Kroil

[golfer]

Anyone use Kroil to clean their M4? I'm new to the M4 arena, but have used Kroil as part of my maintenance of my other guns. Though I would ask what you folks thought of it for the M4.
Thanks much and Merry Christ mas.

[RazorBurn]

I use Kroil a lot to clean rust off old sportered milsurp rifles that I restore. It's a great penetrating oil, and combined with bronze wool and some elbow grease it will remove rust from actions without damaging the bluing underneath. That said, I'd recommend Hoppes #9 for cleaning, and the oil of your choice for final wipedown. As Kroil is touted as a penetrating oil (which it's darn good at IMHO), I would only use Kroil for that aspect.

[USMC_Anglico]

Kroil shines when it comes to penetrating rusty fasteners. It's viscosity is extremely thin. There are much better alternatives for cleaning weapons out there. I would save it for those rusty suspension and header bolts.

[T2C]

Kroil works great on old Mil Surp rifles after shooting filthy, highly corrosive, ammunition. I do not believe it is necessary for M4 maintenance. Use Hoppe's # 9 or something similar and save the Kroil for cleaning the old Mauser or Mosin Nagant you buy from a pawn shop.

[golfer]

OK, thanks guys. I wondered how it might be for removing carbon buildup and such. I use it to get under the crud on my other guns and to actually remove lead build up in my pistols.
Best to you.

[Lefty223]

FWIW the best penetrating oil one can use is a homemade mix of 50% acetone and 50% automatic transmission fluid (ATF).

Recently “Machinist Workshop Magazine” did a test on penetrating oils. Using nuts and bolts that they ‘scientifically rusted’ to a uniform degree by soaking in salt water, they then tested the break-out torque required to loosen the nuts. They treated the nuts with a variety of penetrants and measured the torque required to loosen them.

This is what they came up with:

Nothing: 516 lbs
WD-40: 238 lbs;
PB Blaster: 214 lbs;
Liquid Wrench: 127 lbs,
Kano Kroil: 106 lbs
(ATF)/Acetone mix (50/50 mix): 50 lbs.

[sinister]

50-50 Shooter's Choice and Kroil is used by a lot of benchrest and highpower shooters.

The 50-50 ATF and acetone is an old stand-by. Ed's Red is also a good home-brew that has been used for years by precision shooters. http://www.handloads.com/articles/?id=9