The Myth that WD40 is bad for guns

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castile

castile

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I have heard all this clap trap over 38 years of using WD for my you guessed it guns. All this crap about WD leaving behind a residue is bunk. What WD does is to dissolve grease and gunk in and around your gun. It will then drip out and if the WD evaporates it will leave the grease and gunk it had dissolved in it. from the WD manufacture site fact page "Myth: WD-40® Multi-Use Product is not really a lubricant.

Fact: While the “W-D” in WD-40® stands for Water Displacement, WD-40® Multi-Use Product is a unique, special blend of lubricants. The product’s formulation also contains anti-corrosion agents and ingredients for penetration, water displacement and soil removal."

Myth: WD-40® contains fish oil.

Fact: Consumers have told us over the years that they have caught some of the biggest fish ever after protecting their fish hooks and lures with WD-40®. We believe this legend came from folks assuming that the product must contain fish oil since it appears to attract fish. Sorry Charlie®, it just ain’t so.

WD-40 Company has taken steps to respect and conserve the environment, and encourages its users to do the same. While WD-40® can be used to help protect fishing equipment from rust and corrosion, WD-40 Company does not recommend using WD-40® to attract fish.

For long term storage which I have done for over 38 years I use a zip lock bag and all metal mags and the like spray a bit of WD and lock it up. Keeps them nice for long term. The brown oil in the bottom is the gunk the WD has liberated from the metal mags ect. I will also put in a bit of rigs grease to my spray bottle and dissolve it and spray guns and the like that are not going to be zip locked. The light oil left behind after evaporation is not that great for long term storage. The rigs grease works well.
 
GBExpat said:
OK. Thanks for taking the time to share that.
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Nice sarcasm, duly noted and dismissed. I have read several older posts on this and other sites that could limit newbies to what they can use if they read some BS about how WD leaves behind gum or other garbage. Because you have made up your mind one way or the other does not mean others have. It always amazes me how some people have to comment when they have nothing useful to say. It says more about them then the comment does about the subject.
 
My gunsmith is in his eighties and has been working on guns since the 1950's. He is an excellent gunsmith and I have full confidence in his skills and opinions. I stopped by his shop about a year ago and he was working on a Remington Model 1100 that wouldn't function. He showed me the action that had been all gunked up with WD-40. The little levers in the action would not move. He said he has repaired more inoperative automatic shotguns by a thorough cleaning after their owners had been spraying WD-40 into them than for any other cause. If I dropped a gun in the water or was hunting in the rain I might use WD-40 as an emergency water-displacing agent to keep it from rusting until I got home but it would be followed by a thorough cleaning to get the WD-40 out of the action and a thorough re-lubrication with a quality gun oil.
 
I don't doubt that a lot of false assumptions have been made about the effect of WD-40 on guns. I wouldn't be really surprised if it's nearly total bunk but there is enough negative speculation about it that I will try to avoid using it on my guns. Rem oil is nearly as available and close enough to the same price that I don't know which is higher, so why risk it?

Basically, I kind of doubt WD-40 is bad for guns, but I can't think of a good reason to find out (via personal experience) if I'm wrong.
 
texagun said:
My gunsmith is in his eighties and has been working on guns since the 1950's. He is an excellent gunsmith and I have full confidence in his skills and opinions. I stopped by his shop about a year ago and he was working on a Remington Model 1100 that wouldn't function. He showed me the action that had been all gunked up with WD-40. The little levers in the action would not move. He said he has repaired more inoperative automatic shotguns by a thorough cleaning after their owners had been spraying WD-40 into them than for any other cause. If I dropped a gun in the water or was hunting in the rain I might use WD-40 as an emergency water-displacing agent to keep it from rusting until I got home but it would be followed by a thorough cleaning to get the WD-40 out of the action and a thorough re-lubrication with a quality gun oil.
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Anecdotal evidence. I have heard this story before many times and its always the same. I have had this happen on some of my used guns and its the same thing. The WD dissolves the grease and other material already there and moves it to other places. WD evaporates and leaves the dissolved material behind. Its like someone taking an aspirin and then finding out their cancer went into remission. Its not causality. On very clean guns I have used it for years and seen no evidence of it leaving behind any gum. I have used it on my bike chains since 1972 and if what you say was true it would build up with gum. It does not. I have used WD on my Savage 6 22 since it was given to me in the 60s and its as good as it was the day I received it. And that gun has some small parts in it. I also use WD to dissolve dirt and grease and drain it out to clean without taking a gun apart. What your gun smith has done is actually prove what I have seen in my experience. He also has misjudged what happened. I don't doubt that the gun was gummed up but it was not WD that caused it directly. It was that WD is a light lub and will dissolve the grease and grime already there move it through gravity to other parts collect up and then as it evaporates leaves behind the grim and grease that was already there.
 
So here's the story.

"WD-40's formula is a trade secret. To avoid disclosing its composition, the product was not patented in 1953, and the window of opportunity for patenting it has long since closed.[4][7] WD-40's main ingredients as supplied in aerosol cans, according to U.S. Material Safety Data Sheet information, are:

  • 50% "aliphatic hydrocarbons". The manufacturer's website claims this ratio in the current formulation cannot accurately be described as Stoddard solvent, a similar mixture of hydrocarbons.[8]
  • <25% petroleum base oil. Presumably a mineral oil or light lubricating oil.
  • 12–18% low vapor pressure aliphatic hydrocarbon. Reduces the liquid's viscosity so that it can be used in aerosols. The hydrocarbon evaporates during application.
  • 2–3% carbon dioxide. A propellant which is now used instead of the original liquefied petroleum gas to reduce WD-40's flammability.
  • <10% inert ingredients.
The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant ingredients:

It warns of the product's high flammability and the risk of irritation to human skin when repeatedly exposed to WD-40. Nitrile rubber gloves and safety glasses should be worn (ordinary rubber disintegrates if exposed to petroleum products). It also mentions that water is unsuitable for extinguishing burning WD-40.

In 2009, Wired published an article with the results of gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy tests on WD-40, claiming that its ingredients make it resistant to freezing.[9]"

It's certainly not the best long term storage lube but neither is it as damaging as some think. I don't use it because it's long term staying power
Is poor. I use a mixture of synthetic oil and atf plus a fine brush with M1 grease depending on how long the guns going to be inactive. If something
needs loosening up I use Kroil.

 
I use WD40 and have for decades. I prefer using it for water displacement and cleaning adhesive type of goo. That's for anything, not just guns.

For lube or metal protection? I use a thicker oil as it stays in place much longer than WD40. The same goes for RemOil. RecOil is just too thin for anything other than lubing tiny points where I need the lube to "wick" into place.

Of course, I live near the Gulf Coast (with mild winters) so that is why my preference for thicker oil or even grease.
 
It will form a hard deposit if left long enough. This is my own experience, not someone told me it would. It wasn't a gun but I had to scrape the stuff off to remove it. I like WD-40. It's excellent for a number of uses. Long term protection where it can dry out it isn't.
 
I agree and have never said that WD is a great or the best for long term storage. My preference is Rigs grease. What my post was about is the myth that WD is damaging to guns. I also use WD as a barrel cleaner. It will loosen up the carbon deposits well. I then flush it out with a spray and let it drip into a cloth. then a swab of 3in1 oil for a heavier coat of oil. One can also use heavier oil such as synthetic oil and others diluted in WD. Sparayed on with spray bottle. I buy WD in the gallon can and mix it with other things. Spray it on as a rust inhibitor. I know there are other things and they are fine. Its the causality myth that WD damages guns. I also understand if some don't want to use it. But its just not true that its bad for metal or guns.
 
doubleh said:
It will form a hard deposit if left long enough. This is my own experience, not someone told me it would. It wasn't a gun but I had to scrape the stuff off to remove it. I like WD-40. It's excellent for a number of uses. Long term protection where it can dry out it isn't.
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WD does not leave a varnish like residue. What ever you used it on it mixed and diluted other grease or gum maybe that you could not see. It then will evaporate and leave it accumulated in the low spots. There is no varnish or other things that will gum up anything. People use WD all the time to clean gum and sticky things by dissolving it. It will work like a goo be gone.
 
What exactly is your pint of this thread? It is not anything new and has been bantered about since time began:)

Why not just post a link to the WD 40 home page? They actually have all this "information" there. The company also has new formulations which are even better for specific purposes.

Now the big quiz is what does the "40" stand for and what was the product used for back in the Cold War days;)

I use a lot of original WD 40 and have even bought it by he gallon!

Lets discuss Duct Tape now.

http://www.wd40company.com/about/history/

http://wd40.com/
 
Rule3 said:
What exactly is your pint of this thread? It is not anything new and has been bantered about since time began:)

Why not just post a link to the WD 40 home page? They actually have all this "information" there. The company also has new formulations which are even better for specific purposes.

Now the big quiz is what does the "40" stand for and what was the product used for back in the Cold War days;)

I use a lot of original WD 40 and have even bought it by he gallon!

Lets discuss Duct Tape now.

http://www.wd40company.com/about/history/

http://wd40.com/
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What is the point of your comment? If you think its not a subject that needs comment or posting why did you comment on it? Did you not participate in what you are implying does not need discussion?
 
castile said:
WD does not leave a varnish like residue. What ever you used it on it mixed and diluted other grease or gum maybe that you could not see. It then will evaporate and leave it accumulated in the low spots. There is no varnish or other things that will gum up anything. People use WD all the time to clean gum and sticky things by dissolving it. It will work like a goo be gone.
Click to expand...

You're Wrong.

Take a clean piece of glass. Spray a bunch of WD-40 on it. Now let it sit for a week. Repeat.

Now notice the nice gummy varnish left behind. Where did that come from?
 
Cannibul said:
You're Wrong.

Take a clean piece of glass. Spray a bunch of WD-40 on it. Now let it sit for a week. Repeat.

Now notice the nice gummy varnish left behind. Where did that come from?
Click to expand...
Not true at all. I doubt you have even tried this. Your most likely just repeating things you heard and want to believe are true. You know Santa and the Easter bunny, show me one credible experiment showing it leaves varnish or gum. You can not find one.
 
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Cannibul said:
Actually I have tried it.
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You are giving a perfect false conclusion. What have you done? Unless you took photos and show the timeline and can be considered unbiased which by your comment is far from a good conclusion your saying it is so carries the same weight as is is not is is not banter.
 
One must use common sense in many things. This is no different. If it were the case that WD was carrying a varnish or gum substance it would have caused a lot of damage. I also don't believe that WD cures arthritis.

2dviird.jpg
 
Why all the belligerence and confrontation? You have your opinion. Other's have theirs. The value of WD40 has been debated here over and over. This is literally an oil versus water issue that will not be solved here by animosity.
 
Castile, are you a gunsmith? No, you are not. I am. And I will tell you that WD-40 is not a good gun lubricant. I made a lot of money over the the years from people who think it is. Every year they'd spray WD-40 over the CLP I put in their guns they brought in because they they'd used WD-40 the year before. They'd usually accompany the gun with a story of how they missed the buck of a lifetime because the gun didn't go off. Then I'd disassemble it and find the inside gooped up with WD-40. I'd detail clean it, relube correctly with BreakFree CLP and lithium grease where needed, and write clearly on the tag, "DO NOT LUBE WITH WD-40!!!" Then I'd see them come in again after hunting season with a WD-40 gooped up gun. This happened many times, over several years, so it is not merely anecdotal.So keep lubing your guns with WD-40, people; your gunsmith is counting on it.......:rolleyes:

I will add that I do use WD-40 as a fish attractant for ice fishing. The crappies go wild over it.
 
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