It's made here in Louisiana and there's a lot of petroleum industry/drilling technology in there. It outperforms any other lubricant/protectant I've ever used, but I still use Hoppes #9 to clean and break down fouling.
Preppers’ PING!!
When it comes to keeping a weapon clean and ready I always listen to a Marine!
Why not use a dry lube in a dusty/sandy environment?
Seems that I’ve read that the soviets discovered that mixing a bit of gasoline with the oil kept the oiled parts moving freely during the winter siege of Stalingrad.
I’ve heard of using automatic transmission fluid.
It's made here in Louisiana and there's a lot of petroleum industry/drilling technology in there. It outperforms any other lubricant/protectant I've ever used, but I still use Hoppes #9 to clean and break down fouling.
Regular old 30/wt motor oil has long been known to be superior to most lubes and protectants. Any self-loading action will gunk up if it gets enough crap in it, including the AK.
Best lube in the world http://www.sniperworld.com/reviews/42267_TGSCOM_Cleaning_Supplies_SPEC357_IN_A_ONE_OUNCE_BO.aspx
Whadya think?
If you can’t break your weapon down you can still run cloth down your bore and wipe your chamber with rags. Then clean the rags best you but, in any case, you can reuses them to clean whatever junk off and out as best you can.
I recently started using synthetic micro fiber towels on my second or third pass. Cleaning is way faster and I might start using them for all my cleaning except my finish pass. I like to see the white pad come out clean and blanco.
Oh, and Break Free is best used on piston rifles. Spring rifles like a typical AR doesn’t have the power to stay as clean as piston operated rifles.
Not a knock on springers. I like them too. But, my “go to”is always going to be my piston operated rifles as they are indisputably more reliable over spring operated rifles if you are in the dirt for extended periods and can’t perform a proper and full clean.
My dos centavos....
Humble advice to shooters is “Try It”! Don’t think you’ll be disappointed...
Tried Mobil 1 a few years back as a lube for my semi-auto pistols, and was so impressed switched all my firearms to Mobil 1...Plus a bit of white lithium grease here and there...
I run my vehicles on Mobil 1 exclusively, and do my own changes...So have begun inverting the “empty” bottles overnight to catch the dregs...More or less “free” gun lube, since it would normally just be discarded with the containers...
And a quart would probably last most guys a lifetime anyway...Using 5W30 on everything and very happy with the results...Regularly run my Rock River ARs for four-day training sessions, shooting 800-1000 rounds in often very dusty conditions (keep that dust cover closed, boys!), and have had zero lube related issues with any of them...
As for corrosion porotection, living in Colorado where it’s dry this is less of an issue, but have used it as a protective film coating and so far no corrosion issues...Again, try it on some other clean scrap metal and see how it performs in a corrosive atmosphere...
Ran across this information awhile back and saved it, but cannot attribute it to the source...Apologies to the author...
According to this data, Mobil 1 apparently exceeds the minimum standard for which gun oils are evaluated, and that includes Militec and Rem Oil:
“Since Mobil 1 is subjected to such extreme conditions (in terms of thermal stress, oxidation and pressure) inside of an internal combustion engine, it appears that it should possess both adequate film and barrier strength to serve as a small arms lubricant.”
The criteria that these lubricants were evaluated by are:
1. Pour Point (P/P): The lowest temperature (in degrees F) at which the lubricant will flow within a specified timeframe.
Minimum requirement: -50 F
2. Flash Point (F/P): The lowest temperature (in degrees F) at which the lubricant will produce vapors that, if subjected to an ignition source, will ignite and combust.
Minimum requirement: +450 F
3. Viscosity at 100 F (V/100): The viscosity (in centistokes) of the lubricant at 100 F.
Minimum requirement: 40.00 cSt
4. Viscosity at 212 F (V/212): The viscosity of the lubricant (in centistokes) at 212 F.
Minimum requirement: 8.00 cSt
As a point of reference, the kinematic viscosity of pure water at:
68 F (room temperature) is 1.004 cSt
100 F is 0.658 cSt
212 F is 0.294 cSt
5. Transient Operating Range (TOR): The sum of the absolute values of the Pour Point (P/P) and the Flash Point (F/P).
Minimum requirement: 500 F
6. Viscosity Index (VI): An arbitrary numerical value assigned to a lubricant indicating its ability to retain its viscosity across a specified temperature range.
Minimum requirement: 110 (Very High)
Low VI: 35 or lower
Medium VI: 35-80
High VI: 80-110
Very High VI: 110 or higher
Data for Mobil 1 Synthetic Lubricants:
0W20
P/P: -70.6 F
F/P: +449.6 F
V/100: 43.0 cSt
V/212: 8.4 cSt
TOR: 520.2 F
VI: 176
0W30
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +456.8 F
V/100: 63.1 cSt
V/212: 11.0 cSt
TOR: 522.0 F
VI: 169
0W40
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +456.8 F
V/100: 80.0 cSt
V/212: 14.3 cSt
TOR: 522.0 F
VI:188
5W20
P/P: -52.6 F
F/P: +442.4 F
V/100: 48.3 cSt
V/212: 8.8 cSt
TOR: 495.0 F
VI: 164
5W30
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +446.0 F
V/100: 64.8 cSt
V/212: 11.3 cSt
TOR: 511.2 F
VI: 171
5W40
P/P: -49.0 F
F/P: +438.8 F
V/100: 102.0 cSt
V/212: 14.8 cSt
TOR: 487.8 F
VI: 152
5W50
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +456.8 F
V/100: 104.9 cSt
V/212: 17.5 cSt
TOR: 522.0 F
VI: 184
10W30
P/P: -49.0 F
F/P: +453.2 F
V/100: 62.0 cSt
V/212: 10.0 cSt
TOR: 484.2 F
VI: 148
10W40 (MX4T)
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +487.4 F
V/100: 86.0 cSt
V/212: 13.8 cSt
TOR: 552.6 F
VI: 166
15W50
P/P: -49.0 F
F/P: +446.0 F
V/100: 125.0 cSt
V/212: 17.4 cSt
TOR: 495.0 F
VI: 153
20W50 (VTWIN)
P/P: -59.8 F
F/P: +518.0 F
V/100: 130.0 cSt
V/212: 17.7 cSt
TOR: 577.8 F
VI: 151
75W90
P/P: -50.8 F
F/P: +347.0 F
V/100: 106.0 cSt
V/212: 15.2 cSt
TOR: 397.8 F
VI: 151
75W140
P/P: -59.8 F
F/P: +429.8 F
V/100: 179.0 cSt
V/212: 25.3 cSt
TOR: 489.6 F
VI: 175
SYNTHETIC ATF
P/P: -65.2 F
F/P: +456.8 F
V/100: 34.0 cSt
V/212: 7.6 cSt
TOR: 522.0 F
VI: 203
JET OIL II
P/P: -74.2 F
F/P: +518.0 F
V/100: 27.6 cSt
V/212: 5.1 cSt
TOR: 592.2 F
VI: 113
JET OIL 254
P/P: -79.6 F
F/P: +489.0 F
V/100: 26.4 cSt
V/212: 5.3 cSt
TOR: 568.6 F
VI: 137
JET OIL 284
P/P: -70.6 F
F/P: +442.4 F
V/100: 17.6 cSt
V/212: 4.0 cSt
TOR: 513.0 F
VI: 128
MILITEC-1 (for comparison purposes only)
P/P: -45.0 F
F/P: +455.0 F
V/100: 43.41 cSt
V/212: 5.63 cSt
TOR: 500.0 F
VI: 63
Top 5 Criteria Compliant Grades:
1. 20W50 (VTWIN)
2. 10W40 (MX4T)
3. 5W50
4. 0W40
5. 0w30
Personally I would think Tufoil “tough oil” would do well. Good for your engine and I’d think good for the gun too.
In WWII, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, they encountered many miles of mature sunflowers in bloom. However, then they encountered fine dust five foot deep that was a mechanical nightmare.
They resolved the situation in the short term by inventing the first dry lube, made from ground sunflower seeds. This worked on the way in. However, on the way out, that five foot deep dust had turned to near impassable mud.
Ive switched to FrogLube. My weapons work well and my hands dont smell. It reminds me of wintergreen Lifesavers.
Marvel Mystery oil.
Amsoil MP (metal protector) which is the synthetic version of WD-40 is one of the best things to clean a gun with. My hubby has been a dealer for 30 + years and is a gun nut also.
The smallest can of hi temp bearing grease is better than motor oil. Wipe a bit on, then wipe the excess off. For gas impingement systems, like the M4/M16 varieties, having some oil to spuirt into the bolt carrier means cutting motor oil with a dab of something to endure hi temps, and a dab of olive oil does the trick nicely.
I’m a big fan of Ballistol. It can be found here: http://www.ballistol.com
Well what do you know, I’ve been using Mobil 1 on my guns for at least 10 years now and synthetic ATF on my fishing reel bearings. It’s good to accidentally be ahead of the curve.
Most of the stuff sold or used as “gun lube” is at best, more expensive than it ever needs to be and is no better than motor oil, some things are at worst detrimental to firearms.
On the “worst” end of the spectrum we have WD-40 and CLP. WD-40 is NOT a lubricant by design - it is a water-based machining coolant dispersing fluid. It’s designed to get under water-soluble oils used in machining and get it off the metal, which used to be an important function in a machine shop before non-corroding water-based oil emulsions became more common.
CLP is OK for cleaning, but is a poor lube.
In my work on guns, the only thing I used WD-40 for is lubricating a cut on aluminum. When I’m milling or flycutting aluminum, spraying a little WD-40 into the cut produces a mirror finish. Other than that... I don’t even have it in my toolbox.
On the fairly expensive but only-slightly-better-than-useless end of the spectrum are things like RemOil.
But let’s get back to your point: The idea of using synthetic motor oil has real merit.
Let’s back up a moment: What is or has been the best gun lube in the past? Because gun makers used to have a strong preference in the past... and it was sperm whale oil. It was the perfect lube - didn’t dry out, didn’t turn rancid or gummy, resisted breaking down at higher temps, stayed where you put it, lubed even in sub-zero conditions, etc.
As a kid, I remember how well sperm whale oil (which is actually more like a gel than a pourable oil at room temp) lubed my model cars, guns, you name it. Then the damn bunny-snugglers banned importation, sale, etc. People have been fined thousands of dollars recently for putting “found” inventories of sperm whale oil up for sale on the ‘net.
Everything since then has been an effort to duplicate sperm whale oil. Synthetic motor oils and (especially) synthetic ATF’s are getting closer to sperm whale oil characteristics all the time.
ATF and hydraulic fluids have important attributes of being pretty good at low temperature performance, but they tend to run off too easily. Synthetic motor oils share many of these attributes, and stick a bit better where you put them. Motor oils have lots of detergents in them, which is used to carry away combustion byproducts to the filtration system. ATF’s and hydraulic oils (or spindle oils) avoid these additives.
So we need a tackifier added to the oil, much as some types of machining oils (in particular, “way oils” used on machine ways) have in them. Using “way oil” on guns is probably better than most of the things you can get out of a bottle, but most people can’t find way oil without going through an full oil line dealer or a machinery supply shop. What people need is something they can brew up from local supplies - like the local NAPA parts shop.
One homebrew formula I’ve been taught is ‘Bug juice’ from some USA armorers:
2 quarts Mobile 1 synthetic 10W30
1 quart ATF (doesn’t much matter which ATF - Mercon/Dextron III is probably easiest to find)
1 pint STP oil treatment (which adds tackiness to the oils)
1 9 oz bottle of Hoppes #9. I think you could sub a little bit of mineral spirits here.
This is not the same as “Ed’s Red” cleaning mixture, which is a whole ‘nuther issue.
On my AR-type objects, which have now tragically been lost due to a boating accident (in which my boat collided with another former gun owner’s boat on the Purgatory River in Colorado, and both craft exploded, burned and subsequently sank beneath the rocks on the bottom of the river bed...) this mixture is needed only in small quantities. Put a drop (as in ONE) on the bolt and wipe it around the rings before you insert it into the carrier, put another drop on the outside of the carrier and smear it around before you put the carrier into the upper, etc. On a bolt gun, you need only put a drop into the bolt raceways. On shotguns, you need only lube the breech block, action bar(s) and possibly a gas piston (depending on the shotgun in question). On something like a A5, you might want to lube the barrel/receiver interface.
As for cleaning: Look into a product called “M-Pro 7” for cleaning carbon and plastic deposits:
http://www.mpro7.com/mpro7-gun-cleaner.html
This is the first thing I use when cleaning guns - especially shotguns suffering from plastic wad fouling. To remove plastic fouling from a shotgun, push a sopping wet bore mop or shop towel down the bore and then leave the barrel sit for, oh, 30 minutes. Go down the bore with a bronze brush, then follow with a dry cleaning mop or cotton rag pushed with a small dowel. Plastic is gone.
Sometimes, people are alarmed to see pitting “suddenly show up” in their barrels after using M-Pro 7. Here’s the reality - the pitting was there (on older guns) or developed from non-cleaning by the owner(s) - and the pits used to be filled with plastic and carbon. MPro 7 didn’t cause the pits - it only cleaned them out.
On rifles and pistols, M-Pro 7 removes the carbon fouling better than any other product I’ve used. NB, I’m saying ONLY the carbon and plastic fouling is removed with this product - but those are often the most difficult to really strip out of a bore. I’ve seen people saw patches through a bore for 20 minutes after soaking with Hoppes, then using a brush, and they still can’t get a clean patch. With MPro, you can get clean patches pretty quickly if you let it soak for a little while.
For removing copper fouling, there’s several active bore cleaners which I’m sure people know about - but people should NB that these won’t attack all copper fouling. Not all copper used for jacket material is the same. The copper solvents that remove the jacket copper from your run-of-the-mill or premium jacketed hunting bullets might not remove copper fouling from Berger or Barnes 100% copper bullets. USP Bore Paste is a very fine garnet non-embedding abrasive which can remove copper fouling from a barrel pretty quickly.
Lead fouling can be removed with penetrating oil type products, of which Hoppes #9 is one. Another good one is Kroil penetrating oil (available only directly from Kano Laboratories). These all need time to penetrate under the lead to allow it to be removed with a brush.
Some firearms which can lead up very fast might need a more aggressive tool to remove lead. eg, revolvers have notorious leading issues in the forcing cone. A Lewis Lead Remover does the trick well:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=21587/Product/LEWIS-LEAD-REMOVER
When I was in Nevada, I found that most any oil or grease on guns attracted the powder-fine alkaline dust that blew in off the playa, seemingly from every direction at once. I ditched most all liquid or grease lubes and ran with a mixture of powdered graphite and moly disulphide, with a little mineral spirits as a carrier that would dry off. Fortunately, most gun owners will never need to deal with the alkaline dust blowing in off the playas. It’s both gritty and corrosive and is the very work of Satan himself, as far as firearms are concerned.