Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hoppes 9

Does Hoppes 9 contain any rust preventer in it and is there any problem with letting it sit in a bore for any length of time? It seems to me if it contains a oil that prevents rust why not just leave a light coat of it in the bore and patch it out before you shot the same as you do to a oiled barrel.

Yes, it does provide rust protection.

No, you can leave it in forever.

Yes. Run a clean patch through the bore before shooting, whether the rifle has sat for a month or five years. If the patch comes out dirty or green, I would run another wet patch followed by a dry patch or two to clear any residue. Then go shooting.

Many people have used nothing but Hoppes #9, just as you describe, for decades with no problems.

Rifle loonys like to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Thanks...Hoppes 9 protects and cleans while your rifle sits. I do not think I would put A rifle in to long time storage with just Hoppes in the bore for that I like to clean down to bare steal and oil heavy. I stand the rifle muzzle down for a day or so to let the oil drain out then put it in the far dark corner of the safe.

For long-term storage, remember that synthetic oils maintain a film nearly forever, whereas mineral oils don't maintain that sort of film strength and eventually strip off. I am a big fan of Mobil-1.

Ditto the thought that sometimes we overthink stuff. While I never rely on Hoppes for long term protection (RIG gets my nod), there have been occasional lapses of memory when the stuff stayed in the bore forever. Tight patches revealed nice shiny steel with no discernible issues. Certainly not a replacement for more effective protocols in the area of bore cleaning, but for most of what we do it's plenty good enough IMO.

Actually, in recent years I've been using Ed's Red as a Hoppes substitute. Not because it's that much better but mainly because I know Ed Harris, the inventor, plus the stuff cuts plastic fouling in shotgun bores better than Hoppes. I wouldn't lose any sleep if Hoppes was the only bore solvent to be had. (It even works as an aftershave for those rugged outdoors types who want to impress the women. )

NO...you don't say!!


Yeah, I'd say so.

IMHO Hoppes #9 is not nearly as good as many other choices out there for cleaning or protecting. But I sure do like the smell!

I agree on the smell although they changed it a while back to
remove some cancer causing substance. Hooppes is a hangover from
the days that it was believed that nitro based powders left
nitric acid that ate up the barrel.

I clean with Hoppes and leave it in the barrel indefinitely. Never had a rust problem. I don't remove it before I shoot either. I've never had the first shot go to a noticeably different point of aim, including 600 yard target shooting.

I have read that the distinctive smell of #9 originally came from Banana oil. Muddy

I am an Ed's Red fan. What I find is that it tends to keep working longer on any residual grime. When I put my deer rifles away after season ends, I usually run Ed's through, wait two weeks and run it through again and clean until the patches are clean. When I pull them out in the summer, the Ed's Red has loosened up additional dirt. Using Hoppes, I never saw that long term action.

This will be my first year using Dyna Bore Coat. We'll see if there is a difference come summer.

BTW: Bob, my old fart retired gun editor buddy, used to have his wife, Esther, put a dab of Hoppes #9 behind each ear, especially when they were out partying with the gun glitterati.

"glitterati"

Sometime back in the late sixty's or early seventy's Elmer Keith recommended Hoppes 9 for for 2 reasons. First a light coating would protect a bore from corrosion and second the first shot out of the bore would land where the rifle was sighted for. I've been following his advise for more than 40 years because he was dead on.
Doc

Hoppes #9 is all I use, no need for this fancy bore cleaning stuff, I use so much of it I buy it 5 gallons at a time.

I was told the old #9 contained Benezene. After the formula changed I worked where I had access to Benezene and always added a couple of ounces to mine. This was before it would hurt you. Hasbeen

It also had a little ammonia, as I recall. They changed the formula after bringing out the No. 9 Bench Rest Copper Gun Bore Cleaner, apparently because they wanted shooters to buy the "old" No. 9 for powder fouling, and the Bench Rest for copper fouling.

The old formula wasn't bad for getting copper out. It took a while (like some of today's slower formulas) but it did the job. Now it's basically a powder fouling solvent and perfume.

Which should be dealt with first, powder fouling or copper?

Well, normally powder fouling's on top of copper fouling, though I have encountered a few bores so fouled powder and copper were in alternating layers--which I have called "geologic" bore fouling, partly because it takes so long to dig the stuff out.

But unless that happens, I generally deal with both at once, with Montana X-Treme Bore Solvent, which seems to be pretty good at dealing with both.

Why not mix the #9 and the #9 Copper Cleaner 1/2 & 1/2 and have something closer to the original?

I don't know if it will harm a barrel or not, but I love the smell and wear it like cologne. The women always ask what fragrance I have on. LOL