can i use wd-40 if out of rem oil?

[rcmodel]

Your Ruger .22 doesn't have a slide.
It has a bolt moving inside the receiver tube like a typical .22 rifle.

Most other auto-pistols have slides that contain the breach face & firing pin, and slide on rails on the frame.

It's all semantics on what is what in gun speak.

A Ruger .22 pistol has a bolt.
A Ruger 9mm has a slide.
A Browning Buckmark .22 has a slide.
A Desert Eagle .44 Magnum has a bolt.
Etc, etc, etc,.

Gets confusing doesn't it!

Rc

 

[susieqz]

thanks, rc.
yeah, i'm generally confused. what i know about handguns comes from the ruger manual.

 

[Walkalong]

WD-40 is a poor lube when compared to real lubricants, both for lubricity and endurance, but is handy for various things. Many folks like it and will continue to use it. I have found better options for everything I used to use it for. YMMV.

Can you use it to get by until picking up some more Rem-Oil or other lube? Sure you can.

 

[Drail]

If your gun gets wet a compressor will do more good than WD 40.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

If your gun gets wet a compressor will do more good than WD 40.

I use them both alternately. I deep clean using HOT soapy water and HOT clean water rinse. Blow excess water out with compressed air followed by a liberal application of WD-40. Again use compressed air to blow out excess WD-40. Follow that with a light lube and you're GTG.

 

[Sav .250]

In a bind.....sure for the short haul.

Poor planning on your part.......go buy more. Lube made especially for weapons.

 

[oneounceload]

WD40 is fine for wiping down the outside of a gun to get fingerprints, etc. off, but it is not a lube as stated.

 

[natman]

Another WD-40 thread, and the usual cliches trot out....

"WD-40 isn't a lubricant"

If you think WD-40 isn't a lubricant, spray some in a clean glass bowl and let the solvent evaporate. Examine the semi-solid extremely slippery grease that's left behind and then explain how it's not a lubricant.

"WD-40 gums things up."

Seriously guys, people buy millions of cans of WD-40 every year to free things up. If it were gumming things up, they'd stop.

A while ago there was another WD-40 thread, so I got out an extra door hinge that was lying around. It was dry as a bone out of the box. It would move but it creaked and groaned every time it did, so I gave it a good squirt of WD-40. Lo and behold the "non-lubricant" made the hinge move much smoother without any noise. That was 6 months ago and it's still moving smoothly.

When is it going to gum up? Did I spray it on wrong or something?

Now it's possible that the solvents in WD-40 may interact with something else to form a gum, but my test proves that it doesn't gum up by itself.

Just to make it clear, I don't use WD-40 on my guns because when I want a solvent I use a product that's just a solvent and when I want a lubricant I use a product that's just a lubricant. But I'm a big fan of reproducible results over internet memes, so I'm going to issue this challenge:

If you think WD-40 gums up, prove it. Make up an easily reproducible test that will show that WD-40 applied to clean parts turns to gum. Share it with us. I'm ready to be convinced.

 

[merrill]

I repair cameras. I used WD40 on a some shutters at one time. Every one was returned due to sluggish action. I had to redo all of them after a thorough cleaning. The residue that remains after the solvent has evaporated is very slick, but is also viscous which will impede delicate actions.

 

[oneounceload]

Basically acting like a varnish. Good for a solvent for cleaning, wiping down the outside, but not as a lube, especially on small parts where buildup might cause issues over time.

 

[Drail]

Lube a lock cylinder with WD 40. Let it set for a couple of weeks. I'll bet if doesn't fell "lubricated" when you try it now. I have "repaired" so many .22 pistols and rifles that were brought in simply by dissolving and flushing out all of the WD 40 gunk in them.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Lube a lock cylinder with WD 40. Let it set for a couple of weeks. I'll bet if doesn't fell "lubricated" when you try it now.

When I was a mechanic maintaining a LARGE fleet of trucks we were required at EVERY PM (preventative maintenance) cycle to lubricate door locks and mechanisms with a product called Howe's Lube. They were always gummed up by the next PM. We would use WD-40 (covertly because Howe's Lube was a national account of ours and we were contract bound to use their product) to dissolve the gunk. Typically once the Howe's Lube was flushed out they functioned perfectly and the problem didn't repeat.

 

[susieqz]

twice someone posed about wd40 screwing up locks.
well, i was having trouble with my deadbolt. i sprayed the heck out of it 5-6 months ago n it works fine.
it's very arid here so maybe that's why it works better for me.
when i have to use it to clean a gun barrel, i make sure to get most of it out, but i do that with kroil too.

 

[natman]

Lube a lock cylinder with WD 40. Let it set for a couple of weeks. I'll bet if doesn't fell "lubricated" when you try it now.

Since I've used WD-40 on ignition switches on several different cars over the last 30+ years, I'm pretty sure there will be no problem. However, it's a legitimate test so I'll give it a try and post results in 2 weeks.

I have "repaired" so many .22 pistols and rifles that were brought in simply by dissolving and flushing out all of the WD 40 gunk in them.

Most of the "WD-40 turns to gum" stories are like this, something is gummed up and then by jumping backwards the conclusion is reached that WD-40 is to blame. That's why I proposed a controlled test. We shall see.

 

[susieqz]

i would love to see the results of an actual test, nat.

i'm sure others are telling us truth about what happened to them, but it doesn't match my experience.
i use wd40 on everything. just last week, i couldn't get the front sight screw on my 22/45 to move at all. i sprayed it really good. 3 days later the front sight almost fell off. i can't think of anything else that would do that.
i prefer kroil for gun cleaning but often i use nothing but wd40 for weeks at a time, because when i run out of kroil or hoppes i never think it's urgent to get more fast, because i always have wd40.
i wonder if i have better luck just because i leave very little oil of any kind on my guns.
if i leave too much oil on i'll have problems, no matter what oil it is.

 

[Drail]

My experience with customer's guns that were gunked up with WD 40 residue was based on the fact that I asked the owners what they used for a lube - all of them told me "WD 40", almost like "What else would I use?" There was no "jumping to conclusions" about the cause of the problem. It acted like WD 40 and it smelled like WD 40 and the owners told me it was WD 40. Some people use a tiny amount - no problem. And some people flood the mechanism - repeatedly. It builds up over time and then they use more to "solve" the problem. I think a big part of the problem is simply that people just like to use aerosal products - and if a little is good - then more is better. All lubes that I apply to anything is dispensed by drops from a needle oiler. A few drops is more than enough. The two best lubes I have found for locks are the original Mil spec CLP and Dexron ATF. Although CLP will evaporate off and break down into something sticky it's nowhere as bad as WD 40 and it takes years instead of weeks (and I'm not "flooding" the mechanism with it).

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Some people use a tiny amount - no problem. And some people flood the mechanism - repeatedly.

People are quick to blame the product used when poor maintenance practices are actually at fault.

 

[DeltaVictor4]

completely agree

 

[bfalcon00]

I used to use rem oil but the stuff gets gummy in cold weather say 10 degrees or less. Started using synthetic 5w-30 or 0w-40 and haven't had a problem since. Had a buddy in sandbox 2 use it on their saws said it worked better than the mil spec stuff they were issued and they had alot more oil on hand. That was good enough for me. For a couple of those hand oilers off amazon and a quart of oil from valvoline. 20 bucks is gonna last me years.

 

[Vernon1]

Wd 40

wd40 for a fishing reel-not for guns.

I worked for the airlines 4 forty years. They used wd40 for temp lube ONLY.

Just to fly the plane somewhere there was real lube....

 

[Walkalong]

I have been doing building maintenance for 35+ years. WD-40 will indeed loosen up tumblers in a lock and get things going, but doesn't last a fraction of the time a good lubricant does. Same for hinges. WD-40 will loosen up the hinge, stop the squeaking, and "fix" the problem, but you'll be back much much sooner than if you had used a better lubricant. Tri-Flow works better up front and lasts many times longer on locks and hinges. Same aerosol convenience with good penetration/creeping action. It is superb for removing light rust as well.

Almost anything freshly applied will seem to "work" on a mechanism.

WD-40 is fast, easy, and it seems to work because it loosens things up and gets them moving better, but it isn't a good lubricant and it doesn't keep things moving as long as a good lubricant.

Will it "work"? Sure it will. Can you use it until you get some more Rem Oil? Sure you can. Are their better lubricants that WD-40? Absolutely.

 

[natman]

Lube a lock cylinder with WD 40. Let it set for a couple of weeks. I'll bet if doesn't fell "lubricated" when you try it now. I have "repaired" so many .22 pistols and rifles that were brought in simply by dissolving and flushing out all of the WD 40 gunk in them.

As promised, I doused a padlock in WD-40 and let it sit for two weeks. Here's the result:



The key went in, turned easily and it unlocked. No gum, no varnish, why it was as if it had been lubricated.

 

[mikebsr]

I use wd40 as a shotgun barrel cleaner after a couple rounds of trap. For that it works fine but after a couple cleanings you have to get serious and do it the right way.

 

[jcwit]

In the last 30 years 10W/30 has never failed me. Usually used drippings of Mobil 1 from an oil change.

BTW, I have no rusty or gummed up rifles or pistols.

 

[cdk8]

Another vote for good synthetic motor oil.

My gunsmith told me it was one of the most cost effective yet capable solutions for when a wet oil is desired, and my experiences have been great. His rationale was more or less that such type of oil must be capable of performing in both extreme heat and extreme cold, capable of lubricating through a temp shock in either direction, and still be able to lubricate even as the oil becomes progressively fouled up. The oil contains additives that makers have spent a fortune on perfecting to increase lubrication, reduce metal-to-metal friction wear, and prolong the effective life of the product. At the same time, it is relatively simple to remove when cleaning time comes, and it seems to play well with virtually all of the common gun finishes.

When a grease is preferred, I use DuPont Extreme Fluoro. It's the only "dry grease" product I have personally used, and it is teh awesome.