Question: Mineral spirts effect on gun finish?

[jimhadar]

If I use mineral spirits to soak my P-64 in is there any possibility of it removing or thinning the bluing on the gun?

How long should I soak the gun in the spirits?

Will it remove the red dot below the safety?


Is it necessary to spray with brake cleaner after the soak in mineral spirts? Can the brake cleaner remove/thin the bluing or remove the red safety dot?


If so can I omit the brake fluid from the cleaning steps or is this required to remove the mineral spirits?

[normsutton]

jimhadar
no petroleum distillant will remove blue , red dot might come off , use any type of red paint , even red finger nail Polish works it even has its own brush

NORM

[hangfire]

jimhadar, Norm is 100% correct. My most recent P-64 got a 24 hour soak in mineral spirits in the hot GA sun (remove the plastic grips first), followed by a few blasts of non-synthtic Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber (wear rubber gloves for that part) which did in fact lift off the red dot, then a thorough lube.

No effect whatsoever on the bluing, if anything it looked much better than before.

[beasleydano]

Testors red enamel model paint works very well.