Been a while since we talked GUNS. And since I’m carrying day-in/day-out, inside and outside the wire, I’m paying very close attention to the care and maintenance of said weaponry, even more so than at home. I do a quick once-over daily, but every week I do a detailed strip-down, wipe down, and re-lube. (And then I clean my guns! Ha ha ha, but seriously…)
Being always on the prowl for improved TTPs, I found some good info on weapons lubrication. The first, from Vickers Tactical, is an excellent discussion of the overall subject:
“The golden rule in weapons lubricant is you can run a gun dirty and wet, but not dirty and dry.”
The second I found while rooting through some documents at Pat Rogers’s site pertaining to the M16 and M4:
“You need to be able to apply the lube properly. Generally, place oil on the inside of the bolt carrier, the bolt cam pin slot, on the underside of the bolt carrier and on the bolt itself, especially around the gasrings.”
Excellent advice– you don’t need lube all over the damn thing, just on the right parts.
Both of those gents know that of which they speak; read and heed.
Good info, even for us worthless civilians. Thanks, Col P.
Houston Native:
You’re welcome. It’s good info for *all* Americans.
Shooter’s Choice FP-10. Great lubricant. I highly recommend it.
As with most things mechanical, you need to prevent the moving metal parts from actually coming in contact with each other. The lubricant performs this function by forming a thin film between the metal components. That is why you want to target specific locations for the lubricant. I also recommend against using motor oil as a firearm lubricant (unless you are in extremis and that is all you have). Modern engine oils contain detergents for cleaning the engine and friction modifiers in the polymeric chains which become active in specific temperature ranges. These temperature ranges are the operating engine temperatures, which are significantly higher than ambient and are sustained for a much longer period of time than you will see in a firearm. Firearms lubricants are designed specifically for the working mechanisms in firearms so that is why you should stick with something like FP-10.