Poll: Slide Lubrication: Oil, Grease, Both, Neither

243winxb said:

Dri-slide

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I've used Dri-slide for over 50 years. It is my go to lubricant for ARs for over 50 years. I use it to lube the innards of revolvers. I will use it on stainless semi-autos. Generally I use the old Breakfree with PTFE on most guns. DriSilde doesn't have a "P" purpose. Old Breakfree has worked great for me for about 30 years. I don't use it for "C".

I agree Dri-Slide is the best lubricant out there.

DeepSouth said:

summer = grease and winter = oil.

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This is my routine!

Polymer Guns - CLP
Most would call my guns dry.
Other than the one decent drop shared by the slide rails, barrel hood and front slide/barrel contact points the only oil it gets is the little residue on the patch material while cleaning.

1911 - TW25B
Oiled per Hilton Yam instructions.

Hartkopf said:

I’ve got some copper anti seize that came with a German made machine. It’s really similar to what comes on factory Glock rails so I’m considering using it along with my normal Lucas oil.

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I've read that this stuff is what is used on new Glocks.

I have also seen Permatex Ultra Slick assembly lube, cut with a bit of gun oil recommended as a slide lube.

Pat Riot said:

I oil my slides with Mobil1.

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I second that. It works in my truck too.

I use Sonax MoS2Oil in my handguns (including a P226) for cleaning, lubrication and storage with great results.
I've been told that a good sinthetic 2T engine oil is probably the best for lubrication but I haven't tried it yet.

For my 1911s/BHP/Sig 229s tthe lubricant is Mil-Spec grease. Everything else (is there anything else?) gets CLP/

I think Nightlord’s post earlier is excellent advice. Otherwise, I wouldn’t over think it, other than a decent quality product applied based in usage.

Larry Vickers has a good article on weapons lubrication:

https://www.vickerstactical.com/weapon-lubrication.html

For super slickness, Ballistol Milk, cleaning Ballistol Milk. Sonic cleaner, Balistol Milk. (For super slick performance put make a mixture of 90% water and 10% Ballistol. Put in a plastic sprayer and spray down gun to clean and lube all parts to include trigger componets. Dunk Magazines in a tub with mixture. Drys and leave a VERY slick film of Lube that does not recideify. (harden)

*some say it is too slick for magazines, can slip out of hands in fast action.
*Many times I will use Honady One shot in the Sonic Cleaner and then dunk all parts in Ballistol Milk.
*On heavy shooting days, carry a sprayer to the range and can wash down and lube very quickly
*Bonus - Very cost effective.

Hartkopf said:

I’ve got some copper anti seize. . .

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If you haven't already discovered this, Copper Anti-Seize grease was created in Sheol for the purpose of permanently staining anything it touches. Careful.

I don't use Moly grease on firearms for exactly this reason; I don't think there's any location on a gun with the high pressure and long service interval to indicate Moly (or Copper) being necessary. Since my hands and face tend to be in proximity to the firearm while I'm using it, I use a modern, but unfilled, grease.

gun oil, Hoppe's, Ballistol, a couple other various oils I've got in kits etc. if the owners manual doesn't say grease, kind of questionable to use it. there isn't a lot of perpendicular pressure between slide and frame, it goes back and forth. a very tiny film of oil is all it needs to ride on the oil film. as an aside, I tend to get the slide and rails pretty sloppy with oil when going to range.

First up, I don't re-lube my carry gun once per week if it hasn't been fired. Normally, I'll only blow out the dust bunnys with my air compressor every two or three weeks of carry. If the gun hasn't been fired, I'll lube it only if it looks dry.

Second up, it almost never gets below freezing here on the Gulf Coast where I live, so I use grease on slides. Plus, my carry guns are next to my body which keeps them a little warmer than if they were just sitting outside. For me, a thin bit of grease stays put and handles all weather that I tend to be around.

I've used a variety of greases, but I'm fond of Shooter's Choice in the syringe-like tube.

Grease on my S&W pistols' slides, on my Glocks according to the instructions five drops of oil. I revised the instruction to include a touch of grease on the four slide rails in the frame. Seems to work just fine so far.

marvin02 said:

I've read that this stuff is what is used on new Glocks.

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The copper grease (anti-seize) aids in breaking in the gun. It’s put in the slide rail grooves and on the bottom ramp (no idea what this ramp is called - it strips the cartridge from the mag). Glock says not to remove it when cleaning but no where in any of my manuals does it say to replenish it. So, I guess it is only for break in and nothing more.

If I am wrong I would welcome enlightenment.

Here is what the Glock manual says about the “copper colored lubricant”:

These days, and for the past five or six years now, Ive been using Mobil One to lube pretty much everything. Works great, is cheap, and a quart lasts forever. Im still on the first quart I bought, and its still over 3/4 full. And I clean and lube multiple guns each week with it.

The only thing Id use grease on, would be something like the M1's, M14's, etc, that call for it. For those, I use Lubriplate.

Lubriplate

Just a touch of gun oil on a Q Tip on wear points for my 1911. hdbiker

I re-post this every so often:

Grant Cunningham's article:

http://www.grantcunningham.com/lubricants101.html

Corrosion tests:

http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

For people who like to mix their own stuff up:

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

A article on Primers, misfires and oils for anyone interested.

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/the-truth-about-primer-misfires/247980

I use Starrett Tool and Instrument oil just because I happen to have a bottle.

JMO but it seems that 99.99999999999999999999999% of the time we know beforehand that we're going to be firing the gun. So a drop or two on the slide before you go to the range should protect against most of the wear you're going to encounter anyway.

I will say I did have a grease related malfunction once.

My buddy bought a lightly used M92 Beretta Prince George's County Sheriffs Dept. trade-in. We field stripped it before shooting and confirmed it had the new -style locking block installed, then took it out to the range.

No primer hits, and couldnt move the firing pin when the pin block was lifted out of the way. Incidentally, you have to perform some FP acrobatics to detail strip the slide, so NOT fun.

Turns out the pin channel was packed FULL of dried grease of some sort- it was like tar at that point. No evidence of the stuff anywhere else in the gun- weird.

Soaked it in brake cleaner and scrubbed the channel with a bore brush until it shined, then soaked it again. Couple of drops of light oil and it ran like a top.......until the barrel broke.

But thats another story.

C0untZer0 said:

Lubriplate

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A NGLI 0 or 00 grease is really hard to beat. They stay put, but are VERY light compared to what most people consider grease NGLI 2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLGI_consistency_number

I've used a bunch of different brands of oil and greases over the years and to be truthful I have never noticed any difference in the performance of any of them. Now days it Mobli 1 as that's what I use in my jeep and and bottle drainings are sort of free.

I haven't oiled the outside of any gun to protect if from rust since the mid 60's. Johnson's paste wax is much better than any oil for that.

I recently started using a grease to lube the inside of my carry handguns. Made a big believer out of me over oil. Even with just one drop of oil on the areas where it is needed (model dependent) I always spent a few minutes working the slide to squeeze out the oil to wipe off. Just added more time to my routine to clean off oil after a cleaning.

My gun smith recommended I use HAWG grease for a project I was working on. Tried the same stuff on the lube portion of my cleaning routine, hardly any squeezed out. What was a 5-10 minute process of cleaning up excess lube oil turned into 5 seconds. I will not be going back to oil.