Firearm Maintenance: Lo-Tech vs. Hi-Tech

by FOG, Sunday, March 17, 2013, 10:30 (4214 days ago)

Cleaners

'Everyone' loves Hoppe's № 9, of course, but I also had my Shooter's Choice period, and I've tried a few other 'exotics' over the years.

I don't do much shooting anymore, but I still like to take care of my guns, and for cleaning I have more or less settled on M-Pro7.

It seems to work well enough, and I like the fact that it is virtually odorless. It's also less toxic than many other products.

I still keep a small bottle of Hoppe's № 9 around, but mostly just for old times' sake.

Lubricants

I've tried a bunch of them over the years, but now I mainly use plain old 'Gun Oil', usually Hoppe's-brand.

It seems to work well enough, and I like the fact that it is virtually odorless. It's also less toxic than many other products.

For what you might call 'Special Applications', I also keep a small bottle of Gun Butter on hand. It's red in color, and I like the fact that you can see it on stainless (blued guns still get ordinary Gun Oil). It also seems more appropriate for certain off-topic uses such as lubricating the hinges of eyeglasses.

As an added bonus, I found that it nicely 'restores' the finish that S&W used on the titanium alloy cylinders of their early AirLite revolvers, such as my Model 342...

No dash.

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