Is Hoppes 9 enough?

[Mail Clerk]

Hoppe's is fine for a general bore cleaner. If you need it to handle copper then you need to allow the #9 to soak in the bore for a good hour as the chemical is much milder than some other brands.

Personally I like to use Birchwood Casey's "Bore Scrubber" which is a little stronger than Hoppe's.

Mail Clerk

[CSACANNONEER]

You do realize that the part of a boresnake that picks up sand (are you burying your guns in the desert?) and grit is made of fabric right? Fabric will give way when applied pressure to to the point where objects caught in it won't cause any harm.

A sponge will give yet, a sponge with sandpaper on it works great to sand things down. Sure, you can wash a boresnake. That's exactly why I asked if TLAH washed his each time it passed through the bore or if he kept using it after it was dirty?

[The Last American Hero]

Do you wash them each time you run them through your bore or, do you run one snake through your bore 5 or 6 times to "clean" your barrel and then wash your snake?

Yes, 5-6 times, but finish with clean patches till patches look clean etc for oil.

This is for my Mosins mostly. Their rough barrels are supposed to get dirty fast, and that sure seems true.

Using patches on a Mosin after my good old buddies shot themselves senseless burning up my cheap ammo is like trying to service an overstuffed outhouse with Keenex.

[thomashoward]

Been using Hoppe's for carbon then Holland's Witches Brew.Removes everything but the steel
I bought a bore scope and can see what works and what does not.
cleans guns with less than 8 patches

Chris Dichter, Owner, Pac-Nor Barreling
"My preference is cleaning every 20-30 rounds. We settled on the Witches' Brew from Dave Holland, which is 1200 micron-inch aluminum oxide in Kroil. It removes anything that isn't gun-barrel steel. It gets carbon and copper out very effectively. Be careful with JB and abrasives--A JB'd patch around a bristle brush can become a lap more than a cleaning agent."

[Ironman45]

I use Hoppes for all my guns and have for many years. On some of the rifles that tend to get copper build up I let it sit over night and run a patch through them to see if there is any green color. If so I clean again and repeat the process until the patches show no green color.

Years ago, I saw a recipe for home made bore cleaner. I don't remember all the ingredients, but among them were equal parts acetone, kerosene, and atf. I mixed up a gallon which I've kept in a tightly sealed laboratory grade brown glass gallon jug. Stuff still works as good as the day I first made it. Cleans out the lead and copper like crazy.

This may be the recipe that you are talking about. A friend just mixed up a batch and gave me some so I will give it a try but I will continue to use Hoppes.

http://handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=9

Cheers,

Jim

[Chameleon Loco]

My dad swears by hoppes #9 to clean his guns even though I shoot my guns probably 3x more than he does with his and it seems to work very well. After joining this forum I started using Rem Oil also to lubricate some parts on my firearms but other than that those two are all I use. That being said if you are shooting corrosive ammo I would use hoppes and something to wash out the corrosive salts like hot water or windex mixed with hot water for added peace of mind and to prevent rusting.