Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Favorite Gun Oil

Folks:

I have an assortment of gun oils picked up over the years, and the remnants of an old flannel shirt that contains every combination of those oils you can think of. But I'm curious: What's your favorite oil for a simple wipe-down after a hunt?

Thanks

RM

There was a guy in Germany that used to medicate himself with that stuff. IIRC, Hitler was his name.

Just sayin'.🤔

Mike, I've noticed that the "answers" have ranged far from your original question.

When I do wipe them down with a little oil, it's generally automatic transmission fluid bought by the quart at Walmart. I refill the smaller containers that many companies send to me, because that's usually what's inside "gun oil" containers. Or at least three companies that sell "gun oil" have admitted as much. It works great for general lubing of firearms.

DuPont chain lube with iso paraffin . It leaves a wax like layer of oil on the metal.

kwg

+1

+2

I have personally watched OlBlue get soaking wet... drenched even... many, many times while cradling a rifle or shotgun... But it was often just salt spray off a Kodiak wave breaking...

Many, many times we discussed the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of keeping metal black...

Sometimes we had to put the discussions on hold while we ran rapids, shot critters, calculated tides, dropped guts, laughed at the Captain giggling over schools of pollack, retrieved ducks, skinned Kodiak bears, shot Sitka blacktails, shot ducks, stacked foxes, dodged salt spray, rode huge standing waves, prepped skulls for display, and generally had a good time.

Of course, decades spent in real weather do not mean anything. I need the advice of someone in the high desert to let me know how to protect my valuables!

Mike, I've noticed that the "answers" have ranged far from your original question.

Gee, my post was meant as a joke, but evidently wasn't taken that way,

Mike, the OP, asked what oil people prefer for "wiping down" their rifle after hunt. I have hunted other places than Montana, among them Alaska in several places, including both the Peninsula and Kodiak more than once. Have also hunted other wet and, often, salty places, including the Gulf Coast area of the U.S., New Zealand, the fjord country of Norway, Anticosti island, coastal British Columbia, the southern Arctic Ocean and both sides of Hudson Bay in Canada, and Africa both early and late in the rainy season.

Have used everything from traditional walnut-and-blue rifles to synthetic-stocked models with miracle coatings (including some used inside barrels) and experimented with various oils and coatings a LOT, partly because manufacturers send 'em to me for that purpose. There's a pretty long chapter on weather-proofing rifles in my latest big game book, published in 2017, which covers the range of stuff just mentioned.

As a result I don't really have a favorite "gun oil," because I've found so many to work well, both for rust-prevention and lubrication, but these days do mostly hunt in Montana, partly because I've done just about all the other kinds of hunting I wanted to do elsewhere on the planet, along with some I didn't know would be so enjoyable until I went.

But one of the things I do like about hunting here is that we don't have to worry much about rusting guns, though have seen it happen even to stainless-steel barrels (which usually aren't made out of a very rust-proof varieity of stainless) after they've spent a week or more in an old leather saddle scabbard on a horseback hunt, which has been thoroughly "cured" by horse-sweat over the years. But we still have to lube 'em once in a while, mostly because of dust.

I hope this is meant as a joke. Used motor oil gets acidic so not good except for an emergency. I use it in chainsaws with some STP added to thicken it up.

Gee, my post was meant as a joke, but evidently wasn't taken that way...

Folks:

I have an assortment of gun oils picked up over the years, and the remnants of an old flannel shirt that contains every combination of those oils you can think of. But I'm curious: What's your favorite oil for a simple wipe-down after a hunt?

Thanks

RM