hoppe’s #9 solvent was practically the only choice when I was a kid.
Friends have been recommending Remington Bore cleaner and Rem Oil. Another friend likes M-Pro 7 products.
Remington also has a cleaner called Brite Bore. I’m not sure whats the difference in it and Remington Bore cleaner.
Is this a Ford vs Chevy thing? Is bore cleaner the same regardless of brand?
Gun oil, I know its important it doesn’t gunk up in the gun. Rem Oil seems popular. Anything better?
Do a close read on some solvent bottles to find out what they target. I use Hoppe’s powder solvent on damn near everything. You should snag a copper solvent as well, providing of course that you’re using copper jacketed bullets.
Black powder obviously calls for Black powder solvent. If you’re shooting pure lead, look for a lead-specific solvent. The point is, you’ll probably end up using a very small amount of more than one kind of solvent depending on what/how you’re shooting.
Butch’s Bore Shine and Montana X-treme are both good solvents.
Gun Scrubber is a good product for cleaning your cleaning tools - keeps brushes from rotting away. Those little plastic picks that look like dental tools kick ass for nooks and crannies.
Hoppe’s #9 is a damned fine oil. Break Free keeps my AR’s running smooth. I got some RemOil free once and it seemed to work just fine.
After I use solvents and brushes, I usually end up spraying a little WD40 and then giving the gun a thorough wipe-down before I move on to dry patches and gun oil. I always finish with a silicone cloth to get rid of fingerprints.
Are the newer aluminum alloy, stainless steel hand guns ok with the regular bore brushes & solvents?
My wife’s S&W revolver is so lightweight it feels flimsy. But, I’ve heard the aluminum alloy frames are pretty tough.
I use Hoppe’s #9 for general cleaning of surfaces inside the gun like the receiver and bore. I like the fact that it’s petroleum-based, which means I don’t have to worry about the surfaces rusting if I take a break from cleaning.
Lately I’ve been soaking my small parts overnight (or longer) in a product called Slip 2000 Carbon Killer. It’s awesome – no more scrubbing. After soaking, you simply wipe away the carbon with a Q-tip or paper towel. It’s water-based, so it doesn’t smell bad. It’s interesting how it works… it is a surfactant, which means it is able to penetrate between the carbon and metal surface. In reality, there’s no such thing as a “carbon solvent,” because carbon can’t be dissolved.
Getting copper fouling out of the bore is the hardest job. I use Sweet’s 7.62 solvent for doing this, since it contains ammonia.
For final oiling I use Rem Oil, simply because the spray can is so convenient.
I didn’t realize a separate solvent was needed to clean copper. Is that needed anytime the gun is fired?
My dad always insisted that I clean the powder residue from the gun after firing it. I don’t recall scrubbing copper out. He may have done that separately.
I have no system. Hoppe’s #9, Break-Free CLP, Rem Oil, and Tetra Gun Oil. This depends on what I have on hand, but the Tetra is generally used more sparingly for sliding parts, while the Rem can also be used for exterior metal surfaces.
Main reason for Hoppe’s is the somehow intriguing smell. I love the smell of cleaning firearms in the morning. Smells like… bananas!
When it comes to cleaning the bore, you need to attack the carbon and copper separately. Assuming, of course, you’re using copper-plated rounds.
Some cleaners/solvents claim to remove carbon *and *copper. I’m not sure how well they work. I prefer to use products that are optimized for a single purpose.
Removing carbon from the bore isn’t that difficult. Just soak it with Hoppe’s or Carbon Killer for a few minutes using a patch, scrub bore with a bore brush (bronze bristle brush is best), and then wipe bore clean with dry patches. Lather, rinse, repeat. Once the bore is pretty clean, run a few patches down the bore using a jag.
Most people stop at this point, and assume the bore is “clean”. Not so; there’s probably a bunch of copper in the barrel. Most people are not aware of this.
To remove copper, use a solvent that is optimized for copper removal. I like Sweet’s 7.62. It’s very aggressive. Just be careful with copper solvents, as leaving them in contact with steel for too long could cause corrosion.
After the bore is clean, apply a thin film of oil to it.
Question: why would you use a jag vs. a slot tip?
I found this answer on a cleaning Jag. I hadn’t heard of one before either. I’ll have to check around and try to buy one for my cleaning kit.
I put the patch trap on the end of the barrel and then use a bronze brush dipped in powder solvent for 10 passes, then copper solvent for 10 passes.
Someone on a gun show recommended using the brush that much, I never used to do more than 5 passes but I have to say that ~20 passes with the brush will save you a lot of time and patches.
I switch to a cleaning jag and patches, I usually use a comprehensive solvent like Butch’s or Montana X-Treme. That brushing really works, I’m getting a clean bore after 3-5 patches. After that, I run some Hoppe’s #9 through if I’m putting it the gun away for awhile.
After applying a solvent (and then perhaps scrubbing it with a brush), there are three ways to wipe the contaminants out of the bore:
I don’t use a bore mop. They get nasty and they’re difficult to clean. Not even sure what use they are.
A slotted tip + patch works well at soaking up the dirt and solvent in the bore. So that is what you should use for the first few passes. But it does not do a good job of removing the contaminants residing in the grooves’ edges (where the valleys meet the hills). A jag + patch does a good job of this.
You do not want to use a jag + patch to initially wipe the bore. This is because it will become quickly saturated in the first few inches, and then it will start pushing the junk into the grooves’ edges.