POLL: What kind of gun lube do you use?

what type of gun lube do you prefer?

  • wilson ultimate

    Votes: 5 1.8%

  • tetra

    Votes: 11 4.0%

  • breakfree

    Votes: 78 28.4%

  • gun butter

    Votes: 5 1.8%

  • slip2000

    Votes: 7 2.5%

  • mil-comm

    Votes: 6 2.2%

  • hoppes

    Votes: 27 9.8%

  • rem oil

    Votes: 39 14.2%

  • weapons shield

    Votes: 18 6.5%

  • mobile 1

    Votes: 26 9.5%

  • other: plz secify

    Votes: 45 16.4%

  • i will leave a complaint post because my fav wasn't listed

    Votes: 8 2.9%
  • Total voters
    275
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So not a lot of people are using Hoppe's ... I wonder why.
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Time and technology march on-some old favorites may not? They may still be good at what they do, but it's hard to believe something better is not available-the trick is telling what's an improvement, and what is snake oil/marketing.
I've found if most folks can't look at it and tell a difference, they assume there is none.
How 'bout tires today vs. tires 30 years ago (they're still round and black).
Mobil 1 (or other synthetics) vs. oils from 50 years ago (it's still liquid and gold in color).

Having said I use Weapon Shield, I don't know that Mobil 1 would be such a bad choice for firearms (I've been running it in vehicles since '76).
After all, the selling points for Mobil 1 would be right up a firearm's alley?
Increased shear strength
Clings well
Viscosity retention
Withstands extreme heat
Starts to thicken well below temp of normal oils

Doesn't sound too bad, does it?
 
After trying most of the popular gun oils I have settled on Redline 50W racing oil.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=16&pcid=1

For surface protection I use Eezox and have for about fifteen years.

http://www.eezox.com/gun-care.html

Weaponshield is my second choice as a gun oil and Breakfree is my second choice for surface protection.

Added: Unless their formulation has changed, Mobil 1 is a Group 4 synthetic. It requires additives to "cling" to metal. Redline is a Group 5 synthetic and it naturally adheres to metal. There are other positive properties of the racing oil like a load of EP additives. These additives are being phased out for street use oil courtesy of EPA.
 
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Motor oil has some pretty harsh chemicals in it and it's not a good idea to use on guns.
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Name the harmful/harsh chemicals in motor oils and just what their harmful effects are to a firearm. Lets see some facts.

Don't need some super duper mystery oil that retails for $8.00 for 4 ozs.

tw25b grease is awsome
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At $21.00 for 4 oz. it better be pretty awsome, and more. Tell us just what does it do that other greases do not do, be specific.
 
Quote:
Motor oil has some pretty harsh chemicals in it and it's not a good idea to use on guns.

Name the harmful/harsh chemicals in motor oils and just what their harmful effects are to a firearm. Lets see some facts.
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I'm curious about this as well.

Engines contain multiple steel alloys, cast iron, aluminum, copper, rubber, plastic, castings, forgings, MIM, and Lord knows what else, finished to higher tolerances than all gun parts except the interior of the very finest barrels.

Now an assumption, but I'd wager a fair amount: Engines run dirtier and work at higher loads, higher stresses, and higher temperatures (for the lubricated parts), than the lubed parts of any gun I can lift.

So 3 questions:

1. What exactly are the conditions in any rifle or handgun which require lubrication or rust resisting properties beyond those satisfied by high-end engine oils and greases(or ATF, the transmission argument seems valid to me as well)?

2. What are these 'harsh chemicals' and what damage do they do to a gun which they somehow don't do to an engine or trans.? Bluing? I've seen no evidence after years of use. But I have some spare parts, and I'll try to get the damage claimed if anyone can answer this.

3. What magic ingredient do they put in these 'gun lubes' that make them worth an extra $380 per gallon? The arithmetic: 1 gal. of Mobil 1 is $20, give or take. Weapon Shield sells for $12.49 / 4 oz. , or $399 / gal. Oh. Plus shipping.

If there are decent answers to these questions I'll gladly pay the extra for WS or similar. In the amounts we're talking it's not big money.

But til then they look, sound, smell and waddle like a rip of guys who just want to do right by their guns.
 
Mostly Breakfree CLP. I figure if it can keep an M16 running, it can keep anything running :evil:

I use Tetra Gun Grease a lot in certain applications. For example, certain areas of my M1A, and inside slide rails of more tightly fitted handguns and rifles, as well as the bolt lugs of my hunting rifle.

And we always have Hoppes around, so both their solvents and lubricants see regular use as well.
 
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Not saying there aren't "harsh" chemicals in motor oil (and it ain't like you're going to drink it), but I've never really heard of it in new oil-most of the time I hear that it's talking 'bout used oil, which I'm sure is full of some creepy stuff.

You can drive yourself nuts trying to outguess the makers-I'm sure all formulations change, but when I originally started running Mobil 1 in '76 one of the questions folks asked was how can you make it so thin? Mobil said because it would cling to metal and not tend to run back into the oil pan like conventional oils.
I have no idea what the 'best' is, but I've read a lot of oil stuff over the years by folks/companies that apparently intent on trying to knock Mobil 1 down a peg or two? I just stuck with it 'cuz it was easy to find, and pretty darn cheap compared to some of the boutique synthetics-kinda the same argument 'bout cheap gun oil (or Mobil 1) vs. the high priced spread?

I once tried a boutique motor oil in one of my bikes-the oil in Japanese bikes runs through both the transmission as well as the motor. At about 3,000 miles, you could feel the transmission shifts getting 'notchy'-a fresh load of boutique oil @ 5,000 miles and everything smooth again. I went back to Mobil 1 after that experiment, as I could not tell any difference in the transmission from the time I put it in until my normal 10,000 mile oil change. 'Course, the Mobil 1 was less than half the price of that boutique oil everybody raved about, and I could run it more than twice as long! :banghead:

I also had a relative that totaled an old Datsun with 180,000 miles on it. The mechanic that bought the car at salvage looked him up to find out what kind of oil he had been running in it-he said that was the cleanest looking engine he'd ever seen, 'specially with that many miles (and my relative also ran much more than 3,000 miles between oil changes).

Everybody seems to forget (or didn't know?) that when Mobil 1 came out it said 25,000 miles between oil changes-the original bottles had it in big red letters on the front/bottom label. My understanding is the reason they got away from making that claim was in order to not butt heads with the automakers, who still recommended oil changes @ 3,000 miles or so? (back around 1976).

Jest figuring-think my Weapon Shield comes out to around $1.38/oz. in a 16 oz bottle (splitting shipping with friends)-Mobil 1 comes out to around 14 cents/oz. or slightly cheaper (when on sale) buying in 5 qt. jugs at WalMart (most auto places in my area sell it in 4 qt. jugs).

I'm sure I'm not the only pragmatist in here looking at those figures and wondering izzat stuff really 10 times better than Mobil 1? ;)
 
We use what most of the firearm manufacturers use.....Mil-Comm products.

And yes, Mil-Comm TW25B grease is expensive, but it is good! It's better than good! And a little bit will do ya'!

Same goes for their MC2500 oil, an excellent product.
 
And yes, Mil-Comm TW25B grease is expensive, but it is good!
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i tried mil-comm, while it is good stuff, wilson ultimate is better-and half the price.

the difference i noticed is when lubing my tightly fit 1911's with either one, they are noticeably smoother cycling when the wilson ultimate is used. i also noticed the mil-comm dissipates much quicker than wilson. mil-comm is no better than tetra grease, which is 1/4 the cost.
 
We use what most of the firearm manufacturers use.....Mil-Comm products.
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Substantiate this please. I've never known what a manufacturer uses as a lube for anything except for Corvetts and Ferrari recently have been using Pennzoil in their factory fills. That is Pennzoil Ultra.
 
jcwit said:
Name the harmful/harsh chemicals in motor oils and just what their harmful effects are to a firearm. Lets see some facts.

Don't need some super duper mystery oil that retails for $8.00 for 4 ozs.



At $21.00 for 4 oz. it better be pretty awsome, and more. Tell us just what does it do that other greases do not do, be specific.
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Benzene is in motor oil. I did post facts, read the link that I posted, there is a lot of good information there about lubrication. Here's an excerpt from the site.

Motor oils: Generally good boundary lubrication (particularly the Havoline formulations), but very poor corrosion resistance and poor resistance to open-air oxidation. In addition, their pour-point additives often contain benzene compounds, which aren't a good thing to have next to your skin on a regular basis! ATF performs better for firearms use on every count, even if it is a tad more expensive.

This is the health warning about benzene right from the MSDS.

Potential Chronic Health Effects:
CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Classified A1 (Confirmed for human.) by ACGIH, 1 (Proven for human.) by IARC. MUTAGENIC
EFFECTS: Classified POSSIBLE for human. Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells. Mutagenic for bacteria and/or yeast.
TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Classified Reproductive system/toxin/female
[POSSIBLE]. The substance is toxic to blood, bone marrow, central nervous system (CNS). The substance may be toxic to
liver, Urinary System. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage.
 
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