Solvents In Plastic Bottles?

[chuckw2]

When I go tho the range, I carry all of my chemicals in small plastic bottles, that come from Sinclair. Included in the chemicals, but not limited to is Kroil, BMG 50, 7.62,Shooters Choice, Montana Extreme, alcohol, Butches Bore shine, etc,etc.

My question is does the effectiveness of the solvent degrade when being stored in a plastic bottle?

 

[dreever]

Chuck,

I've been told that solvents like 50BMG are prone to degrade when exposed to light. Having heard that I'd keep them in a covered box just to be safe.

A lot of solvents come in amber bottles for this reason,Shooters choice comes to mind) while others such as Pro Shot Copper Solvent IV,my personel favorite)come in clear bottles which seems to tell me it isn't light sensitive.

Sinclair makes a good bottle that dosen't degrade as quickly as some when exposed to solvents, but they will over time degrade, all plastic bottles will.
Therefore most manufactures suggest keeping their chemicals in the bottle that they came in for this reason.

Danny

 

[StephenPerry]

Chuck
Fill your solvent bottles only half way. A full bottle of solvent will last most shooters over a year. No need to have that much solvent in a plastic bottle. When your solvent is low replace the bottle. I keep any reserve solvent in a glass bottle where no solvent can react with it. If you insist on re-using your plastic bottle flush it with rubbing alcohol before you use it again.
Chuck this is my personal advice. Carry a small squeeze bottle of rubbing alcohol in your case. Instead of a full cleaning between Matches I run a wet patch of alcohol and a large dry patch through my barrel. This allows me to go to the line with an extremely clean barrel that will place my first shot where my group finished in the previous Match. I only do a full cleaning at home. I will alternate alcohol with solvent patches also. Full brush cleanings were never justified between Matches but it's like eating most do too much of that too.
Stephen Perry

 

[Bobs243Ackley]

Hi Chuck,

Danny has the information for you pretty much on the money! I had a chance to talk with Joe Ventimillia, President of Shooters Choice, about the various bottles used in solvents. He stated that a lot of solvents are sensitive to UV light, and that over time, the UV will degrade the performance of the solvents. This is the exact reason that the amber colored bottles are used to protect the product from the UV radiation exposure. Here at Sinclair, we use, and offer, a high-density polypropylene bottle that is coated internally with fluoride to resist the strongest solvents that are currently available to us as shooters. This is the tall bottle that we carry. Based on what we have learned from talking with our solvent vendors, we recommend that if you are not going to be using your solvent, in the Sinclair Solvent Bottles, for a long period of time, you should return the solvent to the original bottle for long term storage to protect them from the UV exposure. I hope this information will help you.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

 

[sewwhat89]

Bob, have you run across any problems with the polypropylene bottles Sinclair sells and solvents breaking them down? I was just curious as to how durable they were. The last bottles like that I used lasted about a month before my solvents were milky. Thanks for any info you have.

 

[Bryan]

I once smelled ammonia in my range box and thought I had a leak. turned out it was leaching or evaporating thru the plastic bottle. Store the stuff in glass, and put it in the plastic bottle when you are using it.
Bryan

 

[chuckw2]

Thanks to all that responded to my questions. Great information and ideas....

 

[Bobs243Ackley]

In regard to any of the bottles breaking down with the use of solvents, the only ones that we carry that have done this to me are the shorter bottles that we sell. I had been using Shooters Choice in them and this was the situation that led me to call Joe. Many of these solvents are designed so that they will also break down any plastic build up in the chokes of shotguns and that is the reason that they will attack the plastic bottles. It just takes them longer since these are high density plastic bottles. It is interesting to note that Joe's testing showed that even though the plastic was in the solvent, it would still work on removing the other types of fouling that the solvents were also designed to go after. I have never seen our tall bottles attacked like this since they have the internal coating.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

 

[WayneShaw]

I look at plastic solvent bottles as "temporary" containers. I fill as much in them as I think I'll have need for a match, or day at the range. I refill as needed. They are not as air tight as glass containers, and the UV aspect has already been discussed. They are just convenient applicators.

 

[Nortonics]

I wonder if something like this might be a good choice?

http://store.hvchemical.com/browse.cfm/4,390.htm

 

[chuckw2]

Nortronics..

Great Idea... I am going to order some bottles in the AM... Thanks for giving us the tip.
Chuck

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

That is a great idea, thanks!!

 

[StephenPerry]

Brown Bottles
My wife is a chemist. She said she could get some of these bottles. I would like to try some but I want the caps. Droppers would be of no use. Let you guys know how they work out.
Stephen Perry

 

[Nortonics]

That place above is pretty expensive for shipping at about $15.00 to ship 5 bottles for instance.

There are tons of places on the Internet to buy these, including EBAY, Amazon.com, etc., but here's another site that's way more reasonable - .83 cents per 4 oz bottle, and to ship 5 of them via UPS is only about $5.00:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/browseproducts/Amber-Boston-Round-Glass-Bottle-4-oz-w--Dropper.html

I just ordered five myself...

 

[chuckw2]

Tom,
Just ordered 5 also. Looks like they are going to fit the bill.

Thanks,
Chuck

 

[Nortonics]

Just a quick update on the 4 oz. amber bottles I received from the above site - they look like they're going to work just great. Here's a few observations:

- The integrated eye dropper is glass.
- The bulb and seal portion of the dropper is rubber.
- The screw lid appears to be Bakelite.
- Dropper does a great job at pulling up just enough fluid in one squeeze to nicely coat a brush or patch.
- The 4 oz. bottle, as well as the neck threads are identical to the amber 4 oz. bottles containing Butch's bore shine, Montana Extreme, and other similar products. I just took the droppers of the new bottles and screwed them onto the others - perfect seal. As well, they screw right onto plastic 4 oz. bottles of M-Pro 7 as well. Must be a very standard thread design on common 4 oz. product bottles.

To really do it cheap but effective, just buy a bunch of the droppers and screw 'em onto the existing product bottles and off ya go. Unfortunately the site above where the bottles came from appear to not sell just the droppers, but I'd bet someone does...

Looks like they'll likely perform well for the long-term.

 

[Freestate101]

Guys, just go to your local CVS or whatever Pharmacy and ask them for some "glass" eye-dropper bottles, most are amber colored and the droppers keep me from overusing the solvents.