Guns are dirty, filthy objects. Physically speaking, that is — I’m not making a moral judgement here. And after a long day on the range, there’s nothing better than sitting down and thoroughly scrubbing your shootin’ irons until they’re in optimal working condition again. Just about everyone and their brother makes a cleaning product these days, and one of the newer entries into the market is Italian Gun Grease. They sent me a test kit so I can find out for myself if it works as advertised . . .
The Italian Gun Grease (hereafter referred to as IGG) guys offer a number of solvents and lubricants, from a copper solvent to a carbon solvent and several types of CLP. But for the purposes of this review we’ll be talking about the two most people will care about: the carbon solvent and the lube.
First up is the carbon solvent, and to give it a real test I ran this Miltac Alpha series AR-15 (review coming later this week) for about 500 rounds without any lube or prep whatsoever. Normally I’ll slather the bolt in FireClean before any hard use, but in this case I didn’t do a single thing to prep the surfaces. As a result they were completely covered in caked-on carbon, as the opening picture can attest. But after about 30 seconds with the carbon solvent…
For lack of a better word, the carbon melted straight off the bolt. With normal CLP it would have taken a few minutes of effort with a wire brush to get that effect, but all I needed with the IGG was a little bit of the solution on a soft cloth and I was back down to the nickel boron coating in no time flat.
After all of the crap carbon is off your bolt, it’s time to lube it up so the gun functions. IGG sent along a whole slew of lubricants, from something resembling normal CLP to a syringe full of a more viscous greasy substance. Which one is better depends on specifically what you’re looking to lube, but after using both in my guns for a few weeks I can confirm that they work and they keep the gun nicely lubed. Especially the “tactical”lubricant did a great job of leaving a thin enough layer of lube to keep the gun running but not gather much dirt and dust.
Personally, I don’t see any reason not to use their stuff. It’s in the same price range as the rest of the lubricant and cleaning products out there, and does a darn good job. And while the marketing seems to be making fun of my greasy haired ancestors, I can live with that.
Italian Gun Grease
Price:Â $29.95 for the Performance Pack
Website: Italian Gun Grease
Ratings (out of five stars):
Ease of Use * * * * *
Simple to use, instructions right on the bottle, and so effective that you don’t need to use much.
Utility * * * * *
It works, and it works well.
Overall * * * * *
Is it better than good ol’ Brake Free CLP? Damned if I know. But it worked fine in my guns and kept them running even in the Texas dirt and dust.
My HK MR556’s bolt never gets that dirty. Just sayin
Italian gun grease. Let me guess, its designed to make the gun easier to drop before retreating?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
No, it’s so you wipe it right out of a German gun and add it to an American one…
Man, open that poodle shooter and all them fiddly bits puke out.
So, what, it’s made from olive oil?
Aww sh*t, I ordered the wrong one:
http://www.amazon.com/GUN-OIL-LUBRICANT-H20-OZ-PUMP/dp/B002K4LM4M
Nah Andrew, you ordered the right one – for your ‘fun’ gun.
This is my weapon, this is my gun. . .
Funny as he’ll.
I’m an Otis man…that stuff is amazing and does everything I want/need it to do.
I even put a little bit in my hair every morning 🙂
I like Otis as well, but it takes awhile for Ultrabore 085 to get carbon off of an AR-15 bolt / BCG.
I test all mine in as cold as I can stand. Had too many misfires in sub zero temps which are too common up here.
The polar vortex was great for letting us answer the question “will your gun lube work in very cold weather?” I had to drive 40 minutes away to find out if my lubriplate products were still OK at 3 degrees. As far as I could determine, they were.
Great post: Just what I need, a zillion more clean and lube products to try.
Soooo… If you put too much of this on a bolt, and then somehow manage to break it… would that make it an “oily bo-hunk?”
That’s a mixed insult. A bohunk (or bohock) is a Czech or a slav (i.e, from Bohemia). And the Czechs use butter, not olive oil. Ask me how I know. The use of “oily” as a racial insult is generally confined to those of Mediterranean extraction (Italians and Greeks, e.g.)
So, answer is no. Thanks for humoring me!
I don’t think he’s seen 16 candles.
Except the Greeks use tears to lube their guns.
Or lard.
This is racist! My dego friends will be terribly offended!
Interesting. I was going to correct your spelling, but then I looked it up and found that your spelling is purt’ near as common as the one I’m familiar with.
But I believe it is spelled with a capital D, not lower case d.
I always knew it with an ‘a’ where he has an ‘e.’
But does it have the beguiling scent of Hoppe’s?
Ah, fond memories and mental fog all in one.
That subtle yet manly scent of Hoppe’s #9 drives the ladies wild!
They make a car air freshener with Hoppe’s smell on it. I may or may not own that.
It sure drives my wife wild when I clean my guns in the living room.
The question that I would have is” how does it compare to Frog Lube”?? Those of you that have not tried it are missing out, all of my guns work like a dream!!
HEY! That’s MY shtick! When the FL reps finally come by TTAG, that endorsement check is coming to me!
IGG owes a lot of people money. You should here the whole story and watch this video. http://Www.ubcus.com/mss IGG’s owner is a self proclaimed war hero who never left the guard tower or the wire. I invested in his business and gave him my time, he used me and screwed me over. After some digging I found I wasn’t the only one.
I used the IGG carbon eliminator on a custom pistol and it corroded the bore, frame, and cylinder when I called and spoke to Aron he was talking lawyers and insurance companies not responsibility for the damage that product caused when I used it according to directions. one of a kind revolver built as a favor by founding member of the pistol smith guild!…….Sounds like you know the truth.
Check out http://www.modernspartansystems.com then ask yourself ” why do the two companies seem alike? Short answer one guy screwed the other guy and kept the name Italian Gun Grease and the other guy kept the formula rights and the chemist. so thats is some real truth. If you think carbon eliminator is decent you should try the real formula not the watered down version from IGG . Also if you like the grease go get yourself a tube of ultra lube food grade grease for the same price. Want more info email me at [email protected] I got a whole file of the investigation that I did. Cease and desist letters, ECT. Lots of fun stuff.
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