Using motor oil on guns.

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I am amazed that people will pay as much as they do for firearms and then cheapo out on their cleaners and lubes.

I'm always amazed at people that can't see past marketing hype. It's as if I put the words "gun oil" over the word "Mobil1" it would suddenly be OK, "because it specifically says 'gun.'"
 
I had no idea this was going to open up this large a can a worms.

It seems as though the consensus of the forum members say usage of motor oil on guns is OK.

I use Remoil spray to spray all the parts down after cleaning, and motor oil for lube on slides and to make the blue on guns shine really nice.
 
I am not talking about marketing hype

But if you think that's the case and oil is oil, then love to see your next set of eggs cooked in Mobil 1. :eek:
 
Anyone care to weigh in on how synthetic and standard motor oils as well as ATFs do for long term storage. How good of a rust inhibitor are they?
 
Onthebay wrote:
I am not talking about marketing hype
But if you think that's the case and oil is oil, then love to see your next set of eggs cooked in Mobil 1

Yes, because that's what everyone is suggesting. Sure.

For the rest of us, it makes sense that lubricants doing similar things work similarly. If you don't think that economy of scale has something to do with the pricing of car vs. gun oil, I think it would pay to look into some economic theory.

And that's leaving OUT the hype/mystery oil/tiny quantity pricing altogether.


Larry
 
I'm always amazed at people that can't see past marketing hype. It's as if I put the words "gun oil" over the word "Mobil1" it would suddenly be OK, "because it specifically says 'gun.'"


...did you go check out the thread he linked and its results???

Hint: The synthetic motor oil didn't do nearly as well as some of the gun products
 
Mobil1 V-Twin motorcycle oils contain high levels of ZDDP, as do some of their racing oils. 1500 ppm is the optimum amount, beyond which little gain in performance is seen. I'm quite sure other brands have similar oil formulations. Older performance cars often use oils with ZDDP, it protects sliding valve train components during high load applications which may overcome the lubricant film, but it is damaging to catalytic converters and sensors. Oils designed for diesel engines have generally much higher detergent levels than gasoline oils, which should help at least make carbon deposits easier to clean, but I haven't tried any. I'm still using a quart of 15-50 Mobil1 that I bought years ago, I like it for internal lubrication, not so much on the outside of a firearm. It seems to work really well.
 
I've been shooting rifles since the age of 8, I'm now 71, I've used drippings from oil cans for more years than I can remember, I also use grease on rails of semi-auto arms. None of the firearms in my collection are rusty and none are inoperable, and the collection is in the 100's.

Am I using the best? Who knows, but it works very well for me and at my age I seriously doubt my use of motor oil will make any difference in the operation of anything in my collection, or in their resistance to corrosion.

Now back to the discussion as to which is best. LOL
The beat goes on.
 
I started using regular ol' motor oil recently. I'm done trying to find the best of the best when it comes to guns. Eventually I'll mix up a quart of that STP/ATF, which should last me long enough to hand down to my children.
 
Anyone care to weigh in on how synthetic and standard motor oils as well as ATFs do for long term storage. How good of a rust inhibitor are they?

I traded into a hot tanked four bolt 351C stripped block, and a set of stripped CJ heads. I sprayed them down with my "random auto oils drained into a jug," covered them with garbage bags, and put it all under my workbench, with every intention of building it for my project car...

I sold it all two years later. It looked the same as it did when I got it. But oily...
 
My father has used Delo 400 30W since I can remember. I have been using Break Free CLP. I have also tried some Mobile 1 synthetic grease on specific firearms that have been known to prefer some grease. The main thing is that we wipe them down after handling them and run some patches after shooting. After reading the link of the comparison of 46 different lubes I have to admit that Frog Lube sounds interesting. I will continue to use gun oil of some brand but I also have some synthetic motor oil in case hard times come along. So, to the OP, yes I have used motor oil and I have not seen any rust or had any malfunctions that I would attribute to the oil.
 
Anyone care to weigh in on how synthetic and standard motor oils as well as ATFs do for long term storage. How good of a rust inhibitor are they?
I don't know about ATF, but I'm sure some dedicated gun oils are better corrosion protectants than Mobil 1 is, because corrosion protection rather than lubrication is the higher priority for many gun products. On the exterior of a gun, Mobil 1 is too messy to be practical anyway due to the thick film it forms.

For long term storage, a corrosion protectant like Corrosion-X or Boeshield T-9 is probably a better product than any oil, gun-marketed or not. I've never had any internal rust with Mobil 1, but if I were going overseas for a year and leaving my guns in storage, I'd clean the lube off and use a corrosion protectant. I have an antique Mosin-Nagant M39, and I use Boeshield on the part of the barrel and action inside the stock, since I almost never take the stock off.

Boeshield is a pretty remarkable product, if a little messy until it dries. I have a set of tow chains that have been sitting in a steel ammo can in the garage between uses since 1995, in humid Florida and eastern NC, and they still look brand new.

Honestly, I have to think the lubricating qualities of a gun oil matter less that the corrosion protective ones in most cases. I can't ever remember having a functional failure caused by poor lubrication, but I can remember instances where a surface I thought was protected ended up with a coating of rust.
For non-semiautos, especially those that go a long time between range trips, corrosion protection is definitely the top priority.

For semiautos, though, the lubrication properties are at least as important; I once had some galling on the bolt of a stainless Mini-14 lubricated with a gun oil that was more corrosion protectant than lubricant, and my wife had a Russian SKS lubricated with Rem Oil that stopped cycling properly when the lube dried out over time and the carbon solidified. So I think the lubrication properties do matter for semiautos.

did you go check out the thread he linked and its results??? Hint: The synthetic motor oil didn't do nearly as well as some of the gun products
That test primarily measured corrosion protection and shear strength, not lubrication ability. Yes, synthetic oils are not as good as corrosion protectants as are products designed as corrosion protectants, and yes, they have higher shear strength than thinner oils. They are better lubricants, though, and shear strength is actually a plus rather than a minus for lubricating bearing surfaces (otherwise thinner lubricants would always lubricate better).

Gun bearing surfaces in a semiauto are small and more highly loaded than a couple of mild steel plates with dozens of square inches of contact area and no load. Put fifty or a hundred pounds per square inch on the top plate and then see which oil makes it slide better. Oil shear on the bearing surfaces of an AR is a negligible drag on the action, but metal-to-metal friction is not, particularly if solid powder fouling is allowed to accrete due to the surfaces drying out.
 
My father has used Delo 400 30W since I can remember.

Delo and Rotella are two of the most under appreciated product lines ever made. I know a guy who uses Rotella 15W40 in every device he owns that has moving parts. Cars, trucks, lawnmowers, tractor, you name it. I'm not 100% sure but I think he might even mix it with gas and run it in his weedeater. He gets it in big metal drums. So far he hasn't admitted to any engine problems.
 
The biggest mistake I see people make is not lubing at all. Anything is better than nothing. Had a fellow call me yesterday about an AR short stroking.... yep, he had never lubed it.

I have tried all sorts of things. Some make slides feel more slippery/smooth than others. Some last longer. Some don't work well at all.

If I am going to lube my gun and leave it out in the rain, I'll check the corrosion test charts and use a good one, but I do not intend to do that, as my basic need 99.99% of the time is good lubrication.

If everyone would tip their "empty" quart cans (Cans? Showing my age.) over and collect the leftovers, they would never need to buy oil for guns.

If a fellow did this with his ATF fluid, favorite car oil, any additives they used, or anything else they used lube wise, and mixed it all together, it would work fine for most needs.

Heck, just pick out "empty" oil jugs from the trash and drain them. Just use something. :)
 
For many years I have used Johnson's paste wax on the exterior of my guns. For the interior, I use whatever I have access to at the time. I do find these threads very interesting and often informative.
 
...did you go check out the thread he linked and its results???

Hint: The synthetic motor oil didn't do nearly as well as some of the gun products

Yes, but benZera already said it better than I.

In addition, the test, while extensive, did test what I wasn't interested in (corrosion resistance), and didn't test what I was (the ability to resist burn-off and stay wet well into a shooting session).
 
I read in one of these forums that Somali pirates use whatever engine oil then can get to keep their guns working properly. And their guns come into contact with sea water every day. They clean their guns with cheap gasoline and rags and then use engine oil to keep them going. And since they are a major pain, The must be doing something righ!
 
I read in one of these forums that Somali pirates use whatever engine oil then can get to keep their guns working properly. And their guns come into contact with sea water every day. They clean their guns with cheap gasoline and rags and then use engine oil to keep them going. And since they are a major pain, The must be doing something righ!

I don't think that logic works out very well
 
I think there is a huge difference between an oil that is perfect for a task and an oil that is sufficient for a task. Many of the oils that were tested in the test linked earlier were sufficient albeit not perfect. WD40 is one of those that is not a lube but can be a protectant (within a very narrow range) although I won't let it anywhere near any of my guns other than to do the job it was designed to do: Displace Water.

I have used everything from Outers to Rem Oil to Ed's Red to straight ATF to power steering fluid to motor oil, both standard and synthetic, and all of them have worked well. The ATF and power steering fluid were out of desperation on other people's guns and that was all they had. It worked.

I don't doubt that things like Frog Lube and other gun-specific oils/CLPs work very well, but If I have something that is sufficient, why stress about it? I also drive a 1985 Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 that is more than sufficient for my needs? Should I upgrade to a much newer truck that will be better, but in all reality won't do any better for me than my current one? That's just my $0.02.

Matt
 
I think there is a huge difference between an oil that is perfect for a task and an oil that is sufficient for a task. Many of the oils that were tested in the test linked earlier were sufficient albeit not perfect. WD40 is one of those that is not a lube but can be a protectant (within a very narrow range) although I won't let it anywhere near any of my guns other than to do the job it was designed to do: Displace Water.

I have used everything from Outers to Rem Oil to Ed's Red to straight ATF to power steering fluid to motor oil, both standard and synthetic, and all of them have worked well. The ATF and power steering fluid were out of desperation on other people's guns and that was all they had. It worked.

I don't doubt that things like Frog Lube and other gun-specific oils/CLPs work very well, but If I have something that is sufficient, why stress about it? I also drive a 1985 Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 that is more than sufficient for my needs? Should I upgrade to a much newer truck that will be better, but in all reality won't do any better for me than my current one? That's just my $0.02.

Matt

I'd say that if you could upgrade your truck for ~$20 and get something safer with better mileage it might be a good idea.
 
The demand that firearms put on oils really isn't near what an engine does.

I am not going to tell anyone using a specialty gun oil they are doing it wrong or wasting their money. As long as they use something, they will never catch flak from me.
 
I recall vividly a pheasant hunt when my bro-in-law had a trouble with his Ithaca 20 ga. He dismantled it, cleaned some gunk out, then lubed it with a drop or 2 of motor oil from his dipstick. He got his limit that day.
 
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