Revolver lubricant - oil or grease?

cdncowboy

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I am new to the revolver world and after receiving my new to me Ruger I am going to give it a thorough cleaning. On my other pistols (auto's) I use oil as a lubricant but I noticed on this revolver that grease was used in the cylinder area. Should I be using grease or oil as a lubricant?

Your help would be appreciated.
 
IMO-
Grease for linear friction points ie: slides
Oil for rotational points.

I only use oil on my varied revolvers. Sparingly.
 
Like "bollox", I use oil. I don't use grease on autoloader slides. You really don't want to provide a substance inside the gun that is going to accumulate grit, powder residue and dust. If you're concerned about storage, oil is still your best bet, but you do have to re-oil on occasion. Cleaning and wiping with an oily rage is about as much care and lubrication as most guns need.
 
I'm guessing from your username that it's likely that this is a New Vaquero?

In any event it's quite likely that what you think is "grease" is simply oil mixed with some of the fouling soot from shooting it. Oil is the lube of choice for anything in a revolver other than MAYBE a touch of nice slippery synthetic grease for the hammer hooks to get a smoother and lighter trigger pull and break. Using grease on the cylinder pin would tend to make it a little sticky. And you'd feel that through cocking the hammer as a drag like viscous feel. Using oil instead will ensure you get a nice snappy hammer cocking action.
 
I'm guessing from your username that it's likely that this is a New Vaquero?

In any event it's quite likely that what you think is "grease" is simply oil mixed with some of the fouling soot from shooting it. Oil is the lube of choice for anything in a revolver other than MAYBE a touch of nice slippery synthetic grease for the hammer hooks to get a smoother and lighter trigger pull and break. Using grease on the cylinder pin would tend to make it a little sticky. And you'd feel that through cocking the hammer as a drag like viscous feel. Using oil instead will ensure you get a nice snappy hammer cocking action.

It's a Super Blackhawk. I am quite familiar with the difference between grease and oil ... it sure appears to be grease not dirty oil.
 
I'm with the guys who say "oil"

There are no surfaces in a revolver that move at high velocity relative to each other, so there is no need for the extra shear protection of grease.

My revolvers get lubed when I soak them in a "tank" of Ed's Red, which is AutoTransmission Fluid, Varsol and Kerosene in equal parts (lanolin is optional for storage corrosion prevention).

Occasional light spray through the hammer/firing pin, crane, cylinder pin/extractor and trigger areas with Remington oil keeps these parts working smoothly.
 
A bit of really slippy light grease on the hammer/trigger/sear engagment (slide glide in it's lightest weight is nice). A good light synthetic oil everywhere else.
 
Like bollox, I use oil on revolvers and grease on the slide rails and barrel bushing on pistols.
 
I'm guessing that the previous owner thought he needed grease on that pin then.

Enjoy your new .44Mag SBH. It's one of the guns which puts BIG smiles on my face. Especially with loads of 2400 powder. Can you say "FIREBALLS ! ! ! !"? I KNEW you could..... :D
 
I'm guessing that the previous owner thought he needed grease on that pin then.

Enjoy your new .44Mag SBH. It's one of the guns which puts BIG smiles on my face. Especially with loads of 2400 powder. Can you say "FIREBALLS ! ! ! !"? I KNEW you could..... :D

Funny that you say that... the whole time cleaning it I was grinning ear to ear in anticipation of the big bang it's going to make :D
 
Just beware of the "Dragoon Guard Bite" if you don't have a nice solid grip around the neck of the grips. I found the stock grips were pretty skinny for my big hands. The lack of support this gave and the small area along the back strap let the gun push back and the trigger guard would crack the back of my middle finger something fierce. There's a big variety of grip options out there that fill in that area to avoid the issue but I think they make the gun look like poo. Instead I went with some "fatty" grips and I could not be happier. I'd like to say you can get them from ###### but I don't know since I made them myself. But here's some pictures of them so if you want to have a go at your own set you can. With the fatter neck that you can clearly see the gun is a joy to shoot even with full house loads. It hasn't so much as even lightly kissed the back of my middle finger since I began using these even during one handed shooting. And I love that this option retained the proper SA look instead of the fill in style options.

....Photobucket is dead at the moment. I'll post the photos a bit later on.

It's back up. Here's those pictures. The second one in particular you can see how it's quite thick up around the neck and doesn't flare out as much towards the butt of the grips;

grips4.jpg


grips5.jpg
 
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Just beware of the "Dragoon Guard Bite" if you don't have a nice solid grip around the neck of the grips. I found the stock grips were pretty skinny for my big hands. The lack of support this gave and the small area along the back strap let the gun push back and the trigger guard would crack the back of my middle finger something fierce. There's a big variety of grip options out there that fill in that area to avoid the issue but I think they make the gun look like poo. Instead I went with some "fatty" grips and I could not be happier. I'd like to say you can get them from ###### but I don't know since I made them myself. But here's some pictures of them so if you want to have a go at your own set you can. With the fatter neck that you can clearly see the gun is a joy to shoot even with full house loads. It hasn't so much as even lightly kissed the back of my middle finger since I began using these even during one handed shooting. And I love that this option retained the proper SA look instead of the fill in style options.

....Photobucket is dead at the moment. I'll post the photos a bit later on.

It's back up. Here's those pictures. The second one in particular you can see how it's quite thick up around the neck and doesn't flare out as much towards the butt of the grips;

grips4.jpg


grips5.jpg

Much obliged for the info. I have a cnc and made some grips for my 1911 so if I get "bitten" a few times I will do as you have done... nice looking grips you have there.
 
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