[Greginva]

TW25 grease on rails lower & slide. DROP of oil anything that moves or metal to metal. Wipe'er down with oily rag & done. It ain't rocket science...after 60+ years of shooting me thinks synthetic motor oil is good lube. A quart will last a lifetime. Plenty of miracle lubes, if measured, would be bout $100 a quart but you do you.

This is what I do, it works for me. You can ask 100 people how they make a tuna fish sandwich and you’ll probably get 100 different answers, doesn’t mean one is better than another as long as it gets done.

 

[Bowdrie]

It ain't rocket science...after 60+ years of shooting me thinks synthetic motor oil is good lube. A quart will last a lifetime. Plenty of miracle lubes, if measured, would be bout $100 a quart but you do you.

Yeah, pretty much my go-to for more years than I can remember.
I use Mobil 1, what's left over from an oil change will last to the next oil change.
If you want higher viscosity get the 50 weight for motorcycles.
For those who want a "waxy" type of coating get a spray can of "Boeshield T9", you'll find nothing better.

 

[Gearheadesw]

Don’t clog up the extractor channel, or the firing pin hole with goo, keep the chamber and barrel clean and lightly oiled, everything else is coated liberally with some gun lube that’s convenient. Wipe hands and gun off, rack, dry fire, load, shoot.

 

[dsk]

Too much oil or other liquid lubricant is just silly. The bearing surfaces surely need to be oiled or greased, as do some of the internals. I started using grease about 25 years ago, it stays put.

Generally speaking I prefer oil for everything but the slide rails, which get grease. However when I did that with my SIG P365 .380 upper I got repeated failures to cycle. I switched to using oil on the rails during the next range trip and the problem went away.

So does that mean grease is bad? No. As a matter of fact the army maunals specifically call for grease, not oil to lube an M1 Garand's action. The simple fact is that each firearm may have its own specific maintenance needs.

As for applying a liberal amount of lube on a firearm? It's a complete waste of lubricant. More oil doesn't lubricate better than just enough, and it not only attracts dirt, grit, lint and fouling but it also sprays back at the shooter when firing. It can also stain your holster or clothes as it runs out of the gun. Furthermore, too much oil can get all over your live ammo and possibly deactivate it.

"Just enough" oil is defined as enough to create a thin film on the working parts, but not so much that it runs/drips off or sags, or oozes out when the gun is reassembled. The only guns I lube in such fashion are my vintage safe queens where pickling them to prevent rust is more important than anything else.

 

[lphilpot]

FWIW, I don’t much care what I lube with most of the time. CLP, oil, gun grease, it all works.

Right now I'm working through an old bottle of Omark (Outers?) oil that I've had forever. When it's gone I'll resume using up the Hoppe's oil I have on hand. The Omark seems just slightly less viscous than the Hoppe's but it's close. I have grease, CLP and several other options, but I shoot this gun weekly and clean it each time so the specific product really isn't a factor.

I just keep the 3-in-1 and WD-40 away from my guns, using them only where & how they're meant to be used.

 

[lphilpot]

I lube areas where there is metal to metal contact. I lube any areas that rotate. When I reassemble the pistol, I'll wipe off any excess I can see.

That's pretty much what I do on any gun, I've just upped the quantity on my 1911. I may tweak it back just a little and see how it works. One thing for sure -- It won't rust! LOL

 

[dsk]

I only use WD-40 on my blackpowder guns after cleaning them in hot soapy water to remove all traces of moisture. After that they get wiped dry of WD-40 and lubed normally. It sucks as a preservative and is completely useless as a lubricant, at least for firearms.

 

[dsutton24]

About the only subject that causes more debate than gun lubrication is vehicle oil change intervals.

I've run them wet, I've run them nearly dry, I prefer lightly lubed. The gun runs fine, shows no signs of accelerated wear, and doesn't make a mess for miles around.

 

[lphilpot]

Don’t clog up the extractor channel, or the firing pin hole with goo

The breech face / forward gets a brush with a little bore solvent on it, then cleaned with mineral spirits before getting oiled where it wears. Rearward, it's just cleaned with a drop or two of oil on the disco, on the hammer pivot and in the rails.

 

[dsk]

About the only subject that causes more debate than gun lubrication is vehicle oil change intervals.

Or engine oil additives. Boy does that one get people talking...

 

[Michael W Cuber]

I think you’re doing fine. But what do I know,
I once lubed my Garand so much it splashed grease all over the place. lol.

I thought you were supposed to be splashed with grease if your M1 is lubed properly?!

 

[ken98k]

I know for every 10 shooters there will be 10 methods of lubing a 1911 but I have never heard of a 1911 that wouldn’t shoot because of to much oil. We have all heard about 1911s that wouldn’t shoot because they were dry.

 

[fkienast]

I admit I'm an over oiler. Oil's cheap. I use 3 in 1.

 

[Old11B]

I thought you were supposed to be splashed with grease if your M1 is lubed properly?!

Grease and BLO on your hands !!

 

[sablelieger]

I think you’re doing fine. But what do I know,
I once lubed my Garand so much it splashed grease all over the place. lol.

LEARN IT, LIVE IT, LOVE IT. Which reminds me to pick up a few more Lubriplate pots at the gun show this weekend.

 

[Levian]

I'll put a thin film on contact points where you can see metal rubbing against metal. Maybe a dab of grease on the rails in the summer time because it gets to be a pain spritzing a carry gun down with ballistol every week/2 weeks because it evaporates so fast.

Not so much that it coats me when I shoot the pistol though, that's unpleasant.

 

[Old11B]

View attachment 778440

LEARN IT, LIVE IT, LOVE IT. Which reminds me to pick up a few more Lubriplate pots at the gun show this weekend.

View attachment 778441

Have four here. Lube, lube, lube. But I was 11B, SAW, M-60, M-2, so WET was beat into my little brain.

Had a M-249 SAW in my fart sack many nights.

 

[sablelieger]

Have four here. Lube, lube, lube. But I was 11B, SAW, M-60, M-2, so WET was beat into my little brain.

Had a M-249 SAW in my fart sack many nights.

I see we are fellow travelers. 95B - M60, SAW, M2, Mk-19. Always had a bottle of LSA inside my buttpack for time when you ran the 60 ragged, so a quick squirt, rack it, LET'S GO!

 

[dsk]

30 years ago I bought a new Bushmaster AR rifle, and it jammed multiple times. This was at the same indoor range where I bought it. I took it over to one of the salesmen to complain, and he took it apart and complained it wasn't wet enough. Like Hell I said, I oiled it liberally. He said an AR needed to be absolutely dripping wet during break-in. And so he proceeded to lube the living snot out of it, borrowed one of my full 30-rounders and disappeared into the range. I immediately heard a loud BRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAPPP!!! and he came back out a minute later with the barrel smoking like it was on fire. It never did malfunction again after that.

 

[YVK]

Generally speaking I prefer oil for everything but the slide rails, which get grease. However when I did that with my SIG P365 .380 upper I got repeated failures to cycle. I switched to using oil on the rails during the next range trip and the problem went away.

Grease provides a visual appearance of something being there but no better lubrication. The lubricant part runs out, what's left behind is a thickener that is neither protective nor very lubricating but wets things up a little. Just tells you that many but not all guns are forgiving. Oil you can just keep adding when it runs off, grease you eventually need to clean off even if you hadn't shot the gun. Was a grease guy, never again.
I posted here before about lubing a gun with a sunscreen lotion once. I am in a wet camp.

I only use WD-40 on my blackpowder guns after cleaning them in hot soapy water to remove all traces of moisture. After that they get wiped dry of WD-40 and lubed normally. It sucks as a preservative and is completely useless as a lubricant, at least for firearms.

There's a 1911 builder I know who has a following in special operations community folks for whom he built a number of 1911s. He tests his guns after lubing them with WD-40 after a feedback from those guys. Says they told him that this is something that they could get in any part of the world and they also got their gear wet often in a literal sense. Figuratively too. So his guns need to run on a WD-40.