Oil question

O

odugrad

New member
Just a quick question. I've heard that getting oil/solvent into the breech face/firing pin hole of a handgun is not a good idea.

Generally when I clean my bolt carrier groups I get them pretty wet with oil and keep them wet. This causes oil to get on the firing pin, cam pin, etc.

Do you know if there is anything wrong with this?
 
I can't recall any problem from oil inside with the internal pieces, going back to maybe 1966. Bought a Ruger Blackhawk and put many and many a round through it. Never had any trouble with any other revolvers, which never got as much disassembly for cleaning as my 1911s in IPSC use.
 
Just curious why this was moved to the handgun forum. My question was about my bolt carrier groups and keeping them wet.
 
I've heard that getting oil/solvent into the breech face/firing pin hole of a handgun is not a good idea.
Click to expand...
You did say "handgun."
Primers are susceptible to being damaged by being soaked in oil.
But it's doubtful than a wet firing pin would hurt them.
They're not going to be in contact with the pin very long.
Unless a round is loaded into the chamber and the gun is resting on the muzzle, allowing oil to run out of the firing pin hole onto the primer.
And even then, the oil would have to find its way into the chemicals, around a tight fitting primer.
Not likely, though.
Anyone want to do a test with an empty case, a live primer and some oil?
 
Primers are susceptible to being damaged by being soaked in oil.
But it's doubtful than a wet firing pin would hurt them
Click to expand...

Not saying this is the norm, but a couple years ago I dropped a 9mm round in a cup of water for close to a week, I took it to the range to see if it would fire and to my surprise it went bang. I should actually try this again with a few more rounds and see the results.
 
The NRA and others have done tests to find which oils penetrate around the primer and cause misfires.
 
Yeah, loaded rounds are hard to hurt.
Lots of mine have been thoroughly washed when left in jeans pockets.
A hour in the washing machine didn't hurt them a bit.
And most were reloads.
Factory rounds are probably even better.
 
Ammo in water?
I went to Fla. & when I got back I found my sump pump had failed & there was 20" of water in the basement.
I had 7K rounds of PMC mil-spec ammo, sealed primers & neck around the bullet.
Soaked for maybe 2 weeks.
I've fired at least 200 rnds selected at random & every one fired.
3K rnds of .45 a.c.p. Federal, same story, about 1 in 50 fail to fire.
Not mil spec ammo.
.22 r.f., 70% fail to fire.
Lost 6K rnds of .22 r.f., almost all CCI Std. vel. & sub h.p.:mad::mad:
Insurance will cover damage to strucure ( a lot ) & personal property but how does one replace 6K rnds of .22 r.f these days?
Mil type ammo is made to suffer the ravages of nature, sporting stuff not so.
 
I had solvent kill a primer in a carry/pickup gun. I shot the carried loads ever once in a while, chambered round wouldn't fire. It may have been in the door pocket for 6 months or so. It had to be solvent from the firing pin hole. I'm a lot more careful now.
 
In general, I'm not a big fan of getting solvents, or large amounts of oil into places that I can't see and access to clean.

Firing pin channels tend to collect debris, and if you put a significant amount of fluid in there to mix with the debris, it can turn to gunk, harden and may eventually cause function problems.

Also, I'd say that if any significant amount of oil runs out of an area on a gun that has been lubricated that area of the gun has been overlubricated.
 
Referencing the comment about an AR BCG, lube is your friend. BUT. Don't chamber a round and leave it sitting muzzle down for a long time and expect it to fire. It might or maybe not if oil has followed the firing pin channel and soaked the primer. Muzzle up is less likely to be a problem.
 
Compressed air (canned or tanked) is a fabulous thing to have. I tend to be pretty liberal with the CLP when cleaning. Being able to blow excess oil out of the firing pin channel ensures I can clean the internals easily without leaving them swimming in lube.
 
I do the same thing. Compressed air to blow off/out the excess.

It's like a little car-wash for your gun. :)
 
Canned air...

I have soaked a few old actions from various firearms that are brought my way for its "first cleaning in a decade". Just drown it and work the parts many times, soak again... Some of them need to be hit with a dip in degreaser or sprayed down with aerosol degreaser. I soak those down well too, so I am sure all the parts are coated in oil for protection.

Then I hit it with canned air to remove all the excess.


Sometimes it can take a lot for The more neglected firearms out there, more so if I worry the next decade may pass without cleaning.

With hard to reach areas... Compressed air can get out all the excess and ensure all the parts still have a light coat on them.


I use it for AR trigger groups and any firearm serving as a defense/carry piece. Clean, lube, remove excess.
 
When I first got into guns, I used to soak them in oil.


After 2 weeks of carrying my piece around, I took it to the range and got 'click' instead of 'bang.'

Now I wipe everything down 3 times to get all the excess :cool:.
 
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