Lubricating your gun...A different option to an old issue?

E

erob3

New member
Ok, I know there have been several threads posted concerning what is the best way to keep your firearm lubricated and protected so I don't mean to beat the proverbial dead horse. Grease on slides on
semi-autos, oil for other parts, etc. Well I ran into a guy the other day that is a gunsmith, he has been doing this for 20+ years. He mentioned the following and I'm just curious to hear some feedback, he may be way off base, then again there may be some validity to what he is saying.

Use no oil. He recommended a product that can be bought at Wal-Mart and made by Remington that is a spray on teflon for slides and working parts. I'm sure this has been around along time but I have never seen it. He said to use a product called FLITZ on the blue finish, a product that costs around $25 for a small tube, and then after that apply a thin application of 100% carnuba wax. So what ya think? A bunch of wise tales or something that sounds plausible.
 
I think the Teflon products are too light ....and you'll get some wear that you won't be happy about.

Flitz is a polish / and I've never used it on a blued gun .....I do use it on a Nickel finish or a stainless finish to polish them up. I don't think there is any abrasive in Flitz ( but there might be a little / so I would not use it on a blued gun ).

Wax is too soft to do much good. It will give you some protection ...but even if you double or triple coat it ...each sucessive coat of wax melts the one underneath it ...so you're still left with one coat of wax. Carnuba wax is hard ( for a wax ) - but not durable...

In general / I use/have used 4 or 5 products:
1. Wilson Combat's Ultima lube grease ( for semi-auto slides ) ....it stays where you put it. It has a needle applicator - that puts it where you want it.

2. Wilson Combat's Ultima lube oil ...its properties exceed most other oils out there. They have the same needle applicator ...which is easy to use.

3. Break Free CLP oil ....its way cheaper than Ultima Lube products /easy to find ....and a good alternative/if you don't want grease in some areas.

4. Rig Universal Grease ...its an amber color ...and it has some extra "anti rust inhibitors in it" ../works real well on Over Under shotguns where barrels connect to receivers, or hard use areas on handguns. Its not superior to Ultima Lube grease / but cheaper and readily available.

5. a light spray oil ... inside frames on handguns where I don't want grease on some parts, or on springs ...with some preservative in it ...Rig Oil is my old standby (and no longer available), Rem Oil is pretty good, Kleen Bore super lube is pretty good ...
 
I have no scientific evidence to back this up but all I have ever used is good old Hoppes #9 solvent for cleaning and Rem-Oil for lubrication, with the exception of Pro-Choice's "Pro-Shot" gun grease on the slides of my auto-chuckers. This has worked for me for years, and I see no need to change.
 
Just because someone has had the same habit for many years does mean it is a good thing to copy.
A Teflon based lube like Break-Free is excellent.
Overthinking a simple subject like this won't help.
 
There are no "miracle" lubricants.
WHAT you use to lubricate is no where near as important as that you DO lubricate. With something.
Everyone has their favorites, just try a few and find out what works for you.

Like all metal polishes, Flitz is an abrasive. That's what metal polishes are.
Flitz is a fine abrasive, but it will thin or strip bluing. How fast depends on how often you use it, and how hard you rub.

An excellent preservative for guns to prevent rust is a good wax.
Johnson's Paste Wax or Renaissance Hard Carnuba both work well to protect metal. Museums don't put lubes on old weapons, they wax them. This also works for a using gun.
I would caution against using car wax. Many contain abrasives to polish paint and they too can strip bluing.
 
I put a little gun grease on the slide rails of my semiautos, wipe off the excess, and that's that. The whole process takes about 15 seconds and seems to work just fine. I can see no benefit in changing what works so well for me.
 
gun lube

Whatever lube you use,use it sparingly, and only where it is needed. Excess lube does no good, but it does collect dirt, debris, etc.
 
Your gunsmith's suggestion sounds like a nice way to make a gun look pretty for display but a lousy way to make a carry gun keep working. I don't much care what my guns look like, I care how they run.

I use bearing grease. It has never, ever failed me. Oils run off and evaporate. Grease stays put and works even dirty. The cheap **** is made at the same place as the $40/ounce "SuperWhatsIt4000".
 
Some things require just a dab, some require just a lot. Wet and sandy or dirty beats the tar out of dry and sandy or dirty.
 
I do not want to sound like an employee or something, which I am not, but I use EEZOX on all my firearms. It preserves and lubricates. The effect of the lubrication is long term. I do not have to lube slids often and the product works dry. It does not collect dirt. I have fired pistols not lubed for six months without any slide problems. The product does on wet, dries and protects dry. I have tried everything I could find over the decades and have found nothing to equal EEZOX.
 
What I have found so far is that Teflon based gun oils work pretty good. One place I don't use them is on the Slide rails.

I find if you only shoot a box of ammo at a time in a given semi-auto then oils like Remoil with Teflon will work. When you are shooting a couple hundred rounds or more the rails will become dry causing excessive wear and or jamming in many pistols. I found when carrying a pistol daily and using oil on the rails the oil will go to the bottom of the holster and might not be on the rails when needed. You need to lubricate them fairly often.

I like using Slide Glide Lite on my rails. It is still in place and lubricating even after 500 rounds. You still need to check the rails for proper lubrication occasionally when you use grease.

Fitz is abrasive and if used a lot you will see the finish get thinner. Rub it hard and it gets worse.
 
Flitz on a blued gun? Never.

Flitz is a polish and will take off the blued finish. It's fine for stainless but don't use it on a blued gun. The best rust preventive is Eezox. It also helps avoid fingerprints.

I will also point out that several lubricants have teflon in them including Remoil and Breakfree CLP.
 
I have no scientific evidence to back this up but all I have ever used is good old Hoppes #9 solvent for cleaning and Rem-Oil for lubrication, with the exception of Pro-Choice's "Pro-Shot" gun grease on the slides of my auto-chuckers. This has worked for me for years, and I see no need to change.
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I agree. I may be old fashioned but I have been using Hoppes and Rem-Oil for as long as I can remember. I also occasionally use Gun Scrubber or the like and I recently tried something called blue wonder which really cleans up the gun good. I feel as long as the gun is lubricated whether it be with Rem-Oil or ATF it really doesn't make much of a difference.
 
He said to use a product called FLITZ on the blue finish, a product that costs around $25 for a small tube, and then after that apply a thin application of 100% carnuba wax.
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Eh, I'm not buying it. I'll stick with Hoppes #9 and Rem Oil (which is teflon based) or normal gun oil.

And I'd stay far away from Flitz on a blued handgun and I'm not buying into the carnuba wax either.

Even if his method does work, it is certainly no easier, and can't be any better, than using a simple gun oil.
 
Flitz FAQ:

"CAN FLITZ BE USED ON GUN BLUING?

As long as the gun has been blued during manufacturing, or hot-blued. This type of bluing is actually made part of the metal. Flitz will clean and protect the barrel inside and out without any oily film or danger to the inside of the barrel.

If the gun has been cold-blued, then the bluing has been painted on. Flitz will treat this like graffiti and clean it off of the surface of the barrel. Check with a qualified gunsmith to be sure."
______________________________________

Obviously a number of folks have had a different experience with Flitz than I have. It works for me. John
 
Flitz FAQ:
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Respectfully, their FAQ is BS. Flitz is a polish, meaning it is abrasive. That means it takes part of the surface away every time you use it. Why in the world does anybody want to rub an abrasive on a blued gun? But, hey, if it's your gun, do what you want to with it.
 
Hunters have used wax on the rifles or shotguns for years I have been using on my guns for nearly 30years It protects the pistol better than a lite coat of oil during carry and bad weather. A little extra protection on the bluing when in holster.
 
Flitz is an abrasive and I would NEVER use it on a blued gun. I use it to clean heavily fouled bores. It is similar to JB Bore Paste and I would never use that on blue either.
 
If you do a search, you will find plenty of people who use Flitz to turn a stainless revolver into something that looks like chrome.

In order to do that requires the removal of metal...plain and simple. Do with that what you will.
 
Perhaps he got the nme wrong, or perhaps there are more than one "Flitz" product, but the only Flitz that I know is a metal polish. Polish is NOT Lubrication.

I use Rem Oil, Eezexox (spelling?) Break Free, and several other products, including GI grease.
 
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