Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Grease bolt lugs or not??

I had a custom rifle built. When I turn the bolt up or down, it feels and sounds a little snug, sort of like metal on metal. I am assuming the lugs are lapped for full contact. My question is....Should I put a small amount of grease on some portion of the lugs to minimize friction??
What say you?

Yes, I say you should put something on the lugs. I use the red Shooters Choice grease. Just a dab every so often on the rear surface of the lugs and maybe the friction points on the back of the bolt.

Yes grease the rear of the lugs. Also the threads of the bolt shroud/ firing pin assembly are another overlooked area.

Molly Grease.

The helical cocking cam to striker interface on the back of the bolt needs grease as do the lugs. Moly grease is hard to go wrong with. I use the Moly Slide product from NECO and the tube has lasted 20 years.

Use Lube. Is it hard without a cartridge in it or with cartridge in it.

Always grease the lugs

I use a tiny dab of GMC cam shaft assembly lube. It hangs on tenaciously and is designed for high pressure and preventing galling. A small bottle will last the nuttiest of gun nuts for 100 years, maybe more.

Use a E.P. grease made with synthetic base stock and moly. Molybdenum Disulfide.

https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/moly-grease

Cat spit works for me.

That's 'cause you're like me, so old it was all there was when we were growing up...

Some good suggestions here, I have even used Royal Purple's Ultra Performance automotive grease. Slicker'n owl snot!

Ed

I went to high school with her.

Believe it or not, I knew a shooter that kept a can of Imperial Die Wax with his rest, when he went to the line, he used his finger and put a small smear of wax on the lugs. Seems logical.

Don't have a cat but I guess I could wrestle the neighbor's tom.

Since I don't have a cat and the neighbor's is a good fighter I use Valvoline Synpower. Actually I picked up a tube at NAPA for the snow blower since it's fully synthetic and doesn't thicken in the cold. When applying to the snow blower I was thinking, "Jeez, this stuff looks and feels and smells just like Brownell's Action Lube II except with maybe a little less moly." So I started using it on pretty much everything including firearms since I had a whole tube of the stuff to use up and it works great. Doesn't attract dust much either.

Had a cocking cam gall on a modern steel receiver. After stoning ALL the galled metal off I made sure to give it the slightest dab of the Valvoline stuff as part of routine cleaning. Bolt lugs too. Galling didn't return and the action is as smooth as any in the cabinets. I also use it on internal parts that have to bear extremely high pressures, same places I used the Action Lube II.

Oh yeah, the local nursing home used some sort of special red - lithium I presume - grease on hospital bed jack screws. A nuisance as needed re-greasing about every six months. Switched them to the Valvoline Synpower and none has needed re-greasing since. I'm impressed with the stuff.

I have long believed that many of the products that are packaged and marketed for firearms are similar or even identical to those made and used for vehicles, etc., and in larger, more reasonably priced quantities.

The trick is figuring out what is what. I'm no chemist, so I have to wing it. This thread is on point. There are a bunch of lubes that will work.

Going in the other direction, Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber Synthetic Safe is a great spot remover for fabrics.

Paul

RatherBHuntin: Yes you should add a small amount of "grease" to the backs of the recoil lugs.
But before you do that you should clean the bearing surfaces where the bolt lugs will bear against.
I have a special tool for this cleaning and you would be absolutely amazed at the crud/gunk/tiny pieces of brass that gather in these lug recesses.
My tool uses the small cylindrical semi-stiff cotton pieces that Dentists use for "plugging wounds/holes and stopping bleeding" and such.
I have purchased MANY dozens of used Rifles and the first thing I do to them is to clean these lug recesses.
I have even removed mashed up pine needles from these areas!
Clean all involved first (the recesses and then the lugs themselves) and then dab the grease onto the lugs.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
P.S.: The lug grease I use is made by "Gunslick" and comes in a handy "hypodermic" style applicating tool and the grease is red in color.
The cotton swab action cleaning cotton cylinders are distributed by Pro-Shot - I apply G96 to the ends of the cotton cylinders for cleaning purposes.

Paul39,

I've come to the same conclusion. For instance the product in RIG Universal Gun Grease is available in barrels for industrial applications. The only cautions are that in high pressure applications one should use a grease so rated. Some types of grease will not maintain a film between the metal parts with lots of pressure applied. And the synthetics won't turn to glue in winter.

Same for oil. The general purpose oils may not maintain film integrity or oxidize in firearms applications. Another ferinstance, I've seen surface rust on shotguns rubbed with a general purpose oil and kept in a truck. I gave the kid a jar of RIG which has a special affinity for steel and maintains its film during light handling and bumping around in a truck.

I've also starting using Imperial sizing wax lately works geeat.