I use hoppes elite for all my cleaning needs, seems to work fine for my guns. But my father in law was talking with a gun smith friend of ours and he said that we need to be using barnes cr-10 to get all the copper fouling out since we shoot barnes bullets in our deer rifles. my ? is is hoppes elite good emough or do I need a stronger cleaner?

If what your using works for you, then keep using it.

Everyone has their own pet bore cleaner, guaranteed to remove all powder/copper fouling in less than five minutes. And thats not all-- your rifle/shotgun will shoot better than ever, less than 1 MOA/ 90%paterns at 70yards.

Most of what the makers are selling is smoke and mirrors. Everyone cleans their guns in a different way, just as long as they get clean.

If you bought everything on the market you'd be broke, most of the cleaners work two ways, dislove the copper/fouling or by solvent action getting under the fouling.

By the way CR-10, Sweets 7.62 , and Shooters Choice are all very agressive cleaners.

Even regular Hoppe's will take copper fouling out. It just takes a very long time. The other cleaners, as noted, are more aggressive. Throw Butch's Bore Shine in the list too.

Sometimes you have to alternate cleaning methods to get through a particularly tough spot of fouling. Brushing, JB bore paste, Foul Out, etc. - they all have their uses.

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MikeG

Add Montana X-treme to the list. I think it's better than Shooter's Choice and way ahead of Hoppe's. The down side is the strong ammonia smell. JMHO

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you can't buy accuracy.

With Montana X-treme, Butch's Bore Shine and Sweets 7.62 (maybe others too) don't leave the barrel soak long and I think some if not all state to run a light gun oil through the bore after you clean and before you store.

Hoppe's Elite "gun cleaner" works great on powder fouling but If you're used to Hoppe's Elite, Barnes CR-10 is going to be an olfactory shock. The stuff is stronger than cat urine. I've not yet found a copper remover that is easier to use as either Break Free's foaming bore cleaner or Gunslick's version- they're also stink-free. Spray it in, let it sit for 30min to a few hours (depending on how bad the fouling is) and swab it out with a patch...no more copper.

I've had to do several treatments back to back on a particular 30-06 that seems to copper foul just from being stored next to ammo but most of the time it it only takes one treatment to get all the copper out.

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Sean,

"Much learning doth make thee mad" - Festus

There seem to be several levels of aggression. Lowest would be Hoppe's #9, next up would be the ammonium oleate cleaners, like Shooter's Choice, next up the ladder are the ammonium hydroxide cleaners like Sweet's, Butch's, and CR-10, then there are the newer generation non-toxic orderless super copper eaters that chelate the copper, like Boretech Cu++ and Eliminator, which work so fast you can't use a brass jag because it turns the patch blue before you can get it through the bore. KG-12 is yet another chemistry that is super aggressive, but which doesn't turn green or blue, so it is harder to tell when it is done without a bore scope unless you are willing to flush it out and try one of the cleaners that does turn blue to serve as an indicator.

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Nick

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"First contemplation of the problems of Interior Ballistics gives the impression that they should yield rather easily to relatively simple methods of analysis. Further study shows the subject to be of almost unbelievable complexity." Homer Powley

It takes patience and time, I'm purdy fond of the "flooding the bore method" myself! I let the chemicals do the work. Hoppe's #9 takes most of a week in my 6mm. Remington. Get's the job done though!

Playing with a "boresnake" for 30 caliber right now. Not impressed so much as to recomend it yet.

I love cleaning good firearms!

Cheezywan

Love the flooding method, I use a glss hypo syringe to inject the cleaners just as I insert the brush.

I also like using windsheild deicer in the spray can, that with a brass/bronse brush will get out much of the powder fouling. I let the stuff dripping out of the muzzle fall onto a sheet of printer paper, you should see the crud comming out.

Then to the copper removers using a nylon brush. The syringe makes handling all the solvents so much easyer.

I use the Gunslick brand foaming stuff for copper fouling.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...834&hasJS=true

Works as good as anything i've tried and you spray it and come back half an hour later to run some patches/brushes through the bore. If any copper is left, you repeat.

Very simple & effective compared to regular solvents.

I love cleaning threads, there must be a best "solution" for every guy who ever cleaned a gun.

One thing not mentioned is that the more aggressive solvents need to be removed from the barrel much quicker than Hoppe's No.9, (which can stay in for quite a while without a problem). Learned that the hard way letting Shooters Choice sit over night.

i agree with Ole. I use Outers foaming copper cleaner. It does not seem to be as harsh as the other non foam ones, but it works pretty well.

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A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

I picked up a can of this and am going to give it a try.