Originally Posted by Gebo
I don't have experience in this area. I have an assortment of "all" the gun cleaners. LOL.
You can't believe most of what the internet says, YouTube says, etc.
I just started getting into guns and I want to take care of them the best I can.
Choosing a gun "cleaner-protectant" is harder than choosing an oil for our cars.
Here's some advice
Anything that cleans oil/grease ( basically carbon products) will clean a gun adequately( provided it doesn't react with a metal). I have used Dawn and purple stuff for degreasing prior to refinishing.
Mineral spirits, brake clean and 2 thousand others all work well on cleaning. Just a matter of how much you clean and want to spend.
Any oil will lubricate and protect adequately provided it doesn't emulsify with water easily or change with temperatures creating jamming up to and including 3 in 1or baby oil. I use straight 30.
Only surfaces that rub significantly
might benefit with a grease over oil ( guns are textbook loose tolerance and boundary requirement)
Your "best" cleaner/protectant is to wipe down after handling and store in a low humidity area and do a
functional clean after each use.
( guns don't really have to be fully cleaned after each use to function properly in most cases but that usage will blow or rub off the thin oil coat inviting corrosion)
Don't store where gravity may pull oil onto the furniture