singer sewing machine oil

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I dont use very much oil at all, and the trend is currently to hose everything down. A little mineral oil or a tiny dab of synthetic bearing grease on the lugs and that's it. More is not better and just traps carbon creating lapping paste. Storage is a different proposition entirely depending on where you live.
 
Those Zoom oilers have good grade turbine oil in them, I bought it by the 55 gallon drum for in the headstocks of our 24" lathes.
thunderbyrd said:
are there any differences in machine oils you can use on guns? i have a bottle of singer machine oil i have been using, i can't imagine it has any counter productive or destructive qualities.

if there are any real differences in oils, i would like to know it.
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To answer your question, Yes, there are.
Do not use any High Detergent oils like motor oil.
The detergent will keep the oil from building up the slime layer that protects what it was put on.
Motor oil does not have to be non-detergent due to the fact it is used in closed sumps only where is is constantly applied via pump or splash.

Non-detergent oil is what should be used in gun applications because it leaves the slime layer behind to protect and lubricate after the application.
Zoom oil, (turbine oil) is non-detergent oil, though it is pretty thin to be applied to a gun, it's probably like AW32 hydraulic that is about 10 weight.
 
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The Singer oil will work just fine, it's designed to not gum up surfaces .It could be straight up white mineral oil . Some newer sewing machine oils may have , kerosene/parrafin and also Teflon . None of that will harm a firearm when used in small amounts .
 
AJC1 said:
I dont use very much oil at all, and the trend is currently to hose everything down. A little mineral oil or a tiny dab of synthetic bearing grease on the lugs and that's it. More is not better and just traps carbon creating lapping paste. Storage is a different proposition entirely depending on where you live.
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I’ve never seen a firearm with too much lube to function, I’ve seen several (all ARs) that were too dry to work.

Carbon fouling mixed in oil is a decent lube and not abrasive.

BSW
 
AJC1 said:
I dont use very much oil at all, and the trend is currently to hose everything down.
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The "6 drops of lube" stuff is a relatively new process, driven by striker fired guns that rely on clean/dry striker channel. Metal framed/hammer fired guns have typically been lubricated generously.
AJC1 said:
Running wet guns and not cleaning are new trends I dont get down with.
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You'll like these...

http://www.slip2000.com/blog/after-6000-rounds-i-cleaned-my-gun-with-a-paper-towel/

https://grayguns.com/lubrication-of-sig-sauer-pistol-rails/

 
Personally, I go for meticulously clean for my own guns. However, I like knowing that the guns will run wet and dirty.

And some guns (delayed blowback I’m looking at you) are a pain to get totally clean. If I’m shooting a practice session one weekend and a match the next weekend I’ll probably just wipe the bore out and relube before the match.

BSW
 
3 in 1 oil rocks.
Marvel Mystery Oil is great.
One drop of STP on the hammer hooks of a 1911 really makes a nice trigger break.
Ballistol has been around a hundred years. Food safe. Non carcinogenic. Excellent first aid ointment.
I have a gallon of the military LSA I use on my AR. (Not the whole gallon at one time).

As long as you keep the gun reasonably clean, an oil designed 20-40-100 years ago will likely do just fine.
 
thunderbyrd said:
i've never heard of an m231 firing port weapon. what the heck is it?
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M231 FPW Firing Port Weapon, a stockless, sightless, 15.6" barreled version of the M16 intended to be fired from the M2 Bradley firing ports.
Issued with M193 tracer ammo, 30 rd magazine, 1200 rpm or 20 rds per second, and a barrel collar over the barrel and gas tube that got super hot when dumping 30rd magazines in 1.5 seconds. Selector was SAFE or FULL only. If used as an individual weapon outside the Bradley it was hard to aim and hold on to.
 
jmorris said:
I bet they used it on these.

View attachment 1022653
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No, they used the standard firearm lube they already had in stock.

Singer 1911's are rare for a very special reason - only 500 were accepted because that was how few made it thru. The other 26,000 submitted were scrapped out. Junk. Singer was given a contract to refine the mass production process. Remington and Ithaca did very well following it, but no, Singer couldn't actually PRODUCE good guns - at all.

It's really a tale of production incompetence on Singer's part yet the collectors have shined up the story and made them what they are.

As for using sewing machine oil on guns, some do, there are lots of guys with a garage and some experience twisting spark plugs out of their mowers who jump in with every brand name on the market for any use. It's an interesting study on the superstitions of guys repeating some miracle solution they discovered 20 years ago which was obsolete back then.
 
jmorris said:
Kind of odd for how many more millions of cycles sewing machines go through during their lifetime vs most firearms.
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Most sewing machines I'm aware of don't produce 20,000 psi incandescent gas as a product of operating, unless you're do something very, very, wrong.

BSW
 
While I generally buy oils labeled “gun oil”, I’d use sewing machine oil in a heart beat.

These days, synthetic motor oils are probably a good option. I guess the only question would be if the additives in motor oil would be detrimental to firearms in the long one.

For long term storage, grease is an issue as the lubricant evaporates over time leaving the clay carrier. Guns that I do not shoot often but require grease lubrication, I store coated with oil then grease the firearm just before shooting.

Products likke Break Free seem to last well.

WD-40’is not designed to be a lubricant but a moisture displacer.
 
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In January 1940, Singer Manufacturing Company, an Elizabeth, New Jersey-based producer of sewing machines, and Harrington & Richardson Arms Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, received educational orders for the production of 500 M1911A1 pistols and related tools.

Both Colt and Springfield Armory provided technical assistance to the two contractors. Singer-produced pistols were delivered to Springfield Armory by December 1941, and these were distributed to Air Force personnel. The company was given a contract for an additional 15,000 pistols, but Singer's production of artillery fire control directors was deemed a higher priority, and this contract was later canceled. Due to their high quality and limited numbers, Singer M1911A1 pistols are highly prized by modern collectors.
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http://www.nramuseum.org/guns/the-g...on-switch-and-signal-model-1911a1-pistol.aspx

Still, the War Department was impressed by the quality of Singer’s work — and so they contracted with the company to manufacture aviation instruments, such as navigation and targeting equipment, instead.
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https://www.thehogring.com/2019/09/04/singer-m1911a1-pistol/

Best known for manufacturing sewing machines, Singer produced a handful of .45s on the eve of World War II, and their guns were so good the U.S. Military asked the company to build more complicated equipment instead.
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https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi.../singer-sewing-machine-company-45-pistol-gun/

Singer makes Precise Guns and Other War time Equipment
Why did they stop making them? The truth is, they were so well made. The singer had much more precision equipment than the other gun makers. And it was so precise, such good quality that they ended up saying, never mind about 1911.

…By the way, they are in a specific zero range number S800001-S800500. They made five hundred.
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https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/blog/post/the singer-1911 a-really-well-made-special-gun
 
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A little off topic, but still about oil, so here it goes.
My SIL worked at a very high end bicycle shop in Austin. Some tree hugger local brought in a very expensive mountain bike that was having shifting problems.
The pin head probably thought he was saving the environment when he lubed his chain with olive oil, but what he really did was just gummed up everything to the point that it took several cans of environmentally unfriendly solvents to clean up the mess.

So, don't lube your guns with olive oil!
 
Sewing machine oil and 3-in-1 oil are very lightweight oils. Good for moving parts but lousy as rust preventatives. They won't keep the parts coated for very long.
 
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