Shotgun Cleaning Setup – What Are You Actually Using (Oils, Wood Care, Tools)?

Falconflyer said:
I've never done a side by side test of grease using automotive type vs gun-branded stuff. In that past I used Amsoil grease and liked it but it doesn't come in a handy tube or at least it never used to. I also used to use white lithium grease and it works well but I found that if I didn't used a gun for a few months then the grease dries out a bit, the synthetic stuff doesn't do that.
Gun-branded grease and oil is over priced as far as I'm concerned, I figure if a grease is good enough for bearings running fast and hot then it's certainly good enough for slow moving barrel trunnions.
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Agree. The Permatex products, especially if you splurge for the synthetic or lithium are going to the trick. Of course Gun Branded products are most likely a repackaging of the automotive ingredients. In reality, why try to reinvent the wheel unless completely specialized. Premium guns are engineered to a high tolerance, but not to the level that they would need grease that is specific to guns.

There is nothing wrong with going with gun specific brands and paying more for that, some of these brands have been around a long time and people swear by them - and some of these might even do some R&D and market development behind their product. For me personally, if the grease/oil/cleaner is not gun specific, I would just make sure that whatever I’m using is clean (not too cheap) and free from contaminates. You get what you pay for but if automotive is the same, then why pay more? Comparing products is key here for me. Seems to me that cost is not really a big factor in choosing what products because you are using such a small amount.

At the end of the day, I like what I’m reading from everyone. The message seems pretty consistent. It’s not really what products you are using to do maintenance on your gun, (lighter fluid, brake cleaner, gas, WD40, wax, furniture polish, etc) the secret sauce here is more about consistency & frequency.
 
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Falconflyer said:
While it's true that steel wool is harder on bores than copper, it will take a long time to wear out a shotgun barrel with it if only using it to remove plastic wad buildup a couple of times per year. In fact, it takes a lot of shotgun rounds to build up any amount of plastic in a shotgun bore if you have nice smooth barrels so often times once a year is plenty. Some guys go years between cleaning out plastic wad buildup if they even do it at all! Doing it often means you only make a couple of quick passes to clean it up.
I do use pure copper wool to remove lead buildup from rifle barrels shooting cast bullets though.
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Thank you
 
My routine is this, soon as I get home form the club whatever gun I shot gets broken down. The wood is waxed(Minwax Paste wax or Howards Wax and Feed if I'm being lazy). I have a wooden 3 pieces rod, a paper towel gets pushed down the bores, followed by a bore mop soaked in Eds Red. This is left for 5 minutes while I put the rest of my range bag and case away. A tornado brush follows this, then the paper towel is pushed down the bores to remove the mess. The chokes(if applicable) are pulled, wiped clean, greased and reinstalled. The slide points, and pivots are then greased, usually black moly or white lithium(anything works, more important that something is there that will stay there), other parts are oiled with ATF as needed. Then everything gets reassembled and stored. Periodically ll metal parts are wiped down with a coat of either wax to any water at bay.
 
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