The first time I heard of FIREClean it was pitched to me as a “carbon repellant.” Now I know a lot of people are as skeptical as I am hearing terms like that thrown around when talking about a new product. I really didn’t take this seriously until I started using it on a regular basis.

Thus far, I have tested FIREClean on handguns and left ARs out of the picture since I feel at this point it may deserve a little more attention and this is more of a partial review. I used FIREClean on two handguns for this article and am using it on a few rifles for another post you will see on the site in the future. FIREClean has been used on my Taurus 1911 chambered in 9mm as well as my Ruger 22/45 Lite and we have a pretty high round count with and without FIREClean to back up our findings.

I’ll start with the Ruger 22/45 Lite. 22s are the dirtiest guns you can try anything on and really, I wasn’t expecting to find a huge difference. What we found was pretty amazing. I shot 2,247 rounds of 22 using FIREClean without cleaning my Ruger. Prior to applying FIREClean I put 640 rounds through my Ruger with a different brand name lubricant that I had been using since my introduction to firearms. In short, we were able to shoot 1,607 rounds more than the other lubricant without malfunctions.

The real kicker is that when the handgun did start malfunctioning and I took it apart, I found that the lower receiver (which had no FIREClean applied to it) was so gummed up with carbon and crud that even the magazine release would no longer function. After putting 2,247 rounds through it, the bolt was clean, the whole upper receiver looked like I had put about 100 rounds through it at best, and, better yet, it wiped clean really easily. If you have ever dirtied up a 22 before you can appreciate the gravity of these statements as they are normally my least favorite weapon to clean.

The second handgun I tested was a Taurus 1911 chambered in 9mm. I have put about 1000 rounds through this gun without a malfunction and to be honest, I couldn’t afford to find out where the breaking point was for this review. When I took the 1911 apart it had much more signs of use than the Ruger. The thing to keep in mind is that 1911s (especially a Taurus) are not known for tight tolerances and perfectly fit parts so they are more prone to getting dirty fast. All that being said, the Taurus still looked nowhere near gunked up enough for the 1000 round count and continues to fire and not show major signs of wear (marring on the metal or slide wear) or any carbon build up.

In conclusion, snake oil is a real thing and the guys at FIREClean have perfected the recipe. Check them out and pick up a bottle. You really can enjoy shooting more and cleaning less with this product. Another thing to note is that I am testing this on four guns and have cleaned all four twice and conditioned them with FIREClean and still have half of the bottle left so this stuff goes a long way! I would not hesitate to recommend this product to anyone as a replacement for anything I have tried before.

You can go pick a bottle up at the FIREClean Store!

Pros

  • Makes cleaning easy
  • High round count before needing to be cleaned
    • In one instance we increased round count between cleanings by 351%
  • A little goes a long way for cleaning and lubrication
  • No odor… may be a con for people that like smelling toxic cleaners but I prefer to avoid the feeling of brain cells dying while cleaning guns

Cons

  • none