doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com ...and a Hoppe New Year

Took the wife to an enormous antique mall in Denver today for a little last minute shopping and I'm the one who made the "find."

"A necessity for every Officer of the Law, Messenger, or Guard."

Someone older than me have any idea of the vintage? Copyright on the bottle is 1937.

full?

About 1/3

Perfume! Use it sparingly to make it last.

Nice find....How many years you think they used that same bottle ?

Armadillo antique mall?

Great Find!!

how old is hoppes?

The Brass Armadillo indeed.

What I�ve found is that Frank August Hoppe created it in 1903.

I�m in my 70�s and have seen it my whole life and still use it. This particular bottle has a perfect label all the way around and, although used, the owner was clearly neat. No stains on the label.

Also, Frank must have had knock-off competition:

�None genuine without this signature.�

Anyone have an idea about the vintage of this particular bottle?

Best suggestion is to send Hope an email with a couple pictures. Bet they could answer.

I�ve used Hoppes since the early fifties. Nothing could make me change!

Their contact info:

https://www.hoppes.com/hoppes-support/ho-contact-us.html

The old stuff contained about 5% nitrobenzene, which gave Hoppe's No. 9 the smell that gun owners loved. The formula was changed in the 1980's when California banned nitrobenzene, because it was a carcinogen. Like many banned substances, small infrequent exposure to Hoppe's No. 9 probably wasn't very dangerous, or most of us would be dead now. But deer and elk had to come to associate that scent with danger, since it carried so well.

The old formula worked better than the newer version because nitrobenzene was a better solvent for nitrocellulose gunpowder residues. Millions of bottles were produced, so the old stuff will continue to turn up at gun shows, flea markets, and garage sales, for years to come.

But OK for the drag race folks to burn 000's of gallons of "nitro" every year including races in CA.

That's not nitrobenzene, it's nitromethane. Big difference.

There's a skull and crossbones on a bottle of nitrobenzene, not on nitromethane.

Best, SRH

The "nitro" formula used in drag racers and funny cars is Nitromethane. NASCAR rules do not permit any fuel except gasoline.

Not saying that drag racers never used nitrobenzene, because over the years, they tried just about anything in the quest to maximize horsepower. Fuel is routinely tested to detect fuel cheaters. I recall reading years ago that exposure to nitrobenzene is cumulative, but have never seen anything to confirm that. I still wouldn't recommend using it for after-shave. The aroma of the small amount of nitrobenzene in the old Hoppe's No. 9 really overpowered the other solvents. I noticed that when I got a whiff of straight 100% lab grade nitrobenzene in an Organic chemistry lab class. We were assigned "unknowns" to test and identify. When I was given a flask of nitrobenzene by the professor, it was like a gift because I immediately knew what it was, due to my frequent use of Hoppe's No. 9. All I had to do was verify things like specific gravity, boiling point, vapor pressure, etc. that I found in the Merck Index. I wish they were all that easy.

Both nitrobenzene and straight benzene are listed as racing fuels, but likely in much smaller quantities than nitromethane or its cousin nitroethane seen on the shelves in mixtures called 'octane boosters'.

Have a quart bottle of No. 9 and a 2 oz both marked Penguin Industries so likely the newer stuff. Also have an old bottle I marked 'original formula' years ago, but it seems to have lost its distinctive aroma.

Joe, I wanted to come aback and say “thanks” for the contact. I wrote them the day after Christmas and the first week of February I finally heard back from them! (Actually, from Bushnell which must own Hoppe’s). They had me email them pictures which I did but now after a couple of weeks no further word so guess it died somewhere there. Thanks anyway.

I've got a bottle with a cork. No threads molded into the bottle. The label isn't as nice as yours but it does have the signature. I haven't tried to open it as I don't want to break the cork.