I’m just a hardheaded skeptic, raised on Hoppe’s #9. Some years back I brewed up some “Ed’s Red”. I’m now on my third gallon of the stuff and it does the job nicely, at a fraction of the price.
There are days when I think the old snake oil magic elixirs were replaced by the “does everything” gun cleaner/lube/magic stuff products being pushed all over the place.
The synthetic oils might be worth a try. Anything good enough for a high performance engine should keep an AR going, seems to me.
Non-chlorinated brake cleaner IS a fast, handy way to blow off most of the residue after shooting. A lot of guys swear by it. I tried it and found the stuff to be too harsh for indoor use.
Synthetic ATF has not damaged anything I’ve used it on, nor any brushes or swabs. I’ve spilled it on wood, wiped it off, no damage. No damage to plastic/rubber grips. If it gets on clothes, it comes off in the wash. It’s not unpleasant to work with. Linen patches that are wet with it smell like a combo of wet dog and metal machine shop, nice huh. It is not an odor that fills a room, no one notices a smell. You have to get it close to your nose to smell anything.
It’s effective at cleaning carbon/powder residue, has good light lube qualities, and have you ever seen rust inside a transmission?
Exactly.
I started using Mobile 1 recently but went a bit further and added some Lucas Oil Stabilizer in the mix. The Lucas stuff silences my lifters so I add it with every oil change. Lucas is the stuff you find at the counter of Advanced Auto on display with the 2 white plastic gears you can turn with the hand crank. Since I started using the blend it has worked better than any other lubricant I have found out there. I can apply it and it doesn’t evaporate and it’s on there still after a range session. I’ll have to try some ATF for cleaning. I haven’t been particularly impressed with the gun cleaners out there. Any recommendations for ATF brands? Gunzilla sounds pretty good but if ATF does the same, I can buy it cheaper and locally.
As a side note I went with Mobile 15W50 and it’s perfect at room temp and shooting conditions, but I put a batch in the freezer and it’s a bit think for winter use. From my research the #W is resistance to thickening in cold. The lower the number the less thick it gets when cold. The second number -# is resistance to thinning under heat. The higher the number the less thinning under heat. I’m going to see if I can find some 5W50 and do some tests on it. I’m thinking it may be about perfect as a gun lube.
Got some on the way to try out.
More to follow.
Not to disparage some of the designer gun goo, because admittedly they can work very nicely. Some are even less toxic or non toxic and pleasant to work with. I continue to use ATF w/ Dexron and Mobil 1. All guns continue to work great.
When I went through the S&W M&P Armorer class the instructor was using the Mobil 1 synthetic. He used the same logic, I forget how hot he said an engine gets, but there’s no way you are going to get your gun hot enough to burn through that. And you get a gallon for what? $10
But I’ll tell ya what that gunzilla does a nice job. The last time we qualified with the shotguns (we only use slugs) the lead and gunk essentially bonded to the barrel because we were running them so hot. We hit the barrels with the gunzilla and let it sit for a bit. We got chunks out of the barrel.
Myself, I only switched to it after hearing the instructor tell how one of the state troops died presumably after many, many years of exposure to the benzos in Hoppe’s. He was the armorer and apparently they had a tub of it and they just soaked the gun parts in the stuff, and only sissies wear gloves so he was elbow deep in it a lot.
love it
It’s a good cleaner, just be careful on certain types of finishes, I used it on my muzzleloader and it ate through the camo finish on the forearm where it meets the barrel. It also removed the red paint from under the safety lever on my Sig Mosquito. I would be careful around any color filled areas on you’re firearms just in case. Just my .02 cents!!!
Here is another thread on Gunzilla from earlier in the year.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=46976
They took the Benzene out of Hoppes over 20 years ago.