Cleanliness is next to godliness

[UncalledForGabe]

Just curious about what you guys use to clean and lube your guns with. I use the old Hoppes solvent and oil or Remoil, but I'm up to new and unusual suggestions

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[arjunki]

Just curious about what you guys use to clean and lube your guns with. I use the old Hoppes solvent and oil or Remoil, but I'm up to new and unusual suggestions

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Eezox all the way! I love the stuff. I've tried most everything out there and it's great stuff for both cleaning and lube. Not a copper remover by any means but I'd say it's a great copper deterrent.

 

[finch6013]

clp for cleaning/lube and tetra gun grease for a fine film lube on the AR. Best stuff ever

 

[jordanka16]

I used to use only Hoppe's solvent and oil, but I'm liking Ballistol more now, it seems to get rid of the copper and lead fouling more than the hoppe's

 

[DootyBeet]

Since I finished setting up my shop, I now use compressed air after a solvent. Leaves all the trigger mechanism area spotless, then use small amount of lube on sliding parts.
I used to over lube things which I now believe causes more harm than good.

 

[dario541]

I've seen "bore snakes" for sale. Do these work well? The theory sounds great but I haven't used one yet. I'm thinking of buying one in .30 caliber as I have several of those. Is using Windex good? I've read about it a few times. I truly believe that a clean gun is a "man's best friend".

 

[jordanka16]

I've never felt a need for a bore snake, the cleaning rods work just fine for me. I believe windex is supposed to be good for corrosive ammo, but I don't know if it has any benefit for non-corrosive.

 

[Gunner3456]

Since I finished setting up my shop, I now use compressed air after a solvent. Leaves all the trigger mechanism area spotless, then use small amount of lube on sliding parts.
I used to over lube things which I now believe causes more harm than good.

Do you have a moisture trap in line for your compressor? The act of compressing (heating) and the blowing (decompressing/cooling) puts a lot of dirty/oily/wet substance in your compressed air you are blowing. Body shops use a high quality moisture trap and filter in the line to keep that crap out of the paint. I wouldn't want that junk in my gun.

When a compressor is running, the tank gets hot because the act of compressing the air heats it. However the air coming out of the blow tip is cold because the decompressing cools it. This is the principle upon which air conditioning and heat pumps work. The decompressing/cooling actually condenses the moisture and makes the air wet as it comes out of the blow tip.

This moisture is just the normal moisture that's in the air and the more humid it is, the more moisture you get. The moisture is dirty from going through the compressor. You can blow on something for 30 seconds and watch it get wet.

Just a thought for you.

$.02

 

[Gunner3456]

And BTW, I'm still using Hoppe's solvent and oil with rods and brushes and swabs, so I'm really interested in this thread.

 

[DootyBeet]

Good question about the moisture. I pull the air from the top of tank AND have 2 in-line water separators. It was kindof an overkill, in hindsight, as the 2 water separators don't get any water in them. But you are absolutely correct about how the condensation occurs. My old portable compressor, which resembled a small wheel barrow, whould never have worked for cleaning firearms as it expelled very moist air.

I'm not saying this is the absolute only, or best way to clean and lube but my experience has been that the cleaner (dry too) the parts are, with a very little lube applied on moving parts works better than over lubing. The oil residue only leaves burned carbon.

My glocks are completely dry except for 2 small drops of oil on the slide rails.
Same with Benelli shotguns.

Someone above mentioned Windex. Interesting - my AR, manufactured by Next Generation Arms in Tidewater, Oregon has using Windex in the owner's manual.

This IS a great thread. I'd love to hear what others think is the best way to clean and lube.

 

[spider]

Can of BREAK FREE CLP and a Bore snake in all the calibers that you own. Thats all you need buddy.

 

[Cougfan2]

Eezox all the way! I love the stuff. I've tried most everything out there and it's great stuff for both cleaning and lube. Not a copper remover by any means but I'd say it's a great copper deterrent.

+1 I just started using Eezox and really like it. Although, Mountainbear says it smells like it belongs on my wife's perfume shelf rather than in my range case.

 

[PDXGS]

-Gunzilla for everything
-Copperzilla for copper removal and Sweets 7.62 for the bore when I'm cleaning outdoors and really need to get the copper out/or the wife's out of town...
Weapon Shield for lubrication.

 

[Gunner3456]

Good question about the moisture. I pull the air from the top of tank AND have 2 in-line water separators. It was kindof an overkill, in hindsight, as the 2 water separators don't get any water in them. But you are absolutely correct about how the condensation occurs. My old portable compressor, which resembled a small wheel barrow, whould never have worked for cleaning firearms as it expelled very moist air.

I'm not saying this is the absolute only, or best way to clean and lube but my experience has been that the cleaner (dry too) the parts are, with a very little lube applied on moving parts works better than over lubing. The oil residue only leaves burned carbon.

My glocks are completely dry except for 2 small drops of oil on the slide rails.
Same with Benelli shotguns.

Someone above mentioned Windex. Interesting - my AR, manufactured by Next Generation Arms in Tidewater, Oregon has using Windex in the owner's manual.

This IS a great thread. I'd love to hear what others think is the best way to clean and lube.

Pulling air from the top doesn't help because the moisture is vaporized and is saturating all of the air. That's what the heat does. Think steam bath. Notice how hot the tank can get.

If there is no moisture in your moisture traps, and assuming they are good quality traps, could they be too close to the compressor in the lines, while the air is still hot?

Remember, the air gets hot when compressed and vaporizes the ambient moisture, then when it decompresses the air cools and condenses the moisture into real water drops.

Imho you need to run at least 30 feet of pipe from the compressor to the moisture trap, and then have the trap at a low point in that pipe system. That 30 feet of time/distance and the fact that a pipe which is larger than your hose slows the air down, gives the moisture time and space to condense before it hits the trap.

The trap can't condense the moisture. It can only catch the water after it condenses. If the air is still hot when it hits the trap, it takes the vapor right through the trap with it. The vapor then condenses as it leaves your blow tip, meaning as it decompresses and therefore very rapidly cools right there.

Note that the air in your compressor (the tank itself) is HOT but the air coming out of your blow tip is VERY COLD.

If I weren't getting any moisture in my trap, I would blow air from the blow gun onto a piece of cardboard to see if it gets wet. In any event, a moisture trap which is very close in line (or worse, connected to) the compressor is useless.

HTH.

Now, back to gun oils and cleaners, about which I know very little beyond Hoppe's.

Cliff

 

[UncalledForGabe]

Good point about moister in an air tank. Usually it does help to tap compressed air from the top of the tank. In cases like mine (80gal IR) the moister has enough time to cool and settle to the bottom of the tank because it doesnt need to be refilled as often. But its still not a good alternative to a good air trap and filter.
Anybody have any experience with teflon based lubes or the supposed "surface material altering" lubes?

 

[arjunki]

Eezox all the way! I love the stuff. I've tried most everything out there and it's great stuff for both cleaning and lube. Not a copper remover by any means but I'd say it's a great copper deterrent.

+1 I just started using Eezox and really like it. Although, Mountainbear says it smells like it belongs on my wife's perfume shelf rather than in my range case.

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Hehehe! Mountainbear, what kinda gals you been goin with anyway? One of them gals like they have workin over at Dillon Precision hopefully

 

[Gunner3456]

Good point about moister in an air tank. Usually it does help to tap compressed air from the top of the tank. In cases like mine (80gal IR) the moister has enough time to cool and settle to the bottom of the tank because it doesnt need to be refilled as often. But its still not a good alternative to a good air trap and filter.
Anybody have any experience with teflon based lubes or the supposed "surface material altering" lubes?

I see your point, but I'd still be wondering why there's no moisture in the trap. When the compressor runs hard for a while, all of the air in the tank and the tank itself will get hot and nothing can condense in there. Vaporized moisture has to leave with the heated air to condense later as it decompresses and cools. There will also always be water in the final air hose itself, waiting to be blown out.

Here's just one schematic for getting really dry air. You can use sch. 40 PVC pipe.

 

[Scott]

I've seen "bore snakes" for sale. Do these work well? The theory sounds great but I haven't used one yet. I'm thinking of buying one in .30 caliber as I have several of those. Is using Windex good? I've read about it a few times. I truly believe that a clean gun is a "man's best friend".

Make sure the windex does not have ammonia in it as it is caustic to the metal. If you use any product with ammonia you have to neturalize it with oil or something like it.

Scott

 

[UncalledForGabe]

Yeah, my shop is only a 20'x20', yet somehow i have 12 drain petcocks just like what you drew! (I like compressed air) I dont really trust schedule 40 for 160psi.

How did we even get on this subject anyways? haha

 

[Gunner3456]

Yeah, my shop is only a 20'x20', yet somehow i have 12 drain petcocks just like what you drew! (I like compressed air) I dont really trust schedule 40 for 160psi.

How did we even get on this subject anyways? haha

We're cleaning guns.

Sch 40 is rated 200 psi IIRC, which means it should hold more like 300.

$.02