Hoppes 9 and Corrosive Ammo in Milsurps?

[mr ed]

All solvents do is move the corrosive primer residue around. When it evaporates it will rust again.
Hot soapy water and a clean rinse followed by oil is the only thing that really works.

I learned that lesson 50 years ago. when I ruined a nice gun with cheap ammo.

 

[HiredHand]

A bit of history on Hoppes no.9

Read more: Col. Townsend Whelen Tells How Hoppe's No. 9 Came to Be
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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From the 1960 Gun Digest, Col. Townsend Whelen, in the article titled: Days of the Krag:

Further experience showed that it was extremely difficult to really clean the bore. After cleaning it apparently thoroughly, within the next day or two “new” fouling would seemingly appear, and slight rusting had started. Captain Foulke thought this was due to the smokeless powder gasses being driven into the pores of the steel by the great heat and pressure, and that the subsequently “sweated out”. He had a friend named Frank Hoppe, who was a chemist, so he and Frank started to concoct, if they could, a suitable cleaning solution. The first formula tried they called “An American Rifleman’s Friend.” It contained some ammonia, would of itself cause rust of left too long in the bore – it was not very satisfactory. The ninth solution they tried proved fairly satisfactory. If the bore was cleaned with a brass wire-bristle brush dipped in the solution for several successive days after the firing it would remain in good condition. Thus was born the celebrated “Powder Solvent No. 9,” which is still used extensively, and with which we are all of us very familiar.

 

[HillsideDesolate]

 

[Snapshot2022]

Is Hoppes 9 any good for corrosive ammo residue? I know it SHOULD be. But is it really?

I used to use Windex or soapy water at the range when I shot a lot of corrosive surplus ammo back when it was cheap. I followed up with hoppes 9 and oil when I got home. Sometimes I just went home and used that milky white army surplus bore cleaner. I never had any corrosion issues back then.

Nowadays when I shoot corrosive, I just scrub extra passes with my standard procedure of brush, hoppes 9 patches, and oil. I'd say I do 4 passes or so with the brush then up to about 10 passes of alternating wet and dry Hoppes solvent patches. Then a soaking wet patch with oil.

However, I think this is the fourth time I've pulled a gun out of the safe with rust spots in the bore that was recently (within a year) fired with corrosive ammo. The first time it happened I did the hoppes9 routine all over again, and some time later, more spots appeared. This has happened to rifles in the garage safe with good humidity control as well as rifles that were stored in the indoor safe.

So what's the deal? Do the steel jacketed bullets leave steel fouling that rusts? Does Hoppes just not get the salts out?

I use the Windex at range just squirt down bore then when i get home i used some soapy water, then i just use my standard bore cleaning stuff a good copper removing solvent many patchs and follow it with a quality oil patch.

I am just using some corrosive Ammo. in a AK so i don't worry a lot about it.

 

[Camo]

I used to use carb and choke cleaner and a bore brush. Follow up with oil of choice.

 

[rmark]

I think the Hoppes formula was changed about 10 years ago and isn’t as effective on corrosive residue, but I don’t have a citation for that.