Oil em up.....

[cougar1717]

Discussions like this always help me choose the perfect oil for all my untreated, salt sprayed, mild steel guns!

Just a few thoughts.
When we talk about what makes a good gun oil, many point to a CLP - something that has cleaning, lubricant, and protecting qualities. It's harder to measure the cleaning properties of how well a product dissolves fouling or copper in the rifling. It's difficult to measure how well a lubricant works without torture testing to a failure, except for things like accelerated wear, but even that could coincide with hot loads, a weak recoil spring, etc. However, it's easy to show the protection qualities with simple salt spray tests, which is only one part of the equation. For CCW, there are some things that you don't want mitigating onto clothing - unless you consider Hoppes love potion #9!

Additionally, we know that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to greases and oils. The minimum needs of a gun oil are rather easy to meet compared to those of a motor oil. Anything without an available msds, should be viewed with additional scrutiny. Specialty gun oils have a reputation for being a flash in the pan, then discontinued, then rebranded as something else with additives (like a scent). More than likely, it's something repackaged from bulk.

IMHO, use what you like. Use something that you know works, and don't get caught up in marketing hype because every February, the SHOT show will have an elite product that is "the best ever," designed by Chuck Norris himself, and you'd be stupid to use anything else because their website says so.

 

[il.bill]

Lucas Gun Oil - Mobil(no 'e' folks) 1 of whatever weight is handy - Break Free CLP are the three I have used for several years, in various combinations and applications. This is one thing I do not try to overthink. You can try almost anything and see how it works. Those three work well for me. I recently found some Ballistol but have not got around to using it yet.
Vegetable / animal based lubricants (not petroleum based products) when shooting my cap and ball revolver. Lucas Gun Oil when getting it ready for storage after cleaning.

 

[FROGO207]

I use Moly grease where needed and a 50/50 mix of Mobil one and ATF as an oil.
Worked well for years.

 

[wally]

Isn't "Toluene" a part of dynamite?!

Nope!

I've never had the need to use anything other than Break-Free CLP. Other than on a sailboat, is there a worse environment for guns than Houston?

 

[hdwhit]

It's not "the best" but I use the tin can 3 in 1 oil still.

Same here. In fact I'm finishing up the last can of Sears Household Oil that I bought while I was still in college and that means it's at least 35 years old. The 49 cent price tag is kind of a give-away. Still, it has the same color and viscosity as I remember it having when I bought my first can of it.

I use motor oil on some inaccessible parts (like the part of the barrel under the handguard), but for the rest of my guns, it still Sears' version of the old 3-in-1 oil. And since it is inexpensive, long-lasting, keeps my guns rust free, lubricated and doesn't gum anything up, I would have to say that it's a contender for the "best oil" title.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

For the past few years I have used nothing but G96 products.
http://www.g96.com
I use their Gun Treatment (which smells like bubblegum), their Bore Solvent, their Gun Grease and a few more if their products.

 

[Water-Man]

G96 Complete Gun Treatment.
http://www.g96.com/products/gun-treatment/

 

[Stumper]

Steve C, FWIW Ed Harris' concoction used Dexron ATF rather than Type F. I do not know is one is any better than the other as a gun lubricant but they are not compatible in transmissions or hydraulic applications. I have been told that this is because they have different PH values. One is slightly alkaline(Dexron I think) and the other is slightly acidic.......so if mixed they form soaps and don't flow properly when cold. Just unsolicited trivia. Bottom line is that most any oil works for firearms. Just about any thin oil or solvent will work to clean them.

 

[jeepnik]

I always get a kick out of folks that talk about using automotive lubricants for firearms.

Would you use a sledge hammer to drive a tack. Lubricants are formulated for specific purposes. If Mobil One was the ideal firearms lubricant we wouldn't have all of the wonderful purpose formulated products.

I suspect that either lack of knowledge or too much reading of internet forums leads folks to follow certain paths or, at least repeat some very interesting "theories".

On my gun bench are products from two companies, Hoppes and Gun Slick. Besides, what the heck do you do with an open quart of Mobil One after you use a few drops to lubricate you firearm?

 

[C0untZer0]

Actually the people I've found to be the most knowledgeable about lubricants were the people on automobile and motorcycle forums, who besides working on engines also happened to be gun owners.

I wouldn't expect the firearm industry to produce the greatest lubricants since the demand placed on lubricants in a firearm aren't nearly as strenuous as the demand placed on lubricants in engines and machinery.

I've fired my Glocks nearly bone dry, I've fired them wet and I've fired them gooped up with NLGI #4 grease and they never failed to function.

I think many guns have a tremendous tolerance for under/over and improper lubrication - not the best environment for testing the optimum lubricant.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I always get a kick out of folks that talk about using automotive lubricants for firearms.

Would you use a sledge hammer to drive a tack. Lubricants are formulated for specific purposes. If Mobil One was the ideal firearms lubricant we wouldn't have all of the wonderful purpose formulated products.

I suspect that either lack of knowledge or too much reading of internet forums leads folks to follow certain paths or, at least repeat some very interesting "theories".

On my gun bench are products from two companies, Hoppes and Gun Slick. Besides, what the heck do you do with an open quart of Mobil One after you use a few drops to lubricate you firearm?

You've got that backwards...

I take the last few dribbles out of my Mobile One jug AFTER I've changed the oil on my car. This goes in a small bottle in my gun cleaning kit...and it lasts a good, long, time, what with not needing much oil on any given gun.

While automotive, truck, racing, heavy equipment oils are, indeed, designed around the specific engineering requirements of the vehicles for which they are intended, the simple fact remains that a firearm has nowhere near the mechanical lubricating stresses and requirements that vehicular motors do. So using motor oils is not likely to be detrimental to a firearm.

As I said in post #40:

Guns need oil (grease) for two main issues:

1. Proper lubrication for proper function.

2. Prevention of corrosion.

The lubricant must adhere to the gun where it's applied and it must cover and remain in place for a reasonable length of time, without any appreciable change in lubricating characteristics or adherence characteristics.

MOST gun lubricants are perfectly suitable for what they're intended. MOST simple motor oils will also meet these needs.

So long as you meet these basic requirements, oils such as Mobile One that I use will do the job quite nicely.


That said, there's nothing wrong with sticking strictly to gun oils of whatever brand floats a person's boat.

 

[hdwhit]

Would you use a sledge hammer to drive a tack. [sic]

Perhaps. It would depend what I was trying to drive the track into.

I suspect that either lack of knowledge or too much reading of internet forums

Your opinion that Mobil One is not an ideal lubricant does not mean those who believe it is are either ignorant or incapable of thinking for themselves. you are entitled to your opinion, but the fact someone else holds a different opinion does not entitle you to denigrate theirs.

I use motor oil (not Mobil One) on inaccessible areas of my guns. And despite jeepnik's "suspicion", I don't do this because some internet post told me to. In fact, I made the decision to use motor oil before the internet as we know it even existed. In making my choice, I actually went to university libraries and researched the publicly available information about the antioxidants that were added to various motor oils and selected one I believed would provide good corrosion protection. For the accessible areas, I continued to use my Sears version of 3-in-1 as described in post #55. That approach ended up paying off because when I became disabled and didn't even look at my guns for twenty-plus years, they came out of the gun safe rust-free and fully serviceable.

 

[kokapelli]

I tried Mobile1 and the slide felt nice and smooth which is what lube is supposed to do, so I don't see any problem with it.

 

[JohnBiltz]

Or it could be the motor oil guys are right and the people buying the specialties gun oil are responding to nonsense advertising. Which is what I think is the case. A gun cycles once every time it is fired. A heavily used gun will have less cycles on it over a life time than an automobile engine does in an hour, much less. It also has an oil sump and splashes the oil on moving parts then drains down to be reused. But it isn't going to wear out and is going to be operating at much higher temperatures. As long as the owner keeps reapplying the oil every so often it will work fine. I think the oh so special new gun oil of the day that keeps coming out just proves there are suckers born every minute. There is no magic involved in oiling a gun its just metal sliding on metal and rust prevention. The good news is they work, the bad news is your paying way too much for them because they all work.

 

[Duvel]

Or it could be the motor oil guys are right and the people buying the specialties gun oil are responding to nonsense advertising. Which is what I think is the case. A gun cycles once every time it is fired. A heavily used gun will have less cycles on it over a life time than an automobile engine does in an hour, much less. It also has an oil sump and splashes the oil on moving parts then drains down to be reused. But it isn't going to wear out and is going to be operating at much higher temperatures. As long as the owner keeps reapplying the oil every so often it will work fine. I think the oh so special new gun oil of the day that keeps coming out just proves there are suckers born every minute. There is no magic involved in oiling a gun its just metal sliding on metal and rust prevention. The good news is they work, the bad news is your paying way too much for them because they all work.

Yep.

 

[DaisyCutter]

On my gun bench are products from two companies, Hoppes and Gun Slick. Besides, what the heck do you do with an open quart of Mobil One after you use a few drops to lubricate you firearm?

I use that open quart to top off my F-150, Ram 2500, Jeep Wrangler, YZ450, lawn mower, air compressor, or umpteen other uses around the house, like that squeaky bathroom door hinge or to wipe down my chainsaw blade.

If gunslick marketed bottled water specially for shooters, $12.99 for 12 oz, would it be in your refrigerator?

Firearms are plenty similar to other mechanical devices that appropriate non-gun lubes work fine.

Half my guns were made before most of the popular lubes, Garands, M-1 carbines, M-44 Mosin, Enfield, SKS, are just a few.

My grease gun is filled with marine grease, for my boat. I use that grease to lube the suspension on all my trucks and Jeep. Most people can't even find a zirc fitting. So what, I fill mine with marine grease. It's hurt nothing.

Betcha that marine grease would work well in my Garand too.

As part of my AAS manufacturing degree, I had a class on lubrication, and I learned a lot
Some extreme applications require a specific grease, for instance a bearing that's on a satellite in orbit, which is inconvenient to service. For a 70 year old gun, in my safe, I'm less concerned.

Given the environment milifary arms are designed to be used in, mine are babied, even with Autozone marine grease, Mobil-1, ATF and kerosene.

Old salty military guys cleaned most everything with diesel fuel, to hear them tell it.


FWIW, I use old toothbrushes in the garage and on the gun bench too, instead of that $9.99 Hoppes brush. The horror!

 

[HoosierQ]

I always get a kick out of folks that talk about using automotive lubricants for firearms.

Would you use a sledge hammer to drive a tack. Lubricants are formulated for specific purposes. If Mobil One was the ideal firearms lubricant we wouldn't have all of the wonderful purpose formulated products.

I suspect that either lack of knowledge or too much reading of internet forums leads folks to follow certain paths or, at least repeat some very interesting "theories".

On my gun bench are products from two companies, Hoppes and Gun Slick. Besides, what the heck do you do with an open quart of Mobil One after you use a few drops to lubricate you firearm?

I don't think you are entirely correct about this. Oil is oil. Motor oil has been perfected over 100 years of automotive technology. My assertion would apply to lubrication. Motor oil and automotive products are fantastic lubricants for firearms and work very well...and do so at a small fraction of the cost of fancy gun oils...many of which are simply a premium price on some form of ordinary oil.

Now where your statement does, IMHO, have validity is in the multi-dimensional uses we want our gun oils to perform. Ordinary motor oil does not have the rust inhibiting properties that my "fancy gun oils" have. Sure, repeated application ad wipedown with motor oil will inhibit rust better than nothing. But there may be impact to finish, the gun is physically oily until wiped clean etc. Here, dedicated gun oils, some of them, begin to come into their own. Of course some of the best products for rust inhibition are not nearly as good at lubrication as motor oil, particularly synthetic motor oil.

Me, I have all kinds of stuff. I have mixed up a quart of some 50/50 5w30/Marvel's Mystery Oil...that stuff is slippery!!! I just got some Ballistol and I look forward to trying that out. I bought it from a guy in an LGS who swears by it.

Summing up: I have expensive stuff, I have Rem Oil, I have motor oil. And, I have and love old fashioned black Gunslick. I'd buy that if they still made it. I am down to like a gram of that. I will miss it when it's gone.

 

[Nappers]

I use Hoppes #9 to clean and Hoppes Copper remover and lube up with Miltec. Works for me, one bottle has lasted me a long time....

 

[Dudedog]

I like Lubriplate SLF-0 for my 1911 frame rails and other sliding parts.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Grease on things that slide, oil on things that spin.

That statement -- which you see frequently -- doesn't make sense to me. It seems to me that either oil or grease is simply a lubricating agent that allows metal on metal contact to continue without significant wear or damage to the different metals.

I'm certainly not a metallurgist, but it seems wrong to think that sliding metal components interact fundamentally differently than spinning metal components. Spinning or sliding, it's still metal-on-metal contact and in both cases (at least with handguns) the direction of movement will change rapidly.

It seems that a lot of the concern here about proper lubrication is an attempt to fix a problem that isn't really a problem -- as even simple, inexpensive oils have worked well for decades as lubricants.

Corrosion resistance is a different problem, and different materials -- there are all sort of test results available on the 'net, but we don't see tests of the effectiveness of different types of lubrication materials in handguns.

Environmental conditions -- heat, cold, dust, grime, etc. -- may play a role in what is used where, but that's not a "one-size fits all" or "two sizes fit all" solution.

.

 

[luzyfuerza]

Did anyone notice that Wilson's recommended lubricants vary with ambient temperature (see post 18)?

I had the importance of temperature on lubricant function driven home to me on a very hot day in the Nevada desert. My shooting buddy was using light oil from an aerosol can to lube the BCG on his AR. We were using fairly light loads, and the gun would run for ten minutes, and then begin to experience failures to extract and feed. He'd spray more aerosol oil on the BCG, and the pattern would repeat. I then gave him some liquid oil for his BCG, and his gun operated reliably the rest of the trip.

His aerosol-based lubricant had worked very nicely in this gun with the same loads at cooler temperatures.

Apparently, the aerosol-delivered product had some light components that evaporated off very quickly. It may have also left behind a sticky residue. The more viscous, higher evaporation point oil that I gave him was more suited to the heat.

I don't have a lot of experience with shooting in extremely cold temperatures, but I'd suspect that, like everything else, the various products listed above have pros and cons in these conditions, too.

 

[Mauser lover]

Post 66

FWIW, I use old toothbrushes in the garage and on the gun bench too, instead of that $9.99 Hoppes brush. The horror!

Okay, that one evicted a chuckle. What would your dentist say?!
As a side note... I have used the "specialty" toothbrushes/gunbrushes and normal toothbrushes. I like the normal ones better, because I like to brush parts while wet, and the normal toothbrushes hold more solvent longer!

 

[Bama Drifter]

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnBiltz View Post
Or it could be the motor oil guys are right and the people buying the specialties gun oil are responding to nonsense advertising. Which is what I think is the case. A gun cycles once every time it is fired. A heavily used gun will have less cycles on it over a life time than an automobile engine does in an hour, much less. It also has an oil sump and splashes the oil on moving parts then drains down to be reused. But it isn't going to wear out and is going to be operating at much higher temperatures. As long as the owner keeps reapplying the oil every so often it will work fine. I think the oh so special new gun oil of the day that keeps coming out just proves there are suckers born every minute. There is no magic involved in oiling a gun its just metal sliding on metal and rust prevention. The good news is they work, the bad news is your paying way too much for them because they all work.
Yep.

Yes, indeed.

Reading through pages 2-3 of this thread has made me feel like the Walter Mitty of gun care. While I never was in the military, nor police, nor worked in automotive / engineering field, I've always valued the field expedients y'all come up with. IIRC, my LAPD range buddy told me about Mobil 1, whilst my retired US Marshal hunting buddy swears using anything besides Hoppe's 9 and RemOil is insane.

Guess I'll put off making a gallon of Ed's Red since ingredient list is over $20 now.

 

[kokapelli]

Gun oil or Engine oil?

An 89 4runner runs 3,000 rpms in 5th gear going 70 mph, so if you drive for one hour at 70 mph, that is 60 minutes at 3000 rpm (60X3000)=180,000 crankshaft revolutions in one hour and the pistons racing up and down at the same speed.

If I have done my math correctly and you drive that car 100,000,000 miles, that works out to about 257,000,000 engine revolutions.

I just can’t believe any gun lube would be able to perform well enough to lube that engine for even an hour.

I'm not saying you need to use engine oil, but it certainly should work at least as well or better as gun lube than any gun oil. JMO

 

[RA40]

I used Finish Line WET Bicycle Chain Lube left over from the cycling days on the guns. (That one feels like Wilson gun grease in viscosity.) No complaints with functioning. Got a good buy on TW25B and some Wilson stuff so use those now. Those 4 oz. bottles will last a good spell so my hunting down lubricants probably won't happen for 6 or so years.

The TW25B migrates quite a bit once the gun has been going and warm-hot. That's my gripe with TW25B stuff. Feels really slick on the parts in use which is good.

Have Mobil 1 for the cars but I'm not fond of the smell in the house. Used it once and the Mrs. was asking why the room smelled like motor oil. I didn't bathe the gun, it was applied in small drops to the rails and action but those tiny drops were "fragrant" enough to not pass the nose test.