ATF is about 65% detergents and additives. It's less oil and more other ingredients, because planetary gear sets aren't the kind that wipe off oil as the teeth engage.
Manual gear oils have to put up with the teeth engaging in a scraping motion - it's actually used as a method to pump the gear oil in differentials. That's why some hot rodders can't simply flip the ring gear to support a reverse rotation setup - it causes failure due to lubricant starvation.
ATF as a gun oil works ok for a range toy, it will still get dirty regardless. It just holds a lot more gas residue in it, which is a moot point as most people won't shoot them to the point of system failure and lockup. It takes thousands of rounds and has been tested, demonstrated, and even video'd. As said above about all a gun oil does is protect it from rusting while sitting in the closet, and anecdotal testing of gun oils shows ATF is middle of the road.
One thing motor oils and lubricants do not do well is reduce odor. For a hunting gun, they smell just like a truck blundering around in the trees, which is entirely the wrong thing to do and does condition game into learning it's an alarm smell.
For all the black magic and hodum published the last ten years, about the only result is that we recognize a tiny bottle of gun oil is way overpriced. It doesn't mean the most economical stuff we find in a quart jug at the local parts house is a good substitute, or a dab of grease from the chicken fryer either.
Manual gear oils have to put up with the teeth engaging in a scraping motion - it's actually used as a method to pump the gear oil in differentials. That's why some hot rodders can't simply flip the ring gear to support a reverse rotation setup - it causes failure due to lubricant starvation.
ATF as a gun oil works ok for a range toy, it will still get dirty regardless. It just holds a lot more gas residue in it, which is a moot point as most people won't shoot them to the point of system failure and lockup. It takes thousands of rounds and has been tested, demonstrated, and even video'd. As said above about all a gun oil does is protect it from rusting while sitting in the closet, and anecdotal testing of gun oils shows ATF is middle of the road.
One thing motor oils and lubricants do not do well is reduce odor. For a hunting gun, they smell just like a truck blundering around in the trees, which is entirely the wrong thing to do and does condition game into learning it's an alarm smell.
For all the black magic and hodum published the last ten years, about the only result is that we recognize a tiny bottle of gun oil is way overpriced. It doesn't mean the most economical stuff we find in a quart jug at the local parts house is a good substitute, or a dab of grease from the chicken fryer either.
