My father-in-law never threw anything away. And he always bought in excess. After his passing at 85 years of age, my wife's family [2 sisters and BiL's & I] cleaned out the house & basement for a garage sale of the items not destined to one of us. This was in 2007.
As I was the only hunter and firearms owner, the reloading bench, shot, empty hulls, primers, etc. etc. were my domain. Several Mec Reloaders in 20, 16 & 12 ga. and you wouldn't believe how other much stuff. Just as an example, he had at least 16 boxes each of 1000 ea. #209 shotshell primers and 325 lb.s of 71/2, 8 & 9 shot. He had not shot T&S in probably 10 years. I didn't have a 16 ga. so I did sell that Mec reloader.
One of the more interesting items was/is a quart bottle of Hoppe's #9 still in the original cardboard box. The bottle is about 1/2 full. I got him started in shooting shotguns at the T&S club I belonged to while living in NC. It wasn't long before he was hooked and joined a trap & skeet club in the Atlanta area and his obsession with all things trap and skeet began. This was in 1974. He passed in 2006.
Look at these photos and give me your opinion as to when the pint bottle might have been purchased. I found the carton a couple days ago to fill up my Hoppe's 2oz. bottle in my half of the garage where I keep my work bench and "stuff." I have a tendency to hang on to stuff. The 2 oz. bottle was from his basement as well.
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I am just guessing that this was probably purchased around 1980 or so. The 2 oz. bottle I had been using was almost empty, thus the search to find where I had stored the cardboard carton to refill my bottle.
the earliest #9 bottles had a Philadelphia address - my quarts bottle purchased -n 60's had the Philly address - also the older stuff had much different chemical ingredients then the later -
The last quart bottle I bought five or so years ago was still glass. I don't think it goes bad, only way to know is use it. Save the bottle, it's cool.
a friend of mine gave me a military ammo box that had 3 cans of ol'sarge gun oil a bottle of #9 in the box and some paper shotgun shells and a couple other items.. the ammo can was WWII era as was the ol'sarge oil.. the #9 i compared with a new bottle and was nearly the same. can't check because they are at my camp. looks like #9 label never changed much from day one till now..
My understanding is that the benzene flashes off in the old formulation. That leaves you with a cool bottle, a box and some toxic liquid to responsibly dispose of.
I am a sucker for old Hoppe’s and buy it whenever I find it, but realistically, I use the fresh stuff to clean.
I do not remember the chemical they removed, but it was what made it great back then. There will be at least one chemical in the old bottle that is not in the new. Use that stuff. Its the best ever.
I got the bottle back out to check the address. "SOLE MANUFACTURERS FRANK A. HOPPE DIV. Penguin Industries, Inc. Parkesburg, Penna. 19365"
Any thing he ever bought or letter, magazine, etc. he always dated. I looked at the carton under better light, and sure enough, it was dated in pencil on the top.
"6 May 1980."
I wasn't far off in my original guess.
I just spent 20 minutes looking for a small can of Hoppe's Gun Oil. I know it is around somewhere, but couldn't find it. In the process, however, I found 2 typical small 3 or 4 oz. cans of oil. The first is "SINGER sewing machine OIL. 30 ˘ ... 4 FL. OZ." My wife's mother's brother owned/operated? a Singer Sewing Machine store in a shopping center Decatur, Ga. for years. I think she still has a small, black, singer sewing machine somewhere around the house that was rescued from the basement. It has the table, foot operated motor pedal and I don't know what all more.
And last but not least in my searching, I came up with a 3 FL. OZ. can of "Outers GUN OIL No. 445 A " The graphic on the front of the can is a hen and drake mallard taking flight. Manufactured by Outers Laboratories, Inc.Onalaska, Wis. 54660.
I will find the Hoppe's oil can one of these days.
That older bottle will smell better than the new stuff.
I bought my first quart a couple of years after he bought that one, it was a sad day when it was gone
Was nice to not run out I just refiled a small bottle over and over, the fact is I am still using the same small bottle but a newer quart to fill it with.
I used the last of my old Hoppe's last year. Was probably 30 years old. Smelled good and worked really well. I don't know about the newer stuff, heard it was just as good, and also that it wasn't as good. I've just been using GI bore cleaner and it does what I need it to do. Got about fifteen small bottles of it. I'll worry about cleaning solvent when I run of it.
I got the bottle back out to check the address. "SOLE MANUFACTURERS FRANK A. HOPPE DIV. Penguin Industries, Inc. Parkesburg, Penna. 19365"
Any thing he ever bought or letter, magazine, etc. he always dated. I looked at the carton under better light, and sure enough, it was dated in pencil on the top.
"6 May 1980."
That's cool VH! I have a 16oz similar bottle that has Coatesville address and I think it's a couple years newer. I threw out a small bottle with your address I think. Those old and older bottles or metal containers are neat looking and something we'll never see again.
I got the bottle back out to check the address. "SOLE MANUFACTURERS FRANK A. HOPPE DIV. Penguin Industries, Inc. Parkesburg, Penna. 19365"
Any thing he ever bought or letter, magazine, etc. he always dated. I looked at the carton under better light, and sure enough, it was dated in pencil on the top.
"6 May 1980."
I wasn't far off in my original guess.
I just spent 20 minutes looking for a small can of Hoppe's Gun Oil. I know it is around somewhere, but couldn't find it. In the process, however, I found 2 typical small 3 or 4 oz. cans of oil. The first is "SINGER sewing machine OIL. 30 ˘ ... 4 FL. OZ." My wife's mother's brother owned/operated? a Singer Sewing Machine store in a shopping center Decatur, Ga. for years. I think she still has a small, black, singer sewing machine somewhere around the house that was rescued from the basement. It has the table, foot operated motor pedal and I don't know what all more.
And last but not least in my searching, I came up with a 3 FL. OZ. can of "Outers GUN OIL No. 445 A " The graphic on the front of the can is a hen and drake mallard taking flight. Manufactured by Outers Laboratories, Inc.Onalaska, Wis. 54660.
I will find the Hoppe's oil can one of these days.
VH
the zip code + Penguin on label date it to post 1965 -
the zip code + Penguin on label date it to post 1965 -
My 16oz bottle is similar to VH's but with the address printed vertically in the middle of the label. And the address is different than VH's although my bottle still says "Penguin Industries, Inc."
Just for the fun of it, it would be interesting to know what happened to the address of Hoppes during what I think is a relatively close time period between the two bottles?
For a shooter/reloader that is not an excessive amount of primers and lead shot. When I was active every week I had at least that much in my reloading area all the time; along with 8 pound containers of powder. It goes quickly!! RIP
The 2 oz. bottle was from his basement as well. 
Bob B.
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