Do you also use it to clean the bore?

What???

I don't recommend using oil to clean anything. Years ago when I used motor grease, I would still use Hoppes No 9 to clean everything. Once everything got cleaned, then I used the automotive grease in areas that I want.

Depending on the weight of the oil, I'd imagine it could create a hazard especially if it collects a lot of debris prior to firing.

Used as a lube, replacement for high priced Frog Lube, Slip EWL, etc.  Not used as a cleaner.

Thanks for your response. I don't do it myself either

ding ding ding

I use Hoppes and Kroil in the barrel for cleaning. I clean the outside of guns with WD40, and  for guns with parkerizing, rub CLP into the parkerizing.

For lubricant, I use synthetic engine oil. Specifically, whatever boutique synthetic oil is the latest rage, and slated for the next Corvette oil change. Those high-shear, high antiwear, high-temp oils easily exceed the nominal sliding friction requirements of firearms!

Still partial to the Royal Purple, though it'd make your eyes water when mixed with the gun-smoke from combloc surplus 5.45.

Just get a bore snake with a wire brush on it. One swipe and your bore will be nice and clean. No solvents needed.

Hoppes #9 or KROIL for bore cleaning

Lube with MOBIL 5w30

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Ed's red with kroil in place of kerosene for cleaning and mobil 1 synthetic for lube.
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While I use a bore snake for a final "wipe" after cleaning the barrel, one pull through doesn't cut it for me.  You'll also need to clean copper every once in awhile.  Nothing beats a good old bronze brush with patches.  

If you use any oil in a barrel, you need to make sure you remove it before shooting.  Stick with what works.

He's got a point. Some copper is fine and can help accuracy.

However I do 5 pull through of a Otis ripcord with copper brush.

Nope.  Just lube.  Cleaning is done with the powder solvent.  Wiped down with an oily cloth after it's cleaned as well as lubing the internals.

About the only time I run an oily patch down the barrel (to prevent rust) is when one will be stored away for months (or more).  I have AR's I haven't shot in 3 or 4 years and M1's/M1A's that haven't been shot in 10 years.

I actually love cleaning my weapons, but I hate running patches through the bore. Nothing wrong with it and it works just fine just too messy for my liking.

I used to use it as  a lube ( never  a cleaner) Mobil 1 10w-30 (this particular grade of Mobil 1 has no viscosity index improvers which u dont want in gun oil.. )
I discontinued its use though.

Mostly because the "traditional " gun oils smell so much better.

Nope.  When I clean a gun I get some crud on the cleaning/oiling rag.  I think that's more from the crud being suspended in the lubricating oil, not because the oil is good at dissolving burnt on crud.

I oil the crap out of my AR15's and the DI system still manages to back carbon on the tail of the bolt.  It blows/burns the oil off and then builds up on the metal.  Oil won't take that stuff off.  Hell, powder solvent won't take it off.  It requires brushing/scraping to get it off.

I use Hoppe's #9 in the bore, along with a brush. I spray everything else down with WD40 to clean it. I use Mobil 1 10W30 to lube.

Eds Red to clean, synthetic oil to lube.

Chris Bartocci (former Colt guy, worked with a lot of black rifle companies, teaches an armory class), recommended sticking to a quality CLP for AR15s when I asked.

Reason being correctly done CLP does what it’s supposed to do.

I use transmission fluid and high temp grease depending on gun, but i stick to CLP for ARs.

Transmission fluid can help you clean, since it’ll break down deposits.

Transmission fluid is one of the three ingredients in Ed's red.

I use synthetic motor oil for lube.  Only for lube, not cleaning.  Specifically, I've gravitated to Shell Rotella T6 synthetic.  It is a full synthetic diesel oil.  The additives for diesel oils really help with direct impingement rifle actions as both are super dirty environments with lots of carbon to stick to surfaces.   The full synthetic oil is impervious to heat or cold and the diesel formulation additives let you just wipe things off without having to do any scraping.

For cleaning the bore, routine use of Hoppe's #9 followed by occasional use of Butch's Bore Shine or Barnes CR-10 for copper removal.

I use Royal Purple sometimes. Pretty much just wipe down the bolt and upper with a rag, run a boresnake with CLP through the barrel a few times and then re lube. I do spray CLP in the barrel extension and hit it with a chamber brush too.

Honestly can't remember last time I used solvent and a brass brush. Groups just fine.

@BlueZ

Elaborate on the viscosity index improvers as it pertains to use in a firearm, please? What about their 5w-30 (what my 'yota takes)?

I just switched to Mobil 1 since Castrol decided it wants to advertise it's support of the NFL. Not getting my money any more.

I'm definitely willing to try it out, I have no doubt the stuff will work well in any of my guns, but I'm also not in a hurry to replace what they currently have in them either.

As much as I advocate using grease, the government did spend unfathomable amounts of money on developing CLP, to avoid all these problems. Seriously, just have to wipe the nasty off, and squirt some fresh on there and it'll keep working. We like to over think it because we haven't better stuff to do.

I do use "bore cleaner, rifle" on my bore snake in front of the brush, and clp on the tail. I don't have issues with accuracy or reliability  (excluding my suppressor endeavour in the grease thread in this sub forum). It took a lot of shooting to copper foul my barrels enough for accuracy to drop off.

Triple.

Triple post.

It's also harmless and helps to create a better seal. Seriously you don't need to white glove your gun.

After reading some of your thoughts on rotella and ots detergent properties i also made the switch.

However be observant in your guns which run o ring extractor upgrades... I keep rotella in a spare syringe for easy use and i noted that the rubber seal has swollen to 2x normal size.

Something to think about and watch for.

Yeah CLP is good stuff IMO. I've never had a single complaint about it. I've been using a small bottle if the Rand nano-CLP I grabbed and its working fine but I really like Breakfree.

Your post does remind me though..I do need to take a bore brush and some Hoppes 9 and give my barrels a good scrub.  Its just a pain in the ass and boresnakes have never let me down across 5+ calibers and 10 years and are so easy.

Try some KG-12. We both have better things to do than scrub a rifle all day. It's on the pricy side (you won't need much, probably 5 patches worth per barrel), but the stuff works wonders. It'll eat copper like a fat kid around chocolate cake. I think it took 3-5 patch runs to wipe a barrel clean of copper. I did start with a "clean" and dry barrel (5 passes of the bore snake, then a dry patch).

Someone in the "your rifle isn't clean" thread recommended it to me, IIRC, when I asked for "stuff that I should probably need a permit for" or something to that affect. I like chemicals like that. Although the KG is water based.

Thanks man, I'll look it up and check locally. Price doesn't matter much I'll likely just use it once a year per barrel.

Ok for this a quick review how multi viscosity oils work historically then we go to modern Syn oils.

Historically you might hve run a 30 weight oil in fall a 20 weight in winter and a 40 weight (or thicker) in summer.
The disadvantage of course was oil run thicker when cold.
So a 20 weight might still be a bit too thick for startup ( w/ resultant wear) while also being nearly too thin to run even in winter for extended hiway driving.
The solution wa smultivisosity oils.

The first one was 10w-30.. It was made by taking a 10 weight oil and adding Viscosity Index Improvers.
The 10w-30 was a 10 weight oil and would act as such when cold.. but would only thin out as much as  a 30 weight would when hot

As time went on Petrochemistry figured out how tp create 5w-30 and 10w-40 more of  a stretch but using more VIIs.
However VIIs are not pure goodness.
They themsleves are prone to breakdown into varnish and add little to the oils lubricity (ability to lube) so whatever percentage of your oil was VIIS would not contribute to lubrication ( much.

This is why its advisable in cars to use the tightest multi vis that works for you.
Synthetics complicate this a bit since they need much less VIIs to create a spread.
This makes valvoline Synpower 5w-40 and Mobil 1 0w-40 and other viable.
However many syns that have a small spread like 10w-30 use very little VIIs.
And some use none (due to the inherent properties of the synthetically knitted base oil)

In the case of Mobil 1 10w-30 I believe they are down to using no or almost no VIIs.

Of course this is a matter of nuances..
So no fear if u have a non syn..one with more spread.

And the gent posting in this thread who uses Rotella Diesel made some good points also.. because diesel speced oils DO have more detergents.
But again I use(d) my motor oil as lube only,.. not cleaner so when I went to buy motor oil for my guns I got Mobil 1 10w-30.
I a expect other PAO syn oils, like AMSOIL etc to also be nearly VII free in this grade... I suspect Redline 10w-30 (which has a even more advanced ester base stock) to also be VII free and i would have also bought it.

Hope this post made sense and didnt ramble on too much  :)

That kind of makes sense, granted space is limited and I'm totally free to research on my own...

Anyway, what I don't get it how much superior it really is in a firearm, especially an ar15.

Your lube shouldn't be getting hot unless you're dumping so much ammo that it would be burning up the barrel/gastube anyway. IE operating it beyond designed fire rate.

I've done a mag dump and pulled the BCG immediately, and the bolt was plenty safe to handle, the carrier room temperature.

It seems having VIIs would improve performance, (extreme example) since your gun can go from below freezing to 120* in the course of a day, just just walking around (thinking desert nights to sun baking).

The oil at "idle" would have the best chance to retain the proper viscosity over a wider range. In your car, this can be a hard start with excessive wear, but in your gun it requires so little lube I think it would be negligible as to wear. However the oil being too viscous could result in a stoppage.

The same with oil that doesn't have detergents to suspend carbon fouling. Keeping them suspended trades lubricity for cleanliness.  Where again the actual lube required is quite minimal.

As far as premature breakdown from VIIs, isn't the only area of true concern on the bolt lugs, that actually experience any real pressure? Maybe the cam pin too. The BCG sliding is minimal pressure. Compared to a car engine where all of the points the oil lubes would be equivalent to the bolt lugs or greater. Your rifle probably experiences an oil change every 500 miles (almost all of it "cold"), compared to the car at 5,000. So the oil only has to last 1/10 the time. Where usually the oil in my truck makes it 1,000 miles before it really gets dirty, so I can assume it's still lubricating just fine at twice the replacement interval of a rifle.

M1A4ME, have you ever tried brake cleaner to eat away at that build up? What type of wire brush has been most effective?
Have some non flammable brake cleaner and was going to give it a try to see the results. Spray it on in the AM let it work in and give it a good brushing few hour later. Have not yet figured out what the best combo is to rid the build up effectively.

Use the eyelet of the cotter pin as a scraper. Junk pops right off. OTIS bone tool works decently as well. I've found it not worth the time to try and use solvents on that spot. It's much less effort all said and done to simply scrape it off.

Same with the carbon that bakes on inside the carrier. A scraper of some kind works fine (bone tool again) for me.

I don't really think the tool is worth the retail price, but I got mine on sale for like $8, definitely worth it at that price. Honestly I'd use a screw driver if I was so inclined. It might dick up the chrome plating, but it'll be soaked in some kind of oil anyway.

Thanks FritzTKatt. Just checked out the price $17.99 Amazon Prime. Saw video demo of what the tool can do. Well worth the price when shooting a lot. $8 bucks is a steal.

I had passed on it a few times for $25 when I saw it at the store. Then for $8, I had to get it.

If you do shoot a lot, it will be worth it, but if you're a low volume, low budget guy, pass on it.

It takes a minute of practice to use, since it fits pretty loose. You have to cant it some for the bolt tail. Inside the BC it only gets it so well, basically getting the chunks out. It is a field cleaning type of tool. It is NOT for a white glove inspection. The firing pin scraper part doesn't work at all for me. It seems like I can't get enough pressure on it to work. Not a big deal though, my firing pins never seem to get that bad.

The cotter pin works fine (waiting for someone to whine about me doing that). I bet a piece of brass would also work well enough for a field cleaning.

I need to simplify my cleaning box....got way too many cleaners and oils....

Been shooting for 45 years, started with Hoppes and got away from it, now I am back to it.

Use Wilson oils, Slip 2000 and plan to simplify to Hoppes for cleaning and Mobil 1 for lubing.

77

I never thought hoppes did that great of a job.

Currently using the milprf 372 (nsn 6850-00-224-6663, 1 gallon), with decent success as a general firearms solvent. It seems to dissolve most everything (including dried up, carbon fouled grease), except copper fouling. The only copper solvent I've ever used is KG-12, and it worked very well for me.

The most stubborn baked on carbon such as on the bolt tail still requires scraping.

I got it for free so I can't complain.

Brake cleaner does a great job of getting all that nasty oil and solvent out of the gun, assuming it's safe to use (plastic/wood considerations). Electric parts cleaner is less effective, but safer around various materials that brake cleaner will eat up.

All the decent oils (clp, motor) and greases all work to lube. You'll find mention elsewhere of temperature based viscosity problems I've had, and grease being too thick for the excess fouling caused by suppressor use. All in all, I'm becoming of the opinion that if the temperature is right for the lube, it'll work just fine. I won't be using grease for suppressed firing either.

The fine workings of some guns will not take kindly to cold lubes. Thin oils do not stay put on guns that are used in summer heat.

There is not a be-all, end-all product out there, and probably never will be. Just pick something appropriate for the application. E.g. use a grease on your summer carry gun, a super light oil on your hunting rifle, a medium to thick oil on your suppressor hosts in warmer temps...