[tacostacostacostacos]

OK. I am a totally complete newbie (to both this forum and handguns in paticular). I bought a Glock and oiled it up with CLP. I figue...hmmm...mags are hard to load...let me shoot a littl clp into the spring thing....later I learned this is not good.

Well, now I find that any ammo I leave in the gun (in case its needed for HD) seems to keep a bit of oil around the primers, and it concerns me that they may not fire in a "need to fire" situation. Anyone have any friendly advice, and/or just want to call me stupid? :D

[treeprof]

Disassemble the mags, clean out all of the oil. Penetrating oils are those most likely to cause probs in the short-term, but don't chance it. Leaving the mags loaded, and repeated (un)loadings, will ease the task of stuffing in the ammo.

[Jim K]

Shoot up the ammo that you suspect might have been oiled, then buy fresh ammo and load the magazines back up.

Most of the problems associated with penetrating oil on the primers came from the habit of some police officers of opening their revolvers, spraying gun and ammo with a penetrant and closing up, and doing that day after day. Still, any oil or penetrant around primers is not a good idea; factory primers are sealed but handloads are generally not.

Magazines should be dry inside. If you have oil in them, disassemble them and dry them thoroughly with a cloth; enough oil will remain for a preservative. Oil in a magazine might make loading a tad easier, but oil attracts dirt and dust, and eventually the inside of the magazine cruds up. Also, oiling the gun is often overdone. On an auto pistol, a few drops of gun oil on the slide rails and a few more in the lockwork are plenty. No matter what some folks seem to think, you don't need to pour oil on it until it is dripping, or slather on grease until it looks like a slice of buttered toast.

Jim

[P95Carry]

Jim summed that up just fine but I'll add - you really, really, have to go pretty mad to have so much oil around that primers will get trashed!!!

True tho - mag should be all but dry - an internal wipe with a CLP impregnated cloth, and reassemble, will be all you need - no more.

Less is more :)

[akluvr]

There was a local cop that always prided himself for having an extremely clean sidearm. He answered a call one day for a bank robbery in progress. When he pulled up to the bank, he exited his cruiser with gun in hand. He saw the bad guy coming out of the bank looking the other way, definately had the drop on him. He yells freeze, bad guy swings his way with a 12 guage shotgun. Joe double taps bad guy and all that happens is click click. No bang. Bad guy puts 00 buck in Joe. Joe lived to give enough info on the guy to get him caught, but died later that evening. It was found later that Joe's secret to keeping his gun so clean was WD 40. Penetrating oils are the worst thing to use in the world to keep in your gun as a lubricant. Good info from the other guys in the thread, but I learned from this lesson not to use the stuff and hope others will too.

[Rockstar]

If you squirted CLP all over your Glock's innards, you should go to glockmeister.com, under "free services" and learn to detail strip the slide. You then need to completely degrease the slide, particularly the firing pin and extractor plunger channels, and leave them dry.

Follow Glock's instructions, and only apply four or five SMALL drops of oil to the correct places on your Glock. There should be no oil in the mags.

[XD Dude]

Are XD mags the same?

[Smokey Joe]

Aklvr--I'm saddened that this piece of knowledge came at the price of an LEO's life, one who was obviously doing his duty, going into harm's way, serving and protecting the rest of us. Having had it so demonstrated, we need to give it special heed.

New to autoloaders (I've been a revolver man) now I'll never oil a mag in my life. Clean? Yes. Oil? No. If I wear out a mag or a spring or 2, so be it. And I'll probably give a thought or 2 to Joe whenever I do clean out a mag. (Little icon showing American flag at half-mast.)

[akluvr]

This happened just as I had gotten out of the academy. As young pups, the old timers had this aura about them. Joe had more time on the small dept. he worked for than most of us had been alive, in some instances more than two of us. Pretty crazy. My academy commander saw me about a week after the funeral and said "What did I tell you about WD 40?". The weird thing about it was, it was before technology caught up with us and all we had was Hoppes product. That was where I learned the "thin coat and then wipe it off" way to lube the gun. Good advice. Never have had a problem.

[Bobo]

Check this out, by Teddy Jacobson, a renowned gunsmith;
http://actionsbyt.blogspot.com/2004/09/seal-your-primers-and-more.html

[Rockstar]

Teddy's a great action guy, but he doesn't even claim to be a gunsmith. He's reputed to be about the best for action jobs.

Just read Teddy's tips about the fingernail polish. I don't believe that fingernail polish is impervious to "any penetrating oil." Probably o.k. for water. (But Teddy does do great action jobs.)

[Roadkill]

An older gentleman brought me a 1906 Colt .32 long for mainspring replacement, there were six rounds in it that had been there since he bought the gun in 1956. He had taken good care of the gun, used sewing machine oil on it, very clean. After I found and replaced the mainspring I bought him a new box of ammo and fired the old six. Every one went off with one delayed ignition. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not.

rk

[shooter1]

Rockstar gave some really good advice. Misfires are almost a certainty if oil has leached into the firing pin channel. Ditch the ammo, strip and clean the gun. Then a light lube on the bearing surfaces. Good to go!!
str1

[Rezin]

Glad I found this thread. I just had a friend extoll his WD-40 as THE way to keep guns clean. I even bought a can (Have NOT used it yet)

I have been using break-free CLP to clean and oil... Looking into more thourough methods.

Suggestions are welcomed.

[mete]

I would never use WD-40 for anything ...Don't use a lube with a penetrant ,that's what kills the primers. The "American Rifleman" some years back had a detailed article about this .They tested many gun cleaners and lubes that were available....Most shooters use too much lube you only need 1 or 2 drops on a rail !

[Jim K]

WD-40 has another drawback as a gun preservative/cleaner. If it is sprayed on and the gun left in a humid area, the WD-40 itself will mildew, leaving nasty little splotches in the gun steel. Note I said IN, not ON. The mildew eats into the metal, wrecking the finish. It will also mildew and destroy wood if left on.

So, IMHO, WD-40 is OK for stuff like garage door tracks and car springs, but don't use it on guns.

Jim

[grendelbane]

WD-40 does have one good firearm use. If your gun ever goes for a swim, you can spray it down with WD-40 to protect it until you get home and get in a nice comfortable spot for detail stripping and cleaning.

WD stands for water displacing. :)

[Tropical Z]

Thats why I like Russian ammo,sealed bullet and primer!

[Ken Rainey]

Wow, Jim, Mildew???...haven't heard of that before....I've used WD-40 (or generic equivilents) as a gun cleaner for 25 years with excellent results....learned it from my Uncle who was a gunsmith for 25 years. I also use motor oil as a lubricant - a synthetic nowadays - Amsoil, since I'm a dealer for it.

How long does WD-40 take to mildew? How much humidity are you talking about ?

Thanks,
Ken

[Jim K]

On the WD-40 mildew, I am talking about below grade basement, but carpeted and dry, not water on floor or weeping walls. WD-40 wrecked the finish on a couple of pistols and a TSMG. Nasty little areas of pitting where the stuff was in drops. Also white mildew on wood stocks that got some overspray.

I have been using G96 Gun Treatment instead for some time now, with no problem of any kind, and it is a better penetrant for loosening up screws and the like.

Jim

[Ken Rainey]

Wow, how long did that take to happen? Were the guns dirty or handled and then just sprayed with it or were they clean and sprayed with it? Were they cold and then sweated? I'm just trying to get the details straight so I can completely understand the situation it happened in......


Thanks again,
Ken