Rusty’s Rags produces a range of cleaning and care kits for pistols, long guns and knives that use sheepskin and a silicone oil to protect your gun’s finish. Recently the company introduced several new kits specially designed for the law enforcement and military communities. The good folks at Rusty’s Rags kindly sent me one of their 9mm pistol kits to test.
Rusty’s Rags claim that their kits can leave a “showroom shine” on your guns without making them feel wet of greasy. The last part is important. Anyone can slop oil onto a surface to give it a nice shine – heck, Armor All made a business of it with car tires. But the real key is obtaining the pleasing shine without the wetness.
To test the kit out, I cleaned four handguns with markedly different finishes. The test guns:
- Glock 19 (black finish, Tenifer treatment)
- Smith & Wesson M&P (black finish, Melonite treatment)
- Smith & Wesson Model 10 (blued)
- Kahr CW9 (matte stainless finish)
Each of these handguns offers a different surface finish, and I wondered if the Rusty’s Rags kits would work better on some than on others. Here’s what I found…
Glock 19
I’ve always felt that the Glock finish is about performance not looks. Recent production guns look better than the slide on my Gen 2 Glock 19, but nary a bit of rust has ever appeared on my gun. However, the finish on my pistol is dull and becoming more gray than black.
I applied the silicone gun oil from the sheepskin pad, and the slide instantly took on a rich, black color: not like I had painted the gun, rather like I had rolled back the years to get it closer to the original finish. Of course, I can do the same with virtually any oil, but the Rusty’s Rags kit was a little different.
First, the sheepskin pad applied the oil evenly without any need to wipe of excess oil. Secondly, the oil did not leave a greasy or slippery residue behind – just the rich color and a hint of lubrication on the slide’s surface.
Lastly, after two days, the color had barely faded from the slide. I’ve found that the slide starts to revert to a grayish color within minutes of being wiped down with a standard gun oil. Not so with the Rusty’s Rag silicone oil. The color remained almost as dark as when I had applied it, and there were not any wet spots of oil on the slide.
The treatment side of the Merino sheepskin pad included in the Rusty’s Rags pistol cleaning kit.
S&W M&P
The M&P line of handguns from Smith & Wesson have a black finish and Melonite treatment. In my experience, I have found the finish to be very durable, more aesthetically pleasing than the finish on the Glock pistols.
The black finish on my M&P 9 is still dark and smooth to the touch. Wiping it down with the oil-impregnated sheepskin pad gave it a slightly richer shine without leaving behind any wet spots. Touching the slide, I could feel the silicone oil on the surface, but it was not a “slick” or “wet” feel. I worked the slide through several magazine change drills, and I did not find the oil affected gripping the slide.
After a few days, the extra luster from the Rusty’s Rags oil seemed to have faded, but I could feel the oil still on the surface.
S&W Model 10
I have a pre-lock Model 10 HB (heavy barrel) that I purchased new almost two decades ago. It has a beautiful blue finish that is marred only by my ineptitude in cleaning in the early days and some minor holster wear.
Generally, I wipe this revolver down with a Fire Marshall Bill approved™ oily rag and it keeps a bright shine until the next time I pull it out of the safe. However, the gun oil is very slick on the Model 10’s finish.
Wiping down the revolver with the Rusty’s Rags sheepskin pad gave the gun a beautiful shine equal to the standard oil treatment. However, the silicone gun oil did not leave the gun feeling wet. After more than a week in the safe, the model 10 has the same bright shine that it did when I first applied the treatment.
Kahr CW9
The CW9 is a compact 9mm from Kahr’s budget line. It features a polymer frame and a satin-stainless finish on the slide. I’ve been carrying this gun a lot lately, and the finish has held up very well despite constant and repeated exposure to high humidity, rain and sweat.
Applying the silicone gun oil from Rusty’s Rags to the slide did not give it any different of a look. Of course, neither does regular gun oil. However, I could feel the oil on the surface, so I knew it had been applied.
As with the other guns, there were no pools of oil left behind, and the slide was still very easy to grasp and work. After several days of wear, the surface of the slide was unchanged visibly, but I could definitely feel that the oil had been mostly worn off. Reapplication of the Rusty’s oil returned things to how they had been.
Rusty’s Rags LE/Mil Kit Details
- only 2.4 ounces for the entire kit
- comes in a resealable, heavy weight plastic bag
- kit parts are stored in individual bags
- includes one-piece bore brush
- 2”x5” Merino sheepskin pad treated with silicone gun oil
- 6” dowel tipped with sheepskin for bore cleaning
- 8”x8” finishing cloth
- 3 mL bottle of additional silicone gun oil
- 30-day money back guarantee
- MSRP $24.95
- 25% discount to Blue Crew members
Bottom Line
The Rusty’s Rags pistol care kit is a high quality product that offers the essentials of keeping your duty pistol clean. It is a lightweight kit that stores nicely in a small plastic pouch, which would allow you to keep this at the station in even the most cramped of lockers.
The thing that sets the Rusty’s Rags kit apart from the others is the use of the Merino sheepskin pad to apply the silicone gun oil. I found the silicone gun oil did an excellent job of making blued and black guns look great, while providing protection for the finish of all guns. The sheepskin pad is a great way to apply the oil, and the sheepskin tipped dowel makes getting into a gun’s tight spots much easier.
I really like the kit and will be testing the oil on my SIG P226 at work. I’ve found the SIG tends to rust quickly in the Florida humidity, so I am hoping the Rusty’s Rags silicone oil will help arrest that process.
Price of the LE/Military pistol kit is $24.95, which I think is a very fair price. When you throw in the 25% discount for Blue Crew members, the Rusty’s Rags LE Pistol Care Kit drops down to less than $19, which is a definite steal.