[chapmonkey]

Apologies if this is a particularly stupid question, but when molesting my extraordinarily expensive hunk of plastic and metal I like to be very confident in my actions.

Can anybody please explain the exact steps to remove the slide cover on a Mk II? Here is how far I came before I turned around for fear of screwing something up:

1 Ensured gun was loaded, bullet chambered, safety off, and pointed towards a can of gasoline.
2 Removed slide
3 Removed barrel
4 Punched out pin that secures slide cover to slide from left to right
5 Attempt to remove slide from the rear, getting rear sights hung up on the cover
6 ???

How do you remove the rear sights? I backed out the vertical adjustment screw all the way, but that didn't seem to accomplish much of anything. The tiny hollow pin that it pivots on was unwilling to come out with the amount of force I was comfortable with applying. Advice? Does it need to come out in a particular direction?

Also, once that bad boy is floating free, what is the best method to clean it? Can carb or brake cleaner be used in the channel?

 

[PursuitSS]

Unfortunately on the MK II you must remove the rear sight.

And as you ascertained, you remove the adjusting screw followed by driving out the roll pin the sight pivots on.

After that your slide cover lifts off at the rear, be careful you maintain control of the loaded chamber indicator as the slide cover is the only thing holding it in place.

Pay close attention to how the firing pin is retained.

Clean with Carb Cleaner and LIGHTLY oil the firing pin and spring. A good choice would be an oil I normally detest, Rem Oil. You don’t want a viscous oil.

 

[kansas]

Was the can of gasoline leaded or unleaded?

Apologies if this is a particularly stupid question, but when molesting my extraordinarily expensive hunk of plastic and metal I like to be very confident in my actions.

Can anybody please explain the exact steps to remove the slide cover on a Mk II? Here is how far I came before I turned around for fear of screwing something up:

1 Ensured gun was loaded, bullet chambered, safety off, and pointed towards a can of gasoline.
2 Removed slide
3 Removed barrel
4 Punched out pin that secures slide cover to slide from left to right
5 Attempt to remove slide from the rear, getting rear sights hung up on the cover
6 ???

How do you remove the rear sights? I backed out the vertical adjustment screw all the way, but that didn't seem to accomplish much of anything. The tiny hollow pin that it pivots on was unwilling to come out with the amount of force I was comfortable with applying. Advice? Does it need to come out in a particular direction?

Also, once that bad boy is floating free, what is the best method to clean it? Can carb or brake cleaner be used in the channel?

 

[chapmonkey]

Was the can of gasoline leaded or unleaded?

Leaded of course, I'm no damn commie. I only keep leaded, oxygenated, 110 R+M/2 around my guns.

Unfortunately on the MK II you must remove the rear sight.

And as you ascertained, you remove the adjusting screw followed by driving out the roll pin the sight pivots on.

After that your slide cover lifts off at the rear, be careful you maintain control of the loaded chamber indicator as the slide cover is the only thing holding it in place.

Pay close attention to how the firing pin is retained.

Clean with Carb Cleaner and LIGHTLY oil the firing pin and spring. A good choice would be an oil I normally detest, Rem Oil. You don’t want a viscous oil.

Ah thanks, that was my other question, whether oil should be applied. Thanks

I was having a handful of FTFs with the crappy American Eagle ammo (came with gun) so I'm not sure it's 100% necessary but I'd like to clean it out for peace of mind.

 

[greypoints4]

I just use a q-tip soaked with Hoppes, then a couple passes to dry, a blast from a can of compressed air, then a dose of dry lube.

 

[kansas]

Good advise, Thanks for the input. I like a very thin coat of slip 2000 after the cleaning because the stuff just works.

 

[chapmonkey]

I just use a q-tip soaked with Hoppes, then a couple passes to dry, a blast from a can of compressed air, then a dose of dry lube.

Cool, I more or less did that. Used a toothpick as well to clean around the pin, and used my compressor and nozzle to blast it out from back to front. I mostly wanted to take it out just to know exactly how it looked.

Went shooting a couple hours ago and was happy to see that out of 100 rounds of blue tip there were no issues whatsoever. Would have shot more but I didn't have time. I'm excited cause I have a case of green tip (ss198 ) coming soon - I hope that with that all my problems will disappear like so many 5.7mm holes in pepsi cans.

It does suck that it costs like 70 cents a round, but the race fuel for my bike costs $12/gallon so I'm used to expensive combustibles lol

 

[RedRaider]

Using carburetor cleaners is very questionable as are many other chemicals.

The FN Five-SeveN Owner’s Manual (version April 2016 v3) indicates the following chemicals should not be used on the pistol as they could damage it:
· Hydrocarbons — Which are compounds made of simply hydrogen and carbon. Most hydrocarbons naturally occur in crude oil. Examples include gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, naphtha, jet fuel, methane, ethane, propane, butane, and paraffin wax. Hoppe’s 9 contains kerosene, so it should not be used for cleaning. Carburetor cleaners generally contain hydrocarbon components, such as, Gunk Carburetor Cleaner contains petroleum naphtha and CRC Carburetor Cleaner and Berryman B-12 Chemtool Carburetor Choke Cleaner contain toluene, an aromatic hydrocarbon. As a result, carburetor cleaners should not be used for cleaning.
· Trichlorethylene — Which is a chemical compound commonly used as an industrial solvent, a solution that dissolves a liquid, solid, or gas. An industrial abbreviation for it is TCE and has been sold under trade names Trimar and Trilene. It is also in dry cleaning solvent. TCE has been used as a degreaser for metal parts. You can find it sold on some gun sites labeled as TCE Degreaser Aerosol. The product Gun Scrubber by Birchwood Casey contains trichloroethylene. A related product is tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene which can be found in brake cleaners. As a result, TCE Degreaser Aerosol, Gun Scrubber by Birchwood Casey, and brake cleaners should not be used for cleaning.
· Ammonia — Which is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen in the form of NH₃. Household ammonia is NH₃ combined with water to create a general purpose cleaner. It is commonly found in glass cleaners. As a result, ammonia and ammonia based products such as glass cleaners should not be used for cleaning.

Using cleaning products that contain any of the above chemicals may damage the finish on the metal parts of the pistol. Metal parts on many handguns have gone through a treatment in the manufacturing process. Some of the newest and most common treatments include Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) treatment or a nitrocarburizing process frequently known by trademarks TENIFER® and MELONITE®.

 

[PursuitSS]

For cleaning the barrel and specifically the chamber Carburetor Cleaner is the “gold standard” for cleaning it. BUT, I only clean the barrel when it’s removed from the slide.

 

[RedRaider]

Using Carburetor Cleaner would only be a "gold standard" for its cleaning results, not the damage it does to gun steel parts.

Manufacturing guns to be durable is a challenging process. To accomplish the durability objective requires balancing two opposing factors:
· The metal parts need to be hardened to (a) resist wear of moving parts that come in contact with a component of the ammunition or other parts, (b) increase fatigue strength, (c) improve heat resistance and (d) resist corrosion.
· But parts need to be soft enough that (a) machining the parts is not too difficult and (b) soft enough to absorb the forces caused by firing the gun without the metal cracking.

Manufacturers of guns have approached the opposing forces to making durable guns by creating metal parts that have that have a different hardness of the surface from the interior of the metal of the parts. First, the parts are shaped and made to the softer hardness that is desired for the interior of the metal. Then a case hardening process is applied to the surface of the parts. The case or surface is a very thin layer, frequently in the range of 0.01 inch to 0.03 inch.

Case hardening of steel parts of guns is commonly produced by applying a carbonizing treatment process that essentially infuses extra carbon into the surface. It is the presence of this additional carbon that results in surface or case of the steel getting harder than the interior metal. Using cleaning products that contain any of the above chemicals that contain hydrocarbons, trichlorethylene, or ammonia may damage the finish, case, or surface on the metal parts of the pistol. Essentially those types of chemicals will remove some of the additional carbon that was infused into the surface to create the additional hardness. Some of the newest and most common case hardening treatments used in gun manufacturing include Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) treatment or a nitrocarburizing process frequently known by trademarks TENIFER® and MELONITE®.

 

[Grumpyolman]

Ok, I'll bite, What do you use to clean your pistol? I'm Partial to CLP myself.

 

[PursuitSS]

The CHAMBER, I use Carburetor Cleaner and either a brass or nylon brush.

The rest of the weapon, paper towels, Q-Tips, Pipe Cleaners, etc.

I lube the slide rails with Mobil 1 grease and oil the rest with 0W-40 Mobil 1