Homemade lubricants- do share

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skizzums

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Now that we were given proof that one of our beloved "do-all" gun-lubes are nothing but repackaged Canola oil sold @ a 10,000% mark-up, it can most likely be said that ALL gun lubes are re-packages mixtures of stuff we already have in the garage, or in FireClean's case, in the kitchen cupboard. I think everyone knows that gun-lubes are a combination of already existing oils/solvents and no-one is out "inventing" new products that are for guns-only. I am not hating on any brand that has found an alternative use for existing oils, and if it's better and no one else beat them to it, then sell it while you can, that's smart if you ask me, not evil intentioned. they figured it out first, and if it worked, then they can make the monies until everyone figures it out.

how many of you are smarter than the average cookie and have known this for years? how many would like to share your favorite recipes? I know a popular one floating about is auto-trans fluid or a mixture of sorts. any good working lubes that smell pretty good using car stuff? I have been using Hoppes #9 to clean barrels and Mpro for general lubricant. I like Mpro for it's thickness, lack of smell and easily removed from external finish. A homemade replication of these two oils, at least their characteristics, would be great. Although I have never used FireClean, I have seen it recommended here on the various "lube" threads, so Canola oil will definitely be tested on my next range trip.
 
For close to sixty years now I have used a 50/50 mix of automotive motor oil and Three-In-One oil.

I apply a heavy coat to all exterior surfaces with a saturated patch, then after assembling the gun, wipe it down with a paper shop towel.

See no need to change now.


Bob Wright
 
My mystery formula is Castrol Syntec 15W50 synthetic motor oil with a "dollop" (which is a pseudo-scientific term for "some") of super-fine molybdenum powder mixed in.
 
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Any word on Eezox? I ordered some to try out but I was wary of it because it warns not too apply too much. It says too much will leave a sticky residue. Something about that worries me but I'm not sure why.

Personally I'm tempted to just use WD-40 on my gun. It works great everywhere else and was developed for and used by NASA. It's not meant to be handled though which is the only problem.
 
WD40, as i have been sternly told by many forum crusaders, is NOT a lubricant. rather, it is a water displace(r?). I guess for rust/corrosion prevention instead of lubrication. "they" say that it leaves behind a residue and also attracts dirt. Again, this is the web and when things get stated a couple times, it get perpetuated until it just becomes fact, so it could be bogus. I have personally used it once, and although smokey at first, worked same as any.

I love the idea of using Crisco canola oil, clean obviously non-toxic, high heat resistance and edible. who doesn't want to smell french fries while shooting? as good as it sounds, i think it's flawed though. a couple months back my son wanted pancakes. I rarely fry anything and all i had available was a very very old bottle of canola oil with the lid loose. I thought "who cares, it's oil, it doesn't go BAD, right"......wrong. it DID go bad. it was extremely thick when trying to pour it into the pan and the pancakes were sadly inedible(son devastated, therapy costs through the roof). so if a couple years in a cabinet can upset the viscosity of said oil, what will a few hours of extreme heat and friction do?

Anything made for engines, i assume, should do just fine on a firearm. we are trying to stop the same damage from metal-to-metal(in some cases metal-plastic) friction and high heat exposure as an internal combustion engine. car products probably far exceed the task. I think when we look at car lubricants we should just be looking at it's viscous characteristics, as too thick may not bleed into the surfaces as we need it to. that and how well it smells, stays put, wipes off and smokes. i am sure any very low viscosity oil would be fine, although i've never actually tried any.

what is "cutting" oil? is it proprietary to metal working? or is it also a repackaged branded oil? is it plant-based or petro? curious because when using the mill/lathe, i notice that the cutting oils have very little smell, are clear and stays where i want it to, not to mention pretty cheap for large bottles.
 
I think everyone knows that gun-lubes are a combination of already existing oils/solvents and no-one is out "inventing" new products that are for guns-only.
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New or innovative combinations of existing ingredients can, indeed, produce new products tailored for particular applications.

I have made and use some "homemade" lubes. The one I use most often is a light grease made from a gun oil mixed with very fine molybdenum disulfide powder. I've also used other light greases on occasion when I determined that the moly grease I make wouldn't be ideal for one reason or another.

One thing that frequently gets ignored when this issue comes up is that while you're going to get pretty decent lubrication from virtually any good quality oil, that doesn't mean it's an ideal choice for firearm use. There are additives in virtually any oil, and that additive package is tailored for a particular application. The fact that a particular lube is more than adequate to meet any firearm lubrication needs doesn't mean it's just as good as any dedicated gun oil.

Here's a pretty decent treatment of the topic.

http://www.grantcunningham.com/2006/05/lubrication-101/
 
Mobil One is a great oil. Good for preservation and as a lubricant. Lots of revolver shooters are using it along with some Slide Glide from Brian Enos' store.
 
There are two things at work here when cleaning and maintaining a gun - solvent and oil. The solvent will always be toxic. You could use any type of cleaner that gets rid of oil, dirt, grease, etc. that you would use after firing. This could include kitchen detergent soap like dial, which is why some people put their gun through the dishwasher (which is fine if you do not use it for dishes), gun cleaner, turpentine, etc. You could just use soap and clean your gun at your sink. I would imagine this is the best way as long as you dry it really well. Just use detergent that takes off oil and grease, not regular soap.

For lubrication you can use any kind of oil for the most part. Olive oil, canola oil, palm oil, fractionated coconut oil, etc. The key is to understand the oil you are using. All oils go bad. So you need to know how long the oil you are using is good for so that you can wipe down and reapply. Some oils are only good for 1 month whereas others are good for years. You also need to know how the oil responds to temperature

Most gun cleaners are a combination of both so that it cleans and protects at the same time. This makes it easier for people. I personally hate toxic chemicals and use gloves when cleaning my guns. Once cleaned I wipe them down then put some fractionated coconut oil on them and reapply every few months if they are not fired. I haven't had an issue ever with rust from this method, then again I store my guns in an air conditioned house so they shouldn't rust easily to begin with.
 
I think this lubrication is way overblown. There are many gun that are around 100 years old that still work fine and are not worn out. The obsession with the "right" oil for guns us a recent thing that has been promoted to suckers by those with a profit motive. I remember 55 or 60 years ago when we just used whatever oil that happened to be handy. The guns worked and are still operating.

We hear the same kind of arguments in oil threads in car and motorcycle forums. I remember one response that I think says it all. He said "Oil is better than no oil. Clean oil is better than dirty oil."
 
The military changed from LSA to CLP and it's no big deal. The issue some have is on cleaning carbon - when said carbon on the specific parts does no harm.

I used Dexron for years - but it stinks. Badly. For hunting purposes that is a fail, as it introduces a noticeable scent into an environment where it does not belong. It's therefore something out of place, and with American Whitetail, that is a flag that raises their sense of alarm - the same as bacon and eggs, gasoline, or beer.

Nonetheless some hunters still get lucky. :confused:

I changed to Lucas gun oil because 1) it's scent free, and 2) a major machine gun rental range in Vegas appreciated that it didn't spray all over their customer's clothing. I've tried it - applied a heavy coating in the upper channel per the TM - and none of it sprayed out onto my face and glasses the way CLP is guaranteed to do. It just kept surface creeping around the charging handle working forward on the upper.

So far so good. I don't need to work thru a list of automotive oils that don't consider how guns are used and where. They may be just fine - but gun oils that ARE designed with a hunter's use in mind are better for very specific reasons.

It might be just fine for you to use whatever, but the application is important.
 
When I was a kid just starting out shooting and didn't know any better I made a lubricant mix of Browning gun oil, a dash of Sears penetrating fluid, and a glob of STP Oil Treatment.

Years later I read that Bill Wilson recommended a dab of STP for use on triggers units.

After I learned that some lubricants don't react well with some others I just bought regular lubricants specifically made for guns.
I figured that I wasn't going to know more then a chemist with advanced degrees who develops lubricants for a gun products company.
 
The best lubricant and preservative for firearms is a mix of 1/3 ambergris, 1/3 rendered and strained bear fat and 1/3 bee's wax. You can substitute seal fat for the ambergris if you use beavertail fat instead of bear fat and of course you can use ear wax in the place of bee's wax in either recipi. Or you can just buy some gun oil.
 
bill west said:
Where can I buy ambergris?
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Not sure where you can buy it, but since you appear to be in Chicago you could just go dig through the trash on the shore of Lake Michigan. If you're VERY VERY VERY lucky you'll find some in some whale poo that floated in from the Atlantic ....

Ambergris is usually passed in the fecal matter. It is only produced by sperm whales, and only by an estimated one percent of them. Once expelled by a whale, it must float for years, then it must make landfall, avoid being broken into pieces by rough seas, and someone must find it. In other words, the odds of finding ambergris are extremely small.
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I have spent my entire 38 year career in synthetic lubricants (now retired), including testing, designing ester base oils, formulating finished lubricants, and selling & marketing worldwide. That said, while I have formulated jet engine oils, motor oils, and a variety of industrial oils and greases, I have never formulated any gun oils and don’t claim to be an expert on this topic. I thought I could, however, offer some insight into lubricant composition and formulating.

Lubricants consist of a base oil, enhanced with performance improving additives. In most industrial lubricants the base oil constitutes over 90% of the formulation, sometimes over 99%, depending on the application. Motor oils contain about 80-90% base oil due to the high load of detergents and dispersants needed to deal with engine blow-by. Greases, which are just thickened oils, may have even less base oil to allow for the thickening agents.

Synthetic base oils are the most stable and offer a greatly extended temperature operating range, both high and low temperature. Vegetable oils are the least stable due to the presence of carbon-to-carbon double bonds and they can go rancid fairly quickly, even at room temperature if exposed to air. Petroleum based mineral oils are in between and are easily stable enough for lubricating weapons with proper maintenance.

Some of the types of additives available to a formulator include:

Anti-oxidants (AO)
Anti-wear (AW)
Extreme pressure (EP)
Anti-corrosion
Anti-rust
Yellow metal inhibitors
Detergents
Dispersants
Anti –foam
Friction modifier
Pour point depressants
Seal conditioners
Viscosity modifiers

Formulating a lubricant is a complex process involving the selection of base oils and additives needed for a given application, keeping in mind that some additives work well together and some conflict and can cause serious problems. The process starts with establishing physical, chemical, and performance goals for the finished product based on the range of intended applications and competition, followed by defining these goals with relevant empirical test methods and targets. This is followed by a matrix of laboratory testing, then by real world field testing. The process can be time consuming and expensive; for example a synthetic jet engine oil takes about ten years to qualify and costs millions of dollars, and motor oils can take up to a year or more and cost up to a million dollars.

Home blends are a poor substitute for scientific methodology and can have disastrous results in sensitive applications. Fortunately the lubrication of most weapons is not very sensitive and there is less chance for serious problems. Yes the formation of hard or sticky deposits can make a gun dangerous, and wear or corrosion can shorten its life, but in my opinion lubricant selection for a well maintained gun is more degrees of performance rather than equipment failure or safety. I would think the use of many types of synthetic or mineral oil based lubricants would be reasonably effective provided the gun is cleaned and maintained on a regular basis. This is evidenced by the many home-brews and cleaning methods noted in this thread that apparently work reasonably well. Personally I would prefer to stay with a product that has been formulated by a technically qualified company and thoroughly tested.

For more on lubricant ingredients, here is an article I wrote a few years ago on motor oils:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/whats-in-your-motor-oil/

TomNJVA
 
Synthetic base oils are the most stable and offer a greatly extended temperature operating range, both high and low temperature. Vegetable oils are the least stable due to the presence of carbon-to-carbon double bonds and they can go rancid fairly quickly, even at room temperature if exposed to air. Petroleum based mineral oils are in between and are easily stable enough for lubricating weapons with proper maintenance.
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good info, thank you. guess that's why my pancakes made me wanna puke. so veggie oils are out.....dang
 
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