Break-Free or Hoppes #9 ?

[The Bushmaster]

A little dab Hoppe's #9 behind the ears gets the girls too.

 

[moxie]

Absolutely! Those who know, know that Hoppe's No. 9 solvent is one of the two smells of freedom, the other being burnt JP-4.

 

[miamiboy]

Hey CamoCustom, thanks for that tip. I've been trying to find the proper gloves for this for the longest. Nitrile gloves seem like they will suit this purpose the best.

 

[wishin]

Hoppes #9 and just about any oil here after every outing.

 

[ArmedBear]

CLP has been my cleaner of choice recently.

Hoppes is so aromatic and distinctive that I've had neighbors lean out of their window and say, "What gun are you cleaning today?" No lie.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

I get some really bad carbon marks on my SP101 around the rear of the barrel where it meets the frame. What's the best product to use?!? It's driving me nuts!

Try a birchwood casey lead remover cloth, it has worked well for me.

 

[wlewisiii]

Break-Free.

William

 

[Drail]

Break free is at least a thousand times better than Hoppes. At least.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

Try a birchwood casey lead remover cloth, it has worked well for me.

Have it, used it Sunday after a range trip. Got everything off fairly easily besides what I mentioned. Not a big deal but I'd like it to be spotless....

 

[HGUNHNTR]

^^ I totally understand, if it doesn't look new I didn't do a good enough job cleaning. Have you tried Flitz?

 

[mesinge2]

I use Hoppes to clean the gun, followed by light sheen of oil after. Just personal preference.

Exactly what I do

 

[Quoheleth]

Uses for CLP:
-Clean
-Lube
-Protect

Uses for Hoppes #9:
- Clean guns
- clean carbourators
- remove certain paints/finishe
- mouthwash
- cologne
- anti-arthritis
- stops the shanks
- clears up the runs
- makes friends
- meat tenderizer

Q

 

[SOUTHPAW]

^^ I totally understand, if it doesn't look new I didn't do a good enough job cleaning. Have you tried Flitz?

Haha exactly! Um, never tried Flitz... But I might as well try it. Add another one to the arsenal!

 

[HGUNHNTR]

^^ Just remember, use it on shiny surfaces only. No Parked, matte, etc.

It works very well and leaves a corrosion inhibitor on metal surfaces.

 

[bdgackle]

Break free is great for lube and anti-rust, so-so as a powder solvent.

Hoppes is a good powder solvent, but is NOT a lube/preservative.

Neither is good for heavy copper fouling -- for that you need something specifically designed for that task.

I also don't trust either product to remove corrosive salts from perchlorate primed ammo -- hot water works for that. Windex may work better due to surfectants and higher Ph. If I've got my chemistry wrong here, I'd love to hear from someone knowledgable.

Incidentally, I use the nitrile gloves, and one of my ferrets has taken a liking to them. About a thousand get deposited in the drawer under my stove before I move the whole pile to the other room and start the process all over again. Clean gloves of course. No ferrets were harmed in the writing of this post.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

^^ Just remember, use it on shiny surfaces only. No Parked, matte, etc.

It works very well and leaves a corrosion inhibitor on metal surfaces.

Good to know, thanks! I'll be sure to keep it away from my xD then... Wonder who retails it locally...?

 

[ArmedBear]

Why spend a lot of time trying to remove the last vestiges of black marks around the forcing cone? They'll be back the next time you pull the trigger anyway.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

Why spend a lot of time trying to remove the last vestiges of black marks around the forcing cone? They'll be back the next time you pull the trigger anyway.

Well that's my point. I don't want to spend the time. Hence why I'm looking for something that will work quickly, with a little bit of scrubbing. I gave up on 20 minutes of scrubbing with wadding polish after the first cleaning.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

^^ Walmart, sporting goods stores, automotive stores, its pretty ubiquitous.

 

[welldoya]

For years I used Hoppes for cleaning and then wipe it down with Rem Oil.
I read some stories about Hoppes taking the clear coat off of people's S&W 642 so I started using Breakfree for that particular gun. Looks like it works pretty well to me so I started using it for all my guns. It's nice to know it's not going to mess up the finish on any of my guns.
I took apart an old 10/22 that I have never totally cleaned. It probably had thousands of round thru it and the internals were filthy as could be. CLP cleaned it just fine. It's good enough for me.

 

[mbopp]

The new Hoppe's smells nothing like the old stuff, I prefer Ed's Red.

For stubborn powder crud, try model airplane fuel, the nitro cuts it pretty well. I follow up with CLP afterwards.

 

[Ben86]

They are two different tools really. Break free is more of a lub and hoppe's is a solvent. Solvent is much better at breaking down the metal and carbon deposits in your barrel.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I give up...

 

[nerd-with-a-gun]

Ok, so I bought some Break-Free, I already had Hoppe's. After fireing a hundred rounds of .357 and .38 special rounds I went home and cleaned my gun. I found that Hoppe's did a good job on the cylinder chambers but did not do such a good job on the front of the cylinder or around the forcing cone. Applied some CLP to those problem areas and had much better success, but not perfect. Unfortunately I like to clean my guns until they look new. OCD I guess. So next I will be getting a couple of Birchwood Casey cloths.

Thanks for all of the replys and suggestions.

 

[Ben86]

A good solvent is only half the equation for scrubbing dirty forcing cones. You also need a good bronze or brass gun brush. Sometimes I even use a small flat head screw driving to scrap chunks of lead and carbon off.