Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Tetra gun oil for an AR?

That's what I've been using... the same bottle I bought 5 or 6 years ago. The milky white stuff. Seems to work fine. Should I be using something else?

-jeff

..not if it worked for you all these years. If it ain't broke.........

I use plain-Jane CLP and even though it's pretty generic, it seems to work well. It better, I just bought 2 16oz. bottles!

My Varminter, my older one anyway, just keeps on spittin' 'em out. I've gone 1,100 rounds without cleaning or lubing. Not bragging nor unwise......I wanted to see if, why, where and when a malfunction might occur....it didn't. CLP and a thoroughly clean Varminter left a very positive impression on me after that showing.

Most lubes work well these days....no worries.

Well, I've had the bottle all those years. I only bought this AR about 3 months ago. I did have a Bushy V-Match several years ago that I guess I would have used it on...

When I first bought this Bushy M4 a few months ago, I didn't clean it for the first 500 or so rounds. Just a couple squirts of whatever gun oil was handy and she worked flawlessly! I love that, especially in a SHTF carbine.

The wackiest lube I've used yet is Mobil One synthetic 5w-30. Was shooting, the gun was balking on some low-power loads I'd cooked up that had cycled fine previously, and I realized I'd thoroughly cleaned things but not relubed the bolt when I put it back together. Pulled the dipstick on my Tundra and a few drops of Mobil One later, she was cycling the squibs again!

-jeff

You're not the first to have gone there. I've read that same scenario before.....and will again. In your case....oil is oil, in fact, some guys use MobilOne as a primary oil in their AR's. Not many I suppose, but when you think about it.....makes a bit of sense given extreme heat/cold ranges and above average lubricity and all. Not promoting the use, but not slammin' it either.

I'm to bed.....Vegas tomorrow with my wife and daughter....airport in 5 hours.....ouch.

Take care Jeff.

Got a bottle of tetra... worked fine.
Got a bottle of Pennzoil synthetic on the bench.. works fine.

Normal use is CLP though. Not that its better than the above though....

I will tell you a little secrect the "Mil-Spec" oil that the manuals all say to use? Is nothing but Mobile On synthetic or some other synthetic motor oil since they are the same ecept for the brand name. If you have used Tetra, ( a real gun oil BTW) continue useing it. As has been said many times. "If it ain't broke, don't go teyin to fix it"

That's one thing I really like about the AR platform- not finicky! Easy to load for, too. It's the sign of a good design, when things are not finicky. Or... a design that's been perfected over 40 years time!

-jeff

Hey, one of the top-end instructors in the nation has gone on record saying that it really doesn't matter what lube you use as long as you use it as often as it's needed. He has even gone so far as to use Vagisil as a lube on his personal M4 in training to prove his point.

That being said, I am really fond of the SLIP family of lubes. I have been getting consistently higher round counts before bolt/slide sluggishness requires re-lubing.

They are just neat guns. It took me a while to warm up to them. My first was a Bushy V-Match, which I ended up feeling was neither fish nor fowl; not a serious match gun, not a good home defense rig... plus benching it hurt my wrist. And I just felt that such a big, heavy gun was kind of silly for such a tiny little round. Sold that and got another M1a, a Bush rifle. Then started warming up to the idea of an M4 and bought this one a few months ago and have been having a GAS with it! Now I'm getting fantasies of building or buying another one, but I don't know what I want yet... Maybe a .243 WSM?

For a big, heavy AR I gave up on the AR15 and went straight to the Big Daddy, a DPMS .308 that weighs around 15 lbs with scope and all.

-jeff

The 308 is the real deal. Mans gun.

*Grunt*

Hell yeah!

I do like the .308 autos. I just put my "big" M1a on consignment today, though.

-jeff

I like Break- Free CLP, but I guess it is no better than anything else.

Been running Break Free since the 80's, Have used Plain old Valvoline a couple times, Red lithium grease a time or two (Thin coat on the bearing surfaces works GREAT unless it's really cold), Straight Graphite for when it's really cold.

They all work well enough from what I have seen.
I love Pat Rogers quote on the Vagisil;)

Buuuuttt......

Several years ago, due to specific needs, we switched out from CLP to Mil-Comm TW25B after testing just about everything on the market.

I really like the stuff because it is a very light(Like cold cream) grease with heavy solids, sticks like a cat on a screen door,Stops rust better than anything else, and dosn't stiffen up in the cold. Just what we were looking for.

In one test We ran over 1,000 rounds of Filthy/stinky Wolf Polymer through 2 M4's with a single level one(Almost dry to the touch)application with no failures, lotsa cussing over the cleaning, but no malfunctions.

I s'pose each has it's advantages and disadvantages if used within thier limitations, and I don't get hung up in the whole
"Lube Religion" thing.

Stay safe!!
E4E

We used "LSA" when I was in the Army. It was milky-kinda (don't really want to say what it looked like). It worked fine. It was one of the first non-petroleum based lubes, or maybe it was petro-based with a synthetic addative.

I think Break Free is hard to beat. A firearm oil needs to ber able to withstand a lot of heat, which is why Vagisil is probably not the ideal lube. But would do in a crunch, no doubt.

Been using Penzoil 10-30 for 60 years. No failures due to oil.
IIABDFI.

Wayne

I"ve got one carrier thats NP3 coated by robar for my infantry trophy gun, lube it with anything and I am willing to bet I could almost shoot the dang barrel out before relubing. It helps the lube a lot. FWIW if total reliability is the issue.

Jeff

Mobile One
10W-30

I accidentally ran my Bushy dry for a bit; I cleaned it and then put it all back together and forgot to lube the bolt. Worked fine, except with some lower-power rounds I'd loaded up which were short-cycling. Pulled the dipstick on my Tundra and a few drops of Mobil One 5w-30 did the trick!

-jeff

You should only use Vagisil when you're just screwing around, just don't let the Bushy run dry.... ..




I'm sorry,....................dear Lord please help the starvin kids down in Peru................DJ

+1 for TW25B. I'm using it in my 1911s right now, and will switch my ARs over to it once they're broken in.

I've been using FP-10 heavily in all my guns prior to discovering TW25B. I have no complaints other than it's a CLP and not a grease, so it tends to creep around a little. BUT, it's great for what it is, and smells great to boot. It's currently sold under the Shooters Choice label and I've been giving 4oz bottles as presents to my non-lube-looney friends who don't stress over such matters like I do.