Thread: Cleaning Firearms ..... What Are You Using ?

I guess I'm old school too.
I've been using Hoppes solvent and oil, brass brushes, patches and an old toothbrush since I was a kid.
Gotta love the smell. You could walk into a room blindfolded where someone is cleaning and know what is going on.
My philosophy is why change...it works.

Pete <:-}

Sweets 7.62 for cleaning and then the frog lube. I will have to follow Mikes lead and try the Seal 1. I have used Simple Green it cuts thru carbon like nobody's business.

To Bob:FN's are built like tanks, used to have three of them. They and the M 14 are the last of the true battle rifles IMO.

Ballistol.....

I've been out of the gunsmith business for at least 35 years. I still have a large econo size bottle of #9 in the garage.... Everything else is gone.

Most of the lubricating we did was with wd40 in the gal can... a light mist and then blow it all off until it felt and looked dry. At -40c, when you have a polar bear coming at you, the last thing you want is a firing mechanism slowed down by gelled lube. At the range in more hospitable climates, Birchwood Casey Barricade was our goto, with a bit of Hoppes gun oil where good old oil was the right thing to use.

I seem to recall we had some more serious stuff for fouled barrels, plugged the barrel at one end, filled it full and let it sit for 24+ hours before brass brushing the daylights out of it using good Parker Hale coated cleaning rods. Looks like you can't get them anymore... Dewey coated rods look similar. I am however happy to see Parker Hale style cleaning jags are still made... they were the best in my book!

My *other* favorite scent from those days were Dykem steel blue layout dye... It's probably a *safer* formula now, not the toxic goodness of the olden days......

Regards

Kaptain "The 17 ACKLEY HORNET was my favorite wildcat after the .35 Whelen" Zero

I use #9 and Eezox.

When you go to the range and you don't inhale the hoppes afterwards your adventure is incomplete.

Firearms have been a part of our life since the beginning, with an emphasis on keeping them clean & ready for service. Not having a shop or garage makes for some creativity . My current system consists of a cleaning cart & tool box. We have been shooting twice a week since a year ago, last June; preparing the son.

There are so many competitive lubricants on the market, that I like to try them all. Hoppe's stays in the rotation, lubricant & bore cleaner. A window cleaner , such as Windex,( the ammonia content needed) used in the barrel for high carbon cleaning on dirty military ammo, followed by a boiling water rinse. I use Sweet's , but currently out, I'll get some next month.

I have not bought swabs in over 25 years,,, all old t-shirts are re-purposed to swabs, while watching a good movie.

If you can get your hands on a Marsh Fountain Brush for final lubrication, they are worth their weight in gold.

Nice rig Hirlau. I have a similar set up going. Not a cart, but similar products and methods. I use old tshirts for patches as well. I have the awesome Marsh ink brush too. Those things are the best! I use a one piece coated rod to clean the long guns. I use MPro7 foaming cleaner and Kroil mostly. I have given up on Hoppes #9 over the years. Kroil works better. The formula changed in Hoppes as well back a while ago. It smells slightly different. I like CLP for lube. No Frog Lube or other gimmicky junk. CLP worked for all the machine guns in Battalion and it should work fine for my guns as well. I will here soon start to experiment with ATF for lube and Moly sulfide grease for frame rails. I want to try it for myself. I stay away from WD-40. I have seen too many guns (specially colder climates) where it turns to a shellac like consistency and is hard to remove.
For anyone that has never tried Kroil go get ya a can. You will be amazed! It is sold through Kano Labs here in TN. As a cleaner it is amazing. A few drops on the yoke/crane of a revolver will be magic. I use it inside Smith revolvers on the rebounding block and trigger/hammer mechanism.

For my semi-auto handguns it's pretty simple: Safety glasses, spray brake cleaner (cheapest I can find like O'Reilly brand), & CLP.

For my rifles, it gets a bit more intensive. #9 is old faithful, Gunzilla (stuff creeps like Kroil & that's good!), and Frog Lube. A little tub of that stuff goes a LONG ways.

I'll look into the Seal 1.

Edit: A Seal 1 Complete Gun Care Kit is on it's way...

Originally Posted by EMC45

Nice rig Hirlau. I have a similar set up going. Not a cart, but similar products and methods. I use old tshirts for patches as well. I have the awesome Marsh ink brush too. Those things are the best! I use a one piece coated rod to clean the long guns. I use MPro7 foaming cleaner and Kroil mostly. I have given up on Hoppes #9 over the years. Kroil works better. The formula changed in Hoppes as well back a while ago. It smells slightly different. I like CLP for lube. No Frog Lube or other gimmicky junk. CLP worked for all the machine guns in Battalion and it should work fine for my guns as well. I will here soon start to experiment with ATF for lube and Moly sulfide grease for frame rails. I want to try it for myself. I stay away from WD-40. I have seen too many guns (specially colder climates) where it turns to a shellac like consistency and is hard to remove.
For anyone that has never tried Kroil go get ya a can. You will be amazed! It is sold through Kano Labs here in TN. As a cleaner it is amazing. A few drops on the yoke/crane of a revolver will be magic. I use it inside Smith revolvers on the rebounding block and trigger/hammer mechanism.

I use the WD-40 to flush out the bore & any use of it on the bolt is for scrubbing with a brush,,, then it is removed & a lubricant is applied to the surface.