' for me please? :hmm:

They put stuff in it to make it unpalatable/poisonous. Our govt. doesn't want you to drink it if they didn't collect their share (tax). They used to use stuff like benzene, which has since been found to be carcinogenic.

Here's a list of stuff that I've seen currently used as denaturants: methanol, isopropanol, ethylacetate, methylisobutylketone, hydrocarbons (a distillate similar to gasoline without the additives).