cleaning hand gun

R

Roundeye

New member
I just got in to guns about a year ago and my buddy has all kinds of guns and when he cleans his guns he uses rem oil and that's it. My other buddy cleans with hoppes #9. I just got my first revolver yesterday and was wondering if one way is better than the other.
 
It depends on how much ammo I've just run through the gun, and whether I'm cleaning a semi-auto or a revolver. (I'm a little more judicious about cleaning my semi-autos).

I generally clean the bore with Hoppes and then put a little rem oil on a snake and run in through. Someone once suggested to me that you can put hoppes on the top end of a snake and rem on the back end and clean and oil in one swoop. I've tried that and it seems to work if the gun isn't very dirty.

My son says I clean my guns more than necessary but I'm ex military and kind of enjoy the cleaning and knowledge that my guns will function properly when fired.
 
I've always used both. Hoppes to clean, RemOil to protect.

I bought a blued pistol and the sales guy sold me a small bottle of CLP. Said it was the ONLY way to protect a blued gun. Still havent used it tho. :rolleyes:
 
Breakfree CLP surpasses everything else on the market. Try some. You don't don't need two or three different product to clean, lube and protect. When the U.S. military decided to replace all of their weapon cleaning and preserving products with one product all of the manufacturers looked at the requirements and said it couldn't be done. Breakfree did it.
 
IMO Breakfree CLP probably is the best all-in-one product. But it isn't the best at any one of those categories. I've cleaned dirty weapons with nothing but CLP and it takes a while compared to more volatile and less viscous various & assorted petro-chemicals. For example, in most cases Kerosene is going to clean more quickly than CLP. But Kerosene is not going to protect or lubricate your weapon...

If you want simplicity CLP is a proven product.

Thread on synthetic motor oils:

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4764932#post4764932

For people who like to mix they're own stuff like Ed's Red:

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

Grant Cunningham's article:

http://www.grantcunningham.com/lubricants101.html

Sig Sauer's videos on cleaning:

http://www.sigsauer.com/CustomerService/MaintenanceGuides.aspx

Corosion tests:

http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

yet another thread on lubrication:

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=470684&highlight=lube
 
Generally, do all things dont really "do all" well. A lot depends on what youre cleaning and what you consider "clean" too. It seems there are a lot of opinions as to what clean really is.

To me, it means you brush and patch until the patches come out as clean as possible. Barrel and al other arts and pieces. Closer to the white side than the black. Thats not happening with a Bore Snake, or a couple of wet patches. That may work as a field expedient, but its not "cleaning". You have to actually clean the gun, and that takes what it takes.
 
^ If I have a patch come back with even a touch of grey on it, another wet patch goes in, and then a dry patch until the patches come back with NO residue / carbon etc...

Same goes for Q-Tips in other parts of the gun.

I have heard that the overwhelming percentage of guns sent back to Glock are from over-lubricating problems, but I'm wondering if those could be categorized as cleaning problems.

If you are lubing the pistol, but you're not cleaning until your patches come back white, then you're just turning certain locations in the pistol into little sludge factories.
 
CLP does it all. I don't know why some guys don't agree with that but my guns clean up quickly and easily with just CLP and none have ever rusted. And mine are hard use guns that have fired 500 to 1000 rounds in a week for years. Regarding cleaning the bore until the patch comes out white - sometime when you're SURE your barrel is clean wait a day or two and clean it again. I'll bet the patch comes out dirty. Fouling will continue to come off of the steel for some time. Trying to keep a bore squeaky clean and spotless is an exercise in frustration. As long as you get 90% of the crud out and keep it oily it really doesn't matter. The 1st shot you fire is going to foul the bore again. Worry about keeping the gun functioning 100% and don't sweat how clean it is. Count Z, if Glocks are failing because of "over lubing" then there's something fundamentally wrong with the design of the firearm. That is one of the most absurd excuses for failure to function I have ever come across unless by "over lubing" you mean people are packing them full of axle grease. Of course they are also known to fail if "limp wristed" also. No thanks Gaston.
 
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CLP does it all.
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How is it on copper fouling? How about lead? They are questions I never seem to get a answer to.

I see CLP as a "field" expedient type cleaner. I dont think it does "everything" well, but it does most things good enough for a general cleaning. Some things just need more attention, and more thorough cleaning, and require different things to do it with.
 
Now you're pushing the envelope on "doing it all". No it is not a copper solvent. It doesn't claim to be either. There are no solvents that dissolve lead (at least none you would want to use or keep in your home) Leading must be removed mechanically. If your gun is leading enough to not come clean with a simple bore brush you have a problem with bullet diameter. None of my guns lead when shooting lead. If I shoot copper jackets (rarely) I use a copper solvent or straight ammonia. So does everyone else I know. I am only referring to removing powder fouling in a gun. If you shoot a lot of copper jackets then you are going to get to spend more time getting it out of your bore. I have never found a need for jacketed bullets. I don't like having to remove it from my bore and if it is not removed will do more damage than leading will. When I say CLP does it all I am referring to cleaning and dissolving fouling, lubricating parts bearing on each other and protecting the metal from corrosion. It has done those three things extremely well for me and just about everyone else in the Dept. of Defense employment since it was adopted. And that my friend is a LOT of guns.
 
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Now you're pushing the envelope on "doing it all".
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Hey, youre the one who said it did it all. :)

One of the best things Ive found to remove lead are pieces of a chemically treated "Wipe Away" cloth cut into patches. Works great in the bore, and easily cleans up the front of the cylinder and around the forcing cone.

I dont usually get a lot of leading either, but change bullet brands, and/or push the power up a little, and it happens.

Copper is just one of those things, especially if you shoot jacketed bullets. Some guns are fine with it, some need attention.

Ive been using FrogLube's CLP for a little while now on a couple of Glocks and AR's to try it out. It seems to work as advertised, and clean up seems to be getting easier the more I use it. Still, it doesnt address the copper issue, and I have some rifles that need that issue addressed, and the cleaners needed, arent compatible with the FrogLube, so they get cleaned differently.

As far as rust, I have yet to find anything that works as well as Eezox for keeping things rust free. Ill have to try the CLP and see how it goes, but I think it'll be a hard act to follow.
 
Nyclad gets the copper out ?

I noticed a little copper in my barrel once and after I put a hundred rounds of Nyclads through it I didn't see any copper.

I've always wondered if the Nyclads clean copper out of the barrel.

I wonder if the new Herters nylon coated FMJs do it too...
 
another plus one for breakfree. If really dirty I use a blaster and if fouled a copper remover but for general cleaning BF CLP does the trick. IE after 400 round match I do the BF CLP and maybe after 4 of those go for the rest. Cleaning is relaxing for me so I probably clean more often than I need to but..................
 
Whenever I read a lubrication thread I get the compulsion to get my already clean guns out and clean, lube and wax them again.
 
I like using M-Pro7 gun cleaner with a few strokes of a bronze brush. I follow with a clean dry patch a few minutes later. Then another pass with a clean wet patch. Run a couple of dry patches afterward. Follow with a couple of drops of gun oil, and a clean dry patch.

Oh I usualy give my guns a couple of sprays of the M-Pro7 before leaving the range. The do the rest after I get home.
 
I use Hoppe’s #9 for cleaning, and Mobile One Synthetic automotive oil for lubrication. If Mobile One will lubricate my 11,000 RPM motorcycle engine, it will do fine on a firearm.
 
My father was raised on Hoppes #9 and oil and that's how he cleaned his guns for decades. It's how I was taught to clean.

I think Hoppes #9 is one of the most effective cleaners out there. It also has the benefit of smelling good. After a range trip I usually clean the gun with Hoppes until I get clean patches through the barrel and clean Q-tips through the action.

What I wasn't too impressed with was the Hoppes oil. It tended to "sludge up" and I've been dubious about its rust protection. Been farting around with other products to see what I like.

Tried using G96. It's a really light oil in an aerosol that smells pretty good. It cleans like crap though and I had a spec of surface rust on a barrel I'd wiped with it and put away for 8 months. I like that you can spray the internals with it and then blow with canned air and have very little sludge, but I've been moving away from it.

Right now I'm trying BF CLP. It's certainly a more viscous oil than the G96 was, despite also being in an aerosol. It seems to do a good job cleaning, as I will also attest that I've let it "soak" parts for a while (hour or two) after wiping and was surprised at how much additional stuff lifted up later. Corrosion tests done by some folks indicate it's top notch. Been using it for a couple of months now, we'll see what it's like in a few years.

Canned air + aerosol cleaners/lubricators is pretty awesome though.
 
cleaning methods

I've tried everything over the last 30+ years.

In my experience, products that are supposed to be both a solvent and a lubricant tend not to work that well in both applications. Like the Breakfree CLP that the military has used since the late 1980s. A reasonably good lube (although there are better products out there now I think) but IMHO it sucks as a cleaner. It's too thick and oily.

(I was in the national guard 1980-2000 as a security policeman and then as a combat arms instructor. I spent LOTS of time cleaning guns, and I ALWAYS found that RBC worked lots better as a cleaner than CLP did)

For a cleaning solvent, Hoppes #9 or Shooter's Choice is really good. Shooter's Choice has a formula specific for lead removal that works reasonably well. GI Bore Cleaner (RBC) is pretty good too, and available cheap from Gold Nuggett Army Surplus.

I like to use non-chlorinated brake cleaner or a citrus based degreaser to flush powder fouling out of the trigger group. Pull the grips off and flush out frame. If you use a citrus degreaser, when you go shooting again, and the gun heats up, it smells like oranges . . . not necessary to use all the time.

I almost always use FMJ bullets so I don't have a leading problem. I rarely use a bore brush unless I can see lead or copper fouling in the rifling.

If your barrel starts to lead up, a mix of shooter's choice solvent and kroil penetrating oil works fairly well to get that out.

Q-tips are a wonderful assist to the cleaning process. The long wood handled ones like they use at the doctor's office work great for cleaning the locking lugs & chamber on an AR-15
 
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