I was at the local shop of choice last week to pick up a case of Ammo and I heard something intersting. The guy manager was doing a quick POI with a customer who just bought a Colt 6920 and he told the customer that when it came time to clean the bolt and BCG to use shaving cream. Now given the managers past (Marine scout sniper, Army Ranger and has worked with four private contractors in iraq) I would hope he knows what he is talking bout. Has any one else heard of this or tried/used this method?
I think I saw it mentioned in one of those Preventative Maintenance comics that get posted over at TOS. Other than that, I have no idea. What makes it better than using a regular cleaning solvent?
ETA In the PM comic, it was mentioned in a negative light. Any hint about that may have been that it wasn’t spelled “C-L-P”.
His was response was that it eats the carbon and make it very easy to clean the bolt and BCG
Never heard of the shaving cream trick…I’ll try it why ,not.If it does some type of irrepairible damage it will give m an excuse to upgrade…
I do however use brake cleaner on the BCG if Ive been using cans alot then clean with Hoppes solvent…
What harm could it do? Men put it on there face every day. Isn’t it just a form of soap? I don’t think it would do very well.
We use to use shaving cream on our bolt carrier groups prior to an inspection. Shaving cream + a deep sink with extreemly hot water + bolt carrier group.
It is not an authorized way of cleaning your gun (and I don’t know if it has any ill effects on the gun), but it’s a trick that many squad leaders show their boots to get their gun clean prior to an instepection (especially after firing a lot of blanks).
Semper Fi,
Jeff
I’m going to echo what USMC 03 says. I think this is a common tactic for inspections and when large groups get together for cleaning. I did this in Army basic training. When you have a bay full of soldiers, CLP isn’t always readily available. I think it is just a substitute for a very mild degreaser. I wouldn’t make shaving cream my regular cleaning chemical. Many other products do a great job. I’m not pointing out this particular guy making the recommendation, but soldiers from all backgrounds can still make recommendations that aren’t optimal. Many habits have been handed down over the years, and are still around. The NCOs in our company got on to our soldiers the other day about not cleaning their weapons, then chastised them after cleaning them for excessive lube. I saw some of the weapons with “excessive lube”. Some of them missed the mark on this one, they were wrong. Vickers and many other trainers have highly recommended to run these guns wet as possible. They weren’t dripping by the way. Sorry for the digression.
If shaving cream was the hot ticket, wouldn’t some company isolate the “magical” ingredients and sell those without the filler?
I have done the shaving cream thing in the past, but I really don’t think that it did any better than CLP would have, and given a choice I would prefer to use a task-specific carbon remover/degreaser.
With all of the excellent cleaners on the market, why use something not intended for that purpose?
Prime example of how the Military can inbred “stupid shit” into troops for no better reason then passing a “white Glove” inspection.
I have heard of the shaving cream trick along with many other"
The shaving cream trick is mild and does not harm (it also does no lubrication either) there are many more that just prematurely add wear on the weapon and finish.
I dropped a lot of those “tricks” when I retired …once I discovered there were much better ways of doing things… your buddy should as well…
I remember that being done when cleaning products were in short supply in basic training, but there was an emphasis on lubing heck out of the weapons immediately afterward.
Hand Cleaner (Fast Orange or Simple Green asexample), along with the hot water stuff work well for the white glove crap as well.
But why? Getting a weapon ridiculously clean when it does not need to be such for proper function is bad juju - wearing them out and teaching (ingraining) improper cleaning
I’ve found spraying with something like MPro7 cleaner letting it sit for 5min and wiping is nearly as effective - better on the weapon - and less messy.
I agree with you. Unfortunately, there was some misinformation put out there by drill sergeants, more for discipline than anything else. It was over 20 years ago that I saw it. I would like to hope that it’s better now, but I doubt it.
I have seen that ,but if you want fast and easy Brakekleen is the shit.
Roger – but I can teach way more attention to detail with KIMS games than a DI inspection of a weapon will.
and that in the whole of it are half the reasons for that idea
I have used running water, toothbrush, dishwashing liquid and it worked very well. I bet SC does about the same, it is a mild de-greaser.
just re-lube the BCG very well afterwards
I bought a little can of a Break Free foaming bore cleaner. Looks just like shaving cream.
Maybe I’ll try and shave with it?
Let us know if LSA is interchangeable with Astroglide while you are at it.
LSA? 
Lubricant Small Arms (a rather 2-pronged joke when taken in the above context 
)
Gotcha and no, I won’t test break free as a “personal lubricant.” 