If you habitually used Hoppes #9 to clean your guns but...

P

Pond James Pond

New member
... no shop had stocked it in months and you little bottle's supply was looking meagre, would you...

.... go for Hoppes M-Pro? (offered over the phoneby the shop, but can't actually find it on the Hoppes site and haven't seen it in the flesh)
.... go for Hoppes Elite?
.... go for Brunox gun cleaner?
.... just use the Ballistol you have?

Those are the options.
So, suggesting "ACME Miracle Gun-Gleam" from a family-run gunshop in Minisculeville will NOT help me!!
 
I was a die-hard Hoppes #9 guy for a very long time.

That ended quite abruptly, though, when I learned just how poorly it cleans in comparison to modern cleaning solvents. When they took the benzine out of Hoppes #9, they took the magic out.

Almost anything more modern than the current Hoppes #9 formula is a better option.

From your list, I'd probably go with the Ballistol. ...But the M-Pro cleaner might be given a shot. (They're not part of Hoppes - their products just get packaged together for some types of cleaning "kits" and similar items.)
 
I'd go to Amazon.com and order a bottle of Hoppe's #9.
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Ordering from Amzon in the States would be absurdly expensive, so not really an option.

I was a die-hard Hoppes #9 guy for a very long time.

That ended quite abruptly, though, when I learned just how poorly it cleans in comparison to modern cleaning solvents. When they took the benzine out of Hoppes #9, they took the magic out.

Almost anything more modern than the current Hoppes #9 formula is a better option.

From your list, I'd probably go with the Ballistol. ...But the M-Pro cleaner might be given a shot. (They're not part of Hoppes - their products just get packaged together for some types of cleaning "kits" and similar items.)
Click to expand...

Can you provide a link for this M-Pro product?

I must say, having read Hoppe's totally impartial blurp on the Elite line, I'm surprised that has not been suggested. Is it as ineffective as the new formulation Hoppe's #9?

(Incidentally, Benzine is a nasty carcinogenic substance that can cross the dermal membrane, if I recall, so it may be better to go without!!)

As an aside, is Ballistol good as a cleaner too?
I thought it was purely a lube/anti-corrosive...
 
I use M-Pro 7 which is slightly tweaked and sold by Hoppe's as "Elite".
If you can get either, you will be fine.

Ballistol is an emulsifiable oil, introduced in 1905 as the first CLP. It is an adequate cleaner and an adequate lubricant but dedicated solvent and lube will do better. I only use it in my black powder rifles and probably will not buy more when I have used the smelly stuff up.
 
On occasion I have also found the cleaning supplies shelf empty.
I just used stuff on hand from the local hardware store - kind of like Ed's Red cleaning solution.
Mineral spirits, acetone, brake cleaner, white gas, kerosene, motor oil, auto trans fluid, 'etc.
It all works just as good as those super expensive little bottles of brand name solvents and lubes.
I do test them on plastics and finishes first, though.
Although most of the substitutes weren't any more damaging than the official stuff, and usually less so.
When I worked in an auto service shop, my field stripped guns got nicely cleaned right along with the parts and tools.
Wish I could afford a home unit, now.
 
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Very similar. Here is what the manufacturer says:

Our company, Pantheon Enterprises has owned M-Pro7 since it’s inception in 1995. In 2003 we partnered with Hoppe’s to develop Hoppe’s Elite Gun Care Products which we now manufacture for them. Although some of the M-Pro7 and Hoppe’s Elite products are based on similar technologies, the chemical formulas and firearm requirements are different.

Shooters say the difference between MPro7 and Hoppe's Elite is negligible.
 
I've used the Hoppes Benchrest.It will remove copper at a leisurely pace.The important thing is do not mix chemicals,or use them together...like say,Sweets 7.62(pretty high ammonia copper solvent) and some other bore cleaner.The chemicals can be incompatable and rapidly damage your bore.
No,I can't say how,but it was emphatically stated on a barrelmaker's page or some credible place.
Wipe-out and Patch Out have a following.I've used Patch-out.

There is another that I cannot think of the name!!I'll do an edit when I remember.
 
Has anyone ever tested ammonium persulfate or ferric chloride on barrel steel? Ferric chloride, I'm a little leery of, unless cutting it may work, but ammonium persulfate is a horse of a different color, and both dissolves copper. They use this to remove copper (etch) on printed circuit boards.

We have some metallurgists here, and I'm wondering about their thoughts.
 
The old Ammonia Dope of the 1920s contained ammonium persulfate along with aqua ammonia and ammonium carbonate. There were particular cautions to using it for removal of hard metal fouling (cupro-nickel). I wouldn't fool with it for mere gilding metal.

I'm sure not putting ferric chloride on my gun except as a component of a rust bluing solution. Emphasis on rust.
 
Jim,

Both will rust, if they are not cleaned off and oil applied quickly, but I think ferric chloride may cause rust even without air to oxygenate it, so the ammonia dope method of soaking a bore would most likely not work.

I remember the ammonia dope, but with all the other ammonia products in it, I was thinking about straight ammonium persulfate dissolved in some liquid. I know they used to plug the breech and fill the barrel completely to the muzzle, using ammonia dope, with a hose, and let it set about 20 minutes, then quickly drain it, and oil the bore.

I'm not a chemist, so I'm wondering if somebody has tried it since in anything?
 
Shotgun Slim said:
The Hoppe's Elite is as least as good as old #9 and has zero odor. It's all I use anymore.
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The reason I still use ol' Hoppe's #9 is the smell! Something about that smell that brings back good hunting & shooting memories. I wish Glade made an air freshener Hoppe's #9...LOL

...bug :)

BTW: I use Butch's if I really want to clean the gun.
 
Another big fan of MPro7. About all I use now. If it wasn't available I'd try the Hoppe's elite.
 
Hoppes is not a cleaner, It is a air freshner.:D. To many other products on market that work so very much better. One just needs a bottle of it in the man cave to open when you are down there working. Brings back so,so many memories.
 
Dixie

I don't know what a straight solution of ammonium persulfate would do.
Once upon a time when I was doing chemical engineering, I had a metallurgist to consult with and he had a large library of corrosion test data.
But we are retired now, and the agency almost defunct.
I would not want to do the test work in any barrel of mine. Maybe you have a takeoff barrel or one soon to be taken off that you could try it on.
 
Jim,

That's what I was thinking. I've got two old barrels laying around, that I can test it on. I may test it on the outside first, and just polish a place, then add the chemical to see how it reacts. Next, try the rifling, and see if it etches or corrodes it.

My guess is, that one may still have to use the ammonia dope method of plugging the breach, and using a hose. The main thing was to keep oxygen from getting to the bore while the chemicals were in it.

They have the ammonium persulfate in liquid form, by the pint, for PC Boards, however, I don't know what else exactly is in it. I'm hoping just the chemical and water, but the water might be a bad thing. I might try dissolving the crystal form in kerosene, and use it. I'm thinking I'll do some experimenting with it later on.
 
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