Ultimate thread on cleaners

[tironsi]

I often see mentions of different cleaning products, but due to marketing's aversion to grammar I can't tell if they're misspelled or correct. I'd appreciate it if people listed their favorite products used to clean handguns in the form of:
Brand (website and/or national store to get it) - purpose

Thank you

 

[RP86]

M-Pro 7 Midway USA It also comes in 8oz, 32oz, and gallon sizes. -Solvent/Bore Cleaner. I use it to clean the barrel and the exterior of the barrel piece. Non-toxic and no odor so cleaning indoors isn't an issue, plus it has worked the best for me so far.

Hoppe's #9 Gun Oil Midway USA It also comes in other various sizes if you browse the midway website. -Lubricant. I lightly lubricate the entire gun with this to remove dirt etc, and then use dry patches to dry it off. Also used in the barrel and on the barrel piece as a lubricant. I've used it as a lubricant on all my guns without any problems.

I do not use solvent/bore cleaner(M-Pro 7) on any other part of the gun other than the inside of the barrel and the outside of the barrel piece. Reason being is if the solvent should get into places you cannot dry and lubricate it could possibly cause corrosion and other problems. Just to clarify when I say barrel/barrel piece I mean #1 listed in this diagram Click here to see diagram. Most dirty areas can be easily cleaned off with a little gun oil on a patch/q-tip.

I usually use toothbrush, patches, q-tips etc with small amounts of gun oil on it to free up any dirt on the gun. Then I use dry patches and q-tips to dry the areas. Remember too little oil is always better than too much. Also, if you have metal slide and frame apply a light coating of oil with a patch to the slide where it meets the frame.

I do not own any revolvers so use of the products above may differ. These two products have worked great for me, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

-Ryan

 

[.45 Cal]

A friend turned me onto "BREAK FREE CLP" (Cleaner, Lubricant, Presevative) that really gets the crude out and is a preserving lubricant like the name says. Works really well on barrel fouling.

 

[rockstar.esq]

For copper I've gone to Butchs bore shine. Although its slow (like all copper solvents) it seems to work well enough plus it doesn't stink nearly as bad as Sweets 7.62 which didn't work any better. Alternating with a Kroil soaked patch seems to help speed things up.

For lead I use a worn bore brush with pieces of a copper scrubbing pad woven into the bristles. Simple back and forth cuts the lead out 'Mo rickity tick. Despite silly claims about "lead dissolving" I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS HAPPEN with any product. Plus the brush system takes literally twenty stokes max and peels the lead out like the beejeesus.

For cleaning cylinder faces I find the lead removal cloth patches clamped in a pair of military surplus hemostats to be the single easiest tool for the job. Retired dental tools are also helpfull for selective "pruning" of lead deposits. Selective "buffing" of the cylinder face using the aforementioned copper scouring pad can work wonders.

Hoppes seems to work ok for powder residue and the smell is pleasant however it's unbearably slow for copper.

Exterior finish cleaning is a combination of a little of the butches that ran out of the bore followed by some polishing with Flitz polishing creme. My polishing cloth of choice is a Flitz microfiber and it does a wonderful job of leaving smudge free finishes on shiny guns.

I thought I understood cleaning until I tried using jags which revealed to me the idiocy of the simple loop thing that comes with nearly all primative cleaning kits. I used to use a toothbrush more often however I've found most of my solvents also dissolve the grip so now I use a plastic brush designed for gun cleaning.

For trigger lubrication I use rubbing alcohol with moly powder which once dried, coats the metal and doesn't attract dusty boogers.

For slide lubrication I use Tetra grease, literally one little dot on each rail and that's all. It doesn't drip or run however it's a bad choice on exposed parts like the sides of triggers, hammers etc. Plus it doesn't have any smell.

For all other oiling jobs I use Kroil which not only smells like pine sol but also creeps it's way into tiny creavaces. The down side of Kroil is that it attracts junk really well and it's low surface tension lets it run out of the gun depending on how it's stored. So it's best used sparingly with runaway drips policed quickly thereafter.

 

[Wasz]

Any suggestions on what to use in a .357 that has had a good number of .38s run through it?

 

[5Wire]

I do not use solvent/bore cleaner(M-Pro 7) on any other part of the gun other than the inside of the barrel and the outside of the barrel piece. Reason being is if the solvent should get into places you cannot dry and lubricate it could possibly cause corrosion and other problems.

Using compressed air solves those problems: drying and lubricating. MPro7, Hoppe's Elite, S&W Cleaner are all the same product and work really well.

For lubrication I use Breakfree CLP or MPro 7 Gun Lube. I also use Elmer's Slide-ALL (almost any hardware store), an inexpensive dry Teflon™ aerosol for places that get the hottest. No buildup of crud with the dry lube in gas piston/cylinder, cylinder bores, ejector stars, barrel bores, firing pin channels, etc.

Each cleaning makes the next one easier.

 

[CountGlockula]

I actually use M-Pro7 on my Glock's reciever also with the barrel/recoil spring assembly and slide. Spray, wipe and blow dry the trigger/hard to reach places.

I use Hoppes #9 to lubricate.

 

[slylikea_fox]

montana xtreme

Give their 50bmg a try also their grease is some of the best i've ever used.
Sinclair's sells it. At a show I had talked to a 1000yd shooter that swore by their bore conditioner claim that he could sight off the fouler. I cannot confirm this but it has proven to be the best bore cleaner i've ever used and will bot harm the bore like sweets. It does have a rather foul smell though.

 

[Plastic Cowboy]

Sweets is pretty potent stuff.......just don't breath in when you are using it.....trust me on this one!!!

also it works best with patches since it will eat your bronze brushes alive!!

 

[Ares45]

Sweets 7.62 is as potent as it gets. Good for horribly fouled barrels. Follow the directions to the letter! - It's strong enough to pit your barrel if you let it sit too long. Resist the urge to sniff!
Butch's Bore Shine - similar to Sweets but not quite as strong/effective.
Montana Extreme - same thing as Butch's BS.
M-Pro 7 Bore gel - don't waste your money.
Gunslick foaming Bore cleaner - it works but you'll be done in half the time if you use Sweets or Butchs.

M-Pro 7 Cleaner - general cleaner and degreaser. Good Stuff. Works well for a general hose down. I'm on my 3rd gallon and have yet to have anything rust or otherwise corrode.

Breakfree CLP - good general lubricant, but if you think you're really cleaning anything with it you are kidding yourself.

Militec-1 grease. Good for slide lube, o-ring barrel bushings, etc.

Militec-1 Lube - It has it's niche purposes. I use it when I need to run a gun dry, i.e. sandy dirty conditions, training classes where guns and mags get dropped, stepped on, and kicked around in the dirt. Good for carry pieces = less of a lint magnet. Metal conditioning required per directions. Offers minimal corrosion resistance - if your gear gets wet, clean and dry as soon as possible.

Caliber specific patch jag - a must! Try it once and you'll never use the patch and loop method again. As a bonus you can just flip the patch over and re-use

 

[slylikea_fox]

If your comparing montana xtreme to butch's you've never tried thier 50 bmg.
Butch's is a joke compared to it.

 

[Ares45]

What does comparing product "A" with product "B" have to do with product "C"?

 

[Ares45]

deleted - DP

 

[tbtrout]

Tetra Gun Cleaner and lube seems to work the best for me. Most local gun shops carry it.

 

[ravencon]

There have been some great solvent suggestions in this thread. I reserve solvents for barrel cleaning. For cleaning frames, receivers, etc I like Ballistol.
It is non-toxic, biodegradable and has an aroma that is truly unique. The latter may not be its best trait.

 

[rockstar.esq]

tbtrout not to call you out but Tetras goopy stuff not only smelled like fresh cat pee it slimed everything over with the most tenaciously sticky junk! Truly unimpressive to say the least. Truly you owe it to yourself to try a liquid gun cleaner if you haven't already.

As I read some replies I realize that I forgot to list the absolute finest trigger lubrication I've ever found. I mix Moly powder (like that used for bullet coating) with rubbing alcohol. Once painted on all mating parts with a Q-tip and given a couple of seconds to evaporate the parts are coated with Moly. I've measured as much as 3lb reductions in trigger pull using nothing other than this lube! Perhaps the coolest aspect of this is that it's completely dry, insensitive to temperature and bonds to metal without attracting dirt, grit, or dust. Be advised that the Moly powder is exceptionally fine somewhat akin to powdered graphite, clean up is a pain if you're clumsy but it works so well I'm willing to accept it.

 

[brentwal]

Ed's Red

 

[tironsi]

Thanks

Thanks for the good advice everyone.

 

[Shrinkmd]

Mpro7 and relubing?

I use Mpro7 on nearly everything, since it really does work well (especially if you spray and let it sit for a couple hours) I usually make sure to reoil everywhere once I'm done.

Had anyone had problems inside bolts or firing pin channels in semi-auto pistols by having some mpro 7 get it, then get cleaned out with action degreaser, and then blast some CLP or Remoil all over the place? I know this wouldn't be a great idea for a carry piece, but for something which is going to get a chance to dry a bit before being used again, any problems?

 

[5Wire]

Had anyone had problems inside bolts or firing pin channels in semi-auto pistols by having some mpro 7 get it, then get cleaned out with action degreaser, and then blast some CLP or Remoil all over the place? I know this wouldn't be a great idea for a carry piece, but for something which is going to get a chance to dry a bit before being used again, any problems?

The attraction of MPro 7 is that, according to its description, it gets metal "molecularly clean", that is the metal surface is nothing but the metal surface, no grease left for action degreaser to work on. Left unlubricated such a cleaning would be a liability to the gun. So applying CLP, Remoil, MPro 7 Gunlube, or some other lubricant is necessary to protect the metal. Too much lube is worse than too little, especially in areas where powder, lead, copper residue can accumulate to the gooey surplus.

If by "blasting all over the place" means distributing a lubricant using compressed air, the lube coat will be thinned and cover any surface in the airpath as if applied by an airbrush. This is a good thing.

As far as using the blow dry/blow lube on a carry piece is concerned, I'm not sure I understand your question. Tupperware surfaces don't need a lube coating to protect them. Wipe it off or use a dry lube.

 

[5Wire]

How come "Delete Post" isn't an edit option?

 

[stephen m]

I generally spray the parts with hoppes elite, let soak for 10-15min. then

scrub with nylon brush. Spray with some type of action blaster (tetra's at

the moment). Let air dry. Use the same Hoppes Elite for the barrel (I'm not a

1000yd shooter, this works well enough for me) alternating between patches

and bronze brush. For lube I use breakfree and Tetra grease. For the finish I

wipe down with a lightly coated patch of breakfree, let sit about 45min. then

wipe with lighty with a dry cloth to soak up the extra.