Grease vs oil

[willie]

I like Slip 2000 EWO if I can find the bottle. If not, I grab what's within reach, like Hoppe's Gun Oil. Some here will remember Frog Lube which does provide excellent corrosion protection. I ended up with a giant can of the stuff and use it on dies, tools, and two fence gates. I can't speak intelligently about lubing AR's except to keep them wet. My humble opinion is that everything else can be maintained with regular oil like thin Mobil 1, Hoppe's or 3 in 1. I confess to having bought high dollar gun oils. Once I gave money to women too.🤗.

People who get oil off their dip stick are showing out. I've seen that more than once.

[WDR]

Having watched Defoor take the dipstick from his bike and put a few drops on a carbine, Glock, or Staccato, I’d say whatever floats your boat as long as the weapon wasn’t manufactured before the Red Scare.

Squeaky sling swivels on my rifle one hunting season got a drip from my truck dipstick, since my cleaning and maintenance gear was back at camp. Problem solved. Not that hard. I vaguely remember using Carmex from my pocket once too... since I wasn't anywhere near my truck or camp that time.

[PNWTO]

Squeaky sling swivels on my rifle one hunting season got a drip from my truck dipstick, since my cleaning and maintenance gear was back at camp. Problem solved. Not that hard. I vaguely remember using Carmex from my pocket once too... since I wasn't anywhere near my truck or camp that time.

Oh it definitely works. I’m not about that (automotive oil) due to a preference for toxin-free, but I do enjoy the example as lubrication dogma can really jump the shark quickly.

[MVS]

I have been thinking of getting some of this to try. Haven't really had any lube related problems with various things I have tried.

[Chuck Whitlock]

From @TCinVA 's shotgun thread:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1575550

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1575580

I've used various things in the past, including FrogLube.

But, if my memory serves, both Uncle Pat and Sully liked Slip2000, so who am I to argue? I gravitate toward the EWL30 on guns and the thinner stuff on knives. Both from needle oilers.

[TCinVA]

I routinely listen to some of the P&S modcasts. One was dedicated to weapon maintenance and focused on springs and lubes. Some very knowledgeable folks were on this episode.

BLUF from those on the show:

Metal has "asperities" not "pores"
Grease is oil carried in a base.
Grease is better for most small arms applications.
Grease acts to trap friction causing contaminants and keep them away from bearing surfaces.
Better gun grease has the consistency of mayo with an NLGI rating of "0"
PTFE/Teflon becomes HF when it burns away. Nasty...
Chlorinated esters in some oils (lookin at you Mil-Tec) cause stress cracks in steel and are to be avoided.

For those who have time on their hands and want to get nerdy with the topic... Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oimwq6QBlzc

The actual STLE certified Lubrication Specialist on that podcast (the dude in the WV hat) doesn't use grease on his guns, FWIW. And he tells his clients not to use grease in their guns. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the Cherry Balmz dude on the podcast didn't realize what the different ratings for gear oil and engine oil mean. Not a bad guy, just doesn't know as much as he might like to believe. Very common.

Grease is oil carried in some sort of binder. The oil component does the same things as oil normally does in an open system (which firearms are), leaving the binder behind. The binder is counterproductive.

Generally when lube shows up as a problem in a class it's because of insufficiency...as in there ain't none. On the rare occasions that there is lube and there's still a problem, it's either grease or some sort of mystic home brew somebody read about on the internet or some sort of magic lube that turns out to have serious problems when exposed to other lubricants. (Frog lube is bad about that) It's kind of like people putting Slick50 in their engines not realizing that the shit was loaded to the gills with particulates that would clog up oil journals and actually kill engines. The amount of marketing used to sell it to you is likely inversely proportional to the actual benefit it confers. If someone is selling a lube that requires you to not have any other type of lubricant come into contact with it, or claims that it "fills in pores" then they're either way out of their depth or lying. Neither of which you should screw around with.

[TCinVA]

WD-40 will lubricate your gun.

...until it burns off or evaporates, leaving a gummy residue.

But it's better than nothing if you're really strapped.

If you're not, use something that doesn't suck.

I had a tube of some super Duper gun grease 20 years ago or so, and stopped using it. After about 10 years just for fun I cut it open and the oil had separated from the carrier.

With pretty much any grease, this is inevitable. Anyone who has used various automotive greases in the old-fashioned tins has run into this.

[Spartan1980]

Like others I'll use a non toxic product every time I can. Wasn't always that way as I've made up many concoctions out of synthetic motor oil, ATF, and greases in the past.

Froglube as mentioned by willie is outstanding against corrosion. It isn't great as a lube but it gets the job done. Basically anything will as long as there's some lube actually there. I'm in the camp that modern firearms are engineered and made out of steels that are compatible and work together and will function as long as at least some maintenance is done regularly. Froglube needs to be refreshed regularly or it will "glue" your gun's parts together. It also doesn't play well with other lubes, but if you use it in the application it was made for (regular cleaning and lube like deployed military) it works pretty well. I'm not able to do that at the moment so I just ordered some more Slip2000.

I still use grease on the Garand and M1A, but it's Ballistol, FL or Slip2K on everything else depending on usage.

[TCinVA]

Oh it definitely works. I’m not about that (automotive oil) due to a preference for toxin-free, but I do enjoy the example as lubrication dogma can really jump the shark quickly.

It should be noted that motor oil that has been run through an internal combustion engine is far nastier than the stuff fresh out of the bottle.

The unused stuff isn't exactly cuddly because of what it's designed to do, but neither is anything in the components of the ammunition we're atomizing and inhaling every time we press the trigger, either. That is hugely worrying, especially if you are shooting a lot on indoor ranges.

A lot of the cautions and warnings about various "toxic" lubricants come from routine exposure, generally based on occupational requirements. A dude who is elbow deep in diesel engines constantly has a different risk profile from motor oil than the guy who dabs a little bit of unused oil on his pistol now and then. Practically all used motor oil has unburned fuel mixed up in it and the leavings of the combustion process which produces most of the really nasty stuff one would be concerned about. If you are splashing around in it for 40 hours a week, you most definitely need to take significant precautions.

It's about dose...and even water is toxic in the right dose.

[Navin Johnson]

...until it burns off or evaporates, leaving a gummy residue.

But it's better than nothing if you're really strapped.

If you're not, use something that doesn't suck.



With pretty much any grease, this is inevitable. Anyone who has used various automotive greases in the old-fashioned tins has run into this.

Just for clarity my point about WD-40 was that camel semen will lubricate your gun. You just have to know it’s limitations.