I think it was Hondo44 who posted recently about Hoppe's #9 being an enemy of nickel plate. I only have one nickel revolver (a Model 19-3) and I have used Hoppe's to clean it (fortunately only a few times because it is a relatively recent acquisition), but I will stop doing so immediately if this is a threat to the finish. Right now the finish is nearly perfect and I certainly don't wish to damage it.
I have been using Hoppe's #9 for more than 50 years - that was Dad's solvent of choice, so I naturally fell into using it too. But nearly all our guns over the years were finished in blue, so we never had a problem.
But if I shouldn't use Hoppe's on my nickel gun, fine. Just tell me what the best alternative is, please.
Thanks!
Jack
Hi Jack,
I used Hoppe's for at least 40 years myself, it's a great product. Your gun should be alright. Just to explain, a good nickel finish with no serious scratches, slight dings on the sharp edges or minute surface breaks is alright. But like kennyb said it does have ammonia in it. Years ago I read in the American Rifleman that it's almost impossible to get it all out of surface imperfections which is where problems will occur. The ammonia left in a break in the nickel surface will actually lift the nickel plate and eventually cause flaking to start.
As I recall I recommended not using Hoppe's in another thread on an old nickel gun that already had some serious rust spotting in the nickel and therefore most vulnerable to the action of ammonia.
The problem is that even on a good nickel finish, it's almost impossible to detect microscopic leakage thru the plating like at the edges of the muzzle crown and forcing cone where normal where can make the worn nickel susceptible.
For that reason I just don't take the chance and keep Hoppe's off of nickel guns.
There's a lot of great products out there these days. I have settled on M Pro-7 almost exclusively for the following reasons:
1. It is steeped in chemistry, having the highest tech components that far exceed military specs (usually considered the most stringent of all in the industry) by a wider margin than any other products at the time I researched it. That's for extreme hi and low temperatures, lubricity, rust prevention, absorption into the pores of the metal, etc.
2. It has no odor which is great for hunting firearms, but also there's no smell to permeate your gun rugs, shooting bag, pockets, etc. Although I admit I keep an old jar or two of Hoppe's around just for memory sake 'cause nothing takes me back 58 years so fast, being 8 years old and plinking cans with my dad for the 1st time!
3. It comes in every form and size conceivable; thick jell for soaking bores, cylinders and choke tubes, spray, pointed spout, just cleaner, just oil, CLP, copper bore cleaner, etc.
Many people like Kroil and I also use Breakfree, I like their citrus Powder
Blast spray for a quick drying cleaner.
Hope that helps,
