Smelly Gun Cleaners

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Pre 29

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Man, I'm setting at my desk spraying BALLISTOL on the leather handle of an old Case bowie knife cause this stuff works well on leather but it STINKS!! My guys love it but to me it smells like liquorice which I also hate. We sell lots of lubes and cleaners and most work well enough but some of it smells awful. Why can't it all smell like Hoppes 9 ?? That smells GOOOOOD!!!
 
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A buddy who has a gunshop sold me a big bottle of Cleanzoil, told me how great it is, use it on everything, etc. didn't mention that pine-tar, Rosemary , liquorice stench.....And I like liquorice !
I've tried to get over the smell but just can't. That anise-rosemary -Pine-Sol smell is just off putting, it reeks!

One product I think smells good is Hoppes Elite Gun Oil, I can use it on a gun , set it on the night stand and my super scent detecting wife doesn't say a word. Now-That's saying a lot !
I don't care how effective a product is, if I don't like the smell , I'm not going to use it.
Gary
 
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I was at the BAR of America in Truckee, Ca. with a very young cocktail waitress I was dating when I lived in Reno. She would order shots of different stuff and if she didn't like it she would pass it over to me and I would down it. Everything was good till she passed a shot of OUZO and I threw it back and thought I was gonna puke. That mess tastes like liquorice on steroids. That was an interesting night as I passed out and and she had to drive my Jeep home. I woke up as some headlights hit me in the face and I looked back to see a car going through the median to turn around which I knew was gonna be the POPO. Asked her if we were still in Cal. or had we made the Nevada state line and she didn't know. Back then in 1984 the cops in Nv. were much more forgiving than the ones in Cal. We were both pretty drunk but the Nv trooper had seen her in the show at the Hilton where we both worked and let us go with a warning. Man the things you do when you're young and dumb.
 
Pre 29 said:
I was at the BAR of America in Truckee, Ca. with a very young cocktail waitress I was dating when I lived in Reno. She would order shots of different stuff and if she didn't like it she would pass it over to me and I would down it. Everything was good till she passed a shot of OUZO and I threw it back and thought I was gonna puke. That mess tastes like liquorice on steroids. That was an interesting night as I passed out and and she had to drive my Jeep home. I woke up as some headlights hit me in the face and I looked back to see a car going through the median to turn around which I knew was gonna be the POPO. Asked her if we were still in Cal. or had we made the Nevada state line and she didn't know. Back then in 1984 the cops in Nv. were much more forgiving than the ones in Cal. We were both pretty drunk but the Nv trooper had seen her in the show at the Hilton where we both worked and let us go with a warning. Man the things you do when you're young and dumb.
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Ever try Colombian Aguardiente? Also sort of a strong anise-licorice flavor. At least in Colombia it's 120 proof or more.

I always thought someone could make a fortune by coming up with an aftershave lotion that smelled like the old Hoppe's #9
 
Maybe I'm a little strange, but I LIKE the smell of Ballistol. :confused: :eek:

But it sure drives my wife nuts when I'm cleaning guns, even though I'm in the detached gunroom.
 
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I'm pretty much under a ban from cleaning guns in the house. I'll do it on a day off when the wife is at wirk
 
I heard somewhere that the sweat smell in Hoppes is from banana oil. You can buy the banana oil extract on eBay. I've wondered if it was added to other cleaners if they would smell like Hoppes, too.

Lately, I've been using a Lubriplate food grade oil on my guns. It's USDA approved for air compressors used in food productions faculties. It's so benign and odor free it's considered edible.

Yet, it's also designed for preserving machinery that's washed down daily with hot water and caustic chemicals. So it "clings" and it highly resistant to oxidation, even in wet environments. I think it's the perfect gun oil.
 
Kernel Crittenden said:
I heard somewhere that the sweat smell in Hoppes is from banana oil. You can buy the banana oil extract on eBay. I've wondered if it was added to other cleaners if they would smell like Hoppes, too.
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I think the original Hoppe's #9 contained both Amyl Acetate and nitrobenzene, and those provided the distinctive aroma. I don't know what the new H9 formulation contains.
 
Pre 29 said:
I was at the BAR of America in Truckee, Ca. with a very young cocktail waitress I was dating when I lived in Reno. She would order shots of different stuff and if she didn't like it she would pass it over to me and I would down it. Everything was good till she passed a shot of OUZO and I threw it back and thought I was gonna puke. That mess tastes like liquorice on steroids. That was an interesting night as I passed out and and she had to drive my Jeep home. I woke up as some headlights hit me in the face and I looked back to see a car going through the median to turn around which I knew was gonna be the POPO. Asked her if we were still in Cal. or had we made the Nevada state line and she didn't know. Back then in 1984 the cops in Nv. were much more forgiving than the ones in Cal. We were both pretty drunk but the Nv trooper had seen her in the show at the Hilton where we both worked and let us go with a warning. Man the things you do when you're young and dumb.
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I had a lady "friend" who liked Ouzo, would do shots of the stuff. Clear , anise, liquid fire...comes from Greece.
She was the only person I knew who could drink more than one shot. One was all I could take too. That stuff would make you dance on the table and then have to ask someone the next day if you got naked or not. We had some good parties back then!
I haven't thought of that foul, nasty tasting stuff in a long time!
Gary
 
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I've always used Hoppes and never a complaint from my wife. I always made sure not to do it when the house was not open. That's most days down here. I have a covered porch and a cool shop to do gun cleaning and such the other 11 months of the year.

I guess beer gas was higher on her list of obnoxious scents.

I just thought of this one,

I was cleaning some guns on the dining room table one day. A friend had stopped by. Needless to say he has to touch every thing in sight and makes me nervous as hell with his fidgeting.

Somehow the bottle of Hoppes cleaner got knocked over on the table and etched into the finish. I thought I was gonna die.

I managed to get the finish looking pretty good again with some old english and a few prayers but it still stunk like crazy in the house for a few days.

It turns out my friend had took a rag to it when I wasn't looking and threw it in the garbage can in the kitchen and that was the source of the odor.

Thank God my wife was in Germany at the time.
 
My lgs recommend this stuff that came in a white plastic bottle that they said was good at removing the copper in the barrel from jacketed rounds. I used it & the next time I opened the brush container to clean my gun the brush was pretty much dissolved. It smelled fine though.
 
In Greece ouzo is cut with water and it turns thin milky white. Don't help the taste of it none.
 
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You talk about STINK. Find a can of WWII-era G.I. bore cleaner. That stuff would puke a buzzard.

When I heard that Hoppes was going to change the formula of #9 years ago, I bought a lifetime supply - two huge bottles of the old stuff. A few drops behind the ears for aroma - Old Spice can't compete. Nostalgia in a bottle.

John
 
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