all in one or separate cleaner, lubricants and preservatives?

B

breakthrough

Moderator
what do you use to clean your guns?
do you use all in ones - cleaner lubricants preservatives or each one separately?
if you want to store your gun and you live in humid environment , what do you do to store your gun so to prevent it rusting?
 
I've used CLP, but wasn't impressed overly much. I was trying to get a minimalist kit together for a 10 day hike & so CLP seemed a great idea.

Nothing was damaged, I admit.

But when I returned home & used an actual bore cleaner & copper solvent the amount of crud left behind was klinda scary.

I went back to my usual "poison", M-pro-7 bore cleaner & copper solvent & even their own oil as a protectant. I'd also use "KG-12 Big Bore" & any good gun oil as they are one or two of the few actual jacket metal solvents on the market.
 
I keep some BreakFree CLP in my shooting bag. That gives me the option to either clean, lube or wipe down my gun at the range.

At home, I have a variety of cleaners, lubes and protectants and use different ones based on the application and my experience of what each one does best.
 
thanks but what I wanted to know what those cleaner lubricants preservatives are. based on your experiences what cleaner, what lubricant what protectant work best together?
 
I don't think it makes a lot of difference IMO.

Probably go with all products from the same maker though, whoever that may be simply because at least you know they were probably tested together for effectiveness.

Incidentally many are just someone else's product re-branded.
 
...what I wanted to know what those cleaner lubricants preservatives are. based on your experiences what cleaner, what lubricant what protectant work best together?
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I've never run into any incompatibilities, but I understand that there are some products out there that don't "get along".

On my carry guns/home defense guns, I generally use lubrication products without a strong smell and consider low toxicity to be a major plus. Dillon Snake Oil, Lubriplate FMO 350AW are a couple I've used but there are others that should work just as well. I think Hoppes makes a synthetic gun oil that's low toxicity/low odor. I like a light grease for some heavy wear lubrication points and I've used white lithium, Wilson Combat's product--can't remember the name, and Lubriplate SFL-B with success.

I use carry guns that are very corrosion resistant either due to materials and/or finishes. That means I'm not overly concerned about preservatives for them.

For range guns, I'm less picky about lubricants since I don't carry them or handle them except at the range and I wash up immediately after. In addition to the products listed above, I've used BreakFree CLP, Mobil-1 10W30, Dexron IV ATF, Ballistol, Hornady One Shot, Brownell's Friction Defense and a variety of anti-seize type products and RIG for the light grease application.

For typical fingerprint protection, I tend to use a silicon cloth wipedown. For more aggressive corrosion protection I like Beeman's MP-5 metalophilic oil. It does a very good job of corrosion protection but offers pretty much nothing in terms of lubrication capability. I've used Birchwood Casey's Sheath (same deal as the MP-5 in terms of lubrication) but I don't like the smell and I couldn't tell it was any better than the MP-5. I have some of Brownell's Rust Prevent #2 but haven't had much chance to see how it works.

If you're worried about incompatibilities, pick a company that you like (Hoppes is a good one if you don't have a preference) and use their suite of products rather than mixing and matching.
 
*shrugs*
I use Hoppes #9 for bore cleaner, spray some brake cleaner into some of the internals, & blow it all out with compressed air. Then a quickie of some Hornady One Shot and wipe out the excess and give the exterior a light coat.

I could probably do it all with the Hornady, but I have a lot of a big bottle of old original Hoppes that they don't make anymore. There's something about the smell...like napalm, it smells like...victory. ;)
 
Safari Charlie's CLP is what is being used a lot now in Argentina to keep those guns going after a few thousand rounds/day in the dove field.
I use it more for the cleaning aspect; otherwise, I like Shooter's Choice for a solvent, RIG grease or Hoppe's oil for a lubricant; pretty much any decent oil for a preservative.
 
when using clp type product after cleaning and wiping it down do you have to use some of it AGAIN to lubricate the gun in those special areas?
anyone used this one- Corrosion Technologies 50010 CorrosionX for Guns? If so how is it?
 
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Here's what I did during my brief experiment with CLP (which stands for Cleaner, Lubricant & Protector)

I wetted a patch or 3 with it & swabbed the bore & chambers.
Next I cleaned all the "nooks & crannies" with it on patches or a brush while the bore & chambers soaked.
Then I ran dry patches through the bore & chambers, re wetted it with more CLP on patches & made a few passes with bore brushes.
Then I wiped everything down with a clean dry cloth.
More dry patches through the bore & chambers.
(repeat the wet, brush, wait dry, till no dirt comes out)
Finally I put a little CLP on every moving part & wipe down excess again with the (now oily) rag from before to put a thin layer everywhere as a protectant.
Finally one last damp, clean patch through the bore & all chambers.

It worked for some cleaning & lube plus it seemed to protect well, but when I used a dedicated cleaner back at home it brought out a lot of stuff the CLP didn't clean.
 
The CLP is for quick and easy/lazy. It does OK in all except preservative. For me, it fails there because it seems to not do anything at all after a few months.

The only product I have really been impressed with is RIG grease as a preservative.

I avoid anything under the Hoppes brand.
Anything under Remington Brand.

My plan is always to do what JohnKSA does. CLP in the range box and other products at home. Some times I'm in a hurry or lazy though. I always try to wipe things down with rig grease at the end though.
 
"how do you lubricate hard to reach parts?"

With a quick burst of CLP (I use Hornady One Shot), then a pass with a dry patch to wipe off the excess.
 
...and if you are using clp do you still need to use oil?
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Not if it's a decent CLP. Lubrication is probably one of the easiest aspects of gun maintenance. Virtually any decent lube will work adequately. It's corrosion protection where you can really see a huge difference in performance from one product to another.
when using clp type product after cleaning and wiping it down do you have to use some of it AGAIN to lubricate the gun in those special areas?
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Generally when I'm wiping down a gun I just want the thinnest film in place to provide corrosion protection. For actual lubrication I want a little more than that. So I generally view lubrication and wipedown as two different steps even if I'm using the same product for both.
It worked for some cleaning & lube plus it seemed to protect well, but when I used a dedicated cleaner back at home it brought out a lot of stuff the CLP didn't clean.
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What I've found is that cleaning a gun with one product and then trying another one afterwards will almost always net some additional fouling removal. Not because the second product is necessarily better than the first but because different solvents tend to work a little differently. My guess is that reversing the order (using your dedicated cleaner first) and then doing a second go-round with the CLP would have almost exactly the same effect.

That's one reason that when I clean at home I tend to alternate between using a nitro solvent and brushing and a different formulation bore solvent (I've been using a foaming bore solvent or Hoppes Elite Cleaner or MPro-7 lately for this purpose) and patching. If I get some really stubborn buildup, I might try a mild abrasive cleaner like RemClean to knock it out.

In my experience, even after that kind of a cleaning, going back after I consider the gun to be clean and putting some CLP down the bore will pull additional fouling out.
With a quick burst of CLP (I use Hornady One Shot), then a pass with a dry patch to wipe off the excess.
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Yup, good stuff. And if you do it outside, you can just shake off/blow out the excess and let the rest dry. There's hardly any dry residue left in place even though it does provide excellent lubrication and corrosion protection.
 
What I've found is that cleaning a gun with one product and then trying another one afterwards will almost always net some additional fouling removal.
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That's true, but in the case of CLP it was considerably more than "a little"!

I actually tested cleaners a while back when I had to stop using old Hoppes because of my wife's asthma.

I tested several well thought of bore cleaners / copper solvents that were low odor & "green". One of my tests was to try whichever I was testing & then an overnight soak in Hoppes. (The goal was to get something "as good as Hoppes") & "green" cleaners had a spotty rep at the time.

That was how I settled on the M-Pro& or the KG 12, they were the only 2 (at the time) that could match or beat Hoppes.
 
what do you do to store your gun so to prevent it rusting
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I missed this part.
1. Everything is in a synthetic material silicone impregnated gun sock. Pistol, rifles, shotguns, everything. They seem to work really well at reducing in safe/handling damage and I have NEVER had a gun stored in one rust. Cabela's has them for a few dollars a piece. I like to get different ones just to make it easy to tell them apart though.
2. goldenrod or similar safe heater.
3. I only buy guns with some sort of corrosion resistant finish or stainless steel. The stainless used in firearms is good, but not as good as some finishes.
Where I work I use a ton of "medical grade" silicon aerosol spray(which I am concerned might kill me). It was brought up here before and concerns about solvents was voiced, but I am considering trying it out as a protectant on firearms.
 
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