There are a lot of cleaning kits and I know in the past couple of years that my coworkers and I have gone through dozens of different cleaning kits to review for the public.
It feels like I’ve broken almost every gun cleaning kit I’ve owned in the first year. I’ve used Tipton gun cleaning tools for about 3 years now and all of my cleaning tools are still in good condition.
For today’s blog, I’m going to explain how you can find the best gun cleaning kit for your pistols, including a 1911, Glock (9mm, .40 S&W, and a .45 ACP, revolver, and even a .22LR pistol.
I think it goes without saying, you can spend $200 and get every tool you can think of (even if you don’t need them), but I’m all about spending as little money as possible for the highest quality possible.
The compact pistol cleaning kit comes in a compact carrying case with enough tools to get all of your cleaning done. To be more specific, I use this cleaning kit on my Glock 19, Glock 43x, Springfield 1911 Ronin, and my Walther PPS M2.
There are other tools that I use for my pistols in conjunction with this kit, but a lot of it’s a personal preference. Either way, this is the only kit you’ll need to properly clean your pistols if you’re not wanting to spend more money.
For under $27 with 2-day shipping, this price can’t be beaten anywhere else online.
What’s Included in the Tipton Compact Cleaning Kit?
Gun cleaning is one of those things like fingerprints, everybody is different and nobody looks the same. It’s like the saying goes, “there are many ways to skin a cat“, even though I have no idea why anybody would want to skin a cat, the point holds true with gun cleaning. We may all clean our guns differently, but everyone needs a good bore solvent.
Right now, I’m using an awesome heavy-duty solvent from Lucas Oil that works on every one of my barrels and so far hasn’t ruined any of my polymer or wood grips.
Why Use a Bore Solvent?
When I was 21 and learning to shoot all the different weapon systems in the military, I never knew how awesome a solvent could be because we only used CLP on our guns. I remember scraping, brushing, wiping, and pushing cotton cleaning patches through countless barrels.
As a .50 gunner, I would spend at least 2-3 hours a day cleaning my gun and keeping it running with CLP and our cleaning tools. It wasn’t until I was at a range with a friend who was using a bore solvent to clean his pistols that I learned how much easier and better it was to use a solvent over an oil.
A bore solvent, like the Lucas Oil Extreme Bore Solvent listed above, does all the hard work so you don’t have to use a bore brush or cleaning pick more than once to finish off the hard spots in your action or mag well. A good bore solvent will remove copper, powder residue, carbon, and any oil from the discharge without having to scrub for hours.
If you’re pressed on time, but always want to make sure your guns are clean and ready for storage, use a bore solvent and let the chemicals do the work for you.
Gun cleaning swabs are one of the most overlooked tools in your cleaning kit if you use a bore solvent. For example, I actually use my power swabs when cleaning my mag well and action assembly.
Using a bore solvent with the power swabs is good enough to get any pistol clean enough for future use and storage and you can get 175 swabs for a 9mm or .38 Special for under $7.00.
The best way I’ve found to use my Tipton Power Swabs is to spray my solvent on my gun and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Once 5 minutes is up, I’ll run my Tipton 9mm Nope Rope through my barrel to remove all carbon and copper fouling.
Once that’s done, I use my cleaning swabs to wipe out the barrel and get whatever is left in the barrel, and work my way through the mag well and action assembly. With the nope rope, solvent, and cleaning swabs, I can get my gun as clean in 20 minutes as most would with an hour of scraping and brushing with bronze or nylon.
I prefer to use my power swabs to save myself from spilling CLP around my workbench. My favorite characteristic is the ability to be more precise in hard-to-reach places while lubricating my gun and slide for future use and storage.
Ever since companies started making a version of the bore snake, it’s changed the way I clean all of my guns. The 1st mistake I made when I bought my first bore snake about 7-8 years ago was thinking that all bor snakes are the same so it doesn’t matter which one I choose.
First, you need to make sure you get the correct size for your barrel. Second, the type of fabric used in the bore snake needs to withstand the heavy-duty chemicals from CLP gun oil and bore solvents.
My first couple bore snakes degraded within the first 3 months of heavy use on my 9mm due to the carbon, copper, grime, and powder residue becoming stuck inside the bore snake and picking the fibers.
Once your bore snake is picked from carbon and copper particles, the solvent will finish the bore snake off until it’s rendered useless.
My favorite bore snake is called the Tipton Nope Rope and I don’t mean the common definition of an actual snake. The Tipton Nope Rope is exceptionally practical and easy to use with both ends of the rope connected by screwing one into the other after your rope is pushed through the barrel.
This creates a continuous loop that allows me to secure my gun and just pull the rope a few times as it cycles through the barrel, cleaning the grime and carbon away.
Each Nope Rope from Tipton comes with a carrying case that I use for storage and it’s compact enough to fit in my pockets or my range bag without taking anything away from storage space.
When people ask me which tools I use the most to clean my guns, I always answer with the Nope Rope because of its effectiveness, price point, and practicality.
There are many different options as far as a gun vise, but I only have one that I use for all of my rifles, pistols, and shotguns. I highly recommend the Standing Ultra Gun Vise for any gun owner who doesn’t have a workbench or would like to be portable and have a universal gun vise.
The Standing Ultra Gun Vise sits just below waist level for me at 35" high, but a bit lower for people above 6′ tall. The Standing Ultra Gun Vise is completely universal with 2 non-marring clamps that will secure any gun to the stand without any extra equipment.
You can rest easy knowing that your guns will not be marred or gouged if you tighten the clamps down for optimal security with cleaning or minor gunsmithing.
If you’re keeping count on how much money a perfect pistol cleaning kit will cost you, it’s right around $45 for everything you’d need except for the gun vise. I don’t know many companies that you’ll find a universal cleaning kit for under $60 and have all of the tools be made from high-quality materials.
I haven’t had any issues with any of my Tipton cleaning tools and highly recommend building your own kit with a company that most gun owners I know trust wholeheartedly.
If you’re interested in any other cleaning tools, we have some great blogs for you to read, including Top 7 Gun Cleaning Tools From Tipton. Good luck with your gun maintenance and if you have any questions send a comment below and we’ll be glad to answer every question we can.
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