(Poll) What is your go-to gun maintenance cleaner or CLP ?

[thesinfulsaint]

Hey Folks,

Just wanted to know what is the preferred method/tool of cleaning & lubing your firearms. This poll is open for all firearms (airgun, rimfire, centerfire).

Personally I've been using Hoppe's 9 and it does a fine job. Recently picked up bore-shine and seems to be a little better and lot more expensive. Also looking into trying mil-comm and Frog lube but they are super expensive. Heard a lot of good things about them. Once I pick up cap and ball blackpowder handgun, will use soap and water for initial cleaning then my favorite CLP.

So let us know what have you used and/or currently use on your firearms. Click on the poll and if anything is missing in the poll list, let us know.

- Saint

[Safarigent]

Ballistol is it.
Except for the horrid smell.
Works for black powder too.
Also Good for wood unlike other gun oils.

[thesinfulsaint]

Yes ballistol is definitely a good one. If I am not wrong it is mineral oil based and it great on almost everything, wood, leather etc. Also no harmful chemicals to inhale and you can use it worry free with bare hands. Great all around CLP.

[AgentDoubleS]

Ballistol. Works great on the leather riding boots too!
Got a bottle of Hoppes that has largely been lying unused due to the reservations of using it on a chrome lined barrel.

[skeetshot]

. . . .
Got a bottle of Hoppes that has largely been lying unused due to the reservations of using it on a chrome lined barrel.

As I understand, Hoppes contains ammonia.

One wouldnt want ammonia to get under the chrome lining of a barrel

Early ads of Hoppes No 9 encouraged leaving a coating in the barrel after cleaning

And shooters wondered what that brown stuff coming out was . . . .

In all fairness though, I have used Hoppes for many years and didnt experience any problems, but then I never had a chrome lined rifle barrel

Maybe thats why the poll shows some preference for soap and water, it will definitely wash the ammonia out once it has done its job against copper deposits.

[thesinfulsaint]

So I've heard as well. But I never let it sit in the barrel or on any surface. I keep running patches through the barrel until it comes out clean and scrub the surface followed by wiping and lubing.

Although I am seriously considering moving to a CLP product like ballistol just so I have one product to do it all and of course a good gun grease and I'm all set.

- Saint

[AgentDoubleS]

. . . .
Got a bottle of Hoppes that has largely been lying unused due to the reservations of using it on a chrome lined barrel.

As I understand, Hoppes contains ammonia.

Skeetshot, I've heard some great reviews of KG12 as a water based big bore cleaner and was intending to pick it up.it would take away the pain of neutralising with soap and water. Any experience or suggestions with this product?

Cheers,
SS

[xl_target]

Hoppes as a powder solvent and CLP as a general cleaner lubricant.


After an extended range session, I might use Butch's Bore shine in a rifle barrel but I never really get much copper fouling. Butch's Bore Shine has a heavy ammonia smell but I don't have any chrome lined barrels. My .22's aren't cleaned that much. A boresnake run through once in a while, maybe. In the spring, summer and fall, I shoot every weekend and about once every six months or so, I clean the .22's thoroughly where I use solvent and a bronze brush. I do clean my Wifama .22 rifle after every range session but it doesn't need it.

After I'm done, I run a patch soaked with CLP through the barrel and then put them away. Some of my rifles are thirty years old and have no rust on them. On the larger calibers, I run a dry patch through before shooting. Shotguns are almost never cleaned except for the gas system on my semi-auto. A rag with CLP on it is used to wipe most everything down before putting them away.

Unless it's a Black Powder gun, no soap and water is going anywhere near my guns. Besides that soap and water doesn't really cut smokeless powder residue very well.

[skeetshot]

. . .

Skeetshot, I've heard some great reviews of KG12 as a water based big bore cleaner and was intending to pick it up.it would take away the pain of neutralising with soap and water. Any experience or suggestions with this product?

Cheers,
SS

"KG-12 was developed specifically to clean the copper fouling from large bore military weapons. KG-12 provides professional shooters, gunsmiths, armorers, hunters and other firearm enthusiasts with a product that will remove the toughest copper fouling without damaging the bore. Unlike ammonia-based products, there is no need to neutralize KG-12 or to remove it quickly because KG-12 contains no ammonia. "

There are two products that need to be cleaned from a rifle/handgun bore:

COPPER
CARBON
These form in layers as shot after shot is fired.

Products like KG- 12, Bore Tech Eliminator, Wipe Out all remove Copper chemically and easily. No elbow grease required, two or three passes is all it takes. The important crown of the barrel doesnt get unduly worn.

Carbon removal is not so easy, but there are products like BoreTech Carbon Remover, Slip 2000, Wipe Out and even automotive carburettor cleaners which remove carbon

The main idea being to wear your barrel by shooting it and not by over brushing it.

Once you feel your bore is clean, PROTECT it with a good oil like Ballistol.

[Safarigent]

Any one here use Robla Solo from ballistol?
I have used it and it is good!

[thesinfulsaint]

OK .. which wise-guys clicked "soap & water" ... LOL