Lubrication Concept

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

I have been blessed with several bottles of Royal purple engine assembly lubricant. I have been using this on my slide rails as it is very sticky, stays in one place, slippery and seems to work well. I only put a thin layer on the rails and other bearing surfaces (barrel lugs, bushings, etc.) Is there a property of this lubricant/formula that makes it not a smart idea? I understand due to it's slightly sticky nature, it can pick up dust. However, 5 jars for free is better than a couple bucks for A tube of Tetra Grease.

PS I use about three different lubes on my guns:
Rem Oil (my observation is that it dries but leaves behind a film): Control parts and other fine parts.
CLP (barrel, finish, etc...)(also, after cleaning a barrel, then using CLP, I run a patch through after a week and wont believe the amount of lead/copper left behind after a through cleaning, patches coming out white).
Royal purple Assembly lube (on all heavy bearing surfaces).

 

[dhoomonyou]

EEZOX, great stuff.

 

[Tim the Enchanter]

If "Max-Tuff® Assembly Lube" is what you're using, the only problem I could imagine would be its 325 F flash point. I'm using multipurpose Valvoline grease for the same purpose (frame rails, locking lugs, etc.), no problems either. I suppose if I had royal purple, I'd use that.

Data Sheet
http://www.realtruck.com/shared/pdf/manufacturers/81/royalpurplemaxtuff_msds.pdf

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

Actually it is the Max-Tuff I think. I will have to check when I get home. I really dont let my guns run that hot, I dont use the stuff on my rifle. But with that possibility, thats scary. I thought it was Royal purple b/c its purple and was right next to the Royal purple oil (miracle for engines BTW, picked up an easy 1-2 MPG with the oil alone).

Man, now I'm afraid of "flaming out"!

 

[Tim the Enchanter]

That's the flash point, or lowest temperature at which something can burn. The autoignition temperature is > 600F. It would take more than a few mag dumps to get the gun hot enough, so its more of a theoretical danger.

Definitely not a good lubricant if you're hunting on Venus.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

5 jars for free is better than a couple bucks for A tube of Tetra Grease.

I understand that free is cheaper than a couple of bucks. Personally, I use simple lithium grease. At $4 for a 16 oz tube, the last tube lasted me 4 years until I lost it and had to replace it, and it wasn't half empty. I may have lubed guns 200 times in those 4 years plus car doors, house doors, etc. It wasn't like lubing was costing me so much that I missed out on a mean, sode, or bubblegum. So the financial expense of lubing is something I see as negliblbe. The real costs seem to be in what you use to clean guns.

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

Ive been thinking of using White Lithium. How is it in regards to dirt/grime collection?

Funny thing, I got the 5 tubes and not more than a day later, a friend told me he was considering rebulding his motorbike motor. To which I reply, do I have something for you... :Wheels and deals:

 

[Gun Slinger]

Guys,

The flashpoint is typically determined by the COC (Cleveland Open Cup) method and is defined as the lowest temperature at which a substance, in this case a petroleum derivative or synthetic basestock, will emit vapors/fumes that, if subjected to an ignition source, will ignite.

In most firearms applications this temperature (+325 F) is rarely achieved and if so, only for a very brief time as our guns tend to cool off rather quickly as they are exposed to open air. Even when these temperatures are achieved in modern firearms, they are usually so fleeting that a lubricant such as referred to above will not have sufficient time to generate the combustible fumes as the time of exposure is far too small for this to occur.

Lithium grease will work just fine on most firearms, but since they tend to have somewhat lower drop points than greases that use other thickeners that tend to be more resistant to heat, 'reversibilty' may become a factor that needs to be considered as well.

''Reversibility' is the grease's ability recombine/reabsorb the base oil with its thickening complex after exposure to higher temperature (shock) and extreme loads that causes the base fluid to run or "bleed out" from the thickening agent. There are better selections that allow near 100% (~80-99%) 'reversibility' that use either aluminum, bentone or polyurea and have higher temperature ratings and concurrently higher drop points and resistance to washout than lithium hydroxystearate (a soap) or similar lithium complexes (40-65%).

Aluminum complexes are the best in this regard, since they offer not only significantly higher 'drop points' and 'reversibility', but also an extremely high resistance to water washout (usually less than 1%). Stick with a NLGI II or I rating and you should be just fine.

I tend to stay away from RemOil simply because it is nearly 55% solvent (per its MSDS) the remainder being a "light" oil and way too thin for my liking. My personal preference is for Mobil 1 20w50 (VTWIN) since it is a pure PAO based synthetic that has quite a bit of Molybdenum in its formulation (an EP/AW additive) as well as ZDDP (also EP/AW) and it possesses an almost "grease-like" thickness viscosity even at higher ambient temperatures so that migration(dripping/running) isn't as much of an issue as it would be with a thinner oil.

Hope this helps,