Hoppe #9 - A Few Questions

The only small bit of truth I see to your worries is excessive oil of any type can stain & even weaken wood over time. Hoppes #9 will do you fine. I have other solvents but Hoppes 9 is all you need for most cleaning & shorter term preservation. Just like oil for engines don't get hung up on minor differences when the care YOU give is key to keeping you gun in great shape.

Hoppes 9 is on the weaker side as far as solvents go. It won't cause any 'flaking' unless the flakes were falling off anyway.

Don't put a gun away damp, clean within a reasonable time after shooting, earlier with 'dirty' ammo. Give it a wipedown with a lightly oiled cloth before storage. Just those few things will go a long way towards preservation.

Hoppe's 9 won't eat that. I clean with that, then oil the heck out of them with FP-10 and tetra grease on the sliding parts.

Copper residue reacting with the solvent is a blue/green color

I know the #9 formula must have changed over the years.

Since the 60's. I always cleaned my guns with 9 and then would wipe them all down with it. It would leave a shiny, oily finish on the gun that would stay like that for years.

Anymore, if I use it to wipe down my guns, after a week or two, there is this sticky residue on the gun, not shiny and oily like it always was since I was a kid (40 years ago).

When did Hoppes change the #9 formula? Anyone know any details?

Hoppe's new 'Nine Lite' line of intoxicant.

I have been using Hoppe's no 9 for over 50 years. Zero problems with it. I have a bottle of really old Hoppe's that I open for a bit of aroma theropy now and then when I am feeling blue.....chris3

The only problem I've heard of with Hoppes No 9 was with nickel plating. Hoppes, or any solvent with ammonia in it to cut copper fouling, can cause nickel plating to flake, as nickel is bonded to a layer of copper plating, nickel won't bond directly to steel. If left soaking, the solvent can penertrate the nickel and dissolve the copper, allowing the nickel to flake off. I don't think hard chrome is plated over copper, and it's far harder than nickel in any event.

I've cleaned nickel plated guns with Hoppes, just didnt leave parts soaking or the solvent on the metal after cleaning it. Never had any problem with that, or leaving Hoppes on blued guns over time.

I think the ammonia content of Hoppes has been reduced over time, it doesnt seem to remove copper quite as agressively as it did years ago. I bought two large bottles at an estate sale years ago, and still have a lot left. Havent bought much of it in years, just to get another small bottle to put the stuff from the big bottles in, or if I ran out when travelling.

Sorry for the bump, but what about the blue res?

Click to expand...

That is the color you get when the ammonia is removing you copper fouling. Ammonia dissolves copper, makes it a liquid (brass or any admiralty metals) and your patch removes it.

Looking at the MSDS, Hoppes only has 1-5% ammonia, you ought to see what happens if you accidentally install a brass or copper fitting on a 20% solution ammonia pump. It won't last but an hour or two before it is gone and leaking.