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Gun Cleaners You Should (and Shouldn't Ever) Use

Gun Cleaners You Should (and Shouldn't Ever) Use

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Nov 29th 2024

Whether you're breaking in your barrel for the first time -- which you absolutely should do, if you want the best accuracy and barrel life possible -- or you're coming back from a regular ole' range day, it's imperative you swab your bore, clean that rifling, and stow your rifle or pistol free of fouling. But which solvents and gun cleaners are safe for your barrel? If you have a stainless or carbon barrel, should you avoid certain cleaners? Let's review.

Copper vs. Carbon Cleaners

Before we dive into which cleaners are best, it's important to note that solvents are made to remove different types of fouling, including copper and lead fouling, and carbon fouling.

Copper and lead fouling are left by the bullets you chamber. As a round passes through the bore, the barrel's rifling cuts into the bullet, stripping away small bits of copper and lead. These deposits get buried in the lands and grooves of the rifling.

Carbon fouling is created by the ignition of each cartridge's gunpowder. Carbon fouling is more destructive than lead and copper fouling. If left to sit in the bore, the chemicals in this fouling can oxidize the barrel's steel, causing rust and pitting.

Which Gun Solvents Should Be Avoided?

Whether it's advertised as a copper or carbon cleaner, all of these chemicals should be avoided, as they will damage your barrel.

#1: Ammonia

Ammonia is, unfortunately, one of the most popular chemicals found in many gun solvents. Why? It's incredibly effective at removing both copper and carbon fouling, making it that mythical "once-and-done" cleaner.

The problem is how it does this. Ammonia rapidly oxidizes copper, lead, and carbon compounds, breaking them down by destroying their molecular bonds. This makes mechanical removal of all fouling with wet patches and brushes easy.

Unfortunately, ammonia also acts as an effective metal etcher -- in other words, it immediately attacks the surface of your gun barrel, causing pitting and microscopic cracks to form in the bore.

What's worse is that, even with extensive swabbing with patches and flushing with hot water or oil, ammonia likes to hide in those small pits and cracks, where it continues eating away at the barrel. Once the surface of the barrel's etched by ammonia, it will permanently retain more and more fouling, too. 

Using an ammonia-based cleaner with a concentration of 10% or more just once can cause permanent damage to your barrel. It should always be avoided.

#2: Sodium Hydroxide

Some shooters have taken a liking to using oven cleaner as a gun solvent. It is, after all, seemingly effective at removing all types of fouling. But, like ammonia, it's immediately destructive to your gun barrel. Oven cleaners contain sodium hydroxide, which is the same chemical often used to blue gun steel.

If you're unfamiliar with the process, bluing is, in fact, a form of oxidation. In other words, using sodium hydroxide to clean your bore is an act of purposefully rusting the bore itself. Like ammonia, this chemical will seep into any pits or microscopic imperfections in the bore, eating away at the steel.

Simply put, never use oven cleaner to clean your bore.

#3: Hydrogen Peroxide

Starting to see a theme, here? The stuff you use to clean out dirty wounds is yet another "home-brew remedy" you should avoid using to clean your gun barrel. An old recipe containing 50% hydrogen peroxide at 3% concentration and 50% white vinegar has long been suggested as a gun solvent -- and, like ammonia and oven cleaner, this chemical concoction will oxidize and etch your bore as soon as it touches the steel.

#4: Polishing Compounds

There's nothing more satisfying than popping a bore scope down your barrel and finding a bright, shiny, mirror finish. This is accomplished using polishing compound -- paste that contain grit and, acting much like fine-grit sandpaper, smooths out the surface of the barrel after it's been manufactured.

These compounds are used by gunsmiths, but some shooters have made the mistake of using them to clean their barrels. Using a polishing compound to clean your barrel is immediately destructive. Used incorrectly, this will physically destroy the lands and grooves of your rifling, destroying your barrel's accuracy.

Leave the polishing compounds to gunsmiths and barrel makers. Stick with proper solvents to remove fouling.

Which Solvents Should Be Used?

Pictured: Breakthrough Clean Basic Cleaning Kit

Any solvent or bore cleaner advertised as biodegradable and ammonia-free will generally be safe for both stainless and carbon barrels. Most cleaners that are free of the chemicals above will also typically advertise "barrel safe," "ammonia-free," or "non-etching."

Reputable brands to consider include Hoppe's, Breakthrough Clean, Bore Tech, Ballistol, and any cleaner advertised as "CLP," which is a mil-spec cleaner, lubricator, moisture remover, and preservative in one.

(Always Oil Your Barrel After Cleaning)

No matter the cleaner you use, the moisture and oxygen in the air will, over time, cause your barrel to oxidize if it's left in storage without a preservative coating. To prevent this, always apply a light coating of oil to the bore after cleaning.

Gun Cleaning Myths Debunked

Beyond using the right solvents, there are plenty of misconceptions when it comes to properly cleaning your gun barrel -- including a few humorous myths about bore brushes. Let's debunk some of these myths.

A bronze brush won't harm your barrel

Nobody knows where this myth originated but, well, it's a stubborn one -- and it's simply wrong. A bronze brush will not damage your rifling. Bronze is a soft alloy, which is precisely why bore brushes are made from the stuff. 

Brushing your bore in both directions is fine

We're not even sure what the logic is behind this myth, but some folks claim that pushing and pulling a bore brush back and forth through the barrel will, somehow, damage the rifling. This is also patently false.

You should, in fact, brush your bore in both directions. This helps ensure any stubborn fouling and copper deposits get attached from all angles, which promotes a more thorough cleaning.

Primal Rights, a professional long-range shooter, debunks both the bronze brush and back-and-forth myths and shows how using a bronze brush "spiritedly" will actually cleaning your barrel quite nicely.

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At 80-lower.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.


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