Cleaning live Ammunition with Gasoline...

M

mellow_c

New member
I was reading a book a while back called "Good to Go" about a Navy Seal and his experience in Vietnam.

In the book he mentioned more than once that when they got back from a mission they would throw all their ammo and gun parts into a bucket of gas, and then scrub everything perfectly clean, wipe it down, and reassemble so that they could be sure everything was 'good to go' for the next mission.

It might have been diesel fuel? I don't remember for sure.

Anyone ever heard of doing this, or actually done this themselves? I'm not really wondering about doing this for cleaning a gun, but more for cleaning the ammunition.

They would frequently become submerged in water, ammo and all during their missions. Would dumping your ammo in a bucket of gas for a quick soak, followed by a through wipe down 'make everything better'?

I cant see any practical use for this idea in normal civilian life, but I found it interesting and thought I'd ask around...:)
 
I seem to remember reading that back in the day, they did the same thing to clean cosmoline off newly issued rifles -- filled a 55 gal. drum with gasoline and dumped 'em in. Scary... and yes, gas was a lot cheaper then.
 
Gasoline used to very commonly used as a cleaning agent. More emphasis on environmental issues and safety has tended to minimize that in the last 20 or 30 years.

Gasoline was great for cleaning gun parts. Dissolves about any kind of oil or grease and evaporates immediately. It has a very low viscosity so easily gets into crevices and tight spots.

I never saw any ammo cleaned with gas, I would be afraid that it's low viscosity would allow it to contaminate the cartridge by seeping around primers or bullets that weren't perfectly sealed.
 
NEVER clean ANYTHING with gasoline !!!!!!!
Click to expand...

OP is talking about something that happened in Vietnam nearly 40-50 years ago or so. Resources for doing almost anything were limited; You used what was available to you, including cleaning your grease covered fatigues in Avgas on the flightline.
 
Considering Vietnam-era training films I watched where we were trained to lube ammunition in some instances I'm not greatly surprised.
 
you can get special gun degreasers that remove old oil,gummy copper solvents that leak into nicks and crannies while cleaning the bore.

they work well and have a plastic straw just like WD40 for spraying into nicks and crannies.which allows you to clean your gun without disasembling it which means you dont have to re gun tight all those screws
 
Back in the days before anyone cared about such things, a favorite parts cleaner was a mix of kerosene and tar remover.
Sometimes with some paint thinner thrown in.
And, yes, some used straight gasoline.
Had to make real sure the fumes didn't collect anywhere, though.
Outdoors was thought to be ok.
That was when men were men and nobody really expected to live much past 65, if they were lucky.
 
The Army also let GIs soak in Agent Orange in Viet Nam so I take what they do with a bit of caution.

Years back the bosses used to have vats of carbon tetrachoride setting around the shop floor for degreasing parts and cleaning the oil and grease off our hands and such. They did until we started reading the labels and saw what it could do.

I used to sit on the living room floor watch TV and clean and rebuild carburetors in a pan of gasoline while I smoked and had a few beers. My daughter would crawl around and put washers and bolts in her mouth and spit the ones with gas on them out. I'd have to wait a day or two to get the ones she swallowed back. I don't do that anymore. Neither does she which I'm thankful for.

tipoc
 
My grand father was a mechanic and used gasoline to clean anything greasy. He was careful to use it outside or in the garage with the doors wide open. Great solvent, but a bit volatile....
 
Originally posted by JWT:

My grand father was a mechanic and used gasoline to clean anything greasy.
Click to expand...

Growing up as a kid, gas was the most commonly used solvent to clean anything it did not dissolve. Other solvents and detergents were not as good as they are now, nor were they as readily available. Thank goodness times have changed.
 
Right here in Mpls/St Paul a guy made the news a couple years ago. He was a mechanic with greasy clothes and regularly threw a couple cups of gasoline in the washing machine with his clothes. It was an apartment building and one day his practice caused a fire in the laundry room. The other tenants were (understandably) upset with the guy and said so on TV. (Plus the machine he used always smelled like gasoline after he was through.)

Military ammo usually has a sealant around the bullet and primer to make the ammo more water resistant. I would think washing the ammo in gasoline would disolve the sealant and degrade the ammo.

Also to deactivate primers I've heard oil will do it. Gasoline might too.

Also heard about a cop that every night sprayed his revolver with WD-40, including the ammo and then wiped it down. When he went to the range all he got was six clicks. The primers were dead.

If the guy said they did it in Viet Nam they probably did but it certainly would not be a good idea. But I wasn't there.
 
Heck, I've seen entire aircraft hangar floors cleaned with "wet" Avgas:eek:
Yes it was absatively, posalutely prohibited, but 10/15 Gal of 115/130 & scrubbing with a broom & flushed with a fire hose works wonders for oil & glycol stains when there's an inspection coming up.:eek:
 
As a motorcycle enthusiast, I've cleaned filthy bike parts (gunked in dirt, oils, etc) with Diesel and it works very well.
I don't know about gasoline as I never used it, but it may be possible if you had nothing else.
 
Clean ammunition but with risks

Gasoline is a great solvent but strongly discouraged for cleaning anything including ammunition.

Besides high volatility and inherent explosive nature, it also contains some nasty aromatic hydrocarbons. Among them is benzene. It imparts a sweet smell to old gasoline and is an extremely potent carcinogen with exposure via inhalation, ingestion, and absorption through the skin.

Use gasoline in engines and use less dangerous agents for cleaning ammunition.
 
There were many times in the military that something had to be cleaned and resources were limited ( read non existent ). I have used red and purple gasoline ( for those who are baffled by red and purple gasoline, low and high octane, colored with dye so as to prevent mix up between trucks and planes ), diesel and anything else that would work. You used what you had on hand and did what had to be done, however, I have never seen any ammo cleaned with gasoline, just wiped off, inspected, and magazines reloaded.:)
 
I've heard of cleaning in kerosene but not gasoline. Wouldn't want to smoke and clean your rifle.:eek:

P.S. I was referring to cleaning rifle parts, not ammo. Never heard of cleaning ammo with gasoline or kerosene. In fact, I don't recall ever hearing about cleaning ammo, other than wiping it off with a dry rag.
 
Last edited:
We had gallon cans of tricoethylene we used to clean just about anything. It was far better than straight gas or mo-gas as a solvent.

I learned much later that it was not something you wanted to get on your skin.
 
Way back in my USMC days, we'd use a big pan of diesel fuel to clean the M60a1 machine guns after an exercise. Definitely an outdoor activity. I recall thinking it was kind of odd, but it did dissolve grease and the parts came out clean. Not as volatile as gas, but the aroma just wasn't as nice as Hoppe's #9, which is what we used on the M16s and 1911s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top