[chabochi]

Hello, my name is Rudy and this is my first post.
I am a gun owner and I am wondering about how to clean my rifle and all the accumulated residue derived from my military surplus ammunition which has Potassium Chloride in the Primers. After shooting the rifle, the Potassium Chloride gets into the barrel and areas surrounding the bullet shell. This creates a residue which most gun owners simply refer to as salt. But it is specifically, Potassium Chloride. Anyways, there is a lot of unsubstantiated debate on the gun forums over which techniques are most effective at removing the "salt" from their guns. The most common techniques involve water, and/or Windex(which has water and ammonia), and a gun solvent known as Hoppe's #9. IMO, water would work fine to remove "salt' from a gun but then this seems counterintuitive; i.e., using water to prevent gun rust. Of course, those who choose to use water also use gun oils and/or gun solvents after using water to remove the water. Well, after reading dozens of comments on gun forums that go both ways. It is a frustrating experience to read all the conflicting comments from the know-it-alls. I figured it might be a good idea to take this question to a chemistry forum.

My ultimate question is, can Hoppes#9 gun solvent be sufficient to clean a gun from its usual residue and the Potassium Chloride?

Here is the list of ingredients of Hoppe's #9 as accurate as i could find online...
Ethyl Alcohol <35%
Kerosene      <35%
Trade secret ingredients <25%
Organic Ester(trade secret) <10%
Ammonia, aqueous <10%

[Dan]

KCl is unlikely to be very soluble in a mixture with such low water content. Water would be much more effective at removing KCl - I would suggest warm water with a bit of detergent if there are oily residues covering the salt crystals. Then apply the normal gun solvent.

Have you tried this #9 stuff? If you wan't to know if something works, I suggest doing the experiment.

[408]

People told me to use hoppes #9 when I started shooting corrosive, but i also questioned it because of KCL low solubility in organic solvents.  I use windex, then hoppes, then G96 or another generic gun oil.  A friend also just pours boiling water all over the thing and down the barrel, with high focus on the gas system of course, and then oils it.  Neither of us have seen any rust.  So both seem to work well enough

PS:  It is K chlorate in the primers.  after reaction is is potassium chloride.

[enahs]

With cleaning things, it is often best to do a two pronged approach.

I am not sure about the exact parts in the rifles you are using; but this is how I would approach it.

Water to remove the KCl (and many other things), best choice for it.

I would then use acetone to remove the water as well as any water insoluble oils left inside.

Both are cheap.