Noob moment this weekend...already!

[Andrew17019]

So last night I was attempting in one of my free nights away from work to clean about half of my guns, which I've fired in the past week.

Everything was going smoothly, and I had just finished my Savage 10FP and Sig 522 when I moved onto my AR. I had oiled it up well (shoot 'em wet!) and put over 100 rounds through it earlier in the week, so I decided that it was time for a good solvent dunk (hadn't done one in a while, probably almost 1K rounds ago). I took apart my BCG and charging handle and threw the pieces into the first thing that I grabbed: a red plastic Solo cup (MISTAKE 1!). I threw some solvent into the cup and let the pieces sit while I was working on the upper's nooks and crannies (which, after years of cleaning ARs, are still a pain in the ass).

A few minutes later, I started to smell solvent VERY strongly and at that point realized: Solvent will eat through plastic. As that thought passed through my head, I thought...not a big deal, I'll just transfer all the pieces over to something else. I picked up the cup, or more correctly, I picked up HALF of the cup, since the solvent had eaten a ring around the bottom of the cup. Solvent poured all over my workspace, which is covered in a PLASTIC mat for me to work on. All of the pieces inside the cup WERE COVERED IN MELTED SOLO CUP!

While simultaneously cursing myself for being so stupid, the makers of Solo for making such a thin cup, and the solvent for doing its job, I grabbed the bottom of the cup, still filled with my plastic covered BCG parts, and ran to the sink (MISTAKE 2!). IMMEDIATELY as I placed the parts in the sink, the firing pin jumped, as if by itself, and threw itself down the drain. Covered in solvent, inhaling solvent vapors at an alarming rate, and pissed off beyond imagination, I spent the next 10 minutes with my arm down the sink, trying to retrieve the firing pin from the bladed grasp of the garbage disposal.

After retrieving the firing pin, I spent the next hour scrubbing all my BCG parts to clean off the melted plastic, wiping up the solvent which had eaten the top layer off my plastic mat, and kicking myself for pulling such a NOOB mistake.

Thought I'd share my little mishap with you all so you can tear me apart and possibly laugh with me.....and maybe prevent some other retard from pulling the same stunt that I just pulled!

[algoesfast]

Thanks for the laugh. That's the story of my life. I find myself always asking the question "why the hell did I even start this project?"

When it seems like things can't get any worse they do.

[Emptymag]

Don't feel bad. If you look in the gun pics section, I posted a thread about my newly refinished Plinkster stock. What I didn't mention there was that I decided to give it a good scrubbing while it was taken apart and grabbed the wrong can of aerosol gun scrubber - yeah, the kind that attacks paint. The Plinkster's receiver is PAINTED. Ugh. I wiped it off quickly, and it did mess up the finish a bit, but mainly the parts that are covered by the stock.

Live and learn.

[gold cup abuser]

Well it could have been worse.

Try grabbing a M2 out of the rack, getting it out of the rack and having the trigger group come off, and the bottom of the M2 fall on your foot.

Or taking an M3 grease gun down and catching your fingers in the stock as you are using the stock to take the barrel nut off.

Or re wiring a M60 gas system and as you cut the aircraft wire the spool falls off your work bench and the wire whips across your bare arm.

A heat gun works wonders in getting melted plastic off of metal.

The dollar store can be your friend. Get some of the aluminum pans they sell and use them for mini cleaning tanks

Now to clean out the insides of your bolt carrier in under 5 min Take a chamber brush and hook that to a cleaning rod section. Hook the rod to a cordless drill. With the drill OFF and the insides of the BCG soaked in solvent, start the drill. It will be clean asap

[SCBaldr]

Maybe you should post this one on FuckMyLife? I'm not ridiculing you, we've all done dumb shit at some point in our carreers.

[mpoppel41]

everybody has had a window licker moment. i know i have, after cleaning my garrand one day my hands were still oily and the damn thing slipped came down on my foot. i haven't talked too it since.


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[chauncey]

i once tried to fill a synthetic stock with a resin epoxy, not considering that a chemical reaction like that produces A LOT of heat.

you can figure out the rest...

[Asmodeus6]

Almost all of my major mishaps have been car related not gun related. I did manage to break a hardened steel tap off in my AK's gas block recently however. I went for that extra thread or two and *snap* oh man... shit! Which ended up involved me cutting it off and stripping the rest of the barrel parts to get the new one on.

I think that is the most major dip shit manuever I have pulled to date with a firearm. Hopefully it stays that way.

No more plastic and solvent. Lesson learned.

[Xringshooter]

Go to your local restaurant supply place and pick up a few different size SS serving pans (like you see used in a kitchen). You can get pans that are 6" to 12" square, of varying depth. Solvent will not hurt these at all and they'll last a lifetime.

[Andrew17019]

Go to your local restaurant supply place and pick up a few different size SS serving pans (like you see used in a kitchen). You can pans that are 6" to 12" square, of varying depth. Solvent will not hurt these at all and they'll last a lifetime.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, when it comes down to it, I was just stupid about it. I grabbed the plastic cup from out leftover picnic supplies, where there were also small aluminum disposable roasting dishes, which I could have easily used.


Emptymag- I saw the pictures of the Plinkster, and it still looks good!