Superb Stuff.  A can of Rem Oil makes  a great gift for any shotgunner, and the solvent does so much more than simply clean a firearm during that end-of-season ritual. Simonson Photo.

By Nick Simonson

Few experiences are as juxtaposed as the quiet relief of sitting amidst the remnants of wrapping paper, bows, and boxes scattered across the living room floor on Christmas morning as if a blizzard and tornado met and had been rocking around the tree together for the last half hour or so. There’s a sweetness to the silence and satisfaction of that one open spot on the couch where I typically rest while a favorite holiday movie plays; cleanup is pushed off for an hour or two; and the kids go off to read their newest book, play the game that Santa’s elves programmed for them, or redeem their online gift card upstairs. As is tradition, alongside my coffee tumbler filled with Christmas cheer, rests another cylindrical gift decked in green and gold.

Perhaps my favorite stocking stuffer each season is a can of Rem Oil, a solvent so universal in the hunting community it has decades-old social media pages and online forum threads dedicated to its unrivaled firearm cleaning ability.  Like the Remington 870, the Mossberg 500, or the Benelli Nova, Rem Oil does the yeoman’s work of autumn-ending shotgun cleaning that those models of firearms do in the field for many hunters in the months leading up to the holidays and the close of most hunting seasons.  Whether in the aerosol can (my personal favorite) or various other means of application such as the spritzer bottle, liquid applicator, or even in wipe form, a sportsman’s collection of canned products can never have too many forms of this do-it-all cleaning compound.

Be it carefully sprayed and wiped on any metal area of a gun with a soft cloth and gentle action brush, or applied with a square cut from a salvaged t-shirt or old shammy, the mere odor of Rem Oil making its way into the nooks and crannies of a barrel and action brings back the recollections of seasons past, like walking into a kitchen that smells like grandma’s cookies (or for better or worse at the holidays, lutefisk). With each pull of a bore snake through the soaked and dripping barrels of my favorite over-under, the residue of a season full of shots disappears, but the memories of the most recent autumn come back into focus as the slight aroma of evergreen mixes with the petroleum perfume of the Teflon-based lubricant.

While seasons to pursue upland and small game aren’t necessarily over, and arguably, the best days remain between now and the end of the hunting calendar with crisp mornings, crunchy snow, and exciting flushes of brightly colored roosters from deep cover for anyone looking to add to their yuletide experience; the fact that the holidays are upon us signal the end of most shotgun seasons is nigh.  Thus, quality time with a green-and-yellow spray can in hand snatched from a stash in a red-and-white stocking is fast approaching, cleaning up what the season left behind but preserving in memory during those quiet moments in the basement, shop, or garage at season’s end the autumn experiences lived and that will live on in the slightly sweet chemical scent of a freshly cleaned shotgun ready for the year to come…in our outdoors. 

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.