I have been in pursuit of non-odor gun cleaners to prevent scent on my rifle when hunting (beating a deer’s nose) and want cleaners that are effective and not time consuming in cleaning copper, carbon and lead.
I have been using Hoppe’s Elite Gun Cleaner, then Hoppe’s Copper Terminator, followed with Elite again and then Slip 2000 Extreme Weapons Lube (EWL) or Slip 2000 Gun Lube for lubricant and protection. This has worked well until a recent discovery. I cleaned my 243 recently the night before shooting. I use a ziplock bag to catch the patches and when I remove the ziplock bag I run a saturated patch of Hoppe’s Elite over the metal at the end of the barrel to clean off the copper cleaner. When I did, a couple drops of the mix ended up in the end of the muzzle. It was late so I didn’t follow my standard protocol of running another dry patch and an oiled patch down the bore. The next day when shooting the rifle, I found my handloads and the factory loads were about 120 ft/s lower in velocity but couldn’t explain why. I never recovered the velocity. When I returned home to clean the gun I found that the residue from the copper terminator from swabbing the end of the barrel had burnt in the end of the barrel and looked like burnt sugar in the muzzle. So far I have been unsuccessful in cleaning it out. I know it is my fault for not cleaning it out entirely before shooting but feel that I should probably be using a cleaner that is not prone to this especially if I cannot get every bit out of the chamber, throat or bore. Here are some pictures of the muzzle with the burnt Copper Terminator in the end. View attachment Copper Terminator burnt in end of bore.pdf
I found that the Copper Terminator did work well at Copper removal. Cleaning with it for 30 minutes and then following with Butch’s Bore shine or Blue Wonder (Ammonia based) found that I got clean patches with the Butches and Blue Wonder. When I cleaned with Butch’s and Blue Wonder I cleaned until I got clean patches as instructed then used the Copper Terminator and got some nasty blue patches and cleaned a lot more out. Using this after using Hoppe’s Elite to clean carbon and powder residue then cleaning the Terminator out with a couple patches of Elite has worked great until this mishap. The burnt residue was only in the lower portion and sides of the muzzle and about a half inch into the bore. I realize I could continue to use the Copper Terminator carefully and still get the good results I have had so far. But I want to see what other products are out there.
I wanted to see if other gun oils and cleaners would char when exposed to flame so I did the following test. I took some of the following Copper Cleaners, Gun Cleaners and Gun oils and placed 1 to 3 drops like I would on a patch on a sheet of aluminum foil. I rubbed the cleaner across the foil like it had been run down a bore. I then let it dry for 7 to 8 hours like I would have overnight. I then took a butane torch and lightly passed over the cleaners and solvents to see if any of them would char like the Terminator had in my bore. Here is the list of the brands I tested that I had on hand:
Hoppe’s Copper Terminator
Hoppe’s Elite Gun Cleaner
Hoppe’s Gun Oil (orange Bottle)
Slip 2000 Extreme Weapons Lube (EWL)
Slip 2000 Gun Lube
Outers Gun Oil
Outers Cleaner, Lubricant, Protectant
Butch’s Bore Shine
Krano Kroil
Remington Oil
Remington Brite Bore
WD40
Here are a few pictures of the results. View attachment Flame Test results compressed.pdf
All the oils and cleaners flamed up when the torch was run over them but self extinguished in about a second. The Rem Oil and Rem Brite Bore did not flame or the Outers Gun Oil. This is because they had already evaporated before running the flame over them. So I reapplied them again and this time ran the flame over them immediately. They flamed briefly and then extinguished as I expected. The Copper Terminator had left a charred area where the solvent had been and put off some dark smoke as it bubbled up. The only gun oils that had lubricant remaining after burning briefly were both the Slip 2000 products, the WD40 (faintly), the Krano Kroil (faintly) and the Hoppe’s Gun Oil. Since they had all burnt with no residue and had remaining lubricant, I continued to run the torch over them repeatedly to see when the oil would fully disappear. I found that after another repetition or two the WD40 and Krano were gone. After about 4 the Hoppes was gone. After about 10 times the Slip 2000 products were still there and when whipped with my finger easily oiled my finger. They showed good resistance to heat which would obviously be good for use in a semi automatic for a lubricant. All the oils and solvents left no residue or charring that would have lead me to believe they would damage a gun if left in the bore after a cleaning. The Copper Terminator on the other hand produced the same charred effect that I found in the end of my muzzle. It was disappointing but I realized that I have cleaned with this before and when fully removed from the bore did not burn in the bore. Prior results with the Terminator had removed enough copper to turn a Remington 700 from a 1.5” gun to a .375” gun with the same factory load.
I would like to see what other options are out there for no odor, non corrosive, effective copper cleaners. I have seen the following products are advertised to fit these characteristics:
KG-12
Bore Tech Eliminator
Bore Tech CU+2
I was wondering is if anyone has these solvents or other copper or carbon solvents, if they could conduct the same experiment and share with other readers on this thread to see if they char when exposed to flame. Obviously none of us want to have some minor left over solvent create this condition. If you can share your pictures like I did that would be great and hopefully we can create some understanding of which solvents would not have negative effects of having some in the bore when fired.
Use about 3 drops only in well ventilated areas and away from flammable materials. Keep a cup of water and fire extinguisher nearby in case of fire. I am not responsible for any damage you may induce to property or physical harm to yourself or others. Be careful and use common sense.
And if anyone has a recommendation as to what cleaner will remove this mess from the muzzle of my rifle without damaging metal or removing bluing, please let me know. I’ll probably take it to a gunsmith.
View attachment Copper Terminator burnt in end of bore.pdf View attachment Flame Test results compressed.pdf
I have been using Hoppe’s Elite Gun Cleaner, then Hoppe’s Copper Terminator, followed with Elite again and then Slip 2000 Extreme Weapons Lube (EWL) or Slip 2000 Gun Lube for lubricant and protection. This has worked well until a recent discovery. I cleaned my 243 recently the night before shooting. I use a ziplock bag to catch the patches and when I remove the ziplock bag I run a saturated patch of Hoppe’s Elite over the metal at the end of the barrel to clean off the copper cleaner. When I did, a couple drops of the mix ended up in the end of the muzzle. It was late so I didn’t follow my standard protocol of running another dry patch and an oiled patch down the bore. The next day when shooting the rifle, I found my handloads and the factory loads were about 120 ft/s lower in velocity but couldn’t explain why. I never recovered the velocity. When I returned home to clean the gun I found that the residue from the copper terminator from swabbing the end of the barrel had burnt in the end of the barrel and looked like burnt sugar in the muzzle. So far I have been unsuccessful in cleaning it out. I know it is my fault for not cleaning it out entirely before shooting but feel that I should probably be using a cleaner that is not prone to this especially if I cannot get every bit out of the chamber, throat or bore. Here are some pictures of the muzzle with the burnt Copper Terminator in the end. View attachment Copper Terminator burnt in end of bore.pdf
I found that the Copper Terminator did work well at Copper removal. Cleaning with it for 30 minutes and then following with Butch’s Bore shine or Blue Wonder (Ammonia based) found that I got clean patches with the Butches and Blue Wonder. When I cleaned with Butch’s and Blue Wonder I cleaned until I got clean patches as instructed then used the Copper Terminator and got some nasty blue patches and cleaned a lot more out. Using this after using Hoppe’s Elite to clean carbon and powder residue then cleaning the Terminator out with a couple patches of Elite has worked great until this mishap. The burnt residue was only in the lower portion and sides of the muzzle and about a half inch into the bore. I realize I could continue to use the Copper Terminator carefully and still get the good results I have had so far. But I want to see what other products are out there.
I wanted to see if other gun oils and cleaners would char when exposed to flame so I did the following test. I took some of the following Copper Cleaners, Gun Cleaners and Gun oils and placed 1 to 3 drops like I would on a patch on a sheet of aluminum foil. I rubbed the cleaner across the foil like it had been run down a bore. I then let it dry for 7 to 8 hours like I would have overnight. I then took a butane torch and lightly passed over the cleaners and solvents to see if any of them would char like the Terminator had in my bore. Here is the list of the brands I tested that I had on hand:
Hoppe’s Copper Terminator
Hoppe’s Elite Gun Cleaner
Hoppe’s Gun Oil (orange Bottle)
Slip 2000 Extreme Weapons Lube (EWL)
Slip 2000 Gun Lube
Outers Gun Oil
Outers Cleaner, Lubricant, Protectant
Butch’s Bore Shine
Krano Kroil
Remington Oil
Remington Brite Bore
WD40
Here are a few pictures of the results. View attachment Flame Test results compressed.pdf
All the oils and cleaners flamed up when the torch was run over them but self extinguished in about a second. The Rem Oil and Rem Brite Bore did not flame or the Outers Gun Oil. This is because they had already evaporated before running the flame over them. So I reapplied them again and this time ran the flame over them immediately. They flamed briefly and then extinguished as I expected. The Copper Terminator had left a charred area where the solvent had been and put off some dark smoke as it bubbled up. The only gun oils that had lubricant remaining after burning briefly were both the Slip 2000 products, the WD40 (faintly), the Krano Kroil (faintly) and the Hoppe’s Gun Oil. Since they had all burnt with no residue and had remaining lubricant, I continued to run the torch over them repeatedly to see when the oil would fully disappear. I found that after another repetition or two the WD40 and Krano were gone. After about 4 the Hoppes was gone. After about 10 times the Slip 2000 products were still there and when whipped with my finger easily oiled my finger. They showed good resistance to heat which would obviously be good for use in a semi automatic for a lubricant. All the oils and solvents left no residue or charring that would have lead me to believe they would damage a gun if left in the bore after a cleaning. The Copper Terminator on the other hand produced the same charred effect that I found in the end of my muzzle. It was disappointing but I realized that I have cleaned with this before and when fully removed from the bore did not burn in the bore. Prior results with the Terminator had removed enough copper to turn a Remington 700 from a 1.5” gun to a .375” gun with the same factory load.
I would like to see what other options are out there for no odor, non corrosive, effective copper cleaners. I have seen the following products are advertised to fit these characteristics:
KG-12
Bore Tech Eliminator
Bore Tech CU+2
I was wondering is if anyone has these solvents or other copper or carbon solvents, if they could conduct the same experiment and share with other readers on this thread to see if they char when exposed to flame. Obviously none of us want to have some minor left over solvent create this condition. If you can share your pictures like I did that would be great and hopefully we can create some understanding of which solvents would not have negative effects of having some in the bore when fired.
Use about 3 drops only in well ventilated areas and away from flammable materials. Keep a cup of water and fire extinguisher nearby in case of fire. I am not responsible for any damage you may induce to property or physical harm to yourself or others. Be careful and use common sense.
And if anyone has a recommendation as to what cleaner will remove this mess from the muzzle of my rifle without damaging metal or removing bluing, please let me know. I’ll probably take it to a gunsmith.
View attachment Copper Terminator burnt in end of bore.pdf View attachment Flame Test results compressed.pdf
