Light Grease vs.Oil for AR lube ?

Skeets · July 6, 2015, 12:15 PM

I run my Stag slightly wet with Break-Free with no issues.However,if not used for 2-4 weeks,will need re-lubed before a day shooting.Notice some shooters are going to grease.I'd like TFL thoughts on this matter.Thanks.

rickyrick · July 6, 2015, 12:21 PM

I've used grease with no issues. Too much can slow things down.

Sliding parts I use grease if handy. Oil if handy. Mostly I use a thin coat of grease and a dab of oil.

You can put some grease in a pill bottle and mix with oil.

If you crawl around in dirt, it will stick to grease and "wet" parts.

If your not Rollin around in dirt... Use whatever you wish.

As a civilian, there's no reason to shoot a gun with grit in it. So just clean it if you have an unscheduled meeting with the ground

Dfariswheel · July 6, 2015, 02:58 PM

Grease works very well both in use and for a firearm that won't be used for some time, but may need to be used with no prep, as in a defense gun that gets stored or just carried.

Unlike oils grease stays where it's put, won't evaporate, dry out, wick out, or run off.
This means you can apply a light coat of grease to key areas like the rails on the AR bolt carrier, cam pin and cam area in the carrier, and the face of the hammer.
It will stay right there during storage and can be picked up and used immediately with no issues with lack of lubrication.

Fishbed77 · July 6, 2015, 04:27 PM

I've never seen any need for grease in an AR. Plain old Breakfree CLP has always worked great for me.

mehavey · July 6, 2015, 05:24 PM

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

mehavey · July 6, 2015, 05:25 PM

^^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Only Garand actions benefit from real grease

rickyrick · July 6, 2015, 06:03 PM

However, you can buy about 15 years worth of some random auto lubricant for the price of clp

mehavey · July 6, 2015, 06:14 PM

Mobil-1 Syth (0-30Wt)
AMSOIL-Synth (0-30Wt)

Either's fine... In fact I use WeaponShield/BreakFree/AMSOIL interchangeably on all firearms
(But plain ol'wheel-bearing grease on the Garand's OpRod & Bolt channels)

Mobuck · July 6, 2015, 07:27 PM

grease on the cam pin and bolt lugs,
CLP on the rest

silverstang23 · July 6, 2015, 09:25 PM

CLP. Usually my AR's are dry by the time they get use and still seem to work well. No signs of wear. I wouldn't really worry about it but no grease. Especially if you were using a supressor. To much dirt and junk will be attracted.

waveslayer · July 6, 2015, 11:50 PM

frog lube! you will love it. no more oil for me! works wonders when you go to clean your BCG

Brotherbadger · July 7, 2015, 02:50 AM

I use oil or CLP. Grease works fine, I just don't use it.

Road_Clam · July 7, 2015, 05:44 AM

Now that I've spent a few years with my 16" and 24" Bushmaster AR's I've gotten myself to an excellent regiment of lubing the compoents. My philosophy is is you see bare metal it needs lube period. Many scorn over people that use lube on an AR , but I'm just a civilian recreational shooter who pays for his own firearms and I want them to last. I started out with just using Mobil 1 oil and while that worked great, I still noticed bolt carrier wear. I now use a slight amount of Mobil 1 grease on the bolt carrier contact rails and the on the cam pin. I still use a few drops of oil on the bolt gas rings and the trigger pins , and the takedown pins. The only issue with lube is you need to clean often as the lube gets mixed with carbon and can make a thick troublesome spooge. As always these comments are strictly just my opinions on what works best in my situation. You do what YOU feel is best in YOUR situation.

Grizz12 · July 7, 2015, 05:46 AM

Quote:

frog lube! you will love it. no more oil for me! works wonders when you go to clean your BCG

+1

blackwater1825 · July 7, 2015, 09:03 PM

Run EWL Slip 2000. Best lube out there. Burn off rate is very high, near 1000 degrees if I recall correctly. Good lube if you run your gun hot, cleans up nice as well since its a full sinthetic without any pretrolium..(bad spelling I know).

blackwater1825 · July 7, 2015, 09:06 PM

EWL also makes a grease. EWG. Stay away from pretroleum products and you will be fine.

bamaranger · July 8, 2015, 12:54 AM

CLP will have a lot of followers due to its use by the military. And I usually have a can of the stuff around, usually for a quick and dirty field lube sort of thing. Hose it down and keep shooting.

My only observations on Frog Lube was by one of our shooters on a particularly cold AL (yeah, I know, we don't know cold) day. His Frog Lubed AR gave him fits....who's to say if he over lubed, or the rifle was just plain filthy, I dunno, but he was one frustrated guy.

My biggest criticism of all the liquid type lubes is they tend not to stay where I put them, no matter how sparingly it may seem, I end up with lube run off. I've thus become a big fan of TW25B, which is as slick as snot, and stays put.

Heck, if it'll run miniguns, it should work for me.

Dragline45 · July 8, 2015, 07:45 PM

Light coat of oil, and small dab of moly grease on high wear parts. I use grease to some extent on all my guns.

rickyrick · July 8, 2015, 07:48 PM

I agree with dragline

DanTSX · July 8, 2015, 08:10 PM

AR's like Oil. Oil is cheap. Squirt it in there. No fancy stuff. Just standard gun oil, 3-in-1, light machine oil, 5W20 Mobil 1 or similar Dino Oil. Overcomplicating lubrication is one of the pastimes of gun discussion, but at the end of the day, nobody can fault light oils.

Dragline45 · July 8, 2015, 08:14 PM

Quote:

but at the end of the day, nobody can fault light oils.

I can, I like my oils on the thicker side and have been using Mpro7 for a coupel years now. I found thin oil to not stay put and burn up too quick.

blackwater1825 · July 8, 2015, 08:28 PM

Mpro7 if I recall correcty burns off around 400 degrees. I like the stuff that burns off around 1000 degrees..I run my rifles until they cry.

rickyrick · July 8, 2015, 08:46 PM

Guns need nothing more than you can find in the automotive lubricants aisle

Dragline45 · July 8, 2015, 09:40 PM

Wrong info.

rickyrick · July 8, 2015, 10:10 PM

This has been argued here numerous times... Aside from the organic lubes, there's no appreciable difference between gun lubes and other industrial lubricants, that will adversely affect the gun. The moving parts of a gun are at best a crude recipirocating machine.

No harm will come to your rifle by using gun specific products, except marketing to separate your money from your wallet. Most of these lubes I can mix together from ingredients found at a well stocked hardware store.
Of course people are gonna worship the gun and believe that it needs some magical concoction to lube it's parts which are made from fairly ordinary materials.
I've spent my life in a highly technical career that involves MULTI-million dollar machines, a gun needs no special lube.

As evidenced by the multitude of responses in this thread, pretty much anything slick will work, boutique lube or store brand motor oil.
Good ole tube of red grease will handle lots of life's problems for many years.

July 6, 2015, 12:15 PM	#1
Skeets Member in memoriam Join Date: April 6, 2015 Location: Indiana Posts: 583	Light Grease vs.Oil for AR lube ? I run my Stag slightly wet with Break-Free with no issues.However,if not used for 2-4 weeks,will need re-lubed before a day shooting.Notice some shooters are going to grease.I'd like TFL thoughts on this matter.Thanks. __________________ Skeets "Over Kill Never Fails"

July 6, 2015, 12:21 PM	#2
rickyrick Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2010 Posts: 8,238	I've used grease with no issues. Too much can slow things down. Sliding parts I use grease if handy. Oil if handy. Mostly I use a thin coat of grease and a dab of oil. You can put some grease in a pill bottle and mix with oil. If you crawl around in dirt, it will stick to grease and "wet" parts. If your not Rollin around in dirt... Use whatever you wish. As a civilian, there's no reason to shoot a gun with grit in it. So just clean it if you have an unscheduled meeting with the ground __________________ Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!

July 6, 2015, 06:03 PM	#7
rickyrick Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2010 Posts: 8,238	However, you can buy about 15 years worth of some random auto lubricant for the price of clp __________________ Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!

July 7, 2015, 02:50 AM	#12
Brotherbadger Senior Member Join Date: November 10, 2010 Posts: 1,149	I use oil or CLP. Grease works fine, I just don't use it. __________________ Once Fired Brass, Top quality, Fast shipping, Best prices. http://300AacBrass.com/ -10% Coupon use code " badger "

July 7, 2015, 05:44 AM	#13
Road_Clam Senior Member Join Date: November 21, 2013 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 1,695	Now that I've spent a few years with my 16" and 24" Bushmaster AR's I've gotten myself to an excellent regiment of lubing the compoents. My philosophy is is you see bare metal it needs lube period. Many scorn over people that use lube on an AR , but I'm just a civilian recreational shooter who pays for his own firearms and I want them to last. I started out with just using Mobil 1 oil and while that worked great, I still noticed bolt carrier wear. I now use a slight amount of Mobil 1 grease on the bolt carrier contact rails and the on the cam pin. I still use a few drops of oil on the bolt gas rings and the trigger pins , and the takedown pins. The only issue with lube is you need to clean often as the lube gets mixed with carbon and can make a thick troublesome spooge. As always these comments are strictly just my opinions on what works best in my situation. You do what YOU feel is best in YOUR situation. __________________ "To be old an wise you must have been young and stupid"

July 6, 2015, 02:58 PM	#3
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	Grease works very well both in use and for a firearm that won't be used for some time, but may need to be used with no prep, as in a defense gun that gets stored or just carried. Unlike oils grease stays where it's put, won't evaporate, dry out, wick out, or run off. This means you can apply a light coat of grease to key areas like the rails on the AR bolt carrier, cam pin and cam area in the carrier, and the face of the hammer. It will stay right there during storage and can be picked up and used immediately with no issues with lack of lubrication.

July 6, 2015, 04:27 PM	#4
Fishbed77 Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2010 Posts: 4,862	I've never seen any need for grease in an AR. Plain old Breakfree CLP has always worked great for me.

July 6, 2015, 05:24 PM	#5
mehavey Senior Member Join Date: June 17, 2010 Location: Virginia Posts: 6,894	^^^^^ This ^^^^^

July 6, 2015, 05:25 PM	#6
mehavey Senior Member Join Date: June 17, 2010 Location: Virginia Posts: 6,894	^^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Only Garand actions benefit from real grease

July 6, 2015, 06:14 PM	#8
mehavey Senior Member Join Date: June 17, 2010 Location: Virginia Posts: 6,894	Mobil-1 Syth (0-30Wt) AMSOIL-Synth (0-30Wt) Either's fine... In fact I use WeaponShield/BreakFree/AMSOIL interchangeably on all firearms (But plain ol'wheel-bearing grease on the Garand's OpRod & Bolt channels)

July 6, 2015, 07:27 PM	#9
Mobuck Junior member Join Date: February 2, 2010 Posts: 6,846	grease on the cam pin and bolt lugs, CLP on the rest

July 6, 2015, 09:25 PM	#10
silverstang23 Senior Member Join Date: May 27, 2013 Posts: 180	CLP. Usually my AR's are dry by the time they get use and still seem to work well. No signs of wear. I wouldn't really worry about it but no grease. Especially if you were using a supressor. To much dirt and junk will be attracted.

July 6, 2015, 11:50 PM	#11
waveslayer Senior Member Join Date: August 22, 2013 Posts: 246	frog lube! you will love it. no more oil for me! works wonders when you go to clean your BCG

July 7, 2015, 09:03 PM	#15
blackwater1825 Senior Member Join Date: May 30, 2015 Posts: 150	Run EWL Slip 2000. Best lube out there. Burn off rate is very high, near 1000 degrees if I recall correctly. Good lube if you run your gun hot, cleans up nice as well since its a full sinthetic without any pretrolium..(bad spelling I know).

July 7, 2015, 09:06 PM	#16
blackwater1825 Senior Member Join Date: May 30, 2015 Posts: 150	EWL also makes a grease. EWG. Stay away from pretroleum products and you will be fine.

July 8, 2015, 12:54 AM	#17
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,308	followers CLP will have a lot of followers due to its use by the military. And I usually have a can of the stuff around, usually for a quick and dirty field lube sort of thing. Hose it down and keep shooting. My only observations on Frog Lube was by one of our shooters on a particularly cold AL (yeah, I know, we don't know cold) day. His Frog Lubed AR gave him fits....who's to say if he over lubed, or the rifle was just plain filthy, I dunno, but he was one frustrated guy. My biggest criticism of all the liquid type lubes is they tend not to stay where I put them, no matter how sparingly it may seem, I end up with lube run off. I've thus become a big fan of TW25B, which is as slick as snot, and stays put. Heck, if it'll run miniguns, it should work for me.

July 8, 2015, 07:45 PM	#18
Dragline45 Senior Member Join Date: November 30, 2010 Posts: 3,513	Light coat of oil, and small dab of moly grease on high wear parts. I use grease to some extent on all my guns.

July 8, 2015, 07:48 PM	#19
rickyrick Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2010 Posts: 8,238	I agree with dragline __________________ Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!

July 8, 2015, 08:10 PM	#20
DanTSX Senior Member Join Date: October 11, 2008 Posts: 318	AR's like Oil. Oil is cheap. Squirt it in there. No fancy stuff. Just standard gun oil, 3-in-1, light machine oil, 5W20 Mobil 1 or similar Dino Oil. Overcomplicating lubrication is one of the pastimes of gun discussion, but at the end of the day, nobody can fault light oils.

July 8, 2015, 08:28 PM	#22
blackwater1825 Senior Member Join Date: May 30, 2015 Posts: 150	Mpro7 if I recall correcty burns off around 400 degrees. I like the stuff that burns off around 1000 degrees..I run my rifles until they cry.

July 8, 2015, 08:46 PM	#23
rickyrick Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2010 Posts: 8,238	Guns need nothing more than you can find in the automotive lubricants aisle __________________ Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!

July 8, 2015, 09:40 PM	#24
Dragline45 Senior Member Join Date: November 30, 2010 Posts: 3,513	Wrong info.

July 8, 2015, 10:10 PM	#25
rickyrick Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2010 Posts: 8,238	This has been argued here numerous times... Aside from the organic lubes, there's no appreciable difference between gun lubes and other industrial lubricants, that will adversely affect the gun. The moving parts of a gun are at best a crude recipirocating machine. No harm will come to your rifle by using gun specific products, except marketing to separate your money from your wallet. Most of these lubes I can mix together from ingredients found at a well stocked hardware store. Of course people are gonna worship the gun and believe that it needs some magical concoction to lube it's parts which are made from fairly ordinary materials. I've spent my life in a highly technical career that involves MULTI-million dollar machines, a gun needs no special lube. As evidenced by the multitude of responses in this thread, pretty much anything slick will work, boutique lube or store brand motor oil. Good ole tube of red grease will handle lots of life's problems for many years. __________________ Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!