Hoppe's No. 9

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Sven

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Picked up some Hoppe's Nitro Powder Solvent No. 9 tonight at the range and cleaned with it for the first time in... oh... 15 years.

I was instantly transported back to cleaning guns with my dad back in Minnesota. The power of smell.

Is it just me, or just that stuff stick around after you clean.

Don't really mind it - actually wondering if anyone makes Hoppe's-scented after shave.

-s
 
Just use No.9 straight up as after shave. Hey, it'll get rid of carbon buildup on your face.

It does have a pretty unique smell, that's for sure. The two scents you wouldn't be able to identify unless you knew their origin are Hoppe's and freshly killed skunk. Everybody in this country knows what pureed skunk smells like. Whenever I have visitors from Germany, and we drive through a cloud of eau de skunk on the road somewhere, they have no idea what on earth could smell that revolting.
 
I have a friend who really did consider using Hoppes as some kinda cologne. Seems he had a girlfriend (who just missed getting on the Olympic rifle team) that got all weak-kneed and flutter-hearted at the smell. :)


-K
 
From what I remember of my organic chemistry days, those sweet smells are generally esters... pretty much the only chemical I enjoyed catching a whiff of (not a huff, a whiff) while working in the fume hood.

I wonder if the formula of Hoppe's is protected like the formula for Coca Cola.
 
Kaylee...
I can attest to the validity of your friend's findings.

#9 scent is a time machine for me.

Scents are extremely good memory triggers.

Sam
 
Heck, Sam, just talking about Hoppe's #9 sets off a chain of memories. I think of the long-defunct Petmecky's Sporting Goods in Austin, with its hundreds of long guns racked along one wall. My grandfather would take me along for an infrequent purchase of a box of .22 shells. My grandfather was a friend of Ad Toepperwein's. Mr. Toepperwein's wife had the habit of saying, "Plink!" whenever she shot. That gave us the word "plinking".

Plinking is fun shooting, mostly with .22s, which brings up the various .22s I've played with. That gets to the micro-adventures of one's life while woods-wandering. This can segue into "real" hunting with centerfires, which starts one into memories of hunt camp...

All from just talking about Hoppe's #9!

:), Art
 
I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning, and Hoppe's #9 in the afternoon.

camper.gif
 
They say that scent is the best memory trigger of all your senses. I believe that. From one of my previous threads, seems that people prefer Hoppes 9 to CLP..

Not to hijack the thread, but people tell me that MPro7 is a great cleaner. I've never found that to be the case; what am I doing wrong with it? I usually prefer Hoppes, but when the ladies are over, the Mpro comes out as it has no smell.
 
Always makes me think of Pop, one of the first memories I can recall is him cleaning his guns and Mom's rifle.

Like many of us that ritualize things, when he was done he'd say, "Take care of your guns and they'll take care of you"...
 
I was cleaning out the garage the other day and found a full bottle of Hoppes that I had bought in 1980. Still had the price tag on it from a store that is no longer. Does the stuff age like fine wine? Can I use it or is it best to leave it alone?

I do agree the smell brings back fond memories of my youth. My dad had us clean out the rifles after every use. Amazing stuff.
 
Yep, smells like Saturday morning with all of us kids gathered around the kitchen table. Mom, Dad, my three brothers and I cleaning away. I was probably eleven or twelve before I realized that not every family spent their Saturday mornings this way!
A family that shoots together, stays together. More than twenty years have passed and we still shoot together. Thanks for the very nice Christmas gift, Oleg and everyone!
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!:)
 
Yeah, that smell is an amazingly strong memory trigger for me too. Takes me back to those crisp, cold, clear-blue-sky days in October that were such a relief after the swelter of August and September.

It meant squirrel and rabbit season was here!
 
I've still got the first bottle of Hoppe's that my Father gave to Me.It was His at least 20 yrs before I got it 40 yrs ago.It's smell transports Me back to those good old days when daily troubles barely exsisted for a young boy.My wife loves the odor also,which makes My life easier.tom.:)
 
I have actually taken an old pine tree car air freshner and soaked in in #9 and put it in my car. Smells kinda like cleaning guns in the woods.
 
Know what you mean

A friend of mine brought me with him to buy an H&K Tactical USP .45 last week. He wanted to know what solvent to buy . . . I made him buy Hoppe's just so I could smell it again (I've been using Break-Free and Shooter's Choice lo these many years).
 
Does the stuff age like fine wine? Can I use it or is it best to leave it alone?
Click to expand...
It's perfumed kerosene, so it's way older than you are -- by maybe a few million years.
 
When I was a kid....

All the cool kids were sniffin' glue.. I was sniffin' Hoppe's

I love that smell.
 
There is always a faint background smell of Hoppe's in my house. Seems like I'm always cleaning something and I wash the rags I use during cleaning. Until wash day, they accumulate in the garage and everytime you pass through, you get a little re-freshening dose.
 
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