Hoppe's #9 smell

Ballistol smells like vomit to me and I feel that it’s a mediocre cleaner at best. It works okay for BP but it doesn’t impress me at all for anything else.
For BP and BP substitutes I used a homemade concoction.
For smokeless I use Hoppe’s and Break Free CLP.
Break Free CLP is a much

The spray cans of Remington cleaner seem to have no smell at all to me

troy fairweather said:

I like the smell, the old stuff smelled better.

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Yep. The smell of Hoppe's #9 is like the rumble of a Harley. You either love it or hate it.

Hoppes #9 smells like happiness. The smell dissipates with time and polymer doesn’t absorb the smell in my experience.

Why are you handling chemical solvents without wearing gloves?

I like it.

It'll fade from your hands in a few days. It'll stay on the gun much longer. If you smell it it means it's doing its job... keeping your firearm lubricated.

I'm with the others.."What's Not To Like"?

I keep a couple of bottles of Hoppe's #9 original formula just to refresh the ambiance of my man cave.
Between that and the smell of arctic birch marinated in most of a century's camp fire smoke... .

theotherwaldo said:

I keep a couple of bottles of Hoppe's #9 original formula just to refresh the ambiance of my man cave.
Between that and the smell of arctic birch marinated in most of a century's camp fire smoke... .

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My kinda man.....

35W

Didn't Hoppe's change their formulation a bit in the 80's? It smelled different to me and an engineer/shooter friend said he believed it was MEK, a known carcinogen. It was removed then I believe. I know it was used for cleaning optics in the aerospace industry and the label on the bottles carried a big warning. MEK would dissolve the latex finger cots we always worn when handling optics.

SC

Is there anything that ISN'T a known carcinogen?
-At least, in California?
For example, Central Canada is carcinogenic - it's topsoil holds a measurable amount of asbestos.
Therefore, folks from Central Canada probably contain a measurable amount of asbestos and could potentially be banned in California... .

When needed I dip the ends of patch in Hoppes 9 swab the bore and let it soak , use CLP on a toothbrush to clean the frame and slide.

Stinx. Stinx to high Heaven! Not as bad as Sweets or Shooter's Choice, mind you, but WHOA! That's the reason I opt for Hoppe's Elite or CLP. Either of those, you can use even at the dinner table without offending anybody, or in my case, not being able to tell I cleaned guns in the house days ago. Used to use RIG 2. It was a decent one, also.

Walking into the gun cave/reloading room and smelling Hoppe's gets the same reaction as when I would wake up at about 4 AM to the smell of the wood stove, brewing coffee, and frying bacon when growing up as a kid in deep rural Maine on the first day of hunting season. Brings back the memories of simpler times and many past hunts with relatives that are no longer here to repeat it with. I learned from the best IMHO.

M1key said:

Didn't Hoppe's change their formulation a bit in the 80's? It smelled different to me and an engineer/shooter friend said he believed it was MEK, a known carcinogen.

SC

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MEK is a paint stripper par excellence, given that Hoppes was used for decades without removing paint, I don't think that was ever in it. MEK also can cause neurological symptoms if improperly ventilated.

This old THR post claims the changed ingredient was nitrobenzene and benzene is a carcinogen. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/hoppes-no-9-formula.733022/

I still have the big bottle I bought back in the 70's...just because of how wonderful it is...every time it gets opened.

Conelrad

After using #9 or Shooter's Choice, I liberally apply G-96 and allow it all over my hands too. Then I dry-patch/rag the gun and GoJo my hands. After washing the evening's dishes - every things back in order.


Todd.

Aaaaahhhh ... Hoppes #9! God bless amyl acetate, the smell of Goodness! Just catching a whiff of that puts an immediate smile on my face. Heck, just thinking about it as I type has me grinning.

I also like the aroma that comes my North Gunsafe (mostly oil-finished, wood-stocked, non-Combloc milsurps) when I open it; a blend of Hoppes #9, Tung Oil and Linseed Oil envelopes me. At that moment, I always pause for a moment to enjoy the fragrance.

To remove the lingering odor of Hoppes, gasoline, or diesel oil from your hands, mix 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide. Put some on your hands and rub it around. Rinse under tap water. The smell is almost instantly gone.

Why someone would want to remove an aroma as pleasant as Hoppes escapes me, but that's how you do it.

Hoppe's #9 is easily in my top 5 favorite smells. It's somewhere between WD40 and freshly burnt gunpowder.

I love the smell but I don't use it anymore. There are other solvents that work better. But its aClassic smell!

Hoppes#9 is the smell of deer season like the smell of a glazed Christmas ham.
If you get it on your hands just rub it on your neck drives the woman crazy.

I remember having a hoppes#9 air freshener in the truck, some good stuff.

Hoppe's is OK, I prefer Shooter's Choice or Cleanzoil, especially the smell of Clenzoil

The smell of alox is another good one!

troy fairweather said:

There are worst things to put on Your skin, my dad worked for a famous company when he was a teen. They made $$$$ perfume guess what's in it lol.

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Dead whale blubber, among other things.

Go buy a bottle of kerosene. Guess what it smells like.

Hint; You're paying too much for your gun cleaner It is mostly just kerosene anyway.

Pat Riot said:

Ballistol smells like vomit to me and I feel that it’s a mediocre cleaner at best.

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I thought I was the only one who thought that, on both counts, smell and effectiveness.

The original #9 smelled so good ... the new stuff smells similar, love it, still a great smell to me. Definitely gets the wife in the mood ... [to go shooting, anyway]