Can You Clean A Perkarize Finish On A 1911

Thread Status:: Not open for further replies.

avalys Fellow member

Joined:

Dec xxx, 2022

Messages:

24
I have had a stainless steel Kimber for a while, and a Springfield XDm. Both are prissy and easy to clean - apply some solvent, wipe, and everything just comes right off.
I have since bought a Springfield Range Officer. Information technology has a parkerized finish, which feels great in the hand and looks very cool - simply man, is it a pain to clean. The cease is so rough that dirt, oil and debris stick to it and are near incommunicable to remove. Wiping with a clean cotton textile, in that location is and so much friction the fabric virtually seems to get stuck, and actually gets abraded and torn up in short gild. Forget about q-tips. It is adjacent to impossible to get all the debris and gunk out of the slide rails/rail slots - no matter how much I spray, wipe and option at them, there are yet petty pieces of gunk and specks of debris stuck in there that don't want to elevator off the surface. When I wipe, they movement perhaps a few millimeters down the runway, and that's it. The friction of the parkerized surface makes it almost impossible to wipe downwardly. It takes me like 10x longer to clean the Range Officer than whatsoever other pistol.

Is this only how a parkerized 1911 is? Should I endeavor using a more ambitious solvent? I have been using Break-Gratis CLP, and also Gunslick Ultra-Klenz. These piece of work great on my other guns, I've never needed annihilation more aggressive. I have a few rifles with what I understand is a "parkerized" end, simply it is nowhere nearly as abrasive as the Range Officeholder.

Mayhap I am just being too anal. It is so easy to clean the stainless 1911 that it takes nearly no effort to get information technology to factory-new status, so I have become used to wiping every little speck of clay out of every nook and cranny.

Whatsoever thoughts?
Too anal. A parkerized finish holds oil well. That is it'southward potent bespeak IMO. I have an old SA that is parkerized. Wipe it downwardly with a slick oily rag and call it expert.
0to60 Fellow member

Joined:

Feb 22, 2022

Messages:

412
It won't ever await as proficient every bit one if those glossier finishes, just it can look cool in its own style.
The park'd finish is considered "unfinished", in that it needs something to fill in all the micro-roughness. I like to oestrus mine upward a petty by holding it over the stove, and then smearing Vaseline all over it. Let it sit a solar day and then wipe it down with a newspaper towel. Information technology will remain "wet" and looking expert. And a lot tougher.
Old JMB knew exactly what he was doing when he adult the 1911. No need to use Q-tips to clean the recesses. Do y'all think the Marines in the Pacific in WW II had Q-tips? Like Walkalong said, wipe it off, clean any excess clay off, oil it slightly, and call it a solar day. The parkerized cease is one of the most durable and rust-resistent finishes that has ever been developed. If you really, really retrieve it needs a expert cleaning, get a can of aerosol brake cleaner, remove the grips, and squirt away.
avalys Member

Joined:

December 30, 2022

Messages:

24
My business organization is that the grit and debris I am unable to get out of the slide/frame rails will advance wear in those areas. Not worth worrying near?
If its small enough to stay backside with a wipe of an oily rag its small-scale plenty, information technology'due south minor enough to non be of concern. Parker does like to be bathed in oil and wiped down. I much adopt the await of a parkered gun just wiped down.
rdhood Member

Joined:

Jun 5, 2007

Messages:

943
Make clean it completely oil it with a clean rag and put some motorcar wax on it for the summer.
Keeps it from rusting from sweat a piddling more than.
Buy an air compressor. Soak, brush, blow. Reoil. Compressed air will brand you life and then much easier and Volition become all of that crud out of the nooks. You know you need i anyway. And then you lot can start buying air tools. Don't worry near the "dust" in the track. It volition take care of itself.
It'south not the parkerizing itself. It is the grit blasted terminate that goes on earlier the park. I have a stainless 1911 with the same mil spec coarse sandblasting and it as well takes an extra wipe or 2 to get make clean even though there is no park at that place.
J.
I bought a RO,virtually a month ago, probably my 5th Parkerized gun. Dissatisfied with the finish on all the others, and wanting to keep the RO dainty; I used the net to research how to care for the cease. Here's what I found:
Park does little to protect the steel just it does provide a porous surface to concur the oil so as to prevent rust. Therefore, oil is the best friend of the finish. Did find a few,threads recommending to broil the,disassembled, well oiled frame and slide for a few hours at the everyman oestrus setting of your oven. I did this,a,few times only it didn't seem to be any better than just oiling the gun at room temperature. Just wiping with a micro-fiber or lint-costless cloth does cutting down on streaks and dust.

One guy posted that the worst thing he ever did to Park was to wax it;'said it took him hours to strip it off.

I'grand trying to oil information technology down at least in one case a week and wil proceed to do so until I fall in love with a new gun. Information technology does seem to look a lot ameliorate than when new.

YMMV.
I traded for the parked SA I linked to around 25+ years ago and it has no rust. All I practice is clean and rub oil on information technology. I usually just utilise my fingers to rub oil on guns. I wipe off backlog with a rag.
I practise similar Walkalong merely I clothing safety gloves when cleaning my guns. Only dab some oil on the glove and rub it on with my fingers. Then blot the excess with a rag. No lint. It does go easier to maintain with age and oil assimilation.
jdh Member

Joined:

January v, 2008

Messages:

one,320
Retire to the Platoon office.
Lock the door.
Open lock on foot locker.
Remove non-residue parts cleaner donated by the motor sgt.
Field strip 1911.
Liberally spray parts with cleaner.
Hit stubborn build up with tooth brush equally needed.
Run patch down bore.
Repeat if needed.
Spray parts again every bit needed.
Permit air dry out.
Apply CLP as directed in manual.
Return to secured storage the "magic" cleaning materials.
Turn pistol (works for the M16 as well) into the arms room.
Don't let anyone know how you got your pistol Armorer plough in inspection passing clean in record time and on the first try.
Supervise your troops struggling to pass plow in inspection.
The adept old days.
I'd stay abroad from the restriction cleaner's and degreasers many of these guys are recommending. Yous want as much oil on that parkerized finish as possible, you don't want to strip it off.
Yup. Buy a stenciling brush and just "paint" a thin layer of oil all over the gun. Forget near using a rag. Park and rags do not mix. It'south like trying to make clean a piece of sandpaper with a Kleenex. Just brush some oil on it. If you use any kind of solvent that strips the oil off you must supercede all of it ASAP. I only use CLP to clean and get out a thin layer on the metal. Information technology doesn't need to be "dripping", just moisture. You don't demand to apply any brake solvent crap. Just CLP. Knock the grime off with an M16 brush and accident it off with air. Any Park on the rails will polish itself off with employ. Merely go on information technology coated with a little oil or CLP. I have an old Mil spec from 1990 that has never had annihilation merely CLP used on it. Information technology still looks like new.
Just use patches soaked in hoppe's (or clp) to make clean. Toothbrush for the rails. Oil soaked patches to finish. You have a nighttime stop that'll always show specks after cleaning and oiling, don't worry about it.
yes, that is a LOT easier than screwing around with Q-tips and patches folded into piddling wedgesthis, too
jdh Fellow member

Joined:

Jan v, 2008

Messages:

i,320
"stay abroad from the brake cleaner'southward and degreasers" Thank goodness I employ carb cleaner for its carbon build up cut ability.
Personally I prefer to remove the remains of the lubricant that has become contaminated with clay, grit, carbon, metal particles, and such and outset over with a fresh application CLP. A shaving castor makes an first-class applicator. With practice y'all can leave a sparse even coat even getting into the crooks and nannies without leaving the towel fuzz everywhere.

As long every bit the LGS does not jack the price upwardly too loftier the ones I have that get heavy employ will continue to get their almanac ultrasonic bath which really does remove any trace of oil from them.
"Oil Buffing" (saturating the micro nooks and crannies with oil/CLP/whateva) seems to be a lost art.
I have ever started past stripping a new (or new to me) firearm of any old grease oil & crud using hot water and simple green (Rinse REALLY well!) or whatever potent degreaser I could lay my hands on, and getting it really dry out. If you don't accept a compressor handy, you can get some proficient results using a can of 'Dust Off' or like tin o' air for cameras/computers.

Slather it with a thick glaze of CLP and leave it in the dominicus, or on a radiator- any where it'll go good and hot. Wipe it with a clean dry absorptive rag ( I similar a cloth diaper). Repeat. Echo. I've fifty-fifty alternated the sunshine with a few hours in the freezer.

Washed properly, the Parkerizing volition have a slightly greasy feel, merely information technology won't wipe off on a fabric (or clothing!) and will have a faint sheen in potent light.
I learned that parkerizing and cosmoline go together. Military buys parkerized guns, packs them in cosmoline, puts them in a 150degree in the summer warehouse for years.
The heat "opens upward the pores" in the metal (not actually just the idea is valid) and the cosmoline soaks in to the parkerized cease. When it'south time to utilise the gun, the extra cosmoline gets cleaned off and y'all've got a gun that can get into the jungle without rusting away in a week.
For me personally, I'll take my parkerized guns, coat 'em in froglube, sit them either outside in the sun for a day or blast it with the hair dryer. One to two treatments of that, and they stay perfectly clean from in that location on out.
You probably run your bandage iron fry pan through dishwasher also.
jdh Member

Joined:

Jan five, 2008

Messages:

1,320
Nope. Information technology is well enough seasoned it cleans upwardly very well with the wipe of a dry cloth or, heavens prevent, a newspaper towel. Oh BTW, it is also well over a hundred years onetime now also. AND information technology was ane of my few possessions that survived the conflagration. Wire brushed the rust off, it was buried in wet ash for two weeks, and re-seasoned with lard. Information technology is now back in service but with only 12 months of accumulated blackning instead of a hunderd years worth. The fire was hot enough to melt anything made of aluminum all the same my antique skillet is still cooking.
It seems to me, you'd be ameliorate off to care for your parkerized pistols the same as your cast iron skillet? Information technology's the aforementioned concept of seasoning. Heck, yous don't fifty-fifty accept to eat annihilation that comes off your pistol.
I never degrease my cast atomic number 26 fry pan and I never degrease my pistols. They get wiped down and are clean, and they get extra oil, but they're never degreased.