Need a little guidance here. I picked up a P227 Elite a while back and I'm just now getting around to cleaning it, because it is Hell on Wheels filthy and crammed with dried, greasy gunk. I'm not complaining, I probably got it for about 60% of what those are currently going for right now. But when I picked it up at the FFL, I saw it's covered in some kind of thick black grease *everywhere* on the inside, and smells almost like an engine or transmission shop. The last time I smelled something like this I was on a tour inside the Battleship Texas.

I'm wondering if it's not some kind of moly-lithium grease, it seems to stick very stubbornly to the aluminum frame and my fingers. I broke the pistol down to it's smallest parts, put them in a container and soaked them with an entire can of Gunk engine degreaser; it seems to have had little effect. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this crap out of all the small crevices?

I noticed it was even coating the firing pin and spring when I pulled it out of the slide, so it's up inside the firing pin channel, too. I swear, I don't know if the idiot that owned this before me accidentally dropped it in a bucket of grease or did this on purpose...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TexasRaider,

You might try soaking it in “mineral spirits” from the hardware store. And brushing it a stiff bristle (not wire) brush. When I was a kid that’s what I used to clean old bearing grease out of wheel bearings.

I vaguely remember reading that moly grease can damage aluminum. I hope I’m mistaken about that.

Perhaps it is cosmoline?
If it is, the “mineral spirits” suggestion is appropriate (some say Simple Green works).

PC

Well, don't know what it was, might have been cosmoline, might have been industrial lube, axle grease...you guess is as good as mine. It appears the previous owner either completely dipped this pistol into a bucket of some liquid shop grease or used a grease gun to shoot it into every tiny crevice. It was even coating the inside of one magazine. Go figure.

Good news is, I got 95% of it out. Really wish I'd have taken a before pic, it was so caked in sooty black on the outside with a white stain of blistered or burned off grease around the muzzle end of the slide. It also had a ton of dust sticking to the dried out grease on the inside of the frame by the sear and hammer pin, it was like some abandoned hydraulic machinery left out in a dusty field for a few years. I have never seen anything or smelled anything like it on handgun.

I'd get it if this was some recently discovered M1 Carbine from the Philippines left over from WWII or Korea, but who does this to a 2014 manufactured Sig P227 Elite?

Anyway, I broke it down to all the small pieces, put it in a Tupperware bowl, filled it with Gunk spray and left overnight. That slightly dented the problem. Then I got some really sticky, stinky Gunk Gel...coated every single piece, frame and slide and left in a sealed Tupperware bowl soaking for about 30 hours. When I came back, it started coming off. Then went over piece with a nylon brush while blasting it with CRC Brakleen non-chlorinated brake cleaner. Then for good measure, hit every piece again with Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber while scrubbing them.

The E2 grips still stink, can't really get the white staining off them, but don't care. Not going to use them anyway. Already got a set of Hogue G10 checkered grips on it, now it just needs a set of X-Ray sights and a P224 slide lock, should be good to go!





Guess I didn't mind all the elbow grease and chem dunks, since I ended up getting it for near half what these things are going for on some auction sites.
Been wanting a P227 Elite for some time, but just couldn't justify the $1600+ prices I've been seeing.

Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol is a degreaser, and should not hurt anything.

Would the old trick of removing cosmoline by using a high wattage light bulb as a heat source inside a metal can?

I’ve heard of that being used when mil-surplus guns and parts were found packed in it.