Grease

The downside of grease is oil turns it into a milky substance. If you lubricate your guns with only grease they will last longer

Traditionally, if it slides grease it; if it turns oil it. Some guns are truly grease guns and some just don't need it.

Generally the manufacture's advice is pretty good.

I used grease until I started having failures in the cooler weather on one of my guns (a 22 pistol). Now I just use oil for pistols, specifically eezox. For a carry gun the grease spreads and ends up on clothes whereas I have less of an issue with oil.

Rifles still get grease on sliding interfaces.

J.

ku4hx said:

Traditionally, if it slides grease it; if it turns oil it.

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What about wheel bearings?

what you have to remember is grease attracts dirt and burnt powder so it best to keep it at a minim. Your gun is not your car, you don't have to pack the bearings and grease the fittings' the parts on a gun really move very little and have somewhat loose tolerances. lubiplate is an excellent grease as it does not wash out with water but how often are you washing your gun?

I use terra grease because it is designed for plastic and it has a tiny tip on the tube which makes applications easier

Slide Glide

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I use a small bit of grease on the rails of all my guns. It does seem to help reduce wear markings over CLP/oil alone. Any kind of lithium based grease will work in normal temperature ranges...

kokapelli said:

What about wheel bearings?

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Inside a wheel bearing are a whole bunch of parts that slide against one another.

@ kokapelli: Aside from the fact that wheel bearings do have pieces that slide against each other, there is the practical aspect to applications of pretty much anything.

If you can design a wheel bearing to hold oil and not leak out, it would no doubt work pretty well. There are oil filled shaft bearings.

Personally, I want my guns to be as simple as possible and not need anything special or exotic. That's one reason Glocks appeal to me far more than "grease guns" which I also own a number of. For my Glocks, six drops of 3 in 1 oil has served me well since 1991 and my first Glock, a model 20. And that's what Glock recommends ... six drops of oil.

I do use grease though, mainly on the slide of my S&W 1006 my Aluminum framed guns. I still have memories of galling that a little dab of stainless steel specific grease prevents.

beatledog7 said:

Inside a wheel bearing are a whole bunch of parts that slide against one another.

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I think if you close you will find they are actually roller bearings that roll instead of sliding.

kokapelli said:

I think if you close you will find they are actually roller bearings that roll instead of sliding.

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Ideally, the bearings roll. But there is no perfect bearing, so some sliding occurs. And, as ku4hx noted, it can be difficult to get a wheel bearing to be leak free. Many large trucks/trailers have bearings with oil, and they typically have sight glasses because--well, they leak.

As far as grease and temperature extremes, oil is also affected, and frankly I don't want to be out shooting in temps that cause my slide/bolt lug grease to either gum up or cook off.

beatledog7 said:

Ideally, the bearings roll. But there is no perfect bearing, so some sliding occurs. And, as ku4hx noted, it can be difficult to get a wheel bearing to be leak free. Many large trucks/trailers have bearings with oil, and they typically have sight glasses because--well, they leak.

As far as grease and temperature extremes, oil is also affected, and frankly I don't want to be out shooting in temps that cause my slide/bolt lug grease to either gum up or cook off.

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Sounds right to me.

Personally I think people make way too much out of lubing guns.
Wear and tear on guns is not even close to what it is in motors and other industrial equipment and I think pretty much any oil will work pretty well.

I used nothing but a good industrial dry lube on my guns for years and never had a problem, but have switched to Gunzilla because it is a terrific cleaner and seems to do a good job of lubing as well.

ku4hx said:

Traditionally, if it slides grease it; if it turns oil it. Some guns are truly grease guns and some just don't need it.

Generally the manufacture's advice is pretty good.

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I agrree if it slides grease it if it rolls oil it.

+1 Gunzilla

My front wheel bearing use grease and the rear wheel bearings are oiled. I guess the auto makers couldn't figure it out either...

My range guns run fairly wet with Breakfree LP on the rails. For carry, I still use LP on my revolver and semi internals but the slides get a thin application of grease (or LP, depends on what's on the table when I'm cleaning).

Kokapelli, in tapered wheel bearings (like on conventionally spindled front wheels) the rollers have to slide as well as turn, as the rollers themselves are not conical, which would be necessary to turn with no sliding action across the conical race faces.

So they get grease.

Somebody needs to take a closer look at their bearings next time they're out for a clean and repack.

Oil flows and grease doesn't (generally).

Guns do not (typically) have an inbuilt mechanism for reflowing displaced lubricant and should therefore be greased.

If you oil a gun, you can expect to have to relube it more frequently as the lubricant is easily displaced. This is not a problem (and may indeed be desireable) in a regularly used range gun but will almost certainly be a problem in a carry gun that sits a long time and is expected to still perform at a moment's notice.

It is frequently inconvenient to grease certain gun parts (hammer pivot, etc.) because they require significant disassembly for access. On these parts it's more convenient to use oil when the gun receives regular light maintenance. This is probably where the idea about greasing sliding parts and lubing rotating parts comes from. The sear gets oiled automagically when the hammer pivot is lubed.

In any case, the last time I checked my gun doesn't have wheels, much less wheel bearings... but wheel bearings are usually greased because it is often unreasonably and unnecessarily costly and complicated to build an oil bath or oil pump into a wheel hub to avoid the utterly absurd maintenance costs that would be associated with oiling parts without such provisions.

Originally Posted by ku4hx View Post
Traditionally, if it slides grease it; if it turns oil it.

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Same here. I don't go crazy on the grease, a thin layer is all that is needed. Didn't get a gun grease, just a synthetic I picked up at the auto parts store.

There's only one place on a Glock where grease might be o.k....where the trigger bar engages the connector; otherwise, you'll find that Mobil 1, or any other good synthetic motor oil doesn't "turn milky." I lube all my firearms with Mobil 1, 15W50. It's particularly good at lubing ARs, as it won't cook off like thinner, firearms "specialty" oils will.

I had an AMT Longslide Hardballer back in the 80s, notorious for galling in the slide. I was also a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force at the time and always greased the slide rails with some aircraft grease and never had a problem- the rails and slide still looked new even after almost a thousand rounds of 45 ACP.

It sounds like in your question that you're asking about the suitability of grease for polymer framed guns. The gun may have polymer components but in the end it's steel sliding against steel on the inside.

My front wheel bearing use grease and the rear wheel bearings are oiled. I guess the auto makers couldn't figure it out either...

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Front bearings are packed in grease because oil bath systems are generally higher $ to mfg. and have a bigger hub that looks ugly with rims and hubcaps. These systems are seen on large truck tires that have bud or Daytona rim's the oil bath system is a better system and can go higher mileage with less maintance.
bearing grease has more fiber in it and can stand high temps, lubiplate is white lithium grease is water resistant and won't wash out and can handle higher temps the reg grease but not as high as the bearing grease.
Any oil is fine because you will never get a gun so hot the oil will bake on. Generally you have to get up in the 500 deg point before oil starts to gum up

I use high temp lithium grease on the sliding parts and oil on the fulcrum parts.