Tradditional lube or more modern?

[token tory]

I took a look at my '58 Rem yesterday. I'd lubed it with a traditional veggie oil immediately before storage & pulled it out of it's pistol case to check something.
When I tried cocking the hammer it was abnormally stiff, so I checked out the whole thing.

To my surprise the liquid "Crisco" oil had thickened, rather like the shortening of the same brand had previously!

Now I'm gong to strip & clean everything again, but this time I have some Extra Virgin Olive Oil to use as the lube, which bring me to the question & point of the post.

Am I in fact better off with a modern lube as long as it's not petroleum based or is the thickening because the Canola oil is somehow prone to thickening & EVOO isn't? :hmm:

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Without taking offense, please read this with all of the "Love" of the hobby in mind, cause you sorta know I'm one of the good guys!

I use petroleum based lubes. I'll admit it! Anything that I can use to fry chicken with doesn't get near my guns! :haha: Even EVOO will harden in salad dressings stored in the fridge. The tasty Good Seasons cruets in the fridge come to mind. That Italian of there's is great!

Your gut feeling to clean the gunk out of the revolver is a good one! I wish I could tell you of a magic sauce to smear on your guns that won't cause problems. I gave up on that idea years ago and just use Barricade and Kleenbore, along with a dab of Lubriplate on the 1860's loading lever.

Maybe somebody else will have a better idea than I, but if not, I know my way works!

Good luck and make some smoke this weekend! :thumbsup:

Dave

 

[rafterob]

Olive oil works well and will not solidify unless you are storing a gun around 40 degrees. I would look at the ingredients of the liquid crisco and see if it mentions hydrogenated, saturated or mono unsaturated oils, or are there any storage warnings. These oils will coagulate at cooler temperatures. olive oil is monounsaturated but has characteristics which keep it fom rancidity. It will however thicken at cold temperatures (like refrigerator temps). Other vegetable oils that are unsaturated will not coagulate but will eventually go rancid. The reason this makes any difference as far as a lube goes is that rancidity is an oxidizing process and oxidation in conjunction with steel means rust.

 

[David W.]

The only place I would use Crisco is for bore lube. For working parts such as trigger mechanisms and such, I would use Rem oil or Ballistol and avoid any vegitable oils.

I do not like petroleum oils in the bore as does not mix with BP.

 

[BigL]

The only place I would use Crisco is for bore lube. For working parts such as trigger mechanisms and such, I would use Rem oil or Ballistol and avoid any vegitable oils.

I do not like petroleum oils in the bore as does not mix with BP.

I love my Ballistol - I am even getting used to the smell. :wink:

 

[J.D.]

Well, I am known on this forum for being a PC Nazi, but I don't trust veg oils or fats to preserve my hardware. I like Breakfree, as an all purpose lube and preservative, because it works on everything I use it on.

Why buy expensive hardware, then use a questionable preservative? Don't make sense to me.

God bless

 

[David W.]

The only place I would use Crisco is for bore lube. For working parts such as trigger mechanisms and such, I would use Rem oil or Ballistol and avoid any vegitable oils.

I do not like petroleum oils in the bore as does not mix with BP.

I love my Ballistol - I am even getting used to the smell. :wink:

:rotf:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I use T/C 'maxi lube' to lube my revolvers. I found better patch lubes and use a mix of ring wax and lanolin for dipping slugs and sealing over balls.
a little of the 'maxi lube' goes a long ways.

 

[bkovire]

now some will think i'm just nuts, but my 58' rem brass frame dose not like any thing other than norton oil, tried every type of lube, oil, and protective on the market, some home brew stuff as well, my revolver just don't like the stuff gum's up, hard to pull cyl pin, cocking is hard, cyl is stiff action, put some norton on a patch, the hole gun is thin coated with it, yes even the hand grips, after "oiling" i will go over the gun with 2 of the yellow sham cloth , 3 dry patches down the brl, cyl is removed for this, patch is run down, removed, repeated 2x and the cyl chambers do not get oil, just the out side of it and the face that faces the brl and the cyl pin, loading leaver, trigger workings. After 36 rounds later, a hot water bath, still good to go, the only part that gets re oiled is the inside of the brl one patch from my 50 cal that is pre lubed with tc 1000, is used for this. dose any one see a problem with this other than the oil is not pc or hc corect, i would like to know :thumbsup:

 

[rafterob]

Well, I am known on this forum for being a PC Nazi.....I like Breakfree.

Yeah, I think we all have to admit that modern lubricants/protectants were developed for a reason :thumbsup:

 

[Billnpatti]

Forget the cooking oils, fats, etc. when you are wanting to protect your guns. :shake: They do not have any rust protection. :nono: Well, they may have a little rust protection in that they can exclude air and moisture from metal but when they start to solidify, they loose any sealing protection that they had. I don't like to use petrolium based oils on my guns so my protective oil of choice is Ballistol. I am a Ballistol freek. :hatsoff: I use it not only for protecting my guns, I use it also as a patch lube and I mix it in my bees wax bullet lube concoction. It is wonderful stuff and it is not petrolium based. Sure, it stinks, and you're never going to use it for an air freshener or aftershave, :idunno: but it works darned well. :thumbsup:

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Ballistol aftershave? :haha:

I'm gonna hafta get me somma that there stuff :rotf: :shocked2: .

 

[token tory]

Thanks folks.
I broke down :surrender: cleaned everything very thoroughly & used lots of my favorite cleaner/oil/preservative, the same stuff I use on everything else.
Young's .303 :rotf: hardly high tech I know but it is a water soluble oil that may or may not be petroleum based, time will tell. One thing I do know it's a good cleaner/lube protectant as I've been using this stuff since Moses was a boy & it's never let me down yet. :thumbsup:

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Stick with what works best! :thumbsup:

Besides, less trouble means more shootin! This hobby of ours is one "head game" after another, and constantly keeps me surprised. Having one less thing to worry about (in your case congealed slime) isn't such a bad idea, especially with a cold snap due in tonight and the promise of decent shooting weather this weekend.

Now you're all set to have fun, having used something that you've trusted for years to get the job done. :wink:

Dave

 

[Blizzard of '93]

'norton oil'??

 

[stubshaft]

T/C Maxi lube fan myself for rust prevention. I use other lubes for actual shooting.

 

[Zonie]

IMO, unless a person is trying to be totally Period Correct he/she should use whatever lubrication or protectorate that works best.

The old adage about not using petroleum oils has to do with the hard fouling that can result from burning black powder in the presence of a wet petroleum oil.

The hammer, sear, cylinder hand, cylinder bolt or latch and springs are seldom exposed to the direct flash of the powder so, if they were coated with a petroleum oil they would not develop this hard fouling. In other words, do not fire the gun with a wet petroleum oil inside the barrel or the chambers.
On the exterior of the gun nothing bad will happen if a light coating of petroleum oil has been wiped on the surfaces.

Although some of the modern guns are relatively inexpensive they still represent well over $100 value and without proper lubrication they will rapidly wear out so use the best modern oils you can find to protect your investment.

 

[bkovire]

yepers norton oil, the oil used for sharping stones, works very well as a lube- protection just a drop on a cleaning patch is all that is needed. :thumbsup:

 

[David W.]

Norton oil, which is mineral oil based.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I use Rem Oil on the general exterior and "fine" parts (trigger mechanism, hammer, etc) and Lubriplate on the cylinder pin and hand.