Hoppes No 9 leaving film residue

[P95loser]

I have about 3 long guns that I leave in my safe most of the time. I get them out every couple of months and wipe them down with Hoppes No 9. I am noticing a light colored film on the guns. When I wipe them off, it seems to go away. Also, when I clean off my older shotgun with patches, it is leaving a brown residue on the patches (a lot of missing blue on it). Am I using too much Hoppes, not enough, or do I need to be using something else.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[George Hill]

Your solution is polluted. Get some fresh stuff.

 

[stevemis]

My guess is the "residue" is oil in the formula, which is good because that's protecting things. As for the brown residue, not sure.. perhaps the blue is breaking down?

Either way, Hoppes #9 isn't really a great product for long-term storage.

 

[P95loser]

What do you recommend? By the way, hopefully something that doesnt smell. My wife is pregnant and has a nose like a hound and can't stand Hoppes!

 

[sig226]

I can't stand the smell of that stuff, either. Try G-96.

I also don't like Hoppe's Number 9 because the residue from it and Hoppe's gun oil dries and turns into a glue. I've seen centerfire bolt guns that wouldn't fire because they were so gunked up with Hoppe's.

 

[Phil A]

What do you recommend? By the way, hopefully something that doesnt smell. My wife is pregnant and has a nose like a hound and can't stand Hoppes!

Been there. Since I switched to M PRo 7 and FP-10 CLP, I have not heard any complaints. - Phil

 

[sfhogman]

Ed's Red. For years now.

http://www.9mmlargo.com/eds_red.htm

 

[Thernlund]

I pretty much bathe the slide and receiver in Breakfree, Gunzilla, or MPro7. Then clean as normal. Afterward I do a quick wipe down with a dry shop rag, reassemble, then wipe down with a silicone cloth. They seem to store fine.

On my auto-loaders I usually grease the rails with a tiny amount of white lithium grease as a very last step.


-T.

 

[glockman19]

I use Hopps #9 for cleaning but always wipe down all my firearms with a good coat of oil before storing

 

[ulflyer]

G96

Been using G96 for years for wipe downs and final bore swabbing after cleaning and periodically, which is often many, many months between. No residue, nor rust. Much nicer smell than Hoppes 9.

 

[308win]

I wouldn't use Hoppes No. 9 as a preservative. The brown residue you are wiping off just might be rust. The best lubricant/protectorant I have found is Clenzoil. The man who used to own the formula & manufacturing told me that NASCAR teams bought the stuff by the barrel and used it for parts protection before putting them on the shelf - that tells me it must work. It also is or was endorsed by the one of the Thompson collectors organizations.

 

[dogrunner]

I've used breakfree for years in this humid Central Florida climate with great results.

Don't know about the current formulation, but recall an article some time back dealing with the relative rust inhibiting qualities of various solutions and #9 came out really low on the chart. Further, I clearly recall a note of caution in the American Rifleman wherein a fellow left his nickled M/29 cylinder sitting immersed in the stuff and it effectively de-nickled it!....That said I still use it as a bore solvent on my ancient nickled M/19 and have for the last forty years with no untoward results.

Try breakfree, you'll like it!

 

[bass806]

No. 9 is a great cleaner. I use it to remove surface rust and any residue on the firearm,barrel, etc. first, then I use a good gun oil to preserve it. I just started using Birchwood Casey Barricade (formerly Sheath) for the final coat before going in the safe. Barricade might be what your looking for as the "wipe down periodically" product. Another option is to use a good silicone based gun cloth. I get mine from Wilson Combat, they're bigger and heavier than the ones you can buy in your local mart stores.

 

[308win]

Do the silicone wipes leave a stable film or does the carrier eventually evaporate and leave a gummy residue?

 

[bakert]

I've used Breakfree for years in this humid Central Florida climate with great results.

dogrunner, I've been using Breakfree for years too. Maybe not quite as humid in KY as Florida but it's pretty bad here in the Ohio Valley in Summer at times. For my blued carry guns, I Keep a cloth in a baggie and add a dozen or so drops of breakfree to the cloth occasionally to keep it moist but not sopping wet to wipe them down at least every few days. I wipe down the ones I store down like this too. Haven't had a problem with rust yet.

 

[Deanimator]

I wouldn't use Hoppes No. 9 as a preservative. The brown residue you are wiping off just might be rust. The best lubricant/protectorant I have found is Clenzoil.

+10,000.

The president of my shooting club (and an excellent gunsmith) got me using Clenzoil years ago. Clean your guns well, wipe on some Clenzoil and wipe off the excess, and rust won't be a problem, at least not in NE Ohio. A great feature of Clenzoil is that it doesn't attract solid debris the way other products will.

The only thing else I'd use would be Shooter's Choice red grease, and that for long term storage.

 

[dogrunner]

I hear you Bakert. I grew up in W.Va in very similar climactic conditions, but there you only deal with it for a couple of months or so...in Florida it's a fact of life at least six months of the year, plus if you are near the coast then you have the salt air issue!....I do roughly the same thing you do and like I said've had good luck with it.

One thing I forgot to mention but its more than worth a note is that Boshield T-9 is WELL worthwhile if you are going to store those guns for an extended period. It's advertised as a "protective lube"...but its a really good shield on the exterior of a gun exposed to the elements. It'l leave a waxy film cover on the gun and I'd suggest you avoid spraying it into the action tho. It is the only protective material that I have actually seen heavy rain and moisture bead up and fall from a gun. Picked it up originally at a marine supply house and I also use it on my outboard that's primarily ran in salt water....Five years of use now and the Evinrude still looks new under the top cover!

 

[bannockburn]

dogrunner

I also remember a Q/A column in a gun magazine years ago, where someone had cleaned their nickeled gun with Hoppes, put it inside a felt lined drawer, and found sometime later that the nickel on the felt side had come off. The writer wanted to know why this happened to only one side of the gun. Best guess answer was that the Hoppes probably soaked down into the felt where it stayed in contact with the nickel. In order to nickel plate a metal surface, you first have to plate it with copper, as nickel will not bond directly to metal.
So, the Hoppes found some porous spots in the nickel plate and did what it does best, it went after the copper plate and removed it, thereby causing the nickel to come off. Ever since I read that column, I've been very careful when cleaning any plated gun with Hoppes, making sure that no residue is left on any plated surface.

 

[P95loser]

Well, I went to the local gun store today... All they had was RemOil in the aerosal can. I sprayed it on the patches and wiped down all the guns... Much better looking now.

 

[FieroCDSP]

There's a product called Weapon Shield that I've been working with lately. It's like Breakfree, but it seems to work better. Smells like cinnamon, cleans better than hoppes. It does really well as a lubricant. Once it imbeds itself in the pores of the metal, it stays really well. Took my M&P 40 out to the range, and after a hundred rounds, it looked like the rails were dry, but feeling them they were still slick enough to function smoothly. Since it's sort of an oil, it seeps behind the caked crud and breaks it loose. Good stuff. Availiable at he M&P Store.

http://mp-store.com/

P95loser, this stuff has only a cinnamon smell, and some can't even smell that, so it should go great with your woman's nose.