Results of gun care product evaluation

Tagged. Btw, I admit I rushed through this thread, but I was wondering if you did and or plan to do any tests on how these products stand up to heat in repeated firing...i.e. their resistance to flashing off the metal surfaces to which they are applied. Thanks!
 
I'm way late to this party, but, wow! This is the most comprehensive DIY (no pun intended) product comparison I have ever seen. I'm very impressed. My hat is off to you, DIY_guy! Thanks very much for studying man's most persistent and pressing question -- how to keep his stuff from rusting and wearing out!
 
Re: Board #3

How is board #3 doing? Have you decorated it for the season with a string of Christmas lights? Is Mrs. DIY_Guy still pleased to have it in the dining room?

I did buy a can of WD Specialist after this test to use as a general purpose rust inhibitor. A little harder to find this stuff locally, and no issues to report so far. I am using it on guns, and tools kept outside of a climate controlled environment
 
I read your study in detail and based on your findings I bought a can of Hornady "One Shot"... wow... that stuff is truly amazing.

The first thing I noticed was when I sprayed a shot of it on the ram in one of my big single stage presses. The handle fell to its down position all by itself..... that stuff is slick!

Thanks for the great information!
 
Great work!
I wonder how they would do for lube and gumming up is very cold temps.
I've heard that frog lube gums up in cold temps. I've had good results so far with weapon shield in cold weather but the odor is terrible. Reminds me of transformer oil

Ken
 
Here's my test.

After trying every new gee-whiz bang product on the market for the past 35 years, here is what I keep going back to, as it.just.works.

Break Free CLP (currently experimenting with Ballistol, and its neck and neck) for a pre clean soak.
Shooters Choice solvent. Break Free Foaming Bore Cleaner if I'm lazy and/or using a Bore Snake.
Non-chlorinated carb or brake cleaner for gas guns and valves/pistons (AL391).
Gunslick/Outers Gun Oil in the bore
Shooters Choice FP-10 for actions.


Everything else has failed to clean, lubricate or protect on some level over the years. The latest failure is MPro-7 on a carbon and lead fouled .22 bbl. However I am going to apply Ballistol first on the next one, and then clean with MPro to see if there is any improvement.

My 2 cents. I have yet to ruin a barrel, etch, pit or otherwise render one useless. I have yet to see any type of fouling accumulate using this approach to where I have lost any accuracy. I have been able to restore accuracy in older worn firearms by giving a thorough cleaning using this method. It just works.
 
DIY_guy said:
We all want to use goods quality products on our guns, bows, fishing gear, knives, autos, hunting and lake front gear and like you I’m not a fan of letting things get rust on them nor am I a fan of items wearing out prematurely. To protect my investment in gear, I began searching for rust inhibitors and lubrication solutions to make the maintenance of my gear as effective and efficient as possible but I understand that neglect is the primary cause of corrosion and wear and we must be diligent but having a corrosion inhibitor and lubricants aiding us in meeting those goals is helpful.

The problem is there are so many products on the market all making claims of how well they perform. Who do you trust? What is one to believe? Online searches turned up all manner of comparisons, reviews and evaluations of a couple of products here and a few more there but no large sampling of a really long list of products all compared at the same time. So that’s what I set out to do to determine for myself which product I want to use as a rust inhibitor and lubricant. Along the way I will also look at water displacement (a common claim) as well as reactions with non-metal components. The attributes I set out to evaluate are:

Water displacer:

Many of the products I purchased for this evaluation make claims in regards to being a water displacer or that they have water displacing properties. Its an interesting claim but it got me to wondering why I should care?? I thinks its great if a product displaces water does it adds to a products worth or usefulness?? We all know that moisture is everywhere from fog to rain to snow to humid environments to warm to cold condensation as well as sweat and dew. so perhaps the water displacement claims are meant to drive us to their products with promises of improved protection so I plan to investigate that claim.

Smell/odor:

Because my primary passion is bowhunting followed by gun deer hunting, scent/odor is important to me. If a product stinks to high heaven I am less likely to use it even if it offers other benefits. Gauging odor is pretty subjective since something that smells bad to me might be appealing to the next person. I will evaluate odor as best as I can.


Lubrication:

How well does the product lubricate? And in what state, meaning does it reduce friction better in its wet form or in a dry form after its wiped away/allowed to dry? If it offers the most friction reduction in a wet form but that wet form is a magnet for dust, dirt and carbon, then its counterproductive because that wet lube becomes a gritty sludge. If it can be applied, wiped dry and still reduce friction (while fighting rust) that would be preferred. I will investigate lubrication.

Compatibility:

How safe is it for plastics, rubber and gun finishes and coatings?

That a fair question since these products are expected to be applied to guns, bows, knives, fishing gear, etc that are composed of a variety of non-metallic materials and finishes/coatings. A product that displaces water and inhibits rust is great but if it melts your plastic and rubber and destroys the finish on your gun, its destined for the trash can. I plan to investigate compatibility as well.

Corrosion inhibition:

That’s the primary reason for this evaluation. I plan to investigate these products compared to one another for their ability to delay the formation of corrosion.

The goal here is to find a product that does the best job at inhibiting corrosion, reducing friction, does not harm plastic, rubber or finishes, displaces waters and does not force me to wear a gas mask to apply. A product that can do all of the above may not exist but I’m willing to find out.

The next question was "Which products?" Until now, my stable of gun/bow/tool care products was pretty small. Like most sportsmen I had my "go-to" products because that is what my local retailer carried. I hadn't thought much beyond availability and then fell into a comfort zone with those products. I took to the web and did a search as well as asking for suggestions on a couple of web forums and learned many of these products have passionate followers even if I had never heard of them. Was I missing out on a superior product????
Click to expand...
 
DIY_guy said:
We all want to use goods quality products on our guns, bows, fishing gear, knives, autos, hunting and lake front gear and like you I’m not a fan of letting things get rust on them nor am I a fan of items wearing out prematurely. To protect my investment in gear, I began searching for rust inhibitors and lubrication solutions to make the maintenance of my gear as effective and efficient as possible but I understand that neglect is the primary cause of corrosion and wear and we must be diligent but having a corrosion inhibitor and lubricants aiding us in meeting those goals is helpful.

The problem is there are so many products on the market all making claims of how well they perform. Who do you trust? What is one to believe? Online searches turned up all manner of comparisons, reviews and evaluations of a couple of products here and a few more there but no large sampling of a really long list of products all compared at the same time. So that’s what I set out to do to determine for myself which product I want to use as a rust inhibitor and lubricant. Along the way I will also look at water displacement (a common claim) as well as reactions with non-metal components. The attributes I set out to evaluate are:

Water displacer:

Many of the products I purchased for this evaluation make claims in regards to being a water displacer or that they have water displacing properties. Its an interesting claim but it got me to wondering why I should care?? I thinks its great if a product displaces water does it adds to a products worth or usefulness?? We all know that moisture is everywhere from fog to rain to snow to humid environments to warm to cold condensation as well as sweat and dew. so perhaps the water displacement claims are meant to drive us to their products with promises of improved protection so I plan to investigate that claim.

Smell/odor:

Because my primary passion is bowhunting followed by gun deer hunting, scent/odor is important to me. If a product stinks to high heaven I am less likely to use it even if it offers other benefits. Gauging odor is pretty subjective since something that smells bad to me might be appealing to the next person. I will evaluate odor as best as I can.


Lubrication:

How well does the product lubricate? And in what state, meaning does it reduce friction better in its wet form or in a dry form after its wiped away/allowed to dry? If it offers the most friction reduction in a wet form but that wet form is a magnet for dust, dirt and carbon, then its counterproductive because that wet lube becomes a gritty sludge. If it can be applied, wiped dry and still reduce friction (while fighting rust) that would be preferred. I will investigate lubrication.

Compatibility:

How safe is it for plastics, rubber and gun finishes and coatings?

That a fair question since these products are expected to be applied to guns, bows, knives, fishing gear, etc that are composed of a variety of non-metallic materials and finishes/coatings. A product that displaces water and inhibits rust is great but if it melts your plastic and rubber and destroys the finish on your gun, its destined for the trash can. I plan to investigate compatibility as well.

Corrosion inhibition:

That’s the primary reason for this evaluation. I plan to investigate these products compared to one another for their ability to delay the formation of corrosion.

The goal here is to find a product that does the best job at inhibiting corrosion, reducing friction, does not harm plastic, rubber or finishes, displaces waters and does not force me to wear a gas mask to apply. A product that can do all of the above may not exist but I’m willing to find out.

The next question was "Which products?" Until now, my stable of gun/bow/tool care products was pretty small. Like most sportsmen I had my "go-to" products because that is what my local retailer carried. I hadn't thought much beyond availability and then fell into a comfort zone with those products. I took to the web and did a search as well as asking for suggestions on a couple of web forums and learned many of these products have passionate followers even if I had never heard of them. Was I missing out on a superior product????
Click to expand...


All you need is mineral oil and some Hoppes. Maybe a cloth with silicone. These people are making a small fortune off all this stuff.
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
 
Lots of time, research and final analysis involved .......... A project of commitment .

my choice of "stuff" has served me well. I`m good.
 
Great article! I stumbled onto from a recommendation on another site and have printed out your results/rankings for future reference and passing on to the sons. Thank you very much.
 
DIY-Guy wrote:
Smell/odor:

Because my primary passion is bowhunting followed by gun deer hunting, scent/odor is important to me. If a product stinks to high heaven I am less likely to use it even if it offers other benefits. Gauging odor is pretty subjective since something that smells bad to me might be appealing to the next person. I will evaluate odor as best as I can.
Click to expand...

If odor is a problem with a product, a lure scent or a cover scent, you might want to try an odor eliminator. I've used products from this seller chemicalguys.com and they have been very effective at getting all manner of odors out of fabric and upholstery.
 
1 quart acetone
1 quart mineral spirits
1 quart automatic transmission fluid
1 quart kerosene
Makes a gallon. Gas can works great for storage. I've been using this recipe for years. Cleans, lubricants and protects.
 
Thanks for the interesting test. I have used a number of them over the years and always come back to Ballistol. The bottom line for me, is my guns are in great shape no rust and all run fine. That said, I do not leave them outside other than a day of shooting or hunting without at least wiping them down or cleaning. I guess if they were out for 168hrs or one week at a time with out wiping off, I would choose a different product. I also use Ballistol in a Sonic Cleaner and it does a great job of lubricating without leaving any “resinification.”. Just a nice light lube for all parts like triggers etc. It works.
 
Down Range said:
1 quart acetone
1 quart mineral spirits
1 quart automatic transmission fluid
1 quart kerosene
Makes a gallon. Gas can works great for storage. I've been using this recipe for years. Cleans, lubricants and protects.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and a great way to clean your silencer is by soaking it in a mix of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Effective? Yes. Toxic and will probably give you cancer eventually? 100%.

“Mommy, how did grandpa get so sick?” Lmao

Also, this thread is from 2014. Probably time to lock and make it a sticky so it can stop getting resurrected..otherwise I’ll have to come back in another 5 years to straighten folks up...
 
It's nice to see this evaluation is still posted. It also looks like this evaluation has been ripped off and copied to more than one astroturf website shilling for at least two of the manufacturers mentioned here. Someone else seems to have built an entire blog site around it. DIY_guy, you can get a cease-and-desist letter from rocketlawyer pretty cheap.

Since I do all my cleaning in an unventilated basement, I was looking for something a little less toxic. I've been using FrogLube since this evaluation came out. A little does go a long way, since it's only now time to buy a refill. I was in for an interesting surprise when I went to buy more.

Lo and behold, today FrogLube claims that CLP is not the way to go; we should all be using separate cleaner and lube [1]. It's "MANDATORY." Using both is "not OPTIONAL." Why the sudden change of tune? They back their claim with some clips from Glock and Army manuals [3].

Hmmm, the the Glock link they provide is broken; the current Glock manual has no such prohibition on CLP [4], nor does the Glock preventative maintenance guide [5]. I can't find the "two care products are required at a minimum" excerpt they cite. (EDIT: I also checked my printed Glock manual from 1994. No such two-products commandment there, either.) The Army manual they cite [6], although outdated, clearly allows for CLP in all but arctic conditions, as does the current one.

FrogLube is beginning to smell less minty and more fishy. So I went fishing.

To make a long story short, the formula was never theirs to begin with, and after ousting the inventor and ending their partnership, they never quite replicated the formula [2] and quit using his trademarks. It's quite a soap opera.

Tracing the company history, it looks like the original formula is now copied by (or back home with) Seal1 [7] along with the CLP Plus trademarks [8]. FrogLube has quit making the original formula, possibly as a result of settling all the lawsuits [2]. Also, you can clean and lubricate roller coaster tracks with the stuff.

The Seal1 bottles are much bigger than the original FrogLube bottle, so maybe I'll post here again in eight years.

--JPS

[1] https://www.froglube.com/what-is-froglube
[2] https://granitestateguns.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/froglube-and-seal-1/#more-226
[3] https://dac4068f-eaff-4da8-bcda-175...d/aee514_656fd10e3e294d458a32c905e183b7d3.pdf
[4] https://us.glock.com/-/media/global...ction_for_use_g17-g48_en_112019-(1).pdf?la=en
[5] https://us.glock.com/-/media/global...-materials/preventative_maintenance.pdf?la=en
[6] http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/Army M16A2 and M4 manual.pdf
[7] https://vuurwapenblog.com/general-o...lube-tracklube-and-seal1-laboratory-analysis/
[8] https://seal1.net/
 
Last edited:
Down Range said:
1 quart acetone
1 quart mineral spirits
1 quart automatic transmission fluid
1 quart kerosene
Makes a gallon. Gas can works great for storage. I've been using this recipe for years. Cleans, lubricants and protects.
Click to expand...
And slowly kills you.
 
Ok, I'm sort of resurrecting an old topic here, but diyman if you could pick only ONE product to try and do it all for a shooter that wants to preserve guns, what would you pick? Based on the data you're showing, it looks like to me personally, that Hornady's One Shot is the best all around gun CLP? It's decent at preventing rust and corrosion, and I'm guessing with guns being stored under normal circumstances rust wouldn't be a problem with One Shot at all, whilst it provides excellent lubrication at the same time. Thoughts? Opinions?
 
JohnPlayerSpecial said:
..., today FrogLube claims that CLP is not the way to go; we should all be using separate cleaner and lube [1]. It's "MANDATORY." Using both is "not OPTIONAL." Why the sudden change of tune? They back their claim with some clips from Glock and Army manuals [3].

Hmmm, the the Glock link they provide is broken; the current Glock manual has no such prohibition on CLP [4], nor does the Glock preventative maintenance guide [5]. I can't find the "two care products are required at a minimum" excerpt they cite. (EDIT: I also checked my printed Glock manual from 1994. No such two-products commandment there, either.) The Army manual they cite [6], although outdated, clearly allows for CLP in all but arctic conditions, as does the current one.
Click to expand...

I should update my original post. Froglube has somewhat changed the "What is Froglube" paged I referenced. They still claim that "The use of BOTH a degreasing solvent and a lubricant for complete firearms maintenance is REQUIRED, not OPTIONAL," but it's not worded the way it used to be. The citations from the Glock and Army manuals are gone, replaced with "Professional references are replete with this mandate" instead. The Army's manuals still show use of CLP in all cases, except in arctic conditions. I have yet to find a gun manual with such a mandate.

Froglube is no longer the formula that DIY_guy tested. Seal1 does still use that formula, and the CLP-Plus trademarks. Frog Lube still claims that it's bio-based and food-grade, so maybe they just split the old formula into wintergreen (solvent) and vegetable oil (lubricant) and maybe it'll work just as well. It's just not the same thing anymore.

As an update, there is another company called Grizzly Gun Care that makes an all-in-one CLP [1]. They confirmed to me via email that it's the same product as Seal1. Seal1 makes it for them under a private label agreement.

If you like the old Froglube that scored so well in all DIY_guy's tests, go with Seal1, Grizzly Lube, or even TrackLube+.

adn258 said:
Ok, I'm sort of resurrecting an old topic here, but diyman if you could pick only ONE product to try and do it all for a shooter that wants to preserve guns, what would you pick? Based on the data you're showing, it looks like to me personally, that Hornady's One Shot is the best all around gun CLP? It's decent at preventing rust and corrosion, and I'm guessing with guns being stored under normal circumstances rust wouldn't be a problem with One Shot at all, whilst it provides excellent lubrication at the same time. Thoughts? Opinions?
Click to expand...

DIY_guy doesn't appear to have posted here in years. I hope he's seeing all the thanks for his hard work. I interpreted the results the same way you're interpreting them. If you want to use only one CLP instead of multiple cleaning products, two really stand out. The only question is if you do your cleaning outdoors (and don't mind the smell/exposure) or indoors.

JPS

[1] https://grizzlyguncare.com/
 
congratulations from Italy for the great effort you put into this test
Andrea
 
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