Gun Cleaning and Lube on a Budget

In addition to the small bottle of Ed's Red sold by Brownells, Cylinder & Slide sells a product they call Dunk-It that I'm pretty certain may be Ed's Red. Their instructions say not to soak nickel-plated guns in it because it may attack the copper wash coat beneath the nickel. The formula is proprietary to C&S so there's no way to confirm what it is but, if it's not Ed's Re, I think it's probably close.

http://www.cylinder-slide.com/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=Dunk
 
Motor oil follow up

After some research I found that Mobile 1 Synthetic motor oil shares the same key ingredient (polyalphaolefin) that is found in breakfree clp and frog lube clp. There are also detergents and protective film.
 
PAO is a hydrocarbon polymer that is used in a wide array of products. It is used to make IV tubes, storage bags, and prosthetic body parts. It is a plastic that can be modified for different uses. It can also be used to increase the high temperature viscosity of oils and reduce low temperature pour point. It does not mix well with water or aqueous acids. This property keeps it from forming sludge under heat and pressure. The lubricity increase in certain formulations (much like nylon) form a lubrication barrier that can absorb or carry carbon.

That last function makes it a poor lubricant when exposed to carbon particles that can cause wear. The crankcase of an engine doesn't get a lot of carbon particulates as they go out the exhaust. In a direct impingement firearm the carbon can be picked up and carried by the PAO turning it into a lapping compound at best.

I don't know what formulation of PAO is in CLP or for that matter what the formulation is in Mobil 1 but I do know that there are many different formulations with very different properties. Looking for a particular component (with so many different formulations) is probably a meaningless endeavor. You may not want it in a product for a given use anymore than you would want to use an IV bag or tubing or the plastic used in an artificial joint to lubricate your gun.

I am not saying that it is bad in the proper formulation for a particular job, just that having it listed in a product may not be the best product for any given application. It would take a chemical engineer to determine the proper application of any given formulation. I am not a chemical engineer and with all the different formulations I don't know if it is a good idea under the very different conditions in a gun. I do know there are very good lubricants that don't mix with carbon easily and have worked on guns for a very long time.
 
PAO is a synthetic oligomer of olefins, most commonly 1-decene. It is not in the plastic family but is used extensively in synthetic lubricants as a base oil where it offers enhanced high temperature stability and low temperature fluidity. It is not noted for cleaning as it lacks polarity, and is often blended with synthetic esters to improve solubility, lubricity, and cleaning potential. Most Mobil 1 grades contain blends of multiple base oils including PAO, Group III mineral oils, alkylated naphthalene, and ester.

Other than its extended temperature range, PAO would behave similar to mineral base oils in gun oils with respect to wear and cleanliness. I prefer it combined with polyol esters, and of course additives for anti-wear, anti-oxidation, anti-rust and anti-corrosion.

TomNJVA
 
After some research I found that Mobile 1 Synthetic motor oil shares the same key ingredient (polyalphaolefin) that is found in breakfree clp and frog lube clp. There are also detergents and protective film.
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I use Mobil 1 synthetic 0W20 simply because my car uses 4.8 quarts of oil when I change oil and it comes in a 5 quart container. It works great and doesn't cost me a penny.
 
I miss the parts cleaner with the power nozzle we had in our auto service department.
That got things clean, car parts, guns, the dog.....
 
Ridiculous thread.
Cleaning supplies are cheap.
For the price of one range trip you can have ten years supply of the good stuff.
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Maybe more like emergency gun cleaning, than budget gun cleaning.
I generally have all of the budget ingredients around the house.
 
I read once about bullet caster's that made their own bullet lube with stuff from the grocery store! Plenty of good tested lube ut there and they are mixing their own!
 
The oldest bullet lubes contain mixes of paraffin, Bee's wax and lanolin. These are available at stores in my area. There are some more modern coatings that produce less smoke and better lubrication but with slower bullets the old standards are good enough.
 
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