Revolvers as "oil wells?"

I put a couple drops on the locking points and grease the base pin/ejector rod.

I like to lightly oil parts that rotate and parts that slide.

Oil wipes off easier than rust.

Once per year or every thousand rounds, which ever comes first, gun is taken apart, oil drops, cleaning.

Otherwise it’s just spray silicone on a rag for wipe down, or a patch down a bore for cast bullet shooting guns.

A December or January evening with the fireplace lit and a gun disassembled on the coffee table. America baby!

After a cleaning I fill the teeth of the star and end of the ejector rod with high pressure bearing grease. I put a few drops of oil on the following locations: the cylinder stop, the slot for the pawl/hand, the hammer and trigger where they emerge from the frame, on the ejector rod where it goes into the crane, at the junction between crane and cylinder and on the ejector rod under the star. Work this all in with a few double acting dry fires and then whip the excess off of the outside. I typically err to the side of too much rather than too little lubrication.

J-Bar said:

Oil wipes off easier than rust.

Click to expand...

This... Revolves require pretty much zero lube to function. But revolvers are much harder to clean than auto's. Most rust i have seen comes from condensation, not directly getting wet. Lots of revolvers look good on the outside but orange on the inside. Over oiling helps. Aside from that, oil won't hurt one, aside from the wood on the grips, and makes it easier to clean. Just wipe the surface when your using it. I heavily over oil mine, and am often criticized for it by the guys with rusty, frequently malfunctioning guns.

Just like the old Brylcreem commercials: "A little dab a do ya."

What you want , however is a non drying or non hardening long term grease or oil. Oils that congeal or dry out or harden overtime are a real problem to revolvers. Balistol is very friendly. Some of the newer synthetic greases like Slip 2000 ect. are SUPPOSED to not harden long term. I have had other wonder greases freeze up revolvers after 5-10 years of sitting or light dry firing every so often. Balistol does not. Modern Rem Oil is not supposed to, older Rem oil did congeal after years.

Many years ago the only thing I used on revolers or any gun was WD-40 but I've been told that was wrong. Never had any problems though and those guns were out in the weather alot. Just use Outers ,Remoil or Hoppes now and very little of them. The little bottle of Outers Oil that I have is about 35 years old and it is still a fine oil.

Alan Tanaka (AT Gunworks, American Pistolsmith's Guild) told me decades ago to remove the side plate once a year, add a drop of oil to each pin, and blow it through the works with compressed air. That has worked for me ever since.

Unless the gun is brand new or had been rinsed off with brake cleaner, I just wipe them off with an oily rag every time I handle them. Plenty of that oil will get to the places it needs to go. If the gun is sooty black, I may spray the whole gun with oil before I wipe it down and store it. If the gun is new, I put a drop or two down the hammer and up in the trigger....For the most part ,I dont put too much thought or effort in revolver oiling.

Yeah I go light oil on mine. A little concerned that the oil could penatrate the ammo and render it useless. But hey maybe im over thinking things.

For lube, usually just a touch on the ejector rod. I wipe my blued guns down with an oiled rag after handling them. That's about it, for me.

I use a single drop dispenser to deliver oil where needed and a pipe cleaner to apply and spread grease. I find it takes very little to keep a gun running smoothly and rust free. (Note: I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning my guns. Probably a hold over from shooting black powder.)

Jeff

BullRunBear said:

I use a single drop dispenser to deliver oil where needed and a pipe cleaner to apply and spread grease. I find it takes very little to keep a gun running smoothly and rust free. (Note: I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning my guns. Probably a hold over from shooting black powder.)

Jeff

Click to expand...

Yeah, blackpowder guns are a different beast, aren't they. When I take a percussion revolver to the range I usually put a hundred rounds of paper cartridges through it, which means that the gun is absolutely filthy when we get home. I have not yet tried the grease-packing method with mine, so I completely disassemble them, wash every bit with hot water, and when it is dry I reassemble it with fingers coated in Ballistol. This gets a nice film everywhere without anything being dripping wet. I suspect that if a fellow was to go digging around in the guts of his smokeless revolvers the technique would work just as well.

I run everything pretty soggy. I spray CLP or what ever spray lube I have at the time in. Every gun I use gets torn all the way down at least once a year tho, so the accumulated crud gets cleaned out regularly.

I used to be a Rem Oil or Hoppes Oil kind of guy until I discovered Cleanzoil. It is the best lube I have ever found; it doesn't evaporate, lubricates well, and is an awesome rust inhibitor.

https://clenzoil.com/

The good folks at the Kenockee Tradin Post in Avoca, MI recommended this product a few years ago; they were right!

Oh, and I just oil the bearing surfaces on my guns; revolvers get a dab of oil on the crane, hand, etc. Works well for me; it has been my experience that over lubrication leads to your firearm becoming a dust collector while concealed carrying/carrying in the field. But, to each his own.

I rub an oily rag on the outside to coat the metal, then put a drop of Hoppe's oil on the ejector rod and work it a few times.

I'm always skeptical about putting oil on the hand... seems like a good way to attract dirt to somewhere you don't want it.

I apply oil with toothpicks, clean it up with Q-tips.

I'm a big fan of "a dab'll do ya".

(Or was that "yabba dabba doo"?)

I over do it with Moly lube.

I've had a few used guns that I bought online with semi hardened lube of some kind all over the insides. I have used Break Free CLP for almost 44 years with no lube related issues, so I will stick with it till the end. I usually wipe them down with it every six months or so, if they haven't been shot. If they have, they get taken down pretty far and everything is cleaned and given a little dab of CLP that is wiped off, except for moving points.

With revolvers I am a lubrication minimalist since there are no "kinetic" components like you find in semi-autos.

For me, most of my revolver "lubrication" effort is more for corrosion prevention.

A few key points receive a little grease (mostly under the sideplate which I rarely remove after the first clean/inspect/lube of that space) and a few I oil and all else is a periodic "oil rag" wipedown.

I wet all my guns and then wipe off the excess with an oily rag. I keep grip areas pretty dry tho. I probably overdo it a little, but I haven’t seen much of an issue with lint/dirt collection, so I’m good with it.

GBExpat said:

With revolvers I am a lubrication minimalist since there are no "kinetic" components like you find in semi-autos.

For me, most of my revolver "lubrication" effort is more for corrosion prevention.

A few key points receive a little grease (mostly under the sideplate which I rarely remove after the first clean/inspect/lube of that space) and a few I oil and all else is a periodic "oil rag" wipedown.

Click to expand...

You don't shoot much double action then? Watch some of the guys shooting USPSA and IDPA with their revolvers. They are getting splits between shot down below .2 seconds. That is very kinetic on the hand, star, and cylinder stop along with a few other parts of the internals.