"I don't like Hoppes #9" and other unpopular cleaning opinions.

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stevekl

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Everyone likes threads like these (I hope). The old "I don't agree with the consensus and I want to be heard" threads. This is one of them.

Well, I don't like Hoppes #9.
Yeah this is shocking. I should be on Entertainment Tonight for having this opinion. Well there's two reasons why I feel this this way:

1) It leaves a residue. A solvent shouldn't do this! I want a solvent to ERADICATE residues. That's why, in my household (note: I don't actually have a houselhold. I'm a college student.) I use automotive brake cleaner. This stuff erases...well, everything. And it leaves no residue. When I use Hoppes to clean my rifle, it leaves a smelly (see below) and slighty oily residue. Come on, this is a solvent, not a lubricant! When I use a solvent I want NOTHING but bare metal!

2) It smells horrible. I know most of you love the smell! But I hate it. It's basically because when I clean my firearms, I don't want the room to smell like Valencia oranges and gasoline.

So when I clean my firearms with Hoppes #9, what do I end up with? A bunch of parts which are oily to the touch. And I don't want this, because I will supply my own oil later on. And the parts, the entire room, and even my person smell like tangerines and gasoline. Come on, I don't want to smell like oranges and gasoline. I got places to be and people to meet, you know? I don't want to have to take a shower after cleaning my AR-15.

So here's what I do:
step 1) Buy a can of harsh ass brake cleaner from Autozone or Walmart or wherever.
2) Spray the gun parts with the harsh ass brake cleaner. This will destroy and humiliate any lubricant, powder residue, dirt, grit, grease, or anything.
3) Apply your lubricant of choice.

Voila. No horrible smell, no un needed residue on parts that don't need a residue.

So that's my rant. I know you guys want to share your unpopular opinions because it's really fun to do so. This is the thread for it!
 
I try not to clean my guns down to the bare metal, I figure the manufacture put that finish on there for a reason and who am I to second guess them.
 
Hoppe's #9 is...Heaven in a jar, my friend. :)

Sorry you don't dig the smell. If I had a personal tagline it'd be something like "Cleaning my guns with Hoppe's #9 since 1975."
 
Are solvents supposed to have a pleasant smell?

The only guns I use brake/carb cleaner on are Russian guns which I don't care whether or not they actually look good when I'm done with them. I'll use it to remove cosmoline. I would never use something so harsh on any other gun for any other purpose.

If you can tell Hoppe's leaves a residue in the barrel, you're looking more closely than I am. I use it one place and expect it to do one thing. Dissolve copper, lead, and powder fouling from the bore. I don't use it anywhere else. After I use it, I run brushes and clean patches until nothing else comes out.
 
Been using it for 61 years. Cleans great and preserves well even in the humid Fl climate. Never had any rust and the old bores are in great shapes. If it wasn't a decent product it would have failed in the market years ago.
 
Im not judging what you do. But using brake cleaner on your guns as used on any metal surface, it takes away the oil. Making rust an issue. I personally would think using brake cleaner then oil would be very bad for the gun. Just because brake cleaner gets in all sorts of areas that oil might not get directed towards. Using no oil would be terrible. Lastly.... Hoppes... as said above heaven in a bottle :) Josh
 
Hoppe's has been gettin guns clean for years.

But, it's old technology. I use Butch's Bore Shine or Sweets mainly. For lube I use Tetragun and sometimes Mobil One.

I don't like Breakfree. After shooting enough to get the gun hot, Breakfree disipates and disappears. Tetragun doesn't.
 
Just trying to understand. You don't like the smell of Hoppes 9, but you are fine with brake cleaner. Sounds kinda asinine.
 
I married my second wife because she smelled like hopes #9. I didn't make that mistake the third time though. Money has a better smell.
 
I personally use a hme mixture called "Ed's Red"

http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=9

I've found that all around, this is the best cleaner. It costs like $30 bucks for a couple gallons, and you can store it practically forever. I usually make it up in 5 gallon quantities, and split the cost with a friend or two. I go through about a gallon per year, and i dont hesitate to use it wastefully. this cant be said for the times that I would buy Hoppes #9, or other solvents.

As for Lubricant, it depends on the gun, and the part of the gun...I'm picky
 
Automotive break cleaner? As that old saying goes," different strokes for different folks" would seem to apply here.
If you had a room full of gun owners and you asked the question," how many guys use break cleaner to clean your weapons?" I`ll bet you`d be the only one. But like I said, different strokes applies here. Not picking on you
just stating my opinion. :)

Love the smell of old #9............
 
Indiandave, when I first read your post I could have sworn I read
"I cleaned my first kid with Hoppe's 9,".... funny things just the thought of the stuff does to some folks. :D
 
stevekl, so switch to black powder guns and only have to use hot, soapy water to clean up. ;)

The only other thing I use to clean up my black powder stuff is a mixture of alcohol, windex and water, at the range and for final cleanup after basically boiling my guns.

I know this isn't a real solution to your problem. Hoppes gives me a headache almost every time I use it to clean guns. I saw once (and tried) a low odor solution they made. I seem to remember it working OK and smelling less.

jm
 
Love the smell of Hoppes, but it's in competition with G96 gun treatment for pleasant smell. The Hoppes smell seems to go away pretty quickly, but if I use G96 my guns have a pleasant, subtle clove smell for weeks.
 
"I think Hoppes is a little over rated"

The government made them stop putting nitrobenzene in it many years ago.

" In animals, breathing nitrobenzene resulted in an increase in liver, thyroid, and kidney tumors."
 
I've never liked Hoppes. I use nothing but Shooter's Choice powder solvent (and when I was shooting a lot of jacketed ammunition, copper solvent). For lubrication and protection, I use Clenzoil.
 
I use Hoppes #9 for one reason-nostalgia. The smell takes me back to my youth and days of hunting and shooting with my grandfather and his friends and relatives (dad not around, long story,not interested in sharing). Happy times. Good times. Part of the reason I love milsurp, walnut, milled steel, iron sights, the smell of aged leather, solid click of heavy steel on heavy steel. Takes me back and I'm 12 years old again and recapture those days in a snapshot. People of different generations have different triggers. When some of the younger members are in their 50's and 60's, it may be the smell of CLP, milled aluminum, black rubber, the sound of an AR bolt slapping shut and snapping open the dust cover, etc. Everybody has different emotional triggers from their generation. But the thing about nostalgia is that it gives us the ability to select our memories and recapture them.
 
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