Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Mobil ! Synthetic as a gun lube

I use 0W-20 Mobil 1.

I have written about this here before a number of times.

The short version is motor oils work fine. Pick the right one for the environment conditions.

I use 0w-20 for freezing and sub zero temps.



Having done some testing of both man and machines in temps in the negative numbers, guys quickly figured out that their regular gun lube/lubricant applied excessively gummed up their guns to the point of repeated failures.

Also when I worked out of the various embassies, and would periodically be assigned to oversee the weapons/armory programs I would go to the vehicle maintenance shop and get a few quarts of motor oil. I put these in spray bottles and kept spray bottles of motor oil in each of the fixed machine gun locations to keep the MGs running.



These days, for the average shooter/hunter/sportsman, even the cheapest quart of generic motor oil is going to keep your handguns, shotguns and rifles lubed for an incredibly long time.

Ditto.....

It's always fascinating to watch the winds of change blow around here. It wasn't long ago that threads about cleaning and lubrication products for firearms would have quite a number here ready to come to blows over whose snake oil of choice was far and away the best ever and the only thing fit to apply to a firearm and if you didn't agree you must be a girl (or at least really want to be a girl.) Now everybody is jumping on the "synthetic motor oil is all you need" bandwagon.

Same here, Mobil 1 0/20 was what we used the most, and we also mixed it with the Mobil One red grease. A dollup of the grease then mixed with 0/20 until it runs like a warm molasses worked excellent as well. Lubed with either seemed to keep hard carbon from forming as much and was easy to wipe down. In the desert plain old light coat of 0/20 great since you could rub it on and wipe it down and the metal still has a light coat retained.

Being in the automotive business, I've wondered if a full synthetic 0W16 or 0W20 motor oil would work as a gun oil. I have tried a cooking oil about 15-20 years ago and I found if applied to a firearm the didn't come out of the safe for a good length of time, the oil would start to get tacky and gummy. I would think the light/thin motor oil would be good in extreme cold conditions.

Birddog

The first time I saw that done, I was you could have knocked me over with a feather; why had I never thought of something so simple? But that time in WY I needed more than a few drops.☹️

I use the same oil on my guns that I use in my car - Liquimoly 5w-40 (German synthetic). The only thing I don't oil is the insides of bolts/breechblocks. They stay dry or at most lubed with colloidal graphite. The 20W-50 Castrol I use in the MG is probably too thick.

Years ago I was an advocate of CLP, and stocked up on it. Now with that stuff I figure I have a lifetime supply of oil for my slip stones and sharpening stones.

So, are you guys saying that 3 in 1 oil is not the be all and end all of lubricants these days? Dang, I still have a can my mom bought in 1962 for her sewing machine.


I bought a quart of ATF a few years ago when that was the penultimate panacea for everything that moved or rusted. My heirs will probably get what's left of it and then pass it down to their heirs...

Either will be fine.

There is a lot of talk about oil causing trouble in cold weather.
Way more talk, than guys hunting in sub zero weather.
We haven't had sub zero daytime Temps during hunting season in years.
If we did, participation would be low!

Not say guys don't hunt in the cold,
but overall the percentages aren't high.

Dust is probably a bigger concern.
Everyone deals with dust, hunting or storage.

My guess is that any petroleum lubricating oil is fine, but a synthetic oil might be less likely to congeal and gum things up.

Also, I've wondered about the utility of mixing in a little halogenated solvent like "perc"
(for solvency and dispersion); that's what I'd guess "CLP" is from the smell of it.

It's like the old saying of tractor owners. You don't hear about breakdowns from using the wrong grease. You do hear about breakdowns using no grease.

I like Lucus gun oil. It's probably the same stuff they put in their motor oil cans but the applicator tip was worth the few extra dollars I paid for the bottle. Before you start railing on me about paying too much for oil, keep in mind a bottle of gun oil can last 10-15 years.

Duck hunting in cold weather taught me to lube very sparingly. Basically use brake cleaner to remove whatever is in there and apply a very thin oil and then wipe it off with a cloth leaving nothing but a very thin film - almost dry.

I would lube my guns with motor oil anytime.

But not the other way around.

I’ve used Mobil 1 on handguns and AR-15s. Works just as well as any other oil. I use Super Lube grease now.

Ron

I've gone to 100% grease myself for the last few years - Slip2000. There doesn't seem to be a downside.

I have a reprint of a U.S. WW I era rifle manual and it recommends Vasoline petroleum jelly as a lubricant. Gun grease has improved quite a bit since 1917. I've got a can of U.S. Army gun grease circa 1960s that works quite satisfactorily that my great-grandchildren will still be able to use. It just takes a little dab. I generally use the old rule of "if it slides, grease it and if it rotates, oil it".

50/50 Mobil 1 and Slick 50

I have a old 3&1 oil bottle, 2/3 Mobil #1 plus 1 tea spoon of STP works on every thing, Freezing or Max Temp 2000 deg. Rio7