Best keep secret shotgun cleaner!

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A while back, in a cleaning thread, "Ackleyman" mentioned some "lube wipes" that the clay games shotgun shooters were using for plastic wad fouling. The wipes are called, "HilCo Lube wipes", so I went looking for them on-line. They must be some kind of low level secret since they were not easy to find through internet searches. But I did find them at a mill supply place in Florida, and ordered both the wipes, and the aerosol...The aerosol caused the shipping to increase, and the verdict is still out if that was worth it. But this is about the wipes. After my trap league night, as is customary, the Browning Citori gets cleaned and put in the safe. So I go through my usual cleaning regiment, and those chrome lined Browning barrels look clean and shiny. So I take a Hilco wipe, fold it in fourths, and push it into the barrel I shoot most often for trap. It came out black! So I flipped the wipe to a new clean fourth and repeated. It came out black again! So I repeated for the rest of the clean fourths of that wipe, and by the last clean quarter, I was down to just a gray haze on the wipe. So I grabbed a second wipe, again folded it into fourths, and did the barrel I rarely use, and is shiny clean. The wipe came out black, too. Again by the last quarter, it was just a light gray haze on the wipe. But now the barrels are gleaming like this is a new shotgun. OK, so color me impressed. Now I get why the shotgun shooters are using this product. This product is removing fouling I didn't know I had. I haven't tested it yet on rifle fouling, especially carbon, so we shall see if it puts dent in that.

Thanks Keith for posting info on this product...In my pile of chemicals, I use to clean firearms, this one gets a permanent place.

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Just cleaned 3 shotguns with these wipes. To say I am impressed would be an understatement.
This is the second time I have used them and I will be ordering more.
 
It appears these wipes may clean better than using a standard cleaner like Hoppes or Butch's or whatever you guys use (you didn't say).

But do the wipes clean better then a wood dowel wrapped in 0000 steel wool chucked in a cordless drill and spun for 15-20 seconds? Anyone try the wipes after this method?
 
Glad you liked them, we buy them by the case. Two minutes cleaning and you are done with the shotgun. I have never seen anything remove plastic wadding so easily.

0000 steel wool in the barrel should be used as a last resort.

Montana extreme bore solvent did a pretty good job of cleaning the bores.

Amazon is including the shipping in their price, not what we are used to seeing.
 
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Several shotgun guys I know use B-12 and the steel wool dowel rod method to clean their high end shotguns. Never heard them say anything about a problem using this method. Why would this be a "last resort" method?
 
Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOGIt appears these wipes may clean better than using a standard cleaner like Hoppes or Butch's or whatever you guys use (you didn't say).

My cleaning routine is pretty simple, and until these wipes showed up, I thought it was pretty effective. The routine: Swab a clean rag(cut to a 12 ga. bore sized patch), with Hoppe's Bore Cleaner(formally known as #9), to patch out the chunky powder residue; Then I take s bronze 12 ga. bore brush, with more Hoppe's solvent drizzled on it, and give it about 10 strokes in the barrel; Then another solvent soaked patch, to bring out anything loosened by the brush, and then a few dry patches, to remove the solvent. If it doesn't look shiny, repeat the process until it gleams in the bore, pointing to a light. So the first time I used a Hilco patch, the barrels of the O/U, were gleaming in the lighted bore. So when the Hilco patch came out BLACK, my jaw dropped a bit. So now I add a new step to the old trap gun clean up procedure, after trap league.

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Originally Posted By: ackleyman0000 steel wool in the barrel should be used as a last resort.
J.D. McGuire of AI&P Tactical (LE armorer and custom builder) says to use #0000 wool every time you clean the barrel.
 
The HilCo Lube wipes, was something that we copied from one of the coaches and several shooters on the USA Olympic shooting team. My nephew was shooting with them along with neighbor kid, Alex. It seemed like everyone there shooting sporting clays was using them.

I was at the shoot, dumpster diving for good hulls.

Couple of swipes through the bore and chamber, and the gun is clean.

I have no affiliation with Hilco at all. We did not have to pay shipping.

Some of those magnum loads with Blue dot really leave the bore gritty and the speed can melt some wads. Dusting wads in motor mica helps some.

I wouild love to play with some TSS with 1 1/4 loads. Pups are out screaming every night, they will be ripe to get killed in within a short while. They are all out catching fawns, so I to see how many I could kill. This is shotgun country.

We had stout load of 1 1/4 oz of shot in a RP wad, Old AA hull with 36-38g of blue dot that just killed way on out there. I would be great to try some of these light loads as long as patterns were great.

Keith
 
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