Graphite powder lubrication

Cerdan

Cerdan

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I bought a bottle of the stuff a few months ago and finally decided to try it out. I took my P229-SAS apart and got all the little parts and springs clean and bone dry. Next step is to apply some graphite to all the parts I would normally oil.

So my first question is, generally, what's people's opinions on graphite powder as a firearm lubricant? Second, any tips on handling and applying the stuff without it flying every which way? :mad: I got one of those little squirt bottles from Brownells...

Thanks in advance.
 
Not a good lube and it wont pervent rust.
I always use oil on my SIG with no problems. I have seen SIGs full of sand and mud and still work with just CLP ;)
 
I've used graphite grease on some guns. It was in a little squeezy tube AIR. Never seemed to have problems with it. If your is powder, it will stick to the metal and creep into the pores. I'd be much more concerned with breathing it than where it is on my guns.

In my experience some semi autos (and full autos too) like to run dirty. My Browning HP seems to need a layer of accumulated powder fouling and filthy oil on the moving parts. The combination is slimy and ugly but effective. If your SIG is the same, you'll have cycling and hard recoil problems until you build up that layer.
 
I love "gunslick" graphite grease. You can get it at Can-tire in the "gun" section. A little goes a long way.

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Just for the heck of it you may want to try carefully melting some paste wax like Johnsons Floor Wax. Or if that isn't available any more try some canning or candle making wax. Add in the graphite along with maybe one or two drops of gun oil per oz of wax and graphite, stir well and let cool. As it's cooling but still warm and is beginning to solidify add a few drops of mineral spirit (low odour paint thinner) to the mix. The idea is to make your own graphite paste wax. The oil is to slightly soften the mix so it adheres better to the metal and doesn't flake off. If it's still solid at room temp but you can smush it around then that is perfect. If not then microwave it back to a liquid but just barely and add a touch more mineral spirits and stir. The idea is you want to be able to pick it up with a small stiff bristle brush like shoe polish and "paint" it onto the slide and other parts. The wax will act as a carrier to hold the powder from just falling away from the parts.

I've personally never done this yet but I read about it years ago.
 
I usually use Gunslick but stumbled across "Graphite Lucbricant by Dixon" (the pencil company) bought it and then found out it was a powder....nothing to use it on yet :(
 
Rudi said:
graphite makes the steel brittle. If you want fancy dry lubrication, use molybdenum.
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I have never heard of that before. I work on boilers and we use graphite on EVERYTHING. From packing valves to making parts look pretty. Nowhere in my manuals does it say graphite makes steel brittle. How could it? Its only pure carbon.

Graphite is a great lubrication. Take some between your fingers and feel how slick they become. The problem it it is a dust, and like other dusty substances it is loose and can blow away. Its best used for high heat, enclosed area's. Like in the cups of Flexible stay bolts on boilers.
 
would there be any benefit to say... mixing graphite powder into a small quantity of motor oil (until it's slightly thick) or wheel bearing grease and using that? as opposed just using the oil or grease by itself?

If not, what about on non-firearms related lubrication?
 
The ultimate lubricant for firearms is Krytox, though very expensive, unsurpassable in all aspects, it is chemically inert, inflammable, good for temperatures -95c to +340c it won't harm rubber, plastic, bluing or you. unless you consume it, and even then there are incidental food contact grades of krytox. Here is a link. h ttp://www2.dupont.com/Lubricants/en_US/uses_apps/faqs_krytox.html[/url]. If you need an easy place to access this lubricant go to your local Volkswagen dealer, they can get it in aerosol, liquid and probably grease form. They use it for the hard top convertible tracks on the EOS. For curosity sake, 1 grease tube for a grease gun of high grade krytox it $1200, small bottles are expensive but go a long way and there is nothing else that does a better job.

As for graphite, I used to use outer's gunslick, the only application I used powdered graphite was in seed drills to help the grain flow out, and to coat home made shot.

EDIT: Here is the vw part number you can quote and order the liquid, I believe it is best suited to our needs, they offer a paste but it is mixed with teflon and the aerosol also has some carrier agent to allow it to be sprayed from a can, the liquid is 100% pure krytox GPL-105

Part number# G 052 172 A1

Good luck
 
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LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1 said:
Graphite is a great lubrication. Take some between your fingers and feel how slick they become.
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The fact that something is slick between your fingers doesn't necessarily make it a good gun lubricant. :)

Yeah, maybe the graphite doesn't make the steel brittle, I just heard it from an unreliable source maybe it was the CGN forum. :)
Anyway, I wouldn't use it on a firearm, because no rust protection. But the moly is really good lubricant and it chemically bonds to the steel not just dusts the surface like graphite.
 
Cerdan you need to oil your handguns and grease your rifles.

High Temp wheel bearing grease from Canadian tire will do for rifles.
Any gun oil will do for pistols.
Follow the manufacturers directions.

You think some guy with an opinion knows better than the company that makes your gun? The answer is no. Also there are no special factories that make strictly gun oil. Its the same crap with a diffrent label and a higher price.
 
Spydr said:
Also there are no special factories that make strictly gun oil. Its the same crap with a diffrent label and a higher price.
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I'm not so sure about this one. Although I agree that there's no special factories the companies wanting gun oil can ask the regular factories for specific formulations of existing oils and solvents to do the job they want.

Also all oil is not equal. I found that out a while back when I oiled my Shadow after a cleaning. A bottle of air tool oil was handy so I used that. The next day in an IPSC match I had numerous FTE's. I'm talking about 14 to 16 of them. That night in desparation I re-cleaned it, checked everything over and lubed with CLR this time. The next day in the second round of the same match it shot all day without a single issue of any sort.

Now I'm not saying that you need to buy gun oil but it was pretty obvious that all oils are not equal from this experience.
 
My bad, so you did. I missed that part when I jumped ahead to the refinery portion... :D

Oh well, at least maybe my story about the air tool oil will help someone avoid the same faux pas.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. BCRider, your recipe seems interesting but I don't have the time or patience for that kind of thing... at least not these days.

Turns out the graphite is heavier than expected, it wasn't as hard as I thought to avoid inhaling. It stuck to surfaces much better than expected as well, and from dryfiring and cycling the action, I don't feel any metal-on-metal "roughness", which seems to indicate proper lubrication. The trigger pull is smooth, so's the contact of the sear on the hammer.

It'll be a few days before I can try it out at the range, but my preliminary impressions indicate I'll probably be switching back to regular gun oil, or giving that Gunslick a try. It was a monstrous pain in the ass to apply, my hands were black as night at the end of it, and I don't think it'll offer many advantages to make it worthwhile all things considered.

By switching to a dry lubricant, I was hoping to avoid all the powder and residue buildup mixing with the oil and grease on the moving parts, but like maple leaf eh said, maybe guns like to be a little dirty, heh.
 
BCRider said:
Just for the heck of it you may want to try carefully melting some paste wax like Johnsons Floor Wax. Or if that isn't available any more try some canning or candle making wax. Add in the graphite along with maybe one or two drops of gun oil per oz of wax and graphite, stir well and let cool. As it's cooling but still warm and is beginning to solidify add a few drops of mineral spirit (low odour paint thinner) to the mix. The idea is to make your own graphite paste wax. The oil is to slightly soften the mix so it adheres better to the metal and doesn't flake off. If it's still solid at room temp but you can smush it around then that is perfect. If not then microwave it back to a liquid but just barely and add a touch more mineral spirits and stir. The idea is you want to be able to pick it up with a small stiff bristle brush like shoe polish and "paint" it onto the slide and other parts. The wax will act as a carrier to hold the powder from just falling away from the parts.
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Sounds like a lot of trouble to go through and for no apparent reason. Just go to an automotive supplies store and buy yourself a can of synthetic wheel bearing grease (I use Mobil 1). It'll serve you much better than any homemade concoction.
 
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