Lubricating Sig 226

[Still alive]

Oil is not an appropriate lubricant for alloy frame pistols. You should use grease on the rails (grease works better than oil on steel frame guns too but it's especially important to use it on alloy frames, which are more susceptible to wear). There is a reason why Sig ships their guns with a small packet of grease. G96 is more of a cleaner than a lubricant. It's a solvent that has low lubricity and leaks out easily. Try lubing your Sig with G96, racking the slide a few times, and then doing the same thing with grease. You will immediately notice a major difference in smoothness. Slide moving more smoothly = less friction, and therefore less wear.

Thanks for the reply. Not arguing that grease is gummier than oil and will stick longer on rails. G96 Triple Action is sold as a cleaner, lubricant and protector. False advertising? Anyone else have the same issues with G96?
http://www.g96.com/products/gun-treatment/

 

[RCloud]

lube the guide rod, outside of the barrel and lube the slide rails.

I think Dsiwy knows exactly what he is talking about.

 

[Dsiwy]

Oil is not an appropriate lubricant for alloy frame pistols. You should use grease on the rails (grease works better than oil on steel frame guns too but it's especially important to use it on alloy frames, which are more susceptible to wear). There is a reason why Sig ships their guns with a small packet of grease. G96 is more of a cleaner than a lubricant. It's a solvent that has low lubricity and leaks out easily. Try lubing your Sig with G96, racking the slide a few times, and then doing the same thing with grease. You will immediately notice a major difference in smoothness. Slide moving more smoothly = less friction, and therefore less wear.

SIG seems to disagree with you, as do I.

Sig did ship pistols with semi fluid oil and before that it was Mil-tec. I spent 7yrs as a armourer working on SIG P226s and P229s and never had any issues caused by CLP on SIGs. We have worn out barrels on guns 3 times in a row and the rails were still good to go.

I am also a SIG Factory Cert. Armourer BTW.

 

[Butcherbill]

Hoppes9 or g96 to clean, high temp bearing grease and oil depending on where I'm lubing. Going to grab some balistoil next trip to the lgs, keep hearing people talk good things about it. Plus it's non toxic which is a plus.

 

[luckey]

on my p226 extreme, $4/tube heavy machine grease rated for high temperatura and pressure I got from canadiantire 10 years ago. now the Price would be $6/tube

sounds crazy, right? it actually Works better than the gun oil as far as I can see from the wear mark on the metal. as per sig menú, lub anywhere you see wear mark. I use the same grease, and ONLY grease, on all my full metal guns, like P226 and 1911. they all work flawlessly and dead accurate.

for polymer guns, I still use gun oil for now, but will switch to synthetic motor oil(0W40). they are all just machines, like car engines. so why can't we use the same thing.

of course, follow the common sense, do not over lub the guns. thin film goes the long way. I do clean/lub my guns after each session.

Hey guys!!
Just got my first Sig home and I'm just wondering what you guys like to use when lubricating it after a cleaning.

Thanks

 

[dizzy]

anyone not listening to Dsiwy and giving contrary advice is simply not experienced with long term and hard use pistol ownership. You can lube a pistol with anything, if you want it to wear right and last long, listen to Dsiwy, its not hard.

Op hope you read through the whole thread, and congrats on owning a fine pistol.

How we lubed them in a salty environment was to unpack them, take the grips off, and field strip and soak all metal parts with breakfree clp, let it sit overnight, then blow out with air the next day, then a light lube on the rails, guide rode and outside of the barrel....all the friction points. Never had rust or function issues.

Grease of any sort would have held the sand tighter than an escaping bank robber holding a bag full of cash.

 

[luckey]

I think this comment is really fair, but do have to be put into CONTEXT. with regards the use of grease(there are gun specific grease on the market), The first question I would ask is if OP is going to IRAQ soon, or just at a gun club. AND, how often he would clean his gun? for club targeting shooting which is most of us would do normally, AND clean after each session as I mentioned, is it the use of grease a really no-no?

anyone not listening to Dsiwy and giving contrary advice is simply not experienced with long term and hard use pistol ownership. You can lube a pistol with anything, if you want it to wear right and last long, listen to Dsiwy, its not hard.

Op hope you read through the whole thread, and congrats on owning a fine pistol.

How we lubed them in a salty environment was to unpack them, take the grips off, and field strip and soak all metal parts with breakfree clp, let it sit overnight, then blow out with air the next day, then a light lube on the rails, guide rode and outside of the barrel....all the friction points. Never had rust or function issues.

Grease of any sort would have held the sand tighter than an escaping bank robber holding a bag full of cash.

 

[Dsiwy]

I think this comment is really fair, but do have to be put into CONTEXT. with regards the use of grease(there are gun specific grease on the market), The first question I would ask is if OP is going to IRAQ soon, or just at a gun club. AND, how often he would clean his gun? for club targeting shooting which is most of us would do normally, AND clean after each session as I mentioned, is it the use of grease a really no-no?

For the average shooter grease is not really a no no, but it is also not needed or recomemed by SIG. To each their own, but to say oil is no good is completely false.

 

[Dsiwy]

I think this comment is really fair, but do have to be put into CONTEXT. with regards the use of grease(there are gun specific grease on the market), The first question I would ask is if OP is going to IRAQ soon, or just at a gun club. AND, how often he would clean his gun? for club targeting shooting which is most of us would do normally, AND clean after each session as I mentioned, is it the use of grease a really no-no?

For the average shooter grease is not really a no no, but it is also not needed or recomemed by SIG. To each their own, but to say oil is no good is completely false.

 

[capp325]

SIG seems to disagree with you, as do I.

Sig did ship pistols with semi fluid oil and before that it was Mil-tec. I spent 7yrs as a armourer working on SIG P226s and P229s and never had any issues caused by CLP on SIGs. We have worn out barrels on guns 3 times in a row and the rails were still good to go.

I am also a SIG Factory Cert. Armourer BTW.

I didn't say that using CLP would cause immediate issues. I said that doing so would reduce the service life of a firearm. Here's what well-known American gunsmith and former Sig factory shooter, Bruce Gray, has to say on the subject:

PROPER LUBRICATION
For on-duty use, your pistol should be lubricated with a light film of oil to insure reliable
function on demand. Break Free spray foams on contact, efficiently coating interior parts
stripped by the Gun Scrubber. Don’t overdo it! Just a quick shot to the lockwork is
enough. Accessible surfaces can be “painted” using a cotton swab dipped in oil. The
bore should be dry, but place an extra drop on locking lug surfaces. Reassemble and
hand-cycle the action several times, wiping off any excess lubricant that emerges.
However, if you are going right to the range for a training session, RIG or Shooters
Choice grease can be used on slide rails and barrel locking surfaces. Pistols don’t wear
out as much as they hammer themselves to death, so judicious use of a high-viscosity
lubricant for practice only will definitely extend service life.

http://www.nm-ccw.com/bgray/handgun%20care%20for%20duty.pdf

 

[Dsiwy]

I didn't say that using CLP would cause immediate issues. I said that doing so would reduce the service life of a firearm. Here's what well-known American gunsmith and former Sig factory shooter, Bruce Gray, has to say on the subject:

Well CLP has not reduce the service life of the guns I worked on with well over 100,000rds through them. Also SIG thought we were joking when we told we had a P226 that shot so many rounds the bore was completely smooth. Then we showed them the barrel it was an old 1990s German SIG and the rails were perfectly serviceable.

Recoil springs goes first, then the trigger bars wears out on the slide sensing tab and finally the barrel. Out of the hundreds I serviced, I have never seen a worn or cracked rail on a P226 or P229. The P225 is another story but I wont get into that...

When I first started working on the SIG, I thought to my self this Swiss watch is not going to last. But the P226 has proven its self the be one of the strongest combat guns ever made IMO. The abuse operators do to these poor pistol would make you cry, but the gun keeps shooting like a champ

 

[capp325]

Well CLP has not reduce the service life of the guns I worked on with well over 100,000rds through them. Also SIG thought we were joking when we told we had a P226 that shot so many rounds the bore was completely smooth. Then we showed them the barrel it was an old 1990s German SIG and the rails were perfectly serviceable.

So you're saying that you've worked on multiple Sigs that had 100,000 rounds through them, were lubed with nothing but CLP and had "completely serviceable" rails? How did you determine the round count? Were they you personal weapons? Did you keep a log of the exact number of rounds fired? No offence but I'd take Bruce Gray's opinion over yours on this subject. You may be a Sig certified armorer but he's the #1 Sig gunsmith in North America and a former Sig factory shooter.

 

[dizzy]

So you're saying that you've worked on multiple Sigs that had 100,000 rounds through them, were lubed with nothing but CLP and had "completely serviceable" rails? How did you determine the round count? Were they you personal weapons? Did you keep a log of the exact number of rounds fired? No offence but I'd take Bruce Gray's opinion over yours on this subject. You may be a Sig certified armorer but he's the #1 Sig gunsmith in North America and a former Sig factory shooter.

Capp, You kind of missed the point of Gray's article, he is simply saying Grease will work in a pinch for pracice sessions. Everyone knows this, everyone knows you can lube your pistol with vasoline or wd-40 in a pinch or use, motor oil, diesel, any lubricant for that matter, anything with oil in it and anything thats wet. it doesn't mean its the best. Go back and read what Gray says and how he says it. Its nearly Identical to what Dwisy is saying.

This is a subject that is like politics and religion guys get so worked up so fast they forget to listen to the other side, and reading comprehension goes out the window.

Gray recommends using break free after cleaning, read it again.

the op asked for the best way to lube his pistol Gray to clean it with hoppes, spray it down to remove the cleaners and then lube it back up with what? Break Free and break free is a clp

 

[Maple Leaf Pilgrim]

I use CLP, applied two drops to each slide rail, two drops to the top of the breech block, two drops on the barrel, one drop on the recoil guide rod if steel, if not, do not lubricate. Cycle action minimum of twenty times, wipe off excess on outside of weapon, holster/store for short term.

-S.

 

[Dsiwy]

So you're saying that you've worked on multiple Sigs that had 100,000 rounds through them, were lubed with nothing but CLP and had "completely serviceable" rails? How did you determine the round count? Were they you personal weapons? Did you keep a log of the exact number of rounds fired? No offence but I'd take Bruce Gray's opinion over yours on this subject. You may be a Sig certified armorer but he's the #1 Sig gunsmith in North America and a former Sig factory shooter.

Wont argue this matter anymore, to each their own...

 

[GreenBob]

And....How to properly clean and lube your SIG SAUER Classic Line Pistol with SIG SAUER Academy Director of Training Scott Kenneson.

Published on Jun 8, 2015

01:25

"As a company we recommend any cleaning or lubrication product that is made for firearms"

Cheers,

 

[Maple Leaf Pilgrim]

I think this comment is really fair, but do have to be put into CONTEXT. with regards the use of grease(there are gun specific grease on the market), The first question I would ask is if OP is going to IRAQ soon, or just at a gun club. AND, how often he would clean his gun? for club targeting shooting which is most of us would do normally, AND clean after each session as I mentioned, is it the use of grease a really no-no?

A few weeks ago I watched a mate of mine improperly secure his side arm in his holster before I gave the order to run laps. Second set of wind sprints he "yardsaled" his pistol and it got trod into the sand on the range by three other men before he got back around to retrieve it. Trust me, lube your firearm like you're gonna fight with it, even if you NEVER have to.

-S.

 

[silverfoxdj]

Link? Bob

 

[Dsiwy]

And....How to properly clean and lube your SIG SAUER Classic Line Pistol with SIG SAUER Academy Director of Training Scott Kenneson.

Published on Jun 8, 2015

[youtube]JKs-7iy5Ui4[/youtube]

Cheers,

Thank you Bob

 

[GreenBob]

Done.