Maintenance: Gun Cleaning - Kits or Piece by Piece?

There are a lot of great gun cleaning kits out there as a starting point for those who are new to firearms. Otis offers a large variety of cleaning kits in all shapes and sizes. Did you start with one of these universal-type cleaning kits? What did you like about them?

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What does your current cleaning kit include?

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Ohhhh the cleaning tools are just about as big a controversy as How often do you clean your ā€œpick a stickā€

I will tell a tale.

In 1994 (or mebby 1991) I donā€™t remember which, I was at the Camp Perry National Matches on vendors row. As I was walking along I saw this guy with a steel ram rod and a hammer beating ā€œsomethingā€ down the barrel of a rifle. OK you have my interest, so I stopped. Once he got done beating on the object he pullā€™s out this little nylon covered cable with a brass weight on it and begins to tap/throw the cable down the bore at what ever it was he was beating down the bore as he pontificates on his wares. After about a minute or less something falls out of the rifle into a coffee can on the ground. The folks that were there prior to me responded with verbal ā€œHoly &^%'sā€ and other terms of disbelief. He had just ā€œtappedā€ out a stuck brandy NEW boolet from a rifle bore. For the princely sum of $19.00 I bought a kit. That was my introduction to Otis. I admit I am not fond of their fold the patch 3 times and drag it through the bore process but that bullet removal bit stuck with me and I used it several times during Boy Scout Camp when there were squib loads in .22 rifles.

IMHO if you only have one gun or one caliber or mebby a few calibers, get stuff that fitā€™s your gun. Spend less time scrubbing the bore and more time taking it apart and cleaning the internals and the important parts. Learn the gun.

That said if you shoot a .357 Mag or .44 Mag or similar and shoot ā€œshort roundsā€ scrub the snot out of your chamber/cylinder.

A bronze brush will have Zero to NO impact on your chamber or bore UNLESS you keep pushing that steel cleaning rod against the edge of the barrel.

Cheers,

Craig6

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I use bore snakes on all my firearms to clean the barrel. Cleaner is brake cleaner and my choice lube is Slip 2000 EWL

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Brake cleaner? Really?

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Yes, it works great. You can see it on YouTube, there are a lot of videos about it.

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Iā€™ve got that very Otis USCCA pistol cleaning kit. For long guns, I like bore snakes, and then just buy the pieces I need to clean the actions. For cleaner, hard to beat Hoppes products.

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I personally found slip 2000 to work a lot better than hoppes lube

I have Glocks. So once a year I put them in the dishwasher.

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You mean your mom doesnā€™t used comet and a brush and other cleaning supplies like in the movie stop or my mom will shoot? Lol

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Have a real avid kit for long guns and for handguns also.

I have a small tackle box of remnants from kits, parts and pieces I have bought over the years. I envy my shooting buddy. He has a fully organized backpack of cleaning supplies, many gun tools, extra fiber rods, tons of stuff all neatly organized.

Me, I got a box with a bunch of stuff in it. :grinning: But I can usually find what I need.

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I agree, start with a kit, then replace pieces as needed.

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I only have my 9mm so I picked up this guy off Amazon for $12

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I have an 80 piece kit I picked out because it had all the right kind of parts that I like to use, and it had every caliber I own and then a few. I have other pieces and pieces of kits, but I like this.
BTW, I just cleaned my 1969 Gold Cup, and youā€™ll be glad to know I didnā€™t clean this one in the shower. Maybe next time. Maybe Iā€™ll wear one of my Colt revolvers when I shower this evening.
My chemicals I pick out individually.

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Piece by piece.
For the bore:
Needā€”rod and patch loop, bronze brush, solvent, patches, oil, grease;
Nice to haveā€” jag, mop, home made Patch Worm or Bore snake
For the rest:
Old tooth brush and well laundered cotton diaper

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To see gun cleaning being taught to a newbie, go to YouTube and look up Mali Monkey. There is a whole channel with Mali, but find the gun cleaning one. You wonā€™t be sorry.

And Q-tips, lots and lots of Q-tipsšŸ˜Š

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Has anybody used that Shooter Lube we see plastered all over FB? I figure itā€™s just hype, but has anyone actually tried it? Iā€™m still a Hoppes guy.