I can't believe this post--everyone agrees!
Agree with most everything here too---I have a saying that if you get 100 shooters together, you'll get 101 ways to clean a gun!
My 2 cents;
Yep--best way to preserve a gun is to shoot it
Keep it clean and lightly oil it afterwards
To remove rust I'd been using 0000 steel wool (going as lightly as possible) and WD-40 (for external cleaning only--I don't use it on the internals or for regular lubrication or protection) Seems to work better than Hoppes for rust removal with the wool) I switched to bronze wool a few years ago as others say (also from West Marine) just because.
I also go over the bluing with Simi-Chrome by Happich--gets rust out of the blue you can't see--you can google it or most good motorcycle shops carry it as a chrome cleaner. Using it for decades and no harm yet.
Final treatment is either a light coat of Rem Oil or Eezox or Flitz polish depending on how long I'll store it. Have also used Boston furniture wax too. Still playing around here, after all these decades.
Slumlords comments --he's talking about Big Frontier 45 Metal Cleaner--web site is "
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) stainless steel wool (which is softer than regular steel wool I use it mostly for deleading a dark bore, but have used it on the externals of a gun that couldn't be hurt much more in some areas, and it did no harm. The Wal-Mart equivalent is a "Choreboy" scouring pad in the housewares dept. Never used it, but some members of my pistol club do and say it's OK
Wood--my go to for cleaning has been just plain alcohol and 0000 steel wool. Works great and dries very quickly (as in minutes) so no need for extensive drying.
IF the stock is really stained or oil-soaked, then I go to another marine product--Teak wood cleaner, also from West Marine, and then use alcohol again. Teak cleaners usually have a little oxalic acid in them and the alcohol gets the last of it ou