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What's a good gun oil

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Be careful using WD40 on a gun that is left loaded. It has a way of killing gunpowder in chambered rounds. It may be fine for museum pieces that are going to be left unloaded and will be cleaned and properly lubed before they are ever fired, but it is probably not the best choice for the bedside pistol or HD gun.

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For those that use Mobil-1, do you use a separate cleaner? Do you use it as a protectant on the slide or other exposed metal surfaces?

 

Or do you use it only on friction areas?

 

I guess what I'm asking is, do you use it like you would use a CLP? 

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I don't understand this fascination with using motor oil, including Mobil 1, on firearms. What's so great about it? It stinks, it's a carcinogen, and it doesn't work any better than purpose designed gun lube/oil.

 

You can spend $2k on a rifle or $1k on a pistol but $12 for a bottle that will last you a year is too much?

 

Boggles my mind....

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No, sorry Dragline, not you specifically.

 

I see a lot of people post about using motor oil

nd I just don't get it. I mean in a pinch, sure. I've seen guns run on butter, vagisil, vegetable oil, urine, motor oil, KY. They'll all work if you have nothing else and you have to use something, but planning on using it routinely and on purpose? I just don't get it.

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Finding the best oil is like trying to figure out who shot JFK. You will go crazy trying to find out. 

 

I suspect the fascination with Mobil 1 is the marketing hype it has for engine use. I believe that any SAE motor oil of the same viscosity would perform just as well as Mobil 1. 

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Right.

It's not specifically Mobil 1 that perplexes me, it's motor oil in general. I just picked Mobil 1 because that's what I most often see. So, let me amend my perplexion.

Why would anyone use any motor oil on a firearm if they didn't have to?

(Previous posts edited to reflect all motor oil instead of just Mobil 1)

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I don't understand this fascination with using motor oil, including Mobil 1, on firearms. What's so great about it? It stinks, it's a carcinogen, and it doesn't work any better than purpose designed gun lube/oil.

 

You can spend $2k on a rifle or $1k on a pistol but $12 for a bottle that will last you a year is too much?

 

Boggles my mind....

Bingo! Ick! I've used G96 on my stuff for years unless a drop of gun oil was necessary. Never had any of my guns rusted, locked up or anything.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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First of all, motor oils are not carcinogenic until used in an engine for a while (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0048969783901328). As they come out of the bottle and used in firearms they are probably no more dangerous then any other oil.

 

Secondly, Mobil 1 specifically gets mentioned more often for being a synthetic oil and frankly not that unpleasant to work with, it doesn't stink or anything.

 

Lastly the why, or what I suspect to be the why. This stuff is around the house and costs $10 a quart as opposed to $10 per oz as some fancy gun oils can cost. Sumdood was out of SEALsweat or whatever the gun oil of the day was that day, tried motor oil and discovered that great truth that is that gun don't require ultra fancy oil to function. Cleaning or protection are different things, but actual oiling ... there are very few places more unpleasant for metal to be then the inside of an engine and motor oil unchanged for thousands of miles and about a hundred million of cycles seems to work there. Do we really think the relatively cool and slow moving gun parts need a lot more?

 

So I've tried and guess what? It worked fine in both pistols and rifles. No additional wear, no early disappearance of oil, no malfunctions, it worked just fine. Guns didn't look any dirtier, I had no jams, my gun didn't smell like it had a leaking head gasket.

 

Do I use it everyday? Nope, once I convinced myself it didn't matter, I went back to CLP because motor oil does not clean or protect, it just lubricates and I'm a lazy person and I can buy Breakfree in quart size containers.

 

As context, I've used probably every gun oil out there, including the expensive ones, as people like to give them out at major matches as samples. The only product I found to be noticeably better was Fireclean but it does cost $10/oz and I don't think it is that much better, plus its a CL not a CLP but I could live with that. Slip 2000 is probably a better lubricant, but again not a CLP and I can't be bothered.

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Maybe I am missing something, but I don't get this craziness about oil for a gun.  Compared to an engine a gun is a very slow motion light wear item with minimal lubrication issues.  Think about the cycles per second (ha ha in NJ) versus a car engine that is rotating at 2,000-7,000+ RPM.  Think about all the narrow passages in an engine versus two surfaces you can see and inspect on a gun.  Think about the expense and time to tear down an engine to inspect it versus the seconds it takes to open a gun up and inspect.  Think about that you never open up an engine to clean, but routinely do on a gun.  Bottom line the way I see it, if you open up and clean your gun even every third time you use it the lubrication issues and the need to special lubrication is minimal at best.

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For normal lubrication I use Mobil 1. It's my go to and I always have some in a syringe on my bench. I shoot almost every day when it's warm, and every range session I shoot more than most people do in a year, and I've never had a problem. Now if you have the need to lubricate a frog or some other funky thing just pretend Mobil 1 was created by a Seal and you shoot be good to go.

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Gun oil products most likely draw on the same sources of either high quality hydro-cracked mineral (group III) , PAO synthetic (group IV), or ester (group V) synthetic base stocks as automotive oil companies do. I highly doubt that a gun lube company has their own synthesis plants.

 

What it comes down to is which base is used, and the additive package. Each gun oil company may add their own special sauce to the base stock in order to impart qualities that they are looking for. This could be stuff like pressure protection additives, friction modifiers, detergents, viscosity modifiers, etc. The same applies to automotive oil. Two companies using the same Group III supply of base oil are only differentiated by the additive package they impart on the base.

 

With some web research, it can be found that some gun oils appear to be re-packaged lubricant products and just marketed for the gun industry. Not to say they are bad or anything, but it does lend legitimacy to using a good automotive oil as a gun oil.

 

Mobile 1 and Amsoil would be two good example oils using a high quality PAO Group IV base stock that would work well in any general lubrication duty such as firearms.

 

Some gun lubricants may also contain ester based group V ester based compositions either as a base or additive, which is very good at clinging to metal and has intrinsic deposit removing properties. I'm betting the new generation of "CLP" type gun products utilize esters. Redline racing oil is an example of an automotive oil that uses ester based chemistry. I may give this one a try as a gun lube now that I think of it...

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I believe there are situations where a gun lube product is just a re-branded version of a commercial lube product that is not available to normal consumers in retail packaging. This is akin to purchasing 55 gallon drums in bulk of a commercial lubricant, packaging it in a consumer friendly way, creating a distribution/retail channel for it, and marketing the hell out of it.

 

I also believe there are products that did undergo some semblance of purpose-formulation for the gun market. This would mean a company actually has scientists and engineers taking commercially available base oils and chemicals and blending a product specifically to offer performance when used in firearms applications.

 

Which are which are difficult to discern as both types of companies like to keep their secrets ... both for different reasons. MSDS sheets give just a glimpse of what may be under the covers.

 

There seems to be indications that something like Slip EWL is an example of the first scenario.... a repackaged commercial lubricant... most likely a food grade synthetic. So there is a good chance that if we can figure out which one it is, do a group buy on a bulk purchase, we could be swimming in Slip EWL for pennies on the dollar for what they charge for their product.

 

Something interesting is that PAO and PAG are both used as food grade lubricant bases. They are fairly non-toxic. Alkylated benzene is another Group V oil that is pretty much non-hazardous. For the most part, its the additive packages that would carry toxicity if any. This is why although a motor oil such as Mobile 1 using a PAO base can still be bad for you in terms of prolonged skin contact, etc.

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Oil or lube has two main purposes; lubricate metal and prevent rust.  Of course, there are other minutiae benefits too, but those are the big 2.

 

That said, motor oil is designed to lubricate and not shear under pressure, will withstand higher temps without viscosity breakdown, remain viscous/flowing when very cold and is designed to live in a carbon, metal and heated environment.  Also, it will flow into nooks and crannies.  Makes sense, yes?

 

The reason I use Mobil 1 or any synthetic oil is that it works over a wider temp range than conventional oil and it resists breakdown due to shearing a lil better too.

 

At the end of the day, any oil that can stay on and prevent metal to metal contact should be fine.  Some oils just last longer than others.  Whatever you use, just make sure the oil is always present, where it needs to be.

 

 

Eric

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I believe there are situations where a gun lube product is just a re-branded version of a commercial lube product that is not available to normal consumers in retail packaging. This is akin to purchasing 55 gallon drums in bulk of a commercial lubricant, packaging it in a consumer friendly way, creating a distribution/retail channel for it, and marketing the hell out of it.

 

I also believe there are products that did undergo some semblance of purpose-formulation for the gun market. This would mean a company actually has scientists and engineers taking commercially available base oils and chemicals and blending a product specifically to offer performance when used in firearms applications.

 

Which are which are difficult to discern as both types of companies like to keep their secrets ... both for different reasons. MSDS sheets give just a glimpse of what may be under the covers.

 

There seems to be indications that something like Slip EWL is an example of the first scenario.... a repackaged commercial lubricant... most likely a food grade synthetic. So there is a good chance that if we can figure out which one it is, do a group buy on a bulk purchase, we could be swimming in Slip EWL for pennies on the dollar for what they charge for their product.

 

Something interesting is that PAO and PAG are both used as food grade lubricant bases. They are fairly non-toxic. Alkylated benzene is another Group V oil that is pretty much non-hazardous. For the most part, its the additive packages that would carry toxicity if any. This is why although a motor oil such as Mobile 1 using a PAO base can still be bad for you in terms of prolonged skin contact, etc.

Good post, Dan.

 

 

Eric

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Be careful using WD40 on a gun that is left loaded. It has a way of killing gunpowder in chambered rounds. It may be fine for museum pieces that are going to be left unloaded and will be cleaned and properly lubed before they are ever fired, but it is probably not the best choice for the bedside pistol or HD gun.

 

H. E., do you know of anyone that actually had gunpowder/primer killed by oil?

 

Read the following - I wouldn't claim that one guy farting around with a couple boxes of ammo is a rigorous test, but it does put doubt in my mind that gunpowder/primers can be contaminated by having WD40 or other kinds of oil sitting on the rounds:

 

http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-39-oil-vs-primers/

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How does one apply lube incorrectly. 

follow the instructions on the bottle. It can be time consuming the first time around but the following applications of lube are just apply and wipe while using VERY LITTLE lube.

 

After its applied, cleaning after an afternoon of shooting is as simple as a wipe down

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Did you ever read the directions on Militec?

 

I just looked it up and laughed, because step 2 makes no sense. Guns don't warm up equally everywhere all the time. 

 

I'm far more interested in the firearms oiling instructions, then the oil's because the firearm may have peculiarities and certain contact points that need attention. An oil claiming to magically activate the same way everywhere you apply due to heat which will be different in all locations doesn't strike me as being something I care to listen to. 

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