Engine Oil??

I have used Valvoline 10-30 for years, with very little or no wear to be seen on anything that has been lubed properly, even after 1000's of rounds. The specialty gun oils might be good, but I am perfectly happy with Valvoline.

The only problem I ever had was the firing pin being glued to the breech block in my Marlin 45-70 at about - 35 C. The loudest CLICK I ever heard.

G96 I find is good for cleaning but I have never used it as a lube.
 
I'm not shooting the semis. On something like a bolt action, I probably hardly oil it at all. I might grease the lugs very sparingly, and other than that, I clean the barrel with engine cleaner or something like sweets. If it is blued, and I have always tried to get SS, I probably need to whipe it down with something to protect the blueing. Mostly I try to whipe me off and then give it the lightest possible oiling. I might use something that has a cover scent if I could find it.

"I am still going to recommend G-96 Gun Treatment. It is silicone based"

I try to keep away from silicone whenever possible, bad stuff. Very tenacious and screws up a lot of things from electrics to finishes. Prefer not to have it on the property. I have this little pot of silicone gun gel called STOSS, lasts for ever, and occasionally I have had to use some. It is extremely high performance, and at one point I used to use it as a lubricant on my dead center (lathe). But there is usually something better out there that is completely natural, like in this case beeswax! That stuff plays well with others from finishes to foodstuffs, and would outlast the stoss 100-1.

One reason not to use motor oils is possibly because they are toxic. Seems as though just about anything in those products sooner or later needs to be swapped out. I wouldn't want to be taking a bath in any of that stuff. Car engines are amazingly durable, but in the rest of the world there is usually a perfectly fine simple product without a lot of very nasty additives, if only one uses the correct grade, meaning mostly the right weight or thickness (don't know correct term). So many people go for a spray can of penetrating oil when they need some grease, so of course that can has to have "space age" properties, because it is being totally misused.
 
So many people go for a spray can of penetrating oil when they need some grease, so of course that can has to have "space age" properties, because it is being totally misused.
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We could probably debate the merits of many oils but a good point has been brought up; Penetrating oils are good for working into tight areas but they are not lubricants. WD 40 is wonderful stuff for cleaning crap out of little crevices etc but it has almost zero lubrication properties after it evaporates.
Actually it will remove whatever lubricant was there before.
 
Lately I find myself using Ballistol more and more.

Hoppes gun oil was ok, As was G96 and even CLP. Ballistol is BETTER though IMHO and it's water soluble to boot. Of course, just one man's opinion...
 
KY warming liqiud works well to, It keeps it at room temperature to keep condensation to a minimum. And as A plus it stops the chaffing during rough handling!
 
I also have used engine oil on guns when out in the stix for long periods when i had nothing else to use. Worked fine for me but we dont have that Cold weather you boys get. .45-90
 
I'm thinking this is a loaded question .
IMO different styles of firearms and or firearms used in different climates require different lubrication needs .
In this way no one is wrong here .
In most cases it won't matter what you use , as long as you use something .
And if you clean your gun while your lubing it it'll work all the better .
In my bolt action hunting rifles I use a light gun oil . Low cycling in colder climates .
In my semi auto pistols I have used several products . I found most gun oils didn't work well . I used one pistol with only Lucas gun oil ( it was free ) for quite awhile and it worked fine ( looked like ATF ) . Now I mostly use synthetic gear oil in them ( 75w90) , It's thicker and stays where you put it , is incredibly cheap and lubricates great .
 
Armalite used to have a tech-note on their website concerning the use of "alternative" lubricants in the AR15 and AR10, but it's gone. I remember it discussed the use of ATF, engine oil, etc. Their tech-note on "cleaning" still discusses the use of engine oil, but in less detail, and specifically in "emergency" situations (like a zombie attack).

I use mainly Clenzoil now, especially on the milsurps, because it does such a great job of preventing rust. I haven't done any low-temp testing with it, but I expect it would still have acceptable properties at low temp, given that it is a fairly thin oil to begin with. It also works quite well as a bore cleaner.
 
i have a customer who stores his guns after hunting season,with the outside metal coated with black shoe polish! the inside is very heavily oiled as well. he never has any rust at all.they do need quite a degreasing and cleaning before the next hunting season, but rust is never a problem.
 
Shoe polish would work because it is made of of things like waxs and tallow, so will protect the metal. Just because it works, doesn't mean it is the best or easiest to use.

Just about any oil will work on most guns because lubrication is really not that critical. Most guns have relatively large bearing surfaces with low repetition of movements. (Compare number of movements to an engine which repeats movements thousands of times per minute for thousands of hours)
 
12magnum said:
i have a customer who stores his guns after hunting season,with the outside metal coated with black shoe polish! the inside is very heavily oiled as well. he never has any rust at all.they do need quite a degreasing and cleaning before the next hunting season, but rust is never a problem.
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Shoo polish?? :confused:

My gun lockers are in the (humid) basement. None of the rifles are coated with oil or any other thing when stored, including the bores. Each locker has a 40watt bulb in it to keep the humidity low and the temp high.

I have never had a rust problem in over ten yrs of storing this way.

.
 
the light bulb trick works well and i would recommend it over shoe polish any day. but i've seen people stash guns in a gun safe with foam on the inside and never think about it til the next hunting season!!! they get quite shock when they see the rust, espscially with all the humidity through the summer. then they turn around and do it again. well some of them. had one character who fell in abeaver pond deer hunting in nov.wiped his gun down, BAR .30-06,took it out of his gun safe the next sept. fired it, then called to say it would't eject!!! didn't know why!!
 
Graphite is not corrosive in itself towards aluminum, but in the presence of chloride ions (such as from sea-water or a marine atmosphere) it can cause galvanic (bimetallic) corrosion to occur. So, in theory, there should be no concern with moisture alone, but if chloride is present....
 
Any machine oil, non-detergent or synthetic motor oil works great to prevent rust and corrosion. Never had a problem on the outside of the firearm. I use Hoppe's#9 for the bore when I'm done cleaning because I always have and still like the smell. Never had a bore rust yet.
 
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