Cleaning and lubricating

If you, like me, enjoy the odor of Hoppe’s #9, you can get an air freshener for your car in this flavor - Hoppe's No. 9 Air Freshener, Pack of 3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AYEJK1Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Tm5wFb3Y1MMWZ

Outlaw75 said:

And you don't really need soap. I've done many a cleaning on a repop Enfield musket that I used to own with just boiling water.

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In Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder describes her father cleaning his flint lock with boiling water and lubing it with hog lard.

Cleaning guns is a PITA. All these latest, greatest, whiz bang cleaners promise to make a tedious job a breeze and people believe the hype.

I use Safariland Break Free and Starrett Light Tool Oil. Because they work as well as anything else and they're what I have on hand.

Periodically I use hot water and Dawn

Trunk Monkey said:

Cleaning guns is a PITA. All these latest, greatest, whiz bang cleaners promise to make a tedious job a breeze and people believe the hype.

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Well, it's still tedious, but why say "no" to something that makes tedious easier and faster?

wiscoaster said:

Well, it's still tedious, but why say "no" to something that makes tedious easier and faster?

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I thought that's exactly what I said

We're visiting this topic again so soon?
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...cts-and-lubes-are-a-marketing-gimmick.866181/

AJC1 said:

I hang out in the reloading room so I did not see or read that thread. I like to discuss things in Hope's of learning. I am not adimate about this current position. I have some eliminator that I plan to try out. Rifles seem to need a little different TLC.

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You misspelled "Hoppe's".

I suppose it’s from different standards people have.

If someone brushes and flosses their teeth when they wake up, after every meal and before they go to bed, the dental assistant won’t have much work to do, and won’t require anything fancy.

If another person doesn’t do anything to maintain cleanliness, the person required to defunk things will have their work cut out for them and utilize what they can that might expedite the job at hand.

With so many great products available I’ve just not tried Mineral spirits , maybe if they had it in the gun cleaning product isle

J

Why are they so popular? Successful marketing. The manufacturers convince consumers that they MUST have their product in order to make their guns run. I have used most of them. Some are good, some are hot garbage. They ALL costs too much. I buy my lubes/protectors at auto zone: white lithium grease, and whatever generic motor oil is on sale. Don't ask what weight, I buy whichever is cheapest. For solvents I lIKE Mpro7, shooter's choice, and Hoppes. In practice, I use Mpro7. Why? I get the best deal on it by the gallon, and not only does it work great, it has no odor.

AJC1 said:

I really wonder why everybody gets caught up by all the advertisement and spends tons of money for specialized cleaners and lubricants. I submit in most cases mineral spirits and mineral oil is all you really need. There are special cases like carbon ring that require a scrubbing paste or leading in your Barrel or removing copper fouling but 99% of all cleaning could be done for pennies instead of dollars. Why are high dollar cleaners and lubricants so popular???

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It doesn't get -30 F in Memphis, does it? Lube a gun with mineral oil in the winter up here, you will be disappointed when you line that scope up on 'Ol Mossyhorns.....but I will agree there are less expensive alternatives than specialty gun lubes.

AJC1 said:

I hang out in the reloading room so I did not see or read that thread. I like to discuss things in Hope's of learning. I am not adimate about this current position. I have some eliminator that I plan to try out.

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No disrespect intended, but some of us who "hang out" here (on the forum, on a regular basis) would like to see folks use the search function or at least do a perfunctory check through the various sub-topics to see if their question has been asked/answered before, or their topic has been (as in this case) well-covered previously.

This (cleaning and lubrication of firearms) just happens to be a frequently discussed topic, so ... in this case ... the internet is your friend.

I don't use enough of it to make any substantial difference to me as most of the quality products for gun care are not prohibitively expensive. My backup is mineral spirits and motor oil, if the gun specific products were not available for some reason, and I'm sure it would do a fine job for the most part.

I have little to no interest in new products though - and I have no idea how many decades the products I use have been around, but I assume 50 - maybe 100 years.

I just throw mine in the wet tumbler with the brass.

Trunk Monkey said:

In Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder describes her father cleaning his flint lock with boiling water and lubing it with hog lard.

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MAJOR KUDOS to Trunk Monkey if he actually read all of the "Little House" books ... (I had to be debriefed on them by my younger sister, though I will 'fess up to reading the original Little House on the Prairie when assigned in sixth grade ...)

Oh, and by the way ... I will also freely admit that I actually like cleaning guns ... especially when re-watching seasons 1 and 2 of Miami Vice (on Blu Ray) on the new 70" ... It's a great time to try out all the new, and very expensive, boutique cleaners and lubricants that SEAL Team 6 uses ...

Old Dog said:

MAJOR KUDOS to Trunk Monkey if he actually read all of the "Little House" books ... (I had to be debriefed on them by my younger sister, though I will 'fess up to reading the original Little House on the Prairie when assigned in sixth grade ...)

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I actually found a boxed set at a garage sale and read every single one of them. Laura Ingalls changed quite a few details (for instance the fact that Almonzo Wilder was almost 24 years older than her when they got married) but generally speaking they're an accurate picture of day to day life in the late 1800s.

I also read The Long Road Home which detailed their move from Desmet South Dakota to Mansfield Missouri by covered wagon in 1894.

The "Little House In The Big Woods" still stands in Peppin Wisconsin. Her parents home still stands in Desmet and her home still stands in Mansfield.

AJC1 said:

I really wonder why everybody gets caught up by all the advertisement and spends tons of money for specialized cleaners and lubricants. I submit in most cases mineral spirits and mineral oil is all you really need. There are special cases like carbon ring that require a scrubbing paste or leading in your Barrel or removing copper fouling but 99% of all cleaning could be done for pennies instead of dollars. Why are high dollar cleaners and lubricants so popular???

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You nailed it. All the magic goop and scrubby doo dads are complete waste of money. I haven't used anything to clean guns that can't be bought at a hardware store for over a decade (except I do use lead removing cloth sometimes). If someone wants to buy all that hyped up magic stuff, more power to them , I'd bet no one could tell the difference between my clean gun and someone with an ultrasonic full of frog lube and hundreds of dollars of scrubby things.

Trunk Monkey said:

I thought that's exactly what I said

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I took it to say that you equated the promise with hype, and therefore was a false belief. I disagreed with that take.

Language is tricky.

Old Dog said:

... I will also freely admit that I actually like cleaning guns ...

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Yes, I agree, I find it to be a relaxing and enjoyable activity.

Well, a few reasons for me. 1) No one ever showed me about mineral spirits or mineral oil for cleaning and lubricating guns. 2) Some of my guns cost multiple thousands of dollars a piece. I'm not going to cheap out on buying products specifically made for guns. With that much money involved in the firearms, a few extra dollars to protect them well won't break the bank. 3) I've found 2 products that I use on every gun I own that has not failed me in any way yet. I clean with Hoppe's no. 9 solvent and lube with Weapon Shield. Is there something better out there? Maybe, but I've found what works for me and I'm sticking with it. 4) A little bit of both products go a loooong way so they last a long time. The economics work out pretty well. I'm still on my first bottle of Weapon Shield oil and I bought it years ago. The Hoppe's is at Walmart and only a few dollars a bottle. I see the results of cleaning with Hoppe's when the first patches come out black and subsequent patches come out green/bluish green.

I experimented with full synthetic oil for lubrication and the first time I shot my AR lubricated with it, it smoked a lot and smelled terribly. It'll work, but not as well as Weapon Shield. I guess I'm a sucker.

Edit to add: Looks like gunblue is a sucker too since he has Hoppe's no. 9 on his shelf behind him.

Obturation said:

You nailed it. All the magic goop and scrubby doo dads are complete waste of money. I haven't used anything to clean guns that can't be bought at a hardware store for over a decade (except I do use lead removing cloth sometimes). If someone wants to buy all that hyped up magic stuff, more power to them , I'd bet no one could tell the difference between my clean gun and someone with an ultrasonic full of frog lube and hundreds of dollars of scrubby things.

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And I’ll wager that if you put a bore scope down those barrels you’d get a big surprise.
Please tell me where a person would spend this hundreds of dollars you speak of because I’ve not spent more than a few bucks on the best copper and carbon removers.