Was stumbling around the Internet and came across a forum that had an article on pistol cleaning ....... and immediately noticed that WD40 was the main cleaning/lubricating product being recommended. Other than Hopps #9 for the barrel, the balance was all WD 40 with an air hose (compressor) doing the balance of all the work. I've used compressed air for many years, but never WD 40.

It was one of those moments I have frequently where I say to myself, "Sounds so logical, why haven't I thought of that?" So am curious if WD 40 is a common ingredient for your pistol/revolver/rifle cleaning also?

Dan

I used to use WD-40 on my firearms and quit the practice because it failed to meet my requirements. The attachment below is the best documentation I have seen on the subject. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil




http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html

I used to use WD-40 on my firearms and quit the practice because it failed to meet my requirements. The attachment below is the best documentation I have seen on the subject. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil

http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html

Appreciate the information, Gil....excellent reference. The potential "gumming" action as well as other performance aspects eliminates the WD-40 for me.

I remember chuckling while I read the article I referenced, thinking about the old saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" but had no experience upon which to draw my own opinion.

Thanks again.

Dan

WD40 makes a decent cleaning agent. I'll even use it on my hands after rubbing in a coat of stock finish, but I'm not sold on it as a lubricant. Too thin to really lubricate, tends to dry into a kind of gunk if left long term.

Much better is to use a real cleaning agent to clean, a real lubricant to lube, and a real preservative to preserve....trying to do all three with one product always compromizes one of the three.

AS the link above states, WD-40 is designed to remove water by lifting it off the surface so it can be wiped away. It is not designed to be either a long term protectant NOR to provide significant lubracation. Used properly it is a great tool for gunners, used improperly it can actually cause a few problems due to the gumming it forms after long term drying.

For common cleaning chores I find Walmarts inexpensive carborator cleaner in a spray can to do an excellant job of cutting accumulated action or trigger goo and it leaves a clean surface for oil application. DO NOT let (most) carb cleaners get on the stock finish or damage may occur - it is pretty strong stuff!

I only use WD-40 on my guns after being caught in a rain or if they have "sweated" after being brought in from the cold. The guns are then wiped down, both outside and in the bore, before a good gun oil is applied.

After a bit of experimentation myself, my light "gun" oil of choice at this point is common Automatic Transmission Oil (ATF) from Walmart. It is an inexpensive but excellant lube AND is one of the very best oils I've found for long term rust protection with little gumming qualities.

I use it because it is cheap and does move water away from metal. It is fine for flushing out stuff that I don't care to tear down completely.

I have found that common "gun oils will follow it" into moving parts over time.

It is:

A half-assed penetrant

A poor lubricant

It smells better than kerosine?

Cheezywan

Yeah man, WD-40 for guns really takes me back to the 70's. Before I knew better, I discoverd it let a lot of rust form after a sweaty hand had grabed the gun (ended up using RIG at the time and it solved the rust/handling problem... though not lubrication). Some years later I had a 9mm semi that was put away for a few months after being "protected" by WD-40. I finally took it out and dry fired it. It literally took 5 seconds for the hammer to come down!

No doubt WD-40 does some things well. I just will not let it on any of my firearms anymore.

Was stumbling around the Internet and came across a forum that had an article on pistol cleaning ....... and immediately noticed that WD40 was the main cleaning/lubricating product being recommended. Other than Hopps #9 for the barrel, the balance was all WD 40 with an air hose (compressor) doing the balance of all the work. I've used compressed air for many years, but never WD 40.

It was one of those moments I have frequently where I say to myself, "Sounds so logical, why haven't I thought of that?" So am curious if WD 40 is a common ingredient for your pistol/revolver/rifle cleaning also?

Dan

First pass, cleaning rusty/crusty old mausers that may not have seen a cleaning brush in 50+ years.... it's WD40 and a steel (yes, steel) bristle brush.

Flush that with either carb or brake cleaner.

After that I use 'real' gun cleaning products.

Other than that example, no, I don't use WD-40 on guns.

Good ole Break-Free is my go to gun cleaner/lubricant. I'll use a more specialized product for the bore, but everything else is cleaned with the Break free.

JR

I used to use WD-40 on my firearms and quit the practice because it failed to meet my requirements. The attachment below is the best documentation I have seen on the subject. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil

http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html

I've used the "ProLix" product for years based on the original recommendation from a high volume shooting group .... I was impressed by the custom $5,000 semi's they used and they swore by it. I've always been pleased with it's results.

http://www.prolixlubricant.com/

I don't have any method to accurately test the ProLix versus the Break-Free, but have ordered the Break-free wripes and 16 oz. liquid product from Midway and all the Midway reviews sure swore by it also, so will certainly use it.

Again, thanks for the information.

Dan

Dan

I spoke to a factory rep at the Denver NRA show many many years ago (early 80s). WD-40 is NOT a lube and was never intended to be. I't was designed for the navy as a protectant for aircraft at sea.
Humpty

I use WD-40 for cleaning in several different ways.

For my weapons that have a moly coated bbl and I exclusively use moly coated bullets in,WD is the only thing that ever goes into the bbl for cleaning. A well soaked patch first followed by two dry patches,then a very lightly wet patch followed by two dry patches. Five in and outs with each patch. No fouling shot required. The weapon is ready to go.

For my other firearms,I run a well soaked(w/ WD-40)patch thru,followed by several dry patches,then Break Free,Nitro Solvent,Rem Clean,or whatever else that is indicated. No more WD.

I will never believe that WD-40 is the terror to firearms that some of you feel that it is. Sure,sprey a s**t load of it into the action and let it sit for a year or so,it probably will gum stuff up. But that,to me,is not common sense.

The senseable way to use WD is to spray it on then wipe it off. Completely off(~). You can't get it all off and a very thin layer stays on the metal.

Common sense. For the people that have a limited supply,pls stay away from WD-40.-----pruhdlr

I have found a few properties of WD-40 that I use for firearm maintainence.

#1 It's cheap
#2 It does not like water
#3 It does have penetraiting ability
#4 It does have lubrication properties
#5 Petrolium oils will mix with it

I take advantage of those things when using it. It is not a stand alone firearm maintainence product.
I have used it for many years on all of my own and others firearms without any negitive effect.

I have to admit that I have never seen a firearm that was maintained with WD-40 only though? Might be an issue there?

Humid Iowa in the summer. My hand tools will rust while I'm using them. They get a blast of WD-40 from time to time followed by a drop of oil. The oil "seems" to follow it into the tight tolerence areas?

Cheezywan

The real history of WD-40 (Water Displacing formula #40) is on the company web site here (http://www.wd40.com/AboutUs/our_history.html). Purchased in a gallon can, it is far cheaper than Brownells Water Displacing Oil. For cleaning, though, Ed's Red is a better formulation. Soak a gun in WD-40 if it got wet, then use mineral spirits to get the WD-40 off. Then use Ed's Red, unless you need to use a copper or lead removing solvent first.

All I have ever used to lubricate my firearms is Mobil 1 Motor Oil, ATF, (Automatic Transmission Fluid), and for very high pressure friction points like bolt lugs on bolt action rifles and hinge pins on O/U shotguns I use a small amount of STP. I have never had a a gun rust or fail because of a lubrication issue in over 35 years. Gun oils and greases are overpriced "snake oils" in fancy packaging, nothing more. Know what your getting when you spend $8.00 for a bottle of "Castrol / Hoppes Synthetic Gun Oil"? Castrol Syntec Motor Oil. You can buy it all day for around $2.50 @ quart, or pay $8.00 for 4 ounces of it in a fancy brushed Aluminum pump bottle. Same with a lot of these "Gun Greases". Go into any auto parts store and you can buy a large tube of Moly Grease that will last the average shooter a lifetime for a couple of bucks. It's as good, or better than these miracle gun greases they sell for over $10.00 for a 1/4 ounce! If you like the fancy hypo type applicator, you can get one at Walgreens, or most any other drug store for around .25 to .50 cents, and it's refillable too boot. Mobil 1 can be tailored to your climate just as you would if you used it in your car. If you shoot or hunt in very frigid climate it comes in a 0W-20 grade that won't stiffen up in cold weather. Here in Arizona we don't get much cold weather, but in the Summer it can get blistering hot so I use the 20W-50 grade. It has a nice viscosity that won't run off metal and dry up in a few days like some of these water thin gun oils like "Rem-Oil" will. ATF is a very clean non gumming lubricant that works well for lubricating semi autos and fast moving parts like slides and even trigger mechanisms. All 3 of these products can be purchased at any auto parts store for around $10.00, and will last the average shooter for years. I won't overpay for these gun lubes that do nothing better except make you poorer. Bill T.

Bill,

I suspect you are right in most instances. There are exceptions, mostly due to larger volumes or speed of fire or extreme environmental conditions. I know the IPSC guys ran a number of tests of how long they could shoot without cleaning before getting a failure to feed or fire and found some real differences. Wilson's Ultima lube did well at that contest. Mil-Comm's TW-25B Teflon-based lube has proven superior in the desert where the fine dust tends to stick to wet conventional greases and oils and is the only lube a couple of the military gattling gun makers give approval to. This doesn't get into the semi-permanent lubes, like MolyFusion or Plate+, both of which have some unique abilities, like lubricating a bore to prevent fouling or a sizing die so sizing lube isn't needed. Moly fusion has no practical temperature limits that I am aware of. Kind of like applying thin cookware teflon to the steel, but with much higher temperature tolerance. Lots of fun chemistry out there.

I was interested to read the test results shown on the link above. It matches my experiences with Breakfree CLP. I use it on the outside of my guns, and that means I don't need to use WD-40 if I am caught out in the rain. My guns, so far, have dried off very nicely without rusting, due to the use of CLP. I did use CLP for cleaning barrels, and it is OK , but there are better bore cleaning products. As a rust preventer, I will continue to use it. But not WD-40.

I've used Motorcraft 5w-30 synthetic motor oil to lubricate all my guns. It woiks folks.I use Hoppes to clean. But, I'm going to try auto trans fluid and get a tube of moly grease from the auto parts and try that too.

I use WD 40 because it is cheap and does an acceptable job of cleaning firearms.I don't use it for barrels,but itis my "go to"solvent for spraying and soaking actions and parts.I follow it with a spray from of cauberator cleaner or brake cleaner(both much cheaper then any similar gun cleaner product).
I do have a can of Break Free that I use sparingly,with no apparent quality add to the cleaning job.
I always follow up with a lubricant/presertave.
Frank

WD posts in the Linked thread will develop as you read the Thread...
Also I keep hearing people talk about Gunk and Sludge...??? What Real Gunner never Cleans Guns... Just like your Car... you got to change the Oil at least once a Year...RIGHT...!!!
ATF... whats that about... Its got Red Dye in it (not a good thing to have soaking into a gun Stock) and Anti-Foam agents... I never seen a Gun start to Foam from shooting it...??? But it is a good lube for Tranny Gears...<:-))

http://tinyurl.com/2qwx6v

what i am finding is the surplus miltary stuff ,i believe it is a 32 oz. can works pretty good and it is cheap.actually if i am right breakfree is some old military formula. sometimes i'll use butch's
if i shoot alot of jacketed.for lube i use
atf. dan