Important areas to oil/lube on revolvers?

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defjon

New member
It has been a number of years since I've owned one, and I was wondering the important areas to make sure are oiled or anything else I should do...thanks!
 
I'll address S&W revolvers since that's all I own. ;)

I will occasionally place a drop of oil on the ejector rod under the ejector star, at the cylinder-to-yoke interface, and on the ejector rod where it meets the yoke. Key word is a drop- as the ad slogan goes, a little dab'll do ya. :) Work the ejector rod and spin the cylinder a few times, then wipe off any visible excess.

IF I am removing the sideplate for some other reason, I will place a drop of oil on the bottom of the rebound slide and on the hammer and trigger pivot pins. However, I believe- as do numerous others- that S&W revolver lockwork was designed to work with minimal lubrication, and that excess oil will just attract dirt and eventually gum up the works. For that reason, I advise against blindly squirting oil into the hammer recess, around the trigger, etc.

Also, any oil that goes into S&W revolver lockwork should be the kind that will never dry up and leave varnish; IOW you should use high-quality synthetics and avoid cheap generic products like WD-40 or 3-in-One. :(
 
Defjon:

I oil like Carguychris does; however, I don't remove the side plates from my five Smith & Wessons often. What I do is while I'm shooting is to put a drop of Hoppie's #9 or Break Free into all openings. Two of my revolvers, M-27 and M-29 are 1965 vintage. I never had one of them gum up.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
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Well, Hoppe's No. 9 and Breakfree are not lubricants, they are solvents/penetrants and afford almost no lubrication. I suggest 4-5 drops of a good gun oil in front of the hammer and 2-3 in front of the trigger. 1 on the ejector rod, 1-2 on the ratchet. The oil in the action will distribute itself when the action is worked.

Jim
 
I oil like Carguychris does; however, I don't remove the side plates from my five Smith & Wessons often.
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I've never removed the sideplate of my Model 18 in nearly 4 years of ownership, and it accompanies me on almost every range trip. :)
 
I will occasionally place a drop of oil on the ejector rod under the ejector star
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Many of the problems I see with revolvers are due to over-lubrication, and that's one of the biggest culprits. Mix oil, heat, and spent powder, and you can get a gooey sludge that expands beneath the star and pushes it rearward. Then the cylinder gets stuck. Very small amounts probably won't be a problem, but lots of folks overdo it.

When I buy a used revolver, one of the first things I do is pop the sideplate. I've been quite surprised by what I've found under there. One owner had used furniture wax to slick the internals, and that was all sorts of fun to remove. In other cases, the prior owner had put a few drops down the hammer channel every time he shot it, and the result was a grimey mess that really wasn't doing any good.

For the most part, I'll make sure the internals are clean, and I'll put a light coat of Eezox on the contact surfaces. After that, I close the gun up, and I'm done.

In my experience, if something feels like it's binding or grinding, that's indicative of a mechanical problem, and one that won't be fixed by lubrication.
 
Well, Hoppe's No. 9 and Breakfree are not lubricants, they are solvents/penetrants and afford almost no lubrication.
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That's true of Hoppes No. 9. However, Breakfree is a CLP. It contains a cleaner, a lubricant, and a rust preventive. The lubricant is actually pretty good, though a bit light IMO for lubing rails on semi-autos (I have used it for that).
 
There is a Hoppe's #9 Lubricating Oil that comes in orange plastic bottles. Same name, but different stuff then the solvent.

And Breakfree CLP/LP are definitely lubricants. CLP serves as a cleaner in addition to being a lubricant/protectant, however I find it to be poor, messy cleaner.
 
Many of the problems I see with revolvers are due to over-lubrication, and that's one of the biggest culprits. Mix oil, heat, and spent powder, and you can get a gooey sludge that expands beneath the star and pushes it rearward. Then the cylinder gets stuck. Very small amounts probably won't be a problem, but lots of folks overdo it.
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I agree, hence the statement a couple of sentences later in my post... "then wipe off any visible excess." :p

The goal is to lubricate the rod, NOT the underside of the ejector star and cylinder face. This area should be kept scrupulously clean; IMHO this is more important than cleaning any other area on a typical swing-out-cylinder revolver, with the possible exception of the chambers in rimfire guns. (Older S&W rimfires typically have very tight chambers, and built-up powder residue from dirty ammo will prevent the cases from going all the way in, with the same results as crud under the ejector star. :()
 
Defjon:

James K is absolutely correct, Hoppies's #9 is not a lubricant. I was thinking of Hoppies oil when I wrote the response. However, I stand firm on my statement on Break Free. Sorry for the error.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Cliford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
I had thought the CLP in "Breakfree CLP" was Clean, Lubricate, Protect. IE, I thought it was a multi-function liquid, which did provide some lubrication.
 
If Breakfree CLP isn't a lubricant, then my guns, my door hinges, my door locks, my outdoor padlocks, and assorted doodads around my house must not have heard about this. ;)

FWIW I'm with KyJim about pistols slides, along with other reciprocating parts; the light film left by CLP doesn't stay put well enough to work in these applications. However, IMHO it seems to work great on most other things. :confused:
 
CLP has teflon in it and this is the lubricant part of its claim to be all things to all firearms. The military has used it ever since the old LSA (Lubricant-Small-Arms) went out of stock in the mid to late 70s as I recall. Do shake CLP up well before use in order to mix the teflon up thoroughly.

I find it a good lubricant in S&W revolvers as it does not gum up and seems to lubricate the mechanism well. Smith & Wesson markets a teflon lubricant for use in their revolvers and there is a bottle of it in my war room. It looks and acts a lot like CLP.

I've never found CLP to be a good bore solvent though and I use a purpose made solvent for cleaning the bore and chambers of my revolvers.

I've seen aritillerymen pouring CLP down their tubes when cleaning their big guns. For them, CLP comes in gallon containers and I'm sure they use most of it on one gun after a couple of fire missions.

I normally also remove the yoke and cylinder and remove the ejector rod from the cylinder and thoroughly clean inside the central cylinder hole as quite a bit of carbon and burnt lube (from cast bullets) tends to build up there.

As for the important parts to lube? I generally take the side plates of every year or so and flush out the old lube and then put a light coat of CLP or a good gun greese on the inside of the revolver with attention paid to the high friction areas where the hammer and trigger rotate, the double action fly, single action sear, the trigger rebound slide and the trigger nose where it engages the cylinder stop.
 
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