What is you gun solvent and lube/grease of choice?

[Jakeiscrazy]

I was kinda wondering what you guys use for your solvent and lube/grease on guns. I use Hoppe's for both solvent and lube I find they both work well and are commonly available. I'm kinda considering moving to grease. I have heard of some guys using weird stuff like motor oil but that doesn't seem like it would work well to me.

[VBshooter]

CLP for most things, Hoppes for others.....

[OakRidgeStars]

Hoppes, CLP or Kano Kroil if it's really gnarly.

I like Gunslick's Ultra-Lube as well.

[CCFan]

Break-Free CLP & Hoppes #9 as well. Shooters Choice on occasion for some good copper cleaning in the rifles.

[Chasbo00]

For grease, I switched from Militec-1 to Weapon Shield. I've been pretty impressed with this stuff and it even smells nice. I have some of their CLP too, but I've not yet tried it.

http://www.steelshieldtech.com/store/we ... -p-59.html

[davasmith]

Hoppes: if it aint broken don't fix it! I've used milspec grease in the past and I still use( as my choice) hoppes!

[Jakeiscrazy]

I have tried CLP for me it was to was not viscous enough. Just didn't sit in place well.

[Diomed]

General solvent: Kroil
Powder solvent: Hoppe's No. 9
Oil: Hoppe's
Grease: plastilube

I sometimes use Boeshield for long-term metal protection.

[Seapup]

General solvent: Shooter's Choice
Severe fouling: Sweet's 7.62
Oil: Break Free CLP
Grease: Shooter's Choice

[grumpyMSG]

General purpose weapons oil: Breakfree CLP
Bore cleaner/ copper solvent: Sweet's 7.62
Grease (where recommended): #2 Lithium

After reading ZeSpectre's efforts at finding the best rust preventative/ preservative (documented at other sites), I have a serious interest in Weapon Shield products as well as Gunzilla for general purpose cleaning. I still have way to much Breakfree to walk away from it yet.

[M1A4ME]

I use a combination of (different stages of cleaning) a solvent called Black Off (works for both standard and corrosive ammo) and carb. cleaner in a spray can for cleaning - along with brushing/scrubbing/scraping/patching, etc.

For lubrication I use Mobil One for general lubrication on all weapons. For my M1 and M1A I use marine grade wheel bearing grease for the grease type lubrication points.

[Unkn0wN]

After reading ZeSpectre's efforts at finding the best rust preventative/ preservative (documented at other sites), I have a serious interest in Weapon Shield products as well as Gunzilla for general purpose cleaning. I still have way to much Breakfree to walk away from it yet.

Early last year, me and a guy at work were talking about Weapon Shield, so he called the company up up and explained who we were at work and what we do, so they sent us a box full of their products to try out. I still have a couple of the weapons shield oiler pens that I use. They are pretty handy. Looks like a big syringe sorta with a long non-sharp needle at the end. Really good for getting in those hard to get areas. I will definitely get some more when I am close to running out.

[Paliden]

I use Mobile One lube, it pretty much sticks to the metal. On my M1A's I use a little know CV Axle grease. I use to use it at work where I had to have a grease that stayed soft under all temps and pressures no matter what without fail. It has worked VERY well on my weapons which I use in the dead of winter and heat of summer.

[gunderwood]

Good question. I've tried a lot of stuff and most of it works pretty well...well enough that I plan to use it up even if I find something I like better. I've tried CLP and think it is a great product (most of them) for the field when you can't carry many cleaners. For field I like the Otis cleaning kits and CLP, but at home I can get a much better job done with rods, bore guides, and individual cleaners. I've had CLP breakdown during storage and cause headspace issues.

General purpose cleaning: M-Pro 7. Given that you likely will get it on you I like the non-toxic aspects of it. I don't clean bores with it, but it works great on AR uppers, pistols, etc.

Bore Solvent: I like shooters choice a bit better than #9 because it does a better job with copper fouling IMHO, but it doesn't really matter. Once that is used up I'll just be using Montana Extreme Bore Solvent as it does an even better job.

I've cleaned firearms (mostly my precision bolt actions) with SC/#9 and then recleaned them with MEs bore solvent and I get copper and a bit of powder out of them on the second cleaning. Going the other way I get nothing. ME accomplishes this by having ammonia in their solvent, which works really well, but most consider it unsafe to soak for more than 10-15mins. Easy enough, if I can get a squeaky clean barrel in minutes vice hours with other stuff, so be it. Sweets 7.62 is a close second IMHO for copper. Using products with ammonia really made it clear just how poorly other cleaners were performing (you can't see it without a bore scope). Again, you have to be smart about because damage may occur otherwise.

Note: when doing such tests you need to be careful about places solvent can build up and taint the results. E.g. muzzle brakes/flash hiders usually have a small gap between them and the barrel. You will get build up there unless you clean it out. I use qtips.

Heavy copper fouling solvent: The best bar none is the Montana Extreme 50BMG. Be very careful as this stuff will knock you flat if you accidentally get a whiff of it! Unless you are shooting a big bore magnum, you don't need this and the regular will do just fine. Technically the regular will work too, but it will take many more passes to get that level of copper fouling out.

Degreaser: 91% rubbing alcohol. This is something very few people do, but I think it is worth while and critical unless you are using CLP. I run a soaking wet patch through, then two dry immediately afterwards, and then let it sit for 2mins or so. I now have a super clean barrel with no traces of cleaners or oil. When I'm storing guns I use this and then add oil...before I shoot those guns I redo this after a patch or two to take the oil out. I find that my first shots out such guns are much closer and usually don't require a fouling shot. It's not perfect, but it is close. I learned this from an old Vietnam sniper (a real verifiable one).

External (non-lubricating) rust preventer: I was using Birchwood Caseys barricade, but I'm not trying eezox. Eezox is basically like the old CLP formulas which had teflon in them...a bit different, but not by much IMHO. I originally read about it here: http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

It says it lubricates, but I don't use it for that. I also don't shove it down my bore...don't like the idea of putting teflon (or similar) down my bore. So far I like it, but it hasn't been long enough to say for sure. That test is impressive though. It mostly evaporates off leaving behind the lube...I dry it a bit so it stores better...you can definitely tell that the surface has changed.

Bore oil: This is all about storage, not lubrication. I've been using the Montana Extreme bore oil, but again not long enough to really draw a conclusion about it. We'll see how some of the guns I've stored over the winter come out. I've had problems with CLP and such breaking down or just running out (since gun safes store them vertical). Some people claim it conditions the bore, but if it does it probably isn't night and day so proving that would be difficult. If it just works better to protect expensive barrels I'll be happy.

Oil: Used all kinds, don't think it really matters. CLP seems to have a slight edge on ARs. The real value here is not which is slickest, but which works in extremes (cold/hot weather, humidity, firing temps, etc.) and doesn't give up. Unless you are doing some milspec 10k round test, I doubt you will see much difference. Use a name brand and you probably are good to go.

Grease: Again, used all kinds and not sure it matters much. Most name brand greases are all going to work well. Perhaps a bit of difference on really tight guns. The real thing here is again which performs well in extremes, last long (same with oil...who wants to reclean a gun before shooting it because the lube broke down?), and doesn't cause corrosion. Corrosion is a big concern with greases. Some of the additives can cause dissimilar metals to corrode if stored for a long time (months, years?). Lithium grease seems to be slicker, but it can have a corrosion problem under the right conditions. I do prefer lithium grease on tight guns (e.g. my WC 1911), but I shoot that enough it gets cleaned long before any corrosion problem could pop up.

I don't think you will find a difference between the name brands as to function unless you gun is very tight. However, wear of tight parts I bet there is a big difference. Unfortunately, that is something hard to really prove outside of a lab. Not something I can do at the moment. On loose SD guns (e.g. Glock), I really don't think it matters as long as you lube it correctly. I'd be willing to be that more wear and tear is done to firearms from improper lubrication than to using an inferior product.

I have yet to find a product which I can definitively say it works better. High end lithium grease does seem to work best on my 1911 and I think I can tell the difference, but I not certain it isn't all in my head. Lab tests would say the lithium grease is better, but does it really matter? Depends on the gun IMHO.

Given how we use grease (where you are suppose too), I think a good grease is more important than a good oil. Wear on greased parts tends to be more critical than where we use oil. Just my two cents.

[Jakeiscrazy]

And now for the followup question. Where do most of you guys purchase this stuff? Online? I would like to avoid that if possible because of shipping and such but its looks like one of the few options.

PS Gunderwood thanks for the link to the rust preventive I definitely am going to get some of that.

[Chasbo00]

Midway USA for Weapon Shield lubricants. I've just started using Weapon Shield CLP in addition to their grease, mainly because it's non toxic and smells good - sort of like cinnamon. Most will probably want a good solvent/bore cleaner in addition to Weapon Shield grease and their CLP.

[rromeo]

Hoppes and CLP

[gunderwood]

You will be hard pressed to find anything besides the standard Hoppes/Shooters Choice/CLP in a large chain store. Smaller gun stores may carry it.

[TimberWolf]

I put a finish from Robar called NP3 on my gun. The finish is a blend of nickel and PTFE. The finish is very smooth (less friction) and the requires minimal lubrication. This keeps the gun cleaner and gives dirt, residue and other garbage one less thing to adhere to.

For lubricants I have heard good things about Gunzilla, but I believe the primary application is for weapons used for sustained fire/high temperatures. It may be overkill for a firearm with lower operating temperatures.

[dmharvey]

Here were my preferred product while in the military (aside from LSA-T for the MK-19)...

Cleaning: Hoppe's Number Nine (http://www.hoppes.com/products/solvents.html)
Lubrication: MILTEC-1 (http://www.militec-1.com/)

I was never a big fan of CLP and if I had to use it in a crunch I always wiped my weapon (usually an M4 or M249) dry after cleaning, the stuff just gums up too fast in my opinion.