Grease or Oil?

[FourTenJaeger]

Other thread got me wondering.. What do you use? Grease or oil, And Why?
Grease Here.

[SickofSoCal]

Oil, but I think I will be "both" soon.

[sniper5]

Grease for places I don't get to often (trigger assemblies), oil for places I do.

[safewaysecurity]

rem oil

[robcoe]

Grease for slides, oil for trigger group.

[oni.dori]

In all honesty, It all depends on what firearm, or part of the firearm, I am lubing. Most barrel lugs are designed to be lubed with grease (1911, for example); or at least function better/wear less because of the intense friction and violent force exerted upon them. Other guns, like the M1 Garand, were originally designed to be lubed EXCLUSIVELY with grease. Others, like the AR-15/M-16 and their family of rifles I believe, were designed to use almost NO grease (if any at all). In the end, it really all comes down to personal preference, and your own personal shooting conditions.

For me, the biggest question has been what grease to use? Most of the ones that I see are marketed as "preservative/long term storage" greases, and leads me to believe that they were not designed with lubrication usage in mind. Is that true? If so, are there any that are designed specifically FOR lubrication and/or what do YOU use, and what has your experience been like with it?

P.S. Sorry for the thread jack, but the topic is pretty relavently related.

[Latigo]

Ok, I posted about this but maybe here is ok too?

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You know those rifles made from 1911 to 1935? The ones the Swiss call the 1911s, k11s and k31s? The ones with the remarkable pristine bores? They never saw oil.

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(His english isn't perfect, but he speaks 3 languages fluently)
Posts: 13274
(02/19/10 14:48:33)
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Well when you do a search on Automatenfett or Waffenfett lots of posts show up and I remember that I even once posted the page from the gun lubrication manual considering the K31 but in short it is like this;

The grease is used for three purposes being cleaning, lubricating and protecting and the last can be divided in normal use and storage.

To start with the cleaning first, before shooting the Swiss run a pad through the bore to clean out the grease there and from the bolt face, they do that with the help of a grease rod, that ones comes with a jag for a pad and a black grease brush.
Immediately after shooting they run that black brush with Automatenfett through the still hot bore, put some grease on the bolt face and leave it like that. After they get home they clean it all from the grease, get a bore rope or cleaning brush through the bore and after that they lube it all again with fresh grease that stays on till the next shooting match.
The grease dissolves the fouling and makes cleaning way more easy as using oil.

Lubricating during normal use is only done on few spots, the most important ones are the flat (or round with the older straight pulls) inside receiver sliding part of the operating rod and the tip of the operating rod where it enters the bolt sleeve groove, that area needs to be lubed well.
There should be no grease inside the bolt or at the outside but it won't hurt to use a tiny bit in the locking nut area.
Do not use too much grease, the manual reads for the K31 "battle lubricating"......NONE , so the above is only to make your rifle operate more smoothly with less wear, after all the shooting range is no battle field.

The protecting part is easy, Automatenfett can be used on bare metal to protect it against corrosion, use it limited especially on moving parts as we don't want sand to stick to these.

For storage, the -"Parkdienstschmierung" as they say there- it's easy also;
Barrel inside and outside, greased
Chamber, greased
Trigger assembly, inside bolt and hammer piece, NO grease (still the arsenals did not follow that rule that well as examples show)
Bare metal parts, greased
Blued parts, greased

The storage part is the reason why so many new owners of K31's in the USA think that they are in Cosmoline which is not the case, when they have been in storage in Swiss arsenals for a long time they are still well protected by the old yellow Waffenfett, the more recent ones are well protected by Automatenfett.

Hope this helps a bit

Guisan.

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A lot more is in the link below, but you get the picture, and to this day the Swiss Army treats their rifles exactly the same now as in 1911.

http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/search/text/?q=barrel+grease&orderby=created_at&forum=5

How do you argue with some 1,376,091 rifles over a 100 year spread with virtually all having prisine bores? (Save those obviously not cared for by Swiss method)
So... Which of those expensive competitive lubes are we gonna use?
By the way... A good modern substitute is Lubriplate.

[oni.dori]

By the way... A good modern substitute is Lubriplate.

Substitute for what?

[760knox]

Both, depends what gun, the grease stays where you put it, and the oil can get into those small places.

[Latigo]

Substitute for what?

Substitute for Waffen Fett, the grease used by Swiss arnourers.

[iareConfusE]

Each substance is used for different bearing surfaces. Grease for sliding/shearing surfaces, oil for rotating/rolling surfaces.

[theneko]

Grease for slides, oil for trigger group.

What he said! For metal on metal contact like slide rails and bolt carriers I use grease because oil wont stick around. I am not using guns in harsh sandy environments and I clean them after I shoot so I'm not worried about oil/grease/lube attracting more dirt/debris.

[MM OneSix]

I use oil on my Glock, inside and out. I've found that - for me - 3-in-1 Oil works excellent for the barrel, slide, finish, etc. I've tried others, but haven't been as pleased as with the 3/1 oil. Plus, for some reason it smells like waffles when the polymer gets warm!

On my AR, I use light grease. It smells and runs like a truck engine. Love it.

[RickyB]

How's about using both Mobil 1 synth grease and Mobil 1 5/20 wt oil where applicable?.....

[LCE]

I use grease and oil.

For me, the biggest question has been what grease to use? Most of the ones that I see are marketed as "preservative/long term storage" greases, and leads me to believe that they were not designed with lubrication usage in mind. Is that true? If so, are there any that are designed specifically FOR lubrication and/or what do YOU use, and what has your experience been like with it?

P.S. Sorry for the thread jack, but the topic is pretty relavently related.

check out MILITEC-1
You might still be able to get a free sample from them.
I haven't been using it to long yet but like it so far...