Approximately thirteen years ago, when I was budding into my very early teenage years, I learned one of the most important gun lessons that I carry with me to this very day: ALWAYS, thoroughly clean your guns. With that lesson, I found that choosing the best gun cleaning solvent is of the utmost importance to make sure your guns are the cleanest possible.
3 Best Gun Cleaning Solvents
Solvent | Best Suited For | Price |
|---|---|---|
For those that do not shoot too often | ||
For those doing a lot of shooting | ||
For heavy build up of cosmoline already |
So, how did I learn such an important yet easily taught lesson? Well...
Church had just gotten out, my parents, my younger siblings, and myself all piled in the white Chevy Venture every other family had at the time, and started to head home. During the drive, as you can imagine with three kids, my parents were bombarded with a line of vehement questioning.
"Can we get ice cream!?"
"Can we get donuts!?"
"Can we go to Army Navy Surplus!?" - Only on Sundays did we ever make it to that side of town.
"Can we get coffee!?" My far-too-young-to-drink-coffee brother chimed from the back seat. Little did my parents know, when he "went to the bathroom" during the sermon, he actually sucked down a quick cup of church jo. He was 9 at the time. He didn't need any at all. Truth be told none of us needed anything, but we relentlessly persisted.
And then of course as we passed store after store there was constant questioning of, "can we stop there, can we stop here, and can we go there?"
Finally my parents broke down, and for whatever reason chose to say yes on the sporting goods store. We pulled in, and as soon as our feet hit the parking lot pavement we flew inside as if running into a Chuck E Cheese. The display games were calling our name. We jumped from the floor model of foosball, to the arcade basketball, and finally the air hockey table in a matter of minutes.
My parents meandered around the store and eventually we followed along like three ducklings following momma. We wound up in the hunting department for reasons I cannot remember, and of course my dad, whose favorite pistol is the .44 caliber Super Redhawk revolver, had to go check out the gun selection to gawk over his dream sidearm.
As we approached the counter, the young man wearing the employee vest turned around to greet us. To everyone's shock, the poor kid was missing part of his jaw and looked as if a firecracker was taped to his cheek and then lit. He was missing his right eye which was covered by a black leather patch that was nestled amongst Freddy Krueger-esk skin. It sounds terrible, but as a kid that was the only way I could sit there and rationalize what must have been a horrific experience. For a moment we all just sort of stood there silent. The man behind the counter looked back at us with a crooked smile, just waiting to do his job and help us any way possible.
Unlike the rest of us, who were either too "nice" or too scared to ask, my mom quickly broke the silence by disregarding his question of how we are doing today by asking one of her own. "How did that happen?" She loudly inquired.
I froze. Stunned my mom just blatantly ignored his professionalism and went right for the heavy.
Thankfully, as I'm sure he got this more often than not, he engaged my mom with candor and a hearty chuckle. He went on to tell all five of us the story of how half his face essentially blew off. It came down to him and a buddy acquiring an old black powder rifle. I believe it had been passed down through one of their families. Without doing anything to the gun they loaded her up, went out to the back property, and he took aim. The moment his finger pulled the trigger, and the cock slammed down on the flint, the gun blew into a thousand pieces right where his face was taking aim down the sights. He spent time in a coma, had dozens of surgeries, and now his life will never be the same.
Thus, there is the lesson. He said it blew up because it had not been cleaned in so long. Now, I understand this is rare, and it's even rarer to have the type of injuries he did. However, he repeated multiple times that it could have been prevented if he took the time to thoroughly clean it before shooting.
The point, and the one thing I will always do, is to clean my weapons often and well.
It's kind of a crazy story to emphasize something that is seemingly a simple lesson, but I think the reason it hit me so hard was the notion that it could happen to anyone.
With that being said, and while you contemplate the last time you went through your guns and cleaned them, let's talk about the most important tool for the job; the gun cleaning solvent.
Why You Need to Use Solvent
Having a good solvent won't simply mean the difference between exploding or not, that was a rare set of circumstances. But, it will make the largest difference in gun malfunctions. A firearm does not have to be muddy, rusty, or overall visibly covered in soot, to be dirty enough to cause malfunctions.
Cleaning is also important for other reasons such as the lifespan of your weapon, because the parts that make it up will degrade over time and that process speeds up if not cleaned regularly. Cleaning is also an important step in learning about your firearm. The more you know how your firearm functions, the more comfortable you will be when it comes to handling and obviously shooting. Regular cleaning also increases accuracy and dramatically increases the firearms reliability.
Of course there are many more reasons cleaning is important, but let's move on to what a solvents primary functions are.
Functions of Gun Cleaning Solvents
Solvents are designed to eradicate, via dissolving and lifting away to be wiped off, harmful carbon and metallic residues. These residues occur from simply firing your firearm, because every time you pull that trigger copper, lead, carbon, and/or plastic will foul it. Of course it takes time to build up enough to be the cause of any concern. Nevertheless, regular cleaning with a good solvent will prevent the excess buildup of unwanted material that will not only cause mechanical issues but will also eat away at the physical parts of the firearm.
Solvents are effective at what they do because of the chemicals within them. Always read the ingredients list, and try to find ones that are non-toxic, biodegradable, and non-flammable. If there is a safer, just as cheap, more conscientious choice that is also top shelf in terms of performance, then I only ask, "why not?".
There are basically three main things when it comes to good solvents which should be considered:
1. Hazardous Properties
You always want to check the safety standards that each specific solvent requires. Each solvent is going to affect you and the things around you differently. Some, you shouldn't have any skin contact with while others don't matter so much. Some are okay for the environment and some do not mix well with anything or biodegrade at all.
2. Protective Finishing Layer
The best solvents will leave behind a micro-thin coating for added protection and to make the next cleaning easier.
3. Fouling Cleaning Properties
Of course you want the best solvent that will clean all fouling residue, but some are definitely better than others. The main chemical ingredients should both completely dissolve certain residues, and it should pull unwanted materials up away from the firearm material to be easily wiped away.
Gun Solvent Reviews
Let's take a look at our top three choices for best gun cleaning solvent.
Solvent | Best Suited For | Price |
|---|---|---|
For those that do not shoot too often | ||
For those doing a lot of shooting | ||
For heavy build up of cosmoline already |
Hoppe's Elite
Hoppe's is a renowned brand that has consistently made top notch products, and they have most certainly delivered once again with their Elite gun cleaner. This has the most updated technologies infused into the solvent so it can clean down to the microscopic pores of the metal, while lubricating it as well. The Hoppe's Elite is rated to remove carbon, lead, and some copper fouling. It has also been designed to meet the harsh demands of military and professional shooters.
There are a few awesome features about the Hoppe's Elite gun cleaner. Number one, is the fact that this solvent is biodegradable, and non-toxic. It is also odorless so you don't have to worry about stinking up the entire room like your fumigating for bugs, and it is non-flammable. With Hoppe's you don't have to worry about it getting on your skin or being harmful to the environment. Lastly, this product has been designed to condition your firearm so that it will begin to repel fouling.
M-Pro 7
The M-Pro 7 is an amazing product through and through. This was one of the original gun cleaning solvents to support "pollution prevention initiatives", and therefore is completely non-toxic and biodegradable. It is also odorless, and non-flammable which makes it just that much more appealing. The M-Pro 7 is arguably the best bore cleaning solvent due to it being the number one military firearm solvent because of its design to clean all forms of weaponry from grenade and mortar launchers to bazookas and all firearms. It will remove lead, carbon, and most copper fouling while conditioning the gun as well.
The M-Pro 7 works so well because its compound, when used correctly, surrounds individual carbon molecules with a negatively charged coating so that the carbon molecules repel each other. This essentially "lifts" them from the micropores of the metal to be easily wiped or brushed away. The carbon of course is what acts as the glue that holds the plastic, lead, and copper fouling together like mortar to brick.
If you choose to buy the M-Pro 7, you may never buy a different gun cleaner again.
Slip2000 725
The 725 gun cleaner from Slip2000 is one of the best all around degreasers on the market. Not to mention it too is a very safe product to use and be exposed to. It is biodegradable, non-toxic, non-flammable, and it is a water based cleaner for added environmental safety. It is specifically designed for regular cleanings and use on firearms that have an excess build of oils, grease, cosmoline, and carbon deposits. It cuts through grease better than Dawn on burnt and crusty dishes pans.
This is a fantastic choice in gun cleaners, but does work best in conjunction with other bore cleaning solvents. It can most definitely stand on its own as a regular cleaner and does well sprayed on all parts of the firearm.
A couple other nice features to mention are the convenient spray bottle design for easy application, and the fact that it is odorless. You can use this indoors or in small rooms without having to endure stinky fumes.
Final Words
All the above options for a gun cleaner are great options to choose from. They all meet the three standards that good gun solvents should adhere to, being safe, effective, and protective. All three have been extremely reviewed, tested thoroughly, and each one has proven time and time again to be the best gun cleaning solvent on the market today. They are available for anyone to use before and especially after every time a firearm is used.
All three are very reasonably priced as well. The Hoppe's Elite is available in an 8 ounce spray bottle for under twenty dollars, the M-Pro 7 is available in a 32 ounce spray bottle for about thirty bucks, and the 725 gun cleaner from Slip2000 is available in a 16 ounce spray bottle for under 20 dollars also.
There are a couple of factors that you should think about when choosing which of these three gun cleaners is right for you. One, how often will be shooting and therefore cleaning? If the answer is quite a lot, then I would go with the M-Pro 7. If not that often then I'd stick with the Hoppe's Elite. Second, how dirty is your gun already and how much cosmoline is built up from prior cleanings? If the answer is far more than average you will want to choose the degreasing 725 gun cleaner.
We hope this guide helps your decision and that one of these top three is the best gun cleaning solvent for you.
