Solvent losing effectiveness over time

[Capt. Oblivious]

I have a lot of bore cleaning chemicals and solvents and some of which I’ve had more than 10 years just sitting in the bottles. Do some bore chemicals/solvents degrade and lose effectiveness over a period of years? For instance is my Montana Extreme Copper Killer going to be less effective than when I bought it 10 years ago? What have you guys found?

I sure hope the bore cleaning solvents do not degrade and become less effective with time because I have thousands of dollars worth of bore cleaning solvents, abrasive bore cleaners, anti corrosive oils, etc.

Thank you.

Interesting, I looked at a bot of Montana Copper Killer that I have had for 10 years and wonderd if it would go “bad”, it still smells the same.

 

[cmysix]

YES! Solvents evaporate over time every time you open the container, Don't buy the large economy size, buy small and use it quickly

 

[JBT47]

Seems like all these solvents may have degraded. Kinda makes me sick. I used a lot of solvent and went through a large amount of cleaning products in general prior to Covid. Before 2020 I had my own 1,000 yd range and shot 3-4 times per week in addition to shooting matches. I needed all these cleaning products because I shot a lot of rounds weekly. I clean after every range session even if I shot just a couple through any particular rifle. So back then that was a lot of shooting and cleaning afterwards.

Fast forward from Covid until now, I have not shot nearly as much. Maybe once a month or less so I rarely needed to clean barrels. I still have not gotten back to frequent shooting that I enjoyed for so long. I wouldn’t have all these cleaning products if I still shot as much volume as I once did. Hopefully I can start abooting again soon. I’ll use my cleaning supplies/solvents and see whether they still work or have gone inert due to sitting for an extended time.

 

[Brians356]

I’ll use my cleaning supplies/solvents and see whether they still work or have gone inert due to sitting for an extended time.

They're never going to go "inert", i.e. the cleaning properties of, say, plain water. Keep using up what you have until you find something is no longer working w/ reasonable elbow grease applied.
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