From M&P 15 Sport manual:
" Ammoniated solvents or other strong alka- line solvents, should not be used on any Smith & Wesson firearm. "
Shooter's Choice is ammonia-based if my info is correct. I've used it on Ruger's and Smiths for years and haven't noticed any ill effects. Why the warning?

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noli illegitimi carborundum

If you use Shooters Choice only in the barrel per the directions, it is extremely unlikely you will have problems.
However, if you give the gun a bath in it or slop it all over, nickel or other finishes can be damaged.

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Science plus Art

The ammonia attacks anything with copper or brass in it which is why they put it in the bore cleaners (it attacks copper jacket fouling). I stopped using it because the non ammonia cleaners work just as good. It can harm nickel guns because I am told they lay the nickel on top of a copper layer.

I've used nothing else for probably twenty years, but I don't have any nickel plated guns either.

bountyhunter, I've seen posted many times that S&W doesn't use any copper underlay before they nickel plate their revolvers. And while I use Hoppes instead of Shooter's Choice, both do contain ammonia and if you wipe off the Hoppes after cleaning it doesn't seem to harm the nickel on my pistols. Just make sure none gets trapped under the grips where it sits active and eating on the finish. I remove my stocks every time I clean my revolvers so that doesn't happen with me.

With that said, I've heard the new blue process that S&W uses on their pistols nowadays is a lot more fragile than the older blue process and I've read of new guns having the finish have problems with ammonia containing cleaners.

Many years ago Hoppes 9 was my go-to Solvent and I soaked MANY S&W's in it even including Nickel plated guns before I knew you weren't supposed to. Never had one bit of damage - not even on the Nickel guns.

I don't remember using Hoppes for a few years now but still have at least 6 or 7 bottles laying around. I would not hesitate to use it on a heavily fouled gun (older models) as it does work very well. Now that I realize that it's not great for Nickel plated guns I would not recommend using it, but on the older Smiths I can't see how it would harm them. Maybe the newer Smiths are blued differently or maybe the new alloys are more susceptible to being damaged by it - don't know since all my Smiths are pretty old

My go-to all in one of choice os and has been for a very very long time Rig #2 Oil. That will not harm anything in or on a firearm including wood, polymers, Nickel, parkerizing, etc.

As previously posted ammonia reacts with copper and copper based bullet jacket alloys, not nickel. S&W applies their nickel plating directly to the steel so the often repeated warning to not use ammoniated solvents on nickeled S&Ws is false. S&W quit traditional bluing altogether. The substitute finish marketed as "blueing" is removed by repeated use of ammoniated solvents. Either to avoid pointing out that their new finish is not really blueing or because they presume too many of their customers are not intelligent enough to separate new and old blued guns the warning is worded to cover all guns.

This is my understanding also. I have a number of questions concerning this.

First, when did this take place?
Second, what exactly are they doing now which is different?
Third, what brought them to this course of action besides economic considerations.

This is just another reason not to buy a new Smith & Wesson blued handgun, I also would not recommend a factory refinish on any blued Smith & Wesson firearm.



Bruce

I would imagine S&W had to quit using traditional bluing salts because of "Global Warming", I **** you not.

I'd guess it had far more to do with cost and EPA.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I guess that we can all speculate on the reasons why. I'm which somebody had a definitive answer. Possibly the new bluing process is proprietary so that information has not leaked out yet.

Bruce

Ammonia cleaners are just one of those things that make me ask "why". The stuff gives me headaches, may attack some finishes (maybe not) and there are plenty of other cleaners without it that do a very good job and smell better or don't smell at all. So I stopped using it.

Hoppes #9 is what happiness smells like. I often use it for aftershave.

The first two versions of Hoppes #9 contained ammonia, the current version does not. The Hoppies #9 I started with also contained benzene. After benzene was removed Hoppie's #9 was a shadow of its former self. The trouble was benzene causes cancer so we should have been wearing rubber gloves while using early #9. The current ammonia free #9 no doubt was formulated so it would not harm finishes like S&W's new "bluing."

The current MSDS document shows "ammonium hydroxide" in the mixture. Found the data on the Hoppe's web site.

Hoppe's 9 - The Gun Care People

http://www.hoppes.com/Hoppes/files/9...3e79cfc834.pdf

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

I love that smell too.