Motor Oil for Non-Stinky CLEANER, Lube, and Protectant

J

jfruser

New member
The short of it:
Not too bad as a cleaner and as good as most any petroleum product as a lube and protectant. Upside is it doesn't stink the place up.

Words, more words:
I've used motor oil off and on as a gun lube and protectant for years. Heck, I'll give most products a try. Oddly enough, most of them do alright, if they advertise some connection to doing something useful for machine parts. So I am not too particular about the product used as long as it works reasonably.

The other day I was using a gun solvent to clean my SW629 and had to manage some other thing outside. Came inside and instantly I noticed the solvent smell throughout the house. Dang. Let the house air out and the next gun I used the leftover Mobil 1 0W20 from the last time I changed my wife's car. Not the old oil, but the fraction of a quart left from the oil change. Scrub, scrub on the SW686 that was pretty dirty with my handloads of 148gr HBWC and 3.2gr W231 in a .357mag case. My SW686 plus those pills were hands-down the most popular combo over thanksgiving with the family. Shot up almost every one had. A good time had by all, age 14 to 82 years.

Anyways, it didn't seem to take any longer than usual for the patches to come up clean from bore and cylinder.

I still have a fond place in my heart for Hoppes #9 and Breakfree CLP.
 
If it's good enough inside the piston rings of a 1100 degree combustion chamber it should work OK for the slide moving back. Engine oil is probably a decent lube but not a great cleaner. I've heard of guys using ATF as it has better detergent properties.

I think the issue is the oil gumming up over time or becoming gelatinous in very cold weather. 0w20 is probably a decent gun lube if thinned.

In Stalingrad the Russians diluted their gun oil with gasoline to keep it liquid in the cold temps. Most Germans did not.
 
veprdude said:
I think the issue is the oil gumming up over time or becoming gelatinous in very cold weather. 0w20 is probably a decent gun lube if thinned.
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Gumming up was certainly a consideration with conventional motor oils. I don't think it's an issue with synthetic motor oils.
 
veprdude said:
If it's good enough inside the piston rings of a 1100 degree combustion chamber it should work OK for the slide moving back. Engine oil is probably a decent lube but not a great cleaner. I've heard of guys using ATF as it has better detergent properties.

I think the issue is the oil gumming up over time or becoming gelatinous in very cold weather. 0w20 is probably a decent gun lube if thinned.

In Stalingrad the Russians diluted their gun oil with gasoline to keep it liquid in the cold temps. Most Germans did not.
Click to expand...
I have used atf as a cleaner, too. Probably better than motor oil but it does have a strong unpleasant odor. Atf if left innplace gasses off a good bit but leaves behind some lube or protectant.

And these days, i pretty much buy only synthetic motor oil, atf, grease, etc.

When i ran a boy acout shooting program we used synth atf as solvent and synth motor oil as lube and protectant. Cheap enough.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
 
In my days in The Queen's Service, years ago, the CF gave us nothing but 10W-30 to clean all our issue weapons. It's not slathered on like BBQ sauce. And you wipe most of it off.
Had my people out shooting FN's in a light blizzard(sleet with a bit of wind) on the South side of Lake Ontario with no ill affects.
Mind you, cold weather shooting is done with the weapon bone dry. No lube at all.
"...Not the old oil..." Shoulda Italicized or bolded that. Somebody's going to have a seizure. snicker.
 
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