Gun Cleaning

[AR-15collector]

I love cleaning the guns, Ill sit on the floor after the range and just clean away while the the fiancée watches tv. I'd have to say my custom VLTOR AR is probably better taken care of than anything in the house. I use CLP on a boresnake, the n run a dry boresnake. For the receiver I use a terry cloth towel and q tips. Some people say its bad to over oil but I leave the gun pretty wet between range trips and clean out the extras oil before heading out.

[Zatoichi]

Ive heard people speak highly of Ballistol for everything.

But I have a question, Ballistol is a solvent/lubricant all in one, isn't bad to leave solvents on guns for extended period of time?

At the present I use Boresnake, Hoppes, and Gun Butter.

[gun_fan111]

Hoppes #9 to clean it all, then Hoppes elite gun oil with T3 to lube.

Only use dry boresnake after shooting if I know I will not get to cleaning for a while.

[XDM45]

For me.....

Hoppes 9 for clean with, BreakFree CLR to lube with, and always use a boresnake and clean after each range session. I've never used a rod and patch

[Thunder71]

Otis cleaning system.

[Erud]

In all reality, it hardly even matters which cleaning product you pick. Any commercially available one will work fine and you can probably find someone to say it's the absolute best. After lots of comparisons with a bore scope, It's just really hard to tell any major differences. If you want to get down to bare metal(I don't), the elbow grease is generally more important than your choice of products. For rifles, I personally use mostly Wipe Out as it is easy and does as good of a job as any. It's not a problem in AR's or other semi-auto's, but if it makes you feel better, just spray some compressed air in the gas tube after you are done cleaning. You'll see a little(VERY little) gunk come out, but nothing that will affect function and it will get blown out the other direction anyways when you fire the first shot after cleaning.

Of course, if you have a particular issue with a barrel such as copper fouling, some products will be better than others. For normal cleaning, anything will work.

I hardly ever clean pistols at all, as they just don't need much attention.

YMMV

[Ron Burgundy]

I've been using Hoppes but a friend recently introduced me to milpro. I might just make the switch.

I've been experimenting with Shooters Choice for lube on rails but it doesn't seem to stay put. Fortunately I mostly shoot Glocks so I could lube with sand and still be alright.

[SRM]

Otis cleaning system.

Got an Otis Elite cleaning kit today from the wife and kiddo for fathers day. Only feedback on it so far is that I should check out some youtube videos on using it first, but other than that seems like a nice kit. Any other info on it I should know?

[metric]

I just use one of the Otis cleaning kits from Gouger Mtn along with CLP lubricant. Bought some Hoppes 9 bore cleaner for when the small tube from the kit runs out

[XDM45]

More thoughts on cleaning.....

1) It matters how you clean as well as what you clean with; but most importantly is that you do clean. I've heard the horror stories of people who never clean their Ruger Mark III 22/45 because it's a harder gun to re-assemble. I don't know about anyone else's gun, but mine gets dirty as heck after 500 rounds through it.

2) I clean every single time without fail after a session at the range.

3) If I'm not shooting for awhile, I will lubricate the guns well (but not over-lubricate them) and maintain them that way until I do shoot them.
(I don't shoot as often over the winter months since I must shoot indoors when I normally shoot outdoors, and prefer outdoors to indoors.)

4) Carry gun(s) get checked daily, cleaned if needed; and if not needed, they still get lubricated as needed or 1-2x a month minimum if not used. This is a general guideline I follow, not set in stone. If it's more humid, dry, etc, I adapt accordingly of course.

5) Everyone cleans differently and has their own ideas. What works for them, may not work for you. For example, some people like the patch and brush rod routine on pistols; I don't.... so I use a boresnake. As long as I follow #2, not a problem because it never gets THAT dirty - even after firing off a 500-1,000 rounds at the range. So find what works and what doesn't work for you.

[hard h2o]

I have recently been using Remington 40X. Works great.

[usnret]

Wait...What. Your are suppose to clean your guns?

[yuppiejr]

I keep a few cleaners around... a majority of the time it's Hoppes 9 and elbow grease with Shooters Choice Solvent in addition to their Lead/Copper fouling solutions for heavier fouling... I've used JB Bore paste 3 times on heavily fouled barrels or when I want to accelerate the break-in process with a new firearm (slicking up the recoil lugs/bolt rails on a bolt action rifle, etc..)

As for lube, CLP oil or Magnalube grease (slide rails, rollers on M1/a's + the hammer & trigger pin holes on my AR's)... nothing fancy.

I have muzzle or chamber guides for all of my firearms to minimize throat/muzzle rifling damage and use caliber specific coated Dewey rods, though I try to minimize the number of times a cleaning rod goes through a barrel as much as possible in a firearm's life unless performance or accuracy has notably changed. Range bag has bore snakes for all bore diameters I own and everything gets a go-through after a shooting session to knock off the gunk before it fully hardens which seemed to really cut down on the "cold" bore cleaning I've had to do (though doesn't eliminate it) when I get home.

[Beck Goodwin]

Hoppes #9
Eds Red
Mobil 1
K12 for copper
Ultimate Gun Lube Berrys Custom LLC=grease
Eezox fore wiping down externals