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Good ol' water , but before I leave the range and while the bore is still warm I run a few wet/dry patches of Hoppe's 9 Black Powder cleaner down the bore and wipe the pan etc. down. It works well, as one time I didn't get a chance for a through water cleaning for a few days and bore was still clean and free of rust.
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It appears they have renamed (and reformulated) the Hoppe’s 9 Plus to Hoppe’s 9 Black Powder Gun Bore Cleaner and Patch Lubricant. Personally, have not actually tried the ‘new’ version as I still have a few quart bottles of the old stuff, but just based on a physical comparison, the new version looks, feels and even smells a little different than the old formulation. The older stuff is more pungent than the current new formulation, at least in the opinion of some expert noses that I hunt with. Leave a cleaning patch or two on top of the trash and everyone notices and comments. One of those Pavlov’s dogs moments every time.
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Good old Hoppes! I still use the #9 on my smokeless britch-loaders.

I haven’t tried their blackpowder solvent, though. How is it different from #9? Does it smell similar?

The main ingredient in #9 is kerosene, although you might not know it from the aroma.

Notchy Bob
It has the slight sweet smell of Hoppe's 9 but not quite as strong. It's a water based cleaner and the bottle has a warning not to allow it freeze. Kind of milky colored, reminds me of water based coolant I used when machining brass and aluminum . It has a slickness feel to it when you rub your fingers with it.
 
Good ol' water , but before I leave the range and while the bore is still warm I run a few wet/dry patches of Hoppe's 9 Black Powder cleaner down the bore and wipe the pan etc. down. It works well, as one time I didn't get a chance for a through water cleaning for a few days and bore was still clean and free of rust.
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When a local department store closed, 30 years ago, I bought 2 Large Glass bottles of this @ 60% off. It sat on a shelf in my shop until a few years ago when I discovered it. I don't use it often, but it does a good jjob.i need to transfer some into a smaller bottle. They are almost quart sized.

Typically I use hot water and dawn.
 
At age 10 my BP mentor used the Hoppes Black Powder patch lube and cleaner. I still do. NOT for cleaning, except as per above the nipple soaks in a cap full while cleaning. As a range time patch lube HRAD TO BEAT, shoot all day. I don't clean with it, ever. Other than maybe at the range if real dirty I may swab out with it but water and dawn is my go-to. Especially that mixed from my special dehydrated water packages (still a few left BTW @ $5.00). The smell is wonderful and really brings back the memories of a dumb 10 yr old in the garage tinkering.
 
Yup. I saw this gunk in my LGS and thought I'd see what it does. Proves that even at 67 you can still make poor choices.
but at 67 you won't have to live with the consequences of those poor choices as long!
one advantage of advanced age. "eh! who cares, can't see it from a coffin"
that stuff may be good for lubricating the lock?
 
The main use of wd -40 is to drive away moisture out of any cracks or hard to get places. Spray, wipe, then lube with a gun oil. It’s ok if used for its intended purpose.
Yep, people like to clump it in with modern gun oils but it's really a water displacing solvent. While it does lubricate and protect from rust, those aren't it's intended purpose. Worked great inside a damp distributor cap back in the day.
 
About 30 years ago I read about a scientific lab study of various Gun oils. Don’t remember which one was number one but I do remember the one that placed last, WD40. The study showed it actually attracted moisture. I haven’t used any since.
There were some results posted at a link that had some interesting results of aong term test of the corrosion inhibiting of a large number of products. The winner? WD40 Specialist.

I'll try to find the link. Maybe someone else saved it.
 
The main use of wd -40 is to drive away moisture out of any cracks or hard to get places. Spray, wipe, then lube with a gun oil. It’s ok if used for its intended purpose.
I agree with Sam. WD-40 can be very useful. It displaces water, dissolves grease, and lubricates until it evaporates. Those last two points can be problematic. It may dissolve and remove other surface protectants, then evaporate within a matter of days or weeks, leaving bare, unlubicated and unprotected metal. Definitely not something to use for long-term storage.

It also reacts with some plastics. My brother for some reason sprayed a bunch of his automotive tools with WD-40. He didn’t use them for a period of months. When he did get into his toolbox, the plastic screwdriver handles showed a lot of damage.

Notchy Bob
 
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Why try and beat what works best. Dawn and Water. Available EVERYWHERE even at the dang gas station. Heck Dawn is so good its the best dang plinking patch lube there is. You don't have to swab narry a time. Ifn ya don't have Dawn, water works well too. At deer camp my Kentucky gets cleaned down by the CRICK with plain cold crick water. The bore is just as purdy as the day it was bought. This thread reminds me of the one posted about cleaning patches. Some folks actually buy material for cleaning patches. Its a cleaning patch for crying out loud not a shooting patch. We try to go to the bottom of the Ocean with some of this stuff.
 
I agree with Sam. WD-40 can be very useful. It displaces water, dissolves grease, and lubricates until it evaporates. Those last two points can be problematic. It may dissolve and remove other surface protectants, then evaporate within a matter of days or weeks, leaving bare, unlubicated and unprotected metal. Definitely not something to use for long-term storage.

It also reacts with some plastics. My brother for some reason sprayed a bunch of his automotive tools with WD-40. He didn’t use them for a period of months. When he did get into his toolbox, the plastic screwdriver handles showed a lot of damage.

Notchy Bob
hi Notchy Bob.
I enjoy all of your posts, so I thought I would like to you my experience with WD40. It happened back in about 1975. Me and another fellow operated a small arms rifle club for juniors and we shot DCM .22 rifles in the basement of an old grocery store. It was dirt floor, damp walls, and conditions weren't the best but at least it was warm in the winter time. Gun storage was a major problem as our storage cabinet was metal, actually tin, and we had moisture problems. We would shut the club down around March and then resume about October as we both were busier in the summertime. I would check on the guns about July and they were always needing some assistance, so that year I took a big spray bottle of WD40 and soaked the guns and the stocks and put them away in March. Along in about July or August when I got down to inspect them they had all turned white, just kinda like an alkali cover and my heart just about stopped as they were borrowed guns. Well I took a rag and that all wipe right off, the stocks just shined, and the actions all work nice. They were white, so I wiped all of them off also and then sprayed them down again with WD40. We continued to use that till we lost our gun club when the local VA couldn't afford to pay the insurance on them anymore and that was probably about 1985. Of course we had to reclean them when we started back up every fall.
Squint
 
I always liked T/C No. 13 for a cleaner. It did well but you needed to do your part after cleaning to add some rust protectant to the barrel.
 
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