I thought I'd start a thread and ask about some general supplies that I need to see if there are things that are considered better or worse than others, and maybe find an online supplier link or two that would get me where I need to go. Here are some things I need.

1.) Shooter's glasses - suggestions here?
2.) Hearing protection - looking for something good that won't break the bank
3.) Gun cleaning supplies - I currently have a bottle of Hoppes 9 and a bottle of "Break Free" Lubricant so I'll need some brushes, rods and jags. I'm so far out of the loop at this point that I don't have a clue about what's good and what isn't. My Dad had taken a liking to the Hoppes spiral, scratchless brushes, but are they worth getting or were they considered a fad? Jags - I've see a lot of jags with the little point on top to keep the patch from slipping - is that a good thing? Dad's never had any like that, but then, most of his were bought well before his passing in 1997.

Also, is there a difference between brushes for handguns and rifles?

Regarding lubricant, Dad said that plain old non-detergent 40 weight motor oil worked about as good as anything. Is that a good way to go, or are there some new products that make 40 weight a thing of the past?

4.) Shooter's range box - can someone recommend a good one that's moderately priced?

Thanks in advance!

Well, Patrick, a guy could write a whole magazine article about each of those questions. And by Golly, I have!

Short versions:

1. Shooting glasses. Get glasses meant for shooting. They carry a MUCH higher impact rsistance standard than common sunglasses. Yellow lenses are a carryover from bullseye pistol shooting, and are great for black sights and black on white targets; but are horrible for daytime and clear weather wear. Get bronze, grey, tan or green lenses in as light a shade as you can wear without squinting. Too dark decreases your depth perception.

2. Hearing protection. Unless you can get custom-molded silicone plugs (about $50) then you'll be okay with foam plugs under good muffs. Look for liquid-seal muffs with a rating above NRR 23. Try to get NRR 29 if you can.

3. Cleaning supplies. The best rods are one-piece steel, whether coated or not. No joints and no aluminum. The better ones have two sets of ball bearings in the handle so the rod turns on push and pull. Those jags with the points are much better than anything else. I use brushes only rarely and get guns spanking clean with patch and jag with good solvents. Those "tornado" brushes don't get into the rifling very well, and bronze or nylon brushes are much preferred. Handgun brushes are usually shorter so the brush doesn't jam while it's still in the "window" of a revolver's frame, but that's the only difference. There are many solvent and oil products designed for guns. Get at least one of each and forget using machine oil, auto oil or any other oil. Your Hoppes and Break Free are fine, though.

4. A range box can be anything from a giant tool box to a big Rubbermaid tub like I use. A heavy-duty nylon gym bag works almost as well.

I'm sure there will be others with equally valid opinions on all these. Pick what sounds right to you.

RR has you covered. Go on MidwayUSA.com and Natchez shooting supplies and look around. You can get price ideas and look at what's available.

I thought I'd start a thread and ask about some general supplies that I need to see if there are things that are considered better or worse than others, and maybe find an online supplier link or two that would get me where I need to go. Here are some things I need.

1.) Shooter's glasses - suggestions here?
2.) Hearing protection - looking for something good that won't break the bank
3.) Gun cleaning supplies - I currently have a bottle of Hoppes 9 and a bottle of "Break Free" Lubricant so I'll need some brushes, rods and jags. I'm so far out of the loop at this point that I don't have a clue about what's good and what isn't. My Dad had taken a liking to the Hoppes spiral, scratchless brushes, but are they worth getting or were they considered a fad? Jags - I've see a lot of jags with the little point on top to keep the patch from slipping - is that a good thing? Dad's never had any like that, but then, most of his were bought well before his passing in 1997.

Also, is there a difference between brushes for handguns and rifles?

Regarding lubricant, Dad said that plain old non-detergent 40 weight motor oil worked about as good as anything. Is that a good way to go, or are there some new products that make 40 weight a thing of the past?

4.) Shooter's range box - can someone recommend a good one that's moderately priced?

Thanks in advance!

Glasses, any good pair of impact resistant specs that fit good. You'll have to experiment for that perfect pair but don't get carried away on hype and price, the pair I normally use are inexpensive, comfortable and exceed ANSI standard Z87.1 for impact resistance.

Hearing, I like and use Silencio plugs. The wife uses plugs and sometimes puts muffs over them, just a matter of preference and the noise level you are exposed to.

Cleaning, start with a bore guide. Get a one piece rod like Tipton or Dewey. I use carbon fiber mostly but whatever you use, keep the rod clean. Keep a rag in hand and wipe the rod after each pass down the barrel. I use both jags and brushes. I prefer stainless or plated jags because many cleaners will attack plain brass jags. I order brushes in bulk from J. Dewey, both phosphor bronze and nylon. As far as cleaning solution, there are many on the market but if I was going to keep it simple, Wipe-out foam, Sweets 7.62 and Hoppes #9 and Hoppes oil to coat when clean. For lube, Break Free CLP is as good as any.

My range boxes are tackle boxes and tool boxes. I have two sets of everything so the boxes stay ready to go. I hated trying to decide what to take from the home bench each time and you always forget something. All my optics gear and weather equipment is in foam lined hard cases. Other not so delicate stuff is in suitcases that can be foam lined to fit. My cleaning rods are in cases made from PVC pipe with screw in caps ala Home Depot...surprising what you can make from plumbing supplies.

Good stuff - thanks guys.

Unfortunately, when we did this sale of my Dad's stuff last month, it kind of came up in a hurry, partly because it was simply a fast turn-around from the time the decision (not mine!) was made to sell his guns and gun related things and the sale, and partly because I live in Maryland and the sale was in Nebraska, so I didn't have much time to figure out what I wanted of the guns, much less the cleaning and reloading supplies. At the time I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing and I'm really kicking myself that I didn't take any of the maintenance or reloading stuff.

Dad had everything neat and organized. He had plastic boxes with partitions for his cleaning brushes and jags with everything clearly marked for caliber and type and I wish I would have thought to snag those, but by the time I got there a day or so prior to the sale, nothing was in his shop anymore - it had all been moved to another building for safe storage prior to the sale and I can't remember even seeing those boxes.

Dad always liked Hoppes 9 solvent, and it has such a distinctive smell that I decided to buy a bottle myself, just because it reminds me of him.

In other good non-related news, my Heritage Tradition series safe was delivered today. I got the 30x72x28 model and it's amazing how quickly it's filling up. Supposedly in it's current configuration I have slots enough for 24 long guns - RIGHT! :D

Ok - keep it coming - I'll check out the sites suggested and see if I can find a one-stop shop for everything.

Thanks!

I've been using Mobil 1 synthetic ATF fluid to oil and seem to work as well as anything else. Even at $7.00 a quart its cheap. No cold weather where I live, so it might not work for you guys in the frrozen North. Otherwise, I can recommend Butch's Bore Shine and Sweet's 7.62 Solvent. Lots and lots of patches, sometimes a nylon brush, and very seldom a bronze brush.

Trick it sounds like the guys got you pointed in the right direction. The only thing I'd add is buy a product called Kroil. Midway and Brownell's both sell it and it's a great gun lube.

The only caution I'd have about Kroil is that it is a super-penetrant. Boy, is it ever! I swear, you could put a drop of it on your front sight and two days later, it'd ooze out of your buttpad. The cautions being that it might not be all that good for your wood stocks, and it might also eventually kill a primer if you had Kroil on or in a loaded gun.

Other than that, it is a superb product.

Your reason to buy Hoppe's is not only a very good one, but it strikes a harmonic chord in my heart, too. Yup, my Dad loved it. Maybe all our Dads did.

Speaking of penetrants, what is the general consensus of using WD-40? I remember my Dad telling me that some guys swear off of it where guns are concerned, but he always had a can available for various things. He even said that in a pinch and you were in a hurry, to wipe down a gun you could do a quick spritz with WD-40 and wipe that off, although he preferred to put a little oil from a can on a soft cotton rag and wipe his guns down that way instead.

WD-40 tends to gather dirt and dust and make a nasty grime of itself. I really like RemOil w/ Teflon, mostly because it comes in a 13oz can for about $5 (I've had this one for about 5 years now and its only about half empty).

For bore cleaning, I use Outers Foaming bore cleaner, there are several types on the market now, but this stuff is amazing. I used to use a whizz bang cleaner called Barnes CR-10, which is an excellent cleaner but it smells horrible and often took two to three attempts to get the bore clean. The foam works much faster, often only one session, and it doesn't smell at all, and it definetly gets into all the little crevices. It took a couple years to go through their smallest can, which runs about $5.

As far as shooting glasses, I have prescription glasses that are rated as safety glasses as well, and I can't stand ear muffs so I just buy the big container of foam ear plugs and they last quite a long time.

I've got a big box of the Aearo E.A.R. Classic disposable foam ear protectors. I'm also a drummer, and I also like to go hear live music (and I also play trumpet in a wedding band, etc) so I use ear plugs a lot just to save my ears from the constant heavy noise in those environments. For my kids though, I want to make sure that I have some good over the ear type of hearing protectors - it seems to me that it would be harder to use those improperly.

I'll have to look into the Outers foaming bore cleaner - it seems to get good reviews.

My GS was in the business in excess of 40 years so he had some stict no-nos oil in very small amounts inside of your weapon never on the outside as it trickles down & ruins stocks.All of his customers learned all about Trewax for blued shotguns,rifles and handguns & the wood stocks.It protected the metal from rust and any blood from game.He cleaned the oil from the outside of all weapons using acetone & or alcohol before using trewax.A coating w/o buffing reduces the glare from a shotgun or rifle barrel.All of my blued steel firearms are coated with trewax. I use Militec-1 in my barrels & handguns.I used to watch my GS use Sperm Whale oil when he lubed the internals of handguns ,shotguns & rifles cause it doesn't break down from heat and stays fluid in extremely low temperatures.Many decades ago sperm whale oil was the additive used in auto transmission fluid.

trickg,
Depending upon budget, MidwayUSA's range box cleaning kit is a good way to go. I have this and it's been very handy. You can get just the empty box and fill it in with specifically what you need if that's a better (cheaper!) route. See link. As Rocky mentioned, one-piece rods are best, but hard to bend them to fit your range box.:p Depends on how you operate. I like cleaning my guns at the range if a blizzard isn't going, and the sectional rods are handy in the range box. Otherwise, I have a few full-length rods in my basement for cleaning there. If shooting less than 22 caliber (17, 204), I think one-piece is the only option.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=135086&t=11082005

I think the foam ear plugs are sufficient for most shooting. I have gotten a pair of electronic muffs that are handy if doing a lot of shooting like trap or clays, where hearing normal conversation - but the sharp gunshots are suppressed - can be a plus.

Hoppes #9 - the best. But I'll admit I'm stuck in old familiar ways. I like the "normal" bristle bore brushes - copper/bronze to help scrape out the crud. Never used the spiral brushes; again, creature of habit, the std copper/bronze brushes have worked well for me for many years.

I haven't used shooting glasses as I wear eyeglasses.

WOW! That range box looks pretty cool - it might be a good way to go because I can easily foresee spending more than that if I nickel and dime separate components to get everything I need.

Thanks!

Shawn brought up something I forgot to say. You WILL need a jointed rod for the range or field. I have both a range box and a field box, and simply bought a couple of surplus military M-16 cleaning rods. They're super-tough, made of steel and cheap. They fit .22-cal but work just fine for larger if you include a few extra brushes or jags that fit the threads.

Rocky - you always seem to have great posts and suggestions - I have a little bit of experience using M-16 cleaning rods myself, so I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Given that my gun safe was delivered only yesterday, I'll probably hold off on making the purchase of the Tipton Range Box for a bit, but I'll pick up some of that other stuff that I can pick up here and there. Gotta keep the better half happy!

For no more guns than I have, I seem to have a pretty wide range of calibers to address: .22, .25, .30, .38, .44/.45, 8mm, 20 ga, 12 ga.

The guns that will likely get the most workout in the near future will be the .22, .38 (.357 mag) .44 Mag and .45 ACP, so that's a good place to start.

Just an old phardt who's been there, done that - and paid attention. But thanks.

Oh - something I forgot. I also need to pick up a few more .45 ACP magazines. My guess is that there are definitely different levels of quality on those, but like most things, there is also probably a balance somewhere between quality and price.

Any suggestions for those?

If you are talking about 1911 Mags, I really like the Chip McCormick mags. I've used several different brands, and these are the best that I've found for the majority of 1911s

I believe Midway has those C-M magazines on sale right now. I know they did a couple of days ago.

Yeah, the CMcC power mags are on sale during the month of march. I have gotten the "tactical" magazine by chip McCormick from cdnninvestments.com as well as CMcC shooting star mags from brownells and they were pretty much identical as far as I can tell. Brownells will have whatever you need in cleaning supplies. My favorite hearing protectors are my David Clark 10-A's. I use Dewey cleaning rods, mine are coated, the stainless are supposed to be pretty good too. I generally just put my rod in my hardside gun case when I go to the range, it saves me from needing an extra rod

Well, I finally pulled the trigger (heheh) on an order from Midway, and this is what I ended up with:

Hoppes #9 gun oil with weatherguard (already have Hoppes #9 Solvent)
2 pr Silencio Earmuffs - I got these because I have used them before, I like them, they work well, they are inexpensive, and they are both large enough for an adult yet will adjust small enough for a kid
Tipton 8 pc Bore brush boxed set
Tipton 12 pc boxed jag set
Hoppes 1-piece stainless universal pistol cleaning rod
Hoppes 3-piece brass rifle cleaning rod
Hoppes bore light
2 Chip McCormick Shooting Star 8-round .45 ACP magazines - they were fairly inexpensive and reviewed very well, even against some that were much more expensive
2 Bore Stole pistol gun "cases" for 4" barrel - they are little more than velcro closed fleece bags - just something to use for a range back to protect them
1 Bore Stole pistol gun case for 6" barrel - this is for my Model 29 S&W
3 Pack Otis gun cleaning brushes.
25 Pack Caldwell paper targets - 4" bullseyes
Southern Bloomer cleaning patches - 130 pack (x2) - if I don't like these, I'll figure something else out.

I was going to get the Tipton Range box, but this allowed me to tailor my choices a little bit and I got more of what I needed plus a couple of other things that the Tipton box didn't include for about the same cost.

One thing I was disappointed in though - Midway seems to be out of stock and on backorder for a lot of stuff, and a lot of the things that I would have otherwise chosen. It took me a while to put together an order because I was trying to place an order that was comprised of only available items. Is this a standard problem with Midway?

The good news is that for many of the things I ordered, they are a one-time kind of order so I won't have to replace those things for a long time, if ever.

Thanks for all of the advice - if someone sees a gap in my list and there is something else that I should have gotten, let me know and I'll get it added in.

I thought I'd add something regarding the rifle cleaning rod - I wasn't too hip on getting a 3-piece rod and would have much preferred a 1-piece rod, but my order is already about $140 including shipping, and all of the one-piece rods appear to be pretty costly, so in deference to the bottom line and how my wife would feel about it, not to mention that I'll probably be doing more handgun shooting than anything else, I figured that the 3-piece rod would be fine for now.

If your dad likes Hoppe's #9 stay with it. The memories will be well worth it. I keep a silicone impregnated cloth to wipe down my firearms after handling them and G96 to inhibit rust, but the truth is I like the smell of G96. :D So far (knock on wood) I have never had a speck of rust show up on any thing after I got it, I did buy a pistol that had rust on it and G96 stopped that outbreak too. I don't think WD40 is very highly thought of any more because it dries out and leaves a residue. I like tackle boxes for range boxes because some of them have lots of little cubby holes. For shotguns I use a Hoppes bore snake.
As for hearing protection, look at the NRR, that is the noise reduction rating. I used to work in the safety dept. of a major oil and gas drilling contractor and I did a little looking. The highest I found of in the ear protection was NRR33, they are made by Howard Leight model max 30, they come in two sizes that I know of, you pick the one that is most comfortable, but that has been a few years. I still use them and they work fine, the ones I use are throwaways. Another little tip I was given by an old gunsmith was to store them muzzle down for a few days after cleaning them to let any excess fluids drain away from the wood of the stock and the action. You can also find lots of useful little containers that hold other things like snuff, or mints.

Here are the earplugs I use:

LINK (http://www.coopersafety.com/item/100336/Howard-Leight-Max-Corded-Earplugs.aspx)

For shooting glasses, I now use the ones with interchangeable lenses made by Randolph Ranger www.randolphusa.com (http://www.randolphusa.com). They make both prescription and non-prescription lenses in a variety of colors. A newer company, recommended by some friends, Post 4 Optics www.post4optics.com (http://www.post4optics.com) produces similar equipment. Decot HY-WYD Sport Glasses, Inc www.sportglasses.com (http://www.sportglasses.com) was the originator of this type of system and I've used their products satisfactorily in the past.

For trap and skeet, I use Game Ear digital ear plugs that fits behind the ear with custom molded ear plugs. They are less expensive than the ESP or EAR electronic plugs that Ive used in the past and MUCH less than hearing aids (so I wear one in my weak ear for every day use). They have the advantage over solid plugs in that they allow the range officer or referee to be clearly heard while protecting the ear from the gunshot noise. For rifle or pistol shooting I wear a pair of non-amplified muffs over them.

Thanks for the updates fellas!

Things are going pretty well, but I think that I might take my friend's advice and use CLP with a bore snake in the future rather than the traditional solvent, brushes, jags and patches. It just seems that would be a quicker, more efficient and probably just as effective way to clean out the bore of the guns I shoot.

I'm also looking for range box, but I think I found one that I like and it will probably be the next thing I order.

I have always used foam plugs under earmuffs and they work fine for me. I may get something more advanced to make sure my hearing doesn't suffer later in life though.

I have always used foam plugs under earmuffs and they work fine for me. I may get something more advanced to make sure my hearing doesn't suffer later in life though.
I was thinking of doing that as well - the Silencio muffs I bought just don't quite seem to be enough.

I had some custom silicone ear plugs made up for me about 10 years ago and they are great except I gained about 10 pounds, which evidently changed my ear shape and now the plugs don't fit very well. Just something to remember if you shell out $50+ for them.

as far as solvents and gun oil go, i use shooter's choice and slip 2000. they work great. seems like there are plenty of other good choices here though. as far as a box, i bought a toolbox that i keep my ammo and cleaning supplies in. the drop in tray works great for holding cleaning supplies and keeps leaks from getting to your ammo. there is plenty of room under the tray for ammo ( i think i have about 800 rounds in mine of assorted rounds of 12,16,.30-06, and .22

Montana Xtreme bore solvent, the best I've ever used, and Birchwood Casey synthetic gun oil.
I'll often wet my bore with Kroil and let it stand overnight then clean as usual the next day, it seemes to make the fouling easier to remove.