Lubrication/Cleaning/Maintenance

Hoppes #9 cleaner.
Hoppes #9 lubricating oil.
Keep a bottle of 3-in-1 handy just in case (grin).
Got an old 1911 manual that specifies sperm oil. That stuff is tough to find :oops:
 
Carbon Solvent
M-Pro7 or another water-based solvent for carbon fouling. Oil based solvents do not soak into the carbon fouling and break it up as well.
M-Pro7 solvent will damage wood finishes, so I always remove stocks (revolver, rifle and shotgun) before cleaning.
I believe Slip 2000 and Breakthrough also have carbon cleaners.

Copper Solvent
Boretech CU+2 copper solvent because it works at least as-well as Barnes CR-10 and has no ammonia nor does it need to be rinsed/removed from the metal.

Lead Solvent
I don't shoot bare lead so I don't have lead fouling. I don't know what works well.

All-Purpose Solvent
I have Ballistol that will not damage wood. It's poor at removing copper fouling. It leaves an oily finish.
I have Hoppes #9. I don't trust it or any of the following on wood. It smells like freedom. It's pretty good on copper fouling and not bad for carbon.
I have Breakfree CLP. It's not especially good at anything but it will clean and preserve a firearm after light use if I'll be cleaning it again soon.
Non-Chlorinated Brake Parts Cleaner. It dissolves dirt, grime, oil, grease, and rinses the parts without water while leaving no oily residue.
Hornady One Shot. It works like brake parts cleaner but costs 8 times more. It also has lubricating and protective qualities.

Oil Lubricant
My guns don't use oil lubricants much. Oil is more likely to just collect gunk. When I use oil, it's a tiny amount. I happen to have M-Pro7 oil.

Grease Lubricant
I do lubricate with grease but my one tube of TW-25B will last a lifetime so I haven't tried anything else.

Polymer-based Dry Lubricant
Hornady One Shot. It's been the right thing for inside magazines. It or the case-lube version also lubes cases for carbide dies.
WD-40 Dry Lube. It's been working well so far as a new-to-me alternative to One Shot which costs about triple.

Oil-based Protectant
These are what I would wipe a blued gun with or leave in the bore of a gun that I might not shoot until next season.
Ballistol.
M-Pro 7 oil.
Silicone, typically from a treated gun cloth.

Polymer-based Protectant
What I use if I don't want an oily finish on a stainless steel gun, cartridge brass or reloading dies and equipment.
One Shot
WD-40 Dry
Meguiars or Griots Garage - automotive polymer coatings that I treat brass casings with in my dry tumbler.
 
Synthetic ATF trans fluid for a quick bore, chamber wipe and Mobile One for lube. Mobile grease for M1 Garands.
 
I have sworn off Hoppes Lubricant (not No.9) because it is very thick and gums up in °50F. Terrible lubricant, but No.9 cleaner does very nicely and can even be a good short acting lubricant in a pinch. (and sometimes you can get a half gallon of Hoppes No.9 for $12) and essentially never run out and put into different smaller bottles and squirt bottles, etc....)

Frog Lube is a total marketing scam. It's coconut oil and is just terrible. Sorry to anybody who uses it, all 15 of you. Gums up instantly, sluggish slide and bolt action but luckily it burns off very quickly.

Rem oil is very thin and burns off very quickly, it also doesn't have a tinkers damn worth of PTFE to protect your firearm, lubrication is bad and it's ability to protect your finish and prevent rust and corrosion is bad.

I like Slip 2000 products, Hoppes No.9 and BreakFree CLP, I used Mpro7 products for a while and had good results and a real sleeper lube and protectant is available at autozone at about $5 for a big aerosol can and it's called SuperLube. It's really high in PTFE and will protect and lube very, very well. I think superlube is probably the best aerosol product for firearms even though it isn't necessarily marketed as a firearm product. Better than BreakFree CLP aerosol in my assessments and less expensive.

Lubriplate makes excellent lubricants and grease for certain applications and ALG or Geissele Go Juice is also very good. Bill Gessele apparently had a career in the railroad industry and studied lubrication and metals and all the science-y Yada Yada so I trust his product, I just don't use alot of it because I already had 10 lifetimes worth of CLP's stocked up before I ever bought Geissele triggers and got the stuff for free in his swag pack, but I do use it and it's very good and not much is needed, like any good lube......

Eta: Almost forgot about Ballistol. It smells like pee to me, it is a skin safe CLP that is sort of environmentally friendly and I think mostly plant based but definitely not the best, but certainly not the worst either. I've used it here and there and its alright, it's especially popular with muzzleloaders, I forget why.
 
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Tried a sample pen of weapon shield. When i bough my sig I found a pack, another oil pen, little bottle of oil, spray bottle of solvent and a grease pen.

For anything that might foul, I do have a couple legacy bottles of original Hoppes No. 9 hidden away.
 
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I use a CLP category; Ballistol 🇩🇪--

for Cleaning, some Lube and Preservation, although it is reported to evaporate in a few months or so. And B. is non-toxic.

For some added, extra lubing inside the receiver, I smear thin dabs (from Q-tips) of reddish Mobil One grease 🇺🇸. Look for the tube or whichever container.
 
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I bought one of these and a 5 gal. container of non-chlorinated brake cleaner.
Hoppes #9 first followed with a brass brush, Repeat and rinse with brake cleaner.
Don't forget to re-lube after using brake cleaner.
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DustyGmt said:
I have sworn off Hoppes Lubricant (not No.9) because it is very thick and gums up in °50F. Terrible lubricant, but No.9 cleaner does very nicely and can even be a good short acting lubricant in a pinch. (and sometimes you can get a half gallon of Hoppes No.9 for $12) and essentially never run out and put into different smaller bottles and squirt bottles, etc....)
Click to expand...
Hoppes Lubricant gets thick at 50F? I lived in a desert for over 40 years, what is this 50F you speak of?
Seriously, in Kansas now. I'll keep an eye on the thickening.
 
Hoppes always for cleaner. If it can't clean it throw chore boy on brush.

Gun lube I could care less, I look for convenience which to me is a small needle to put lube somewhere I want. Today it's Lucas, tomorrow I'll use whatever goes to my cart. Last order i threw a couple bottles of hoppes oil in my cart. Works well and easy dispenser, threw one in each of kids stockings.
 
Don't be afraid to try new cleaning tech products.
There are newer products that work great.
Some of the tried-and-true stuff is just obsolete.
 
hutch51 said:
Hoppes Lubricant gets thick at 50F? I lived in a desert for over 40 years, what is this 50F you speak of?
Seriously, in Kansas now. I'll keep an eye on the thickening.
Click to expand...
Yeah where I live we have a short but very hot/humid summer but the daily average temp is °20-°30F and even on a warm winter day in the °50's, even after having been in my pocket the stuff still came out thick like a pulling lubricant. I have a couple bottles of the stuff I got at different times and it is just a heck of alot thicker than I care for.

If it was sitting in the sun on a hot day, it would probably thin right out but I don't want anything that gets too thick and gummy when it gets cold. There's better stuff out there that wont.
 
DustyGmt said:
Yeah where I live we have a short but very hot/humid summer but the daily average temp is °20-°30F and even on a warm winter day in the °50's, even after having been in my pocket the stuff still came out thick like a pulling lubricant. I have a couple bottles of the stuff I got at different times and it is just a heck of alot thicker than I care for.

If it was sitting in the sun on a hot day, it would probably thin right out but I don't want anything that gets too thick and gummy when it gets cold. There's better stuff out there that wont.
Click to expand...
I liked the Hoppes lube because it stayed put in the Vegas heat. You know it's gonna be a warm day when the engine is halfway to operating temperature before you back out of the garage <grin>.

I've seen several threads here and other forums concerning temperature changes and lubrication. Not surprised by your experience.
 
Anybody try the Outer's brand Tri-Lube CLP? I picked one up many years ago and still use it. It seems to work fine as a lube and protective coating. It seems to be available in the big box stores and everywhere for pretty cheap.
 
The only Hoppe’s product I’ve ever used is the Harsh, nasty-smelling stuff for copper build-up in bores, and the —flutings— in the chamber of my “roller-delayed blowback” PTR-91 (HK clone).

Hoppe’s also produces either a "normal" cleaner and/ or lube?
This has baffled me for years.
 
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"Frog Lube is a total marketing scam. It's coconut oil and is just terrible. Sorry to anybody who uses it, all 15 of you. Gums up instantly, sluggish slide and bolt action but luckily it burns off very quickly."


No truer words have been spoken. Total garbage. Had folks come to me as the division armorer wondering why their gun was gummed up and wouldn't go into battery. First question I asked was about lube. It was FL, and I got every marketing tag line as an excuse as why it was so good - "SEAL developed it, great for the desert (we're not in the desert), eco friendly blah blah blah". I told each one of them to deep clean their guns and lube with something suitable. I also told them that gee wiz tacticool cr@p will get them killed if their gun locks up.
 
"If it slides - grease it.
If it rotates - oil it."

Marine grease - has detergents and anti-corrosives, so it's good for cleaning and protecting, even bores.

CLP Break-Free takes care of the rest.
 
Use MPro 7 cleaning products and for oil I’ll use Hoppes Elite oil, MPro 7 lpx, or Lucas Oil.
 
For me, my "cleaners" are specific to the task or what I am trying to clean. General cleaner, hard carbon, copper, lead can all take different cleaners depending on the severity of the fouling. For general powder residue and light carbon I still use Hoppes, CLP, Balistol, and others. Copper and hard carbon I have started using Bore-Tech specific cleaners.

For oil, I'm a believe of oil is oil. I generally use a "gun oil", but have used mobil one, 3 in 1, and whatever was handy at the time. I believe some oil is better than no oil. :)

-Jeff
 
How about Hoppes No.9 copper gun bore cleaner? Anybody use and like that stuff? I have some and have used it, seems to work alright but I don't have nothing to compare it to and I don't bore scope my bore but if I see a bright shiny mirror bore I'm happy.
 
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