Lubricants....

[fgw_in_fla]

What's a good moly based grease / lubricant for general purposes like bolts & such. When I look around at the local Ace Hdwre or auto parts, there's so many choices I can't seem to make up my mind. It would be so much easier if I looked on the store shelf & there was 3 or 4 choices. More than 5 or 6 & I get confused ??? ??? ???

What are y'all using?

[MrMajestic]

Buy wheel bearing grease at the Auto Parts store and gun grease at a Gun shop or on-line like Midway, Brownell's, Sinclair etc.
The Engineers really do know what they are doing.

[drybean]

sta lube moly is what i use
drybean

[fgw_in_fla]

This is where it can get a wee bit confusing...
I read an article by a well know competition shooter / builder that remarked "any oil will do.. I use regular 10w-30 & wheel bearing grease".

Then, along comes an article I read some months back that said "buy these products... they're specifically formulated for the abuse shooting can impart on metals... blah, blah, blah...."

Does this become a "use what you feel works best for you"?
OR
Can one of our resident Tack Driver Building Gurus throw their $1.14 (inflation) in. Being a former race engine builder from back in the 60's & 70's, I'm very much aware of the need for quality lubrication. I also know different oils & grease for different applications. If we were assembling a '71 Mopar 426 Hemi, I'd know what to use.
When it comes to rifles, I admit, I'm still learning. Lubrication is important.
Gimme your best recomendation....

[MrMajestic]

The heck with the guns, more about the Hemi! :D

[Grit #1]

Never Never let any teflon oil into your barrel. I use Kroil after cleaning a barrel to protect it. Some mix Kroil with Shooter's Choice to clean barrels. I use a wheel bearing grade moly grease on bolt lugs. I spray WD40 on the outside as needed. If I have fired a couple rounds or a match and will not be cleaning for several hours or overnight, I spray WD40 down the tube to hold the barrel till I have the opportunity to clean it.
Best regards,
Grit

[fgw_in_fla]

Grit... I've had a few folks tell me & I recall reading about staying away from Teflon...

Good info...
Thanks.

Moly (aka molybdenum) seems to get the vote for a grease type lube. Anyone have a preference? I see on Midway there's some that are a suspension in other evaporating chemicals and then some as an oil that needs stirring to mix in the moly.

KG products seem popular...

One thing is certain. High temp bearing grease just ain't getting it for me. It doesn't seem to want to stay around longer than 4 to 5 rounds and then I need to find some paper towel.

Thank for the input folks.

[82boy]

Buy wheel bearing grease at the Auto Parts store and gun grease at a Gun shop or on-line like Midway, Brownell's, Sinclair etc.
The Engineers really do know what they are doing.

Most gun grease availble at gun shops is wheel bearing grease availble at the autoparts store just repackaged. Some culprits are Lucas red and tacky EP2, you see one of the ones listed on the list has a red grease in a suringe I know is the same thing. Prolongs EP2 is purple, and I know of a company that put it in a syringe and sold it. One of Amsoil's EP2's is green and is placed in a syringe and sold. I cant remember what the gold orange colored grease that Bats uses but it is also a repackaged EP2 grease.

[sidreilley]

Guess I missed the word..... What happens when you use teflon? Personally I use Brian Enos' Slide Glide for most gun applications but have always suspected that many "gun" greases were sold elsewhere as something else as other posters suggest.

[Stockrex]

I use dupont teflon lube spray in my walther 22 semiauto. So my walther is toast?

[fgw_in_fla]

Hey... I never said I knew WHY it was bad... I just heard "Do not use Teflon on your guns".

With that in mind, I don't use it. I openly admit... I am not qualified to voice an opinion on the use of Teflon on your firearms.

Besides, I always thought it was for making non-stick frying pans...

[1jonzmith]

I read long ago, to my shock, that petroleum oil and petro based greases actually "do not like metal and will slide off of it under the force of gravity". WTF? said I...what does that actually mean. Well it means what it says and is a good explanation for why guns seem to collect all that oil in the bottom of the stock and darken the grain by the tang screw. Also explains "why" guns need to be taken down and re-oiled every couple months or weekly or years or whatever the DI says will keep you out of the brig. Seems only cosmoline actually lasts. Moral? Don't use Dino(dinosaur) oil on anything you value except as a laxitice except when cost is a driving factor and that includes any Hemi and my 440 as well.

SOLUTION:

Synthetic oils really like metal. Syn gets right down into the surface molecular structure and gets a firm "grip" and won't slide off no matter how strong gravity is where you live. It lubes better than caster bean oil also but doesn't dry out and turn to tar. If there is a down side to syn I still haven't heard it except cost. Can being twice as expensive as Dino products be a deal breaker when you are talking about your rifle or pistol or even your Hemi?

I have had wheel bearings RUST on only the upper half....but that just enuf to ruin them and cause failure. That vehicle was a medium truck and I had greased the bearings and run the truck a month before setting it aside. The Dino grease migrated to the bottom of the bearing cavity and left the top half unprotected. It was water proof grease and not soap base. If the grease migrates what is the oil doing?

I got curious about this stuff a few years ago and did my own "clinical testing". I dipped strips of mild steel in bees wax, 10W30, "Gun Oil", Syn gun oil, syn motor oil, and syn ATF. The wax was the first to show signs of rust, then motor Oil, then gun oil, then Syn Motor oil and the Syn ATF still didn't rust after a year and I got bored with watching it and switched back to watching paint dry for entertainment. The strips were "aged" in a hot and humid box that promotes rust. Choose wisely and if it is Syn based you stand a chance. Dino oil can have additives that make it a better performer but unless it is cosmoline you aren't on the inside track with any of it as far as I can determine.

I use a thick syn grease to lube my rails and high load bolt parts...including the ears. Syn doesn't thicken when used in sub zero temps so the grease is still grease and oil is still oil when you need it to be. My apology to those of you that have heard the well worn subject so many times. Seems that every 5 years or so a "new crop" sprouts that hasn't heard all the "folk lore" and superstitions.

HTH,

John

[Ray Gunter]

I'll probably get some flame over this

But just plain ole ATF is awful hard to beat. Use sparingly.
Been using it for over 25 years. Still works.

[Willoughby]

+ 1 on ATF although I recomend Dex6 ATF (synthetic) - 0-20 Mobil 1 also works well

[fgw_in_fla]

ATF... Now your talking.
ATF, Dexron in particular, is what we used to assembled engines with. It seems to have different characteristics than regular oil. It would "hang in there" while the oil pump was priming up.

I've wondered if it would be any good for firearms. I guess it one of those personal preference subjects although, I see in quite a few places where moly is the lube of choice.

[ky-n]

+1 The synthetic ATF is great stuff except the BOSS complains about the smell...

[Grit #1]

Never said don't use teflon oil ON the gun, just keep it out of the barrel. Seems that when fired over teflon does strange things that are not uniform from one end to the other and once in there it is next to impossible to get out. Exactly what it does I do not know. I do now it causes groups to open dramatically.
Best regards,
Grit

[Ray Gunter]

ATF... Now your talking.
ATF, Dexron in particular, is what we used to assembled engines with.

I used to do some Drag Racing. Had a buddy that ran a SB with nothing in the motor but ATF. An 11 sec car

[82boy]

Well look at Eds Red, it has ATF as one of the ingredence, and it works.

[GaCop]

+ 1 on ATF although I recomend Dex6 ATF (synthetic) - 0-20 Mobil 1 also works well

+1, is a great lube on full auto ARs too.

[1jonzmith]

By the way....all ATF is synthetic and always has been. At least according to the parts house manager I spoke with. Makes great sense as the stuff pours in sub zero and still lubricates at 300 degrees and above. Just like syn. And I proved it merit at cling and rust prevention...at least to me and my friends that watched the experiment.

One exception, crazy though it be, Lucas Synthetic gun oil did no better than syn motor oil and was far inferior to ATF. And Lucas is red and I would think it had ATF in it but if it does it is an inferior ATF.

HTH,


John

[Willoughby]

-quote- By the way....all ATF is synthetic and always has been
not that it matters -but -Ive worked for Gm for over 30 years
& Gm changed over to Dextron 6 in about three years ago
& told us not to mix with old dextron with newer dex 6
-because 6 was fully synthetic & dex3 & older was mineral based -

[Stockrex]

My Chevy duramax has an allision trans, it uses dex 6 or equivalent. But in crunch I can add dex 3,
So my question is why no mix dino with Syn? Will the metallic surface care? Or is it the hoses and gaskets?

[Grit #1]

All ATF is synthetic. Matter of fact ATF is not red at all. It is clear as water. The red die is added so you can tell the difference between power steering fluild and atf along with some other oils. The difference between power streering fluid and atf is the friction modifiers that are added to the atf so the steels and fibres don't burn out (coefficent of grab). Same reason you add friction modifier to locker differentials. There are clutch plates(fibres) and steels just like an automatic transmission. In addition there are other additives for seal protection. Most often the casualty, in an auto trans, is a clutch drum or servo or accumulator seal leakage, bleeding off pressure to the fibres and steels or band (depending on the trans). If the lockup is not tight they slip on each other and burn up. That is the black crap in the pan of most failed transmissions and the cause of that dark red/brown foul smelling atf that you drained off. Off coarse there are other causes of failure; however, seal failure is the most common. Yea I know you didn't need to know all that; I added it for the inquisitive mind. Some of the older fluilds going back to the 60s were different viscosities. I believe today it has been settle on as 20w.
Regards,
Grit

[Dennis]

I spray WD40 on the outside as needed. If I have fired a couple rounds or a match and will not be cleaning for several hours or overnight, I spray WD40 down the tube to hold the barrel till I have the opportunity to clean it

I don't recommend WD40 as it contains "water".

WD40 . . . Water Displacement - formula #40 . . . that's how it got it's name!

Only use a waterless gun lubricant on your guns!

PS: ATF is some of the thinest oil made. You now have 0-20 motor oil which is close to ATF!