Barrel cleaning pros and cons

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Originally Posted by stockrex
Ask yourself why clean? it is like exfoliating your skin, do you do it everyday? every other day? or when your girlfriend points out the flaking dead skin
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Ask yourself.....what do you do after you "relive" yourself on the toilet! Do you clean it every day? every other day? or when your girlfriend points out that you smell strange
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Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by The_Eric
While I appreciate the input, I'm not looking for cleaning tips, tricks or preferred products. Just pros and cons of cleaning religiously vs not cleaning.


Why go to either extreme? Clean when you feel the weapon needs it. Or when accuracy starts to fall off to an unacceptable level in a long range weapon. You don't have to do anything "religiously", as opposed to not doing anything at all.


IMO there's a fine mix there. Cleaning "religiously" opens up the slight chance of damaging something, whether a muzzle crown, small bits of metal from cartridge manufacturing, etc. who knows. It also opens up the exposure to fairly strong chemicals in some cases.

I think your recommendation of bore tech, especially if a more religious cleaning outlook is considered, is prudent as I find their water based chemicals and their bearing rods to be the best I've encountered. It allows a more comfortable and safer cleaning experience, regardless of tempo.

Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by The_Eric
Do you ever run a lightly oiled patch through prior to storage or does the copper deposits (or lead) seal the steel well enough that rust isn't an issue?


Yes, I always finish with a well oiled patch down the bore.


This I think is a more important and fundamental question. Oil over the junk left behind, if not doing a rigorous cleaning, or not? Oil is your friend, at least until it creates its own fouling or affects the first shots next time.

Ive personally thought about getting those Uber cheap bore snakes from Amazon, and using one as an oily post-shooting version, another (perhaps with the brush removed) as a cleaner before taking the first shot next time. This way you can scrub a little and leave some oil behind when done, and then dry it up next time. Sure beats getting out rods and jags and patches and taking the firearm apart just to run one patch... not there yet though...
 
Originally Posted by The_Eric
What is the effect of the bullet lube on the barrel? Does it serve as a protectant?

Yes, but it is not a perfect protectant.

With clean burning powders and storing in low humidity, and a smooth, quality bore, 22LR shooters like pro competitor Lones Wigger could go years between cleaning.

On the other hand, if you have a 38 revolver that spits a bit and you're using up old powder, and store the gun in higher humidity, the suspended powder residue in the lube may transmit humidity to the bore and cause rust.

So the answer there is "depends".
 
I clean my range guns when they start to soil my clothing or start to malfunction from the crud. I'll oil them as needed. Scrubbing the barrel? only when the accuracy drops off.. We cause more wear scrubbing than shooting.
 
Love the smell of Hoppes.

Reminds me of when I was young, and my uncle and cousins would clean their rifles on the kitchen table at our farm in PA...

I even bought my kid brother Hoppes air fresheners for his truck a few years ago.

He totally loved them. He's got the same memories...
 
I soak really fouled parts (when necessary). Heavily used AR bolt, for example. Soak overnight in Hoppe's/Kroil for example, then brush very clean. Same principle with a bore, of course overnight not necessary. I usually clean 4-5 guns at a time. So I start with a fairly wet mop off all the barrels and let it sit while I clean all the small parts. Often I will mop it again in the middle of cleaning the other parts, then just a lube blast, a couple dry patches and the barrel is quite clean.
 
Originally Posted by Astro14
Love the smell of Hoppes.



Not sure what Hoppes solvent smells like today. But the Hoppes from 1950-2000 was terrible to smell.
There are really good products today that are non-toxic, non-smelling and safe on the hands & safe on the environment. Google search is your best friend for that.
 
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by Astro14
Love the smell of Hoppes.



Not sure what Hoppes solvent smells like today. But the Hoppes from 1950-2000 was terrible to smell.
There are really good products today that are non-toxic, non-smelling and safe on the hands & safe on the environment. Google search is your best friend for that.


Sure there are.

On my bench are the following cleaning products:
- CLP (various, old and new Safariland formulations, not that great on bores, keep a bottle in my range bag)
- Ballistol (another CLP, smell is OK, doesn't work too well on bores, use it to wipe down firearms and axes)
- MPro7 Gun cleaner (not much smell, doesn't seem to work well on bores)
- AMSOIL Firearm Cleaner (love it. Great stuff. The solvent cleans reasonably well and leaves behind just enough oil to prevent rust).
- Sweets 7.62 (horrible ammonia smell, works well, but ugh)
- Hoppe's Elite Bore Gel (works OK)
- Hoppe's Foaming Bore Cleaner (works well, makes a mess)
- Butch's Bore Shine (mild smell, cleans great, probably my favorite)
- Hoppe's No.9

And I still like the smell of Hoppe's...

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Best all around gun lube/cleaner I've ever used is Corrosion-X for guns. The guy who formulated it is a member here and used to work for Mobil. He explained to me one time his goals for the formulation. The corrosion protection is simply the best out there and the anti-wear characteristics are also extremely good. I've used it on the hinge of my BT-99, which now has hundreds of rounds of trap under its belt. The hinge is still so tight that some people ask me if I ever considered putting some lube on it.
 
Amazon will deliver the Corrosion-X Monday.

I'll add it to the assortment and give it a try!

Cheers,
Astro
 
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Originally Posted by Astro14
Amazon will deliver the Corrosion-X Monday.

I'll add it to the assortment and give it a try!

Cheers,
Astro

X2, Mine is scheduled for delivery Tuesday. LOL!
 
I think you'll find it to be pretty amazing stuff. Formulated by a guy who really knows what he's doing.
 
Interesting...

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As with many gun cleaners, lubricants offered for gun use are repackaged commercial products--with most simply being various synthetic lubricants with anti-wear additives originally designed for other applications like the food industry. I know for a fact that one popular gun oil is/was simply repackaged Castrol synthetic motor oil--their 5W20 grade I believe--at $7.95 for 2 ounces
 
Originally Posted by wwillson
Best all around gun lube/cleaner I've ever used is Corrosion-X for guns. The guy who formulated it is a member here and used to work for Mobil. He explained to me one time his goals for the formulation. The corrosion protection is simply the best out there and the anti-wear characteristics are also extremely good. I've used it on the hinge of my BT-99, which now has hundreds of rounds of trap under its belt. The hinge is still so tight that some people ask me if I ever considered putting some lube on it.


I have a number of bottles of corrosion x. Is the corrosion x for guns product uniquely different or reformulated for that application?

Only complaint with corrosion x is that it has a fairly strong smell that stands out to my nose more than other products.
 
Originally Posted by CELICA_XX
Originally Posted by WyrTwister
If corrosive ammo , clean by that night .


What is corrosive ammo ?


Cartridges that use Potassium Chlorate compounds in the primers. When it oxidizes it forms Potassium Chloride salts that can end up anywhere in the gas system(auto firearms) and bore. The salts attract moisture from the air and can lead to corrosion.

"Non-corrosive" powder residue can also trap moisture from the air and cause corrosion but it's not as fast.
 
Does corrosive ammo really represent such a threat?

I would think that if you soak your firearm in a...lets say proper HDEO diesel oil with high TBN and clean/vipe it that those salts would be neutralised...

No need for extra "hocus-pocus"
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