I was given a couple of bottles of Rand CLP to test by Rand Brands. Since I’ve already tested a couple of other CLPs that didn’t work as well as I wanted them to, this was the next step. We all have our favorite cleaners and gun oils, but does one work better than the other?
In the past, I’ve always used Breakfree CLP and it’s worked pretty well. Honestly, I stuck with it after being issued it in the military for 10 years and then having it readily available while I was a contractor for years. Breakfree is nothing special, it just worked.
So I started trying other stuff to see if it worked better: First up was Froglube (you can see my Froglube Review and Rust Test here). Froglube seems to be an amazing preservative. It worked better than Breakfree by far. But then I tried using it as a lubricant and cleaner and had less than stellar performance. A lot of people like it and gave me advice on it’s proper use. None of their advice was on the bottle and it seemed like too much work. If I wanted a lot of work, I’d use three different chemicals for cleaning, lubricating, and preserving my firearms. I want a one-bottle solution.
Next, I tried FireClean. As a lubricant the stuff was amazing! But the rest wasn’t that great. As a preservative, it didn’t come close to what FrogLube did (test here). And as a cleaner it was less than adequate. I had to use way too much elbow grease to get the carbon off my handguns (see the complete FireClean Gun Oil Review here). So I moved on.
I was really excited when Rand sent me some CLP to test. I broke down my M&P to start the test. I stripped all the oil off of it by using Gun Scrubber, which I think is just Break Cleaner with a different name. Gun Scrubber strips all the liquid from metal making it bone dry. Lubing and preserving your firearm after that is a lot of work. It is abusing your gun under normal circumstances. But I did it to make sure there was nothing else on the gun.
I used 5 drops of Rand CLP to take care of my gun: 1 drop on each slide rail, 1 on the sear, 1 on the front of the barrel, and 1 on a patch to rub on the outside of the gun. I put it back together and then carried it and fired it for the next 6 months. During that time I wore it almost daily or had it with me in my man bag. It went through spring and summer (the worst time of year for a gun here in Texas). It’s humid, hot, and the dust on the ground is dry. I fired 1,238 rounds through the gun during the test. Most of that is the cheapest ammo I can find, which includes Wolf, Monarch, and Tulammo, with a little Winchester White Box and Federal range ammo thrown in just because it’s what I had on hand. I had one failure to fire during that time and that looked like a light hammer strike. But after shooting a couple hundred more rounds and then cleaning the gun, it was a bad round.
The gun was rather nasty looking inside. It actually looked like pocket lint inside the gun but the gun was still running. It didn’t feel like the slide was slowing down yet and I probably could have gone further in the test in round count, but it’s my every-day-carry gun and I don’t need to torture it too much.
As a lubricant the Rand CLP worked fine. Nothing outstanding, just worked without any issues or problems.
As a cleaner it worked great. The Rand worked better than Breakfree or Froglube. It may become my preferred cleaner from now on. The stuff isn’t that expensive so I’ll keep using it.
Next up, I’ll be putting Rand CLP on a piece of steel in the backyard and watering it to see how well it does as a preservative. I’ll let you know how that turns out and if I continue to use it. Right now, Rand is the CLP in my range bag and cleaning kit, and is the CLP I used to lube my defensive rifle, shotgun, and handgun with.
Stay Safe,
Ben
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Been using Rand CLP for years never had any issues, my firearms stays lubricated were most lubricants dry off. Rand CLP contains Boron which helps with heat build up. As to prevent rust rather use a product like CorrosionX. Overall been satisfied with Rand CLP.
I too have been using Breakfree. As you said ‘it just works’, which is a rather good reason actually. I started out with Rem Oil as it was cheap and I didn’t know better, not necessarily a bad product, but after a friend put me onto BF CLP I was amazed at the difference in smoothness of the slide when chambering a round.
When I’m buying CLP again I’ll give Rand a go.
Cool Richard. I hope it works for you, it’s been working great for me and I like how it doesn’t smell like BreakFree. That way my wife doesn’t bug me about cleaning.
Rand CLP very good product and non-toxic, firearms continue to fire and still be lubricated were most other oils dry off. Rand CLP is thicker then most.