Seasoning your gun???

O

Onslaught

New member
While admiring a buddy's brand new HK USP 40, I remembered back to a time when my barrel was all black, before the invariable metal color comes through on the top and side of the chamber end of the barrel.

How could he keep this from happening to his gun, I thought. Then, I remembered back to when my wife and I bought our house, and opened all the new cookware we had gotten for our wedding. Both Moms immediately started telling us how to "season" them before using them, so they wouldn't scratch and ruin. "Cover them lightly with cooking oil, then bake them in the oven".

So I began to wonder, would there be any advantages to coating the outside of the brand new HK barrel with something like CLP or some other coating type lubricant, then baking it in the oven? Any negative effects from doing so? Could doing so possibly "bake in" the lubricating qualities and slow down finish wear?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions...
 
I was a breakfast and lunch cook for a while, seasoning a pan would cook a nice layer of oil onto the surface but it was not a permanent fix. The pan can still rust, it just made it easier to clean by just wiping with a cloth, not soap, If the pan was baked on crud you ended up washing or scrubbing the seasoning off. this was mostly on iron skillets and steel pans. never with aluminum or stainless. the finish on your gun is better than any seasoning.....:rolleyes:
 
I think a better way to do it and have fun at the same time would be to wrap bacon around the barrel and shoot it till it gets nice and hot. :D (sorry)
 
Onslaught . . .

I would respectfully suggest that there are substantial metallurgical differences between cookware (frequently cast iron) and firearms' barrels (usually forged carbon steel). Accordingly, I would leave seasoning to the kitchen -- particular the part about baking the barrel at high temperature and for long periods in an oven.
 
It seems to be true that synthetic lubricants (Mobil-1, Militec, etc) work best when cured into the micropores of a steel surface. This is best done by actually shooting the weapon and re-lubing at intervals while still at the range for perhaps the first 200 to 300 rounds. This takes advantage of both heat and friction.

It has also been my cleaning practice after a range session to warm the parts of a field-stripped weapon with a hair dryer. This thins the lubricant and assure that it migrates. While this might seem excessive, I have noted that cleaning is much easier than it was when I used conventional cleaning methods and a simple "gun oil".
 
There is no way you can really avoid the metal color coming through on a weapon that has shown some use. This is just the finish wearing off a high friction area and is purely cosmetic. Even the best finishes on the market today will show some wear after a period of time.

As for "seasoning" a weapon, I have only heard of this use in Black Powder barrels. I only use T/C Bore Butter and natural cleaners to clean my Blackpowder barrels and avoid all petroleum based cleaners.

Good Shooting
RED
 
I have to admit that when I first read the title of this thread, I imagined pinches of pepper, dashes of salt, maybe a little garlic salt for good measure. And paprika. Lots and lots of paprika.

Bon Appetit!
 
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