Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ATF

Nope, not the evil government agency but Automatic Transmission Fluid. Some old threads recommended it as a very high grade lubricant so I got some but before slathering it here and there wanted to check back in to see if and how others might use it. My thoughts are to put it on the bolt and bolt carrier of the AR-15 and also to lightly lube the actions of semi-auto pistols with it.

Any reason not to use it for such? And are there any other good uses for it?





I suppose one could also put it in an automatic transmission but that's too easy...

Have a buddy who uses 0 weight Mobil One for his ARs. Never used ATF as a lube but used it extensively as a penetrating oil mixed 50/50 with acetone.

Woodmizer recommends ATF for lubricating parts on their band saw sawmills. The claim is that ATF is less likely to attract and hold sawdust than motor oil or grease. Not sure if that property transfers over to carbon deposits on firearms or not. However, if it was the only lubricant / rust preventative that I had on hand, I would not hesitate to use it... Definitely no issue wiping down non-wear metal parts to prevent oxidation.

Its in Eds Red.

Back in the early 80"s I found that ATF works the best on snug fitting rifle bolts like Remingtin m700s due to it not atracting as much dirt. Don't know how it deals with powder fouling, though.

My kid did a science project in high school some years back, testing various products under lab controlled rusting tests. ATF came out best. You guessed it, WD40 failed in the first few hours. That was before synthetics though, and I hear nothing but good about Mobil 1.

Their are 10,000 +p+ home brew wpn,s lube and cleaner recipes out their.

As long as it suspends carbon and or keeps it soft for easy cleaning and dont burn off or dry off(depending on your recipe) roll with it.
Tinkering around with stuff like this is fun.
Many run the synthetic mobil oils on their rigs too.

All kinda a personal preference experiment process.

Really the only negative might be fumes from it burning off from doing 3 to 5 back to back mag dumps and getting a barrel and action hot enough to do that.

I make a blend of a grease called Atom lube and Lucas extreme duty gun oil.
60ish percent grease, 40ish lucas.
Blends wells using low speed w/ dremel, dont layer out apart over time in the container.

Clings, suspends carbon, dont burn off or evaporate over time.
Slick as heck.


Works on my AK really well.( what it was made for actually)
Works on my Win 1400 mkII.
Works on a Bersa Combat plus.
I use it on my other guns also.
Along with other products for rust protection, and cleaning.
Ect ect ect ect
I have seen and used ALOT of products worldwide while I was in Army . It is really a preference and what works for you type of thing or what is available.

But making your own stuff is fun and finding a recipe that works really well after messing around trying this that and the other can be satisfying.

My father used to store his taps and dies in jars full of ATF.

ATF is the chit for airguns as well

I use ATF as a cetane booster (fuel additive) in my diesel. It loves it.

Mixed it with STP as an engine building paste for 40 years.

Yes, I read up on it, and use it.

We must know the same guy.

ATF in the engine of an old carboned up motor works great too. Cleans it right up.

Someone I look up to in engineering, puts a drop of ATF into the battery post connection in his car.... to prevent corrosion.

Its got a few things going for it one of the biggest is its high detergent and breaks up any crud and such. Nuther thing, this on the hillbilly side its great for oiling log or otherwise bear wood houses and cabins. Guy I know used to get tons of it free from a logging camp and slathered it on his log home and outbuildings. Gave it a redish hew, looked great but did turn dark with time. Wood was nuts solid years later bugs no likey. Wouldn't want to catch the house on fire tho. LOL!

When I was shooting bolt guns in across the course matches I mixed some red grease and STP about 50 - 50. A little went a long way, made a SA 700 almost decent. I see STP has a synthetic out now, might have pick up a bottle to test. I use automotive stuff almost exclusively just because its always around anyway.

An idiot neighbor bought and shotgun years ago. He asked me how to clean it and lay it up for the winter. I told how and included "Do NOT use WD-40". He did anyway all over the outside of the beautify deep blued 870. He pull a rusty pipe out of the closet 6-months later and whined about it for days. I should not have laughed, but I did.

A machinist torqued bolts to a steel plate.......sprayed with salt water till well rusted.

Checked all the different penetration oils and sprays ........lowest torque to remove was 1/2 ATF and 1/2 acetone........next was about twice as much to remove.

Sounds like good stuff, thanks for all the feedback.

When you start to think about good motor oils & trans fluid, especially if you know them, the more the $5.00 an once gun lubes sound like bull chit.

The Ed’s red bore solvent compatible oil is 50:50 dexron:kerosene. Good light lube.

50:50 dexron:acetone for penetrating oil.