5w20 synthetic motor oil

[GrumpyBear]

All the lubricant any firearm will ever need. Bill T.

Where did you get the syringe type applicators,great idea,Keeps the lube where the lube belongs.

[Greywolf]

Where did you get the syringe type applicators,great idea,Keeps the lube where the lube belongs.

Brownells, of course. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1...SABLE-SYRINGES





And the needle oilers: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=4...-OILER-BOTTLES

[CARRY ON]

I use Mobil 1 5w-30. When I change my oil i have a habit of turning the quarts upside down and a day later i have 6 caps full of oil. i use it on Garands, pistols... it works fine and stays put.

[Noah_Zark]

I think the sooner people realize that oil is oil and grease is grease life will be cheaper. Granted, some oils have different purposes, but for what we do, motor oil and bearing grease is pretty decent. Grease can be a little more tricky, but still can be cheaper.

What people fail to see is a gun is a machine, like a car or bike. Moving parts on the car are faster, tighter, and just as hot. What makes motor oil bad?

YES ! exactly correct firearms are no different than any other machine with moving parts and exposed to the elements. It kill me to see what all these special "gun" lubes cost. A quart of oil and a tube of bearing grease are 5 lifetime supplies of lube.

I've posted this before in similar threads; what makes motor oil bad for firearms is unintended consequences. Motor oil is formulated for engine lubrication, and includes additives that there not formulated into firearm lubricants. For example, motor oil has viscosity modifiers which cause the viscosity of the oil to increase with an increase in temperature. Viscosity is the resistance of a liquid or semi-solid to "run" or "pour". Think maple syrup fresh out of the fridge, vs heated for 15-20 sec on High in the microwave.

Viscosity modifiers may not be a bad thing for a firearm, which tends to get warm with repeated use, however there are other additives which are not necessarily firearm-friendly. Emulsifiers facilitate the mixture of water and oil. In cooking, egg whites are a superb emulsifier. However, in motor oil emulsifiers are used to mix condensed water vapor resulting from products of combustion with the oil, intentionally. Tying up the water in the oil prevents the (generally acidic) water vapor from corroding the engine internals. Emulsifiers are NOT a good thing for a firearm because we want water to stay AWAY from our firearms, not get readily mixed with the lubricant.

Chelants are other chemical additives that are part of the "detergent" package in motor oil that sequester or "tie up" other harmful chemicals or elements in the engine oil. These can be downright detrimental when used in the wrong application. Other ingredients are added to oils and greases for specific intended uses. For example:



The black spots on the grip straps of the stainless steel frame of this S&W M65LS are corrosion pits caused by the misuse of a high-temperature grease intended for use in heat treating ovens and carbon-baking furnaces. The owner of this revolver coated the gripstraps under the grips to prevent corrosion because he heard/read that rubber grips can cause corrosion of stainless steel firearm gripstraps, and he didn't want that happening with the factory micarta grips, either. He reasoned that this "red grease" used at his place of employment must be really good because is was suited for high temperature use. So he took some home and used it for everything. Over time, additives in the hi-temp "red grease" including micronized graphite attacked the SS in the revolver gripstrap. On the electropotential scale, graphite has a negative electropotential similar to that of platinum, palladium, or silver. Unpassivated stainless steel has an electropotential that's positive, a touch over 0.00 V. In short, the graphite in the grease caused pit corrosion in the revolver gripstraps. He said he took the grips off after four years of being coated with the red grease, only to find the pit corrosion. He was so sick about the unintended consequences to his revolver that he had to sell it and replace it. He could not stand the constant reminder of what he had caused by his lack of knowledge of lubricants, despite the best of intentions.

I'm NOT saying that all motor oils will corrode any guns. I am answering the question posed in the quotes above -- What's wrong with motor oil? --

There's much that's COULD be wrong, and GO wrong, dependent on what intended use for which the lubricant was formulated vs. the actual use to which someone that doesn't know any better puts it.

Unintended consequences.

Noah

[CARRY ON]

good to know thanks for sharing.

Carry On

[orionz06]

There are other oils without the car crap that are still cheap as hell.

[Lycanthrope]

Oils and grease vary a GREAT DEAL under load. There are some decent motor oils, but they don't usually have the same additives as the best gun lubes to reduce friction under high loads. I've run a ton on a Falex bearing machine and the different tolerances are huge.

Car oils aren't that slippery. Ever ask a motorcycle guy that runs a wet clutch what happens when you run the car oils with friction reducing additives (you want less friction in guns) in the crankcase? It's not a fun time.

Just because you don't notice any damage, doesn't mean that wear isn't happening at an increased rate. Maybe it's not large enough to cause any failures, but if you want to keep them tight, then the better lubes will help you do that.

Lycannolubenewbthrope

[General Geoff]

Car oils aren't that slippery.

Any kind of motor oil is way more slippery than running a gun dry, and most well-built small arms will run completely free of lubricant for thousands of rounds without suffering major damage.

I think the operating issue here is not how slippery motor oil is, but rather how well it functions at friction points in a firearm as opposed to inside an internal combustion engine. Engines are designed with oil pathways and areas configured in such a way that oil is pressurized and forced through, and kept where it should be in order to maintain maximum lubrication during operation. The same motor oil that will keep an engine running for 500,000 miles, may not be particularly effective in a firearm where the design does not keep the thick oil in or on the friction points where it's needed. It is in this instance where something much thinner (like CLP) or thicker (like molybdenum grease) could be called for, so that it stays where it needs to be.

It could be argued that while motor oil per se isn't the best lubricant for guns, there are tons of other various automotive lubricants which can also be substituted for expensive, marketed-for-guns lubes; such as Mobil-1 synthetic moly grease, etc.

[39flathead]

I'm amazed that it seems to be the consensus among motor oil users that they do it because it's cheap and a Qt will last a lifetime.

Just like my vehicle, I consider my firearms to be something to properly care for.
Motor oil goes in engines, gun oil goes on guns.


If I were out in some sort of survival situation and need to use the oil off a dipstick that would be one thing, but for any other time, I'll continue to spend the money for CLP.

[orionz06]

So motor oil is for cars and gun oil is for guns? How does one that is a cleaner, lubricant, and protectant all-in-one pass muster? I could understand if you were using say Hoppes #9 to clean, a bore solvent, WD-40 to displace moisture, and say Militec as a lube but all-in-one? Really?

Also, try shooting a suppressed AR with most gun oils. Cooks off in minutes.