My cleaning / lubrication regimen for my firearms

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I've been using my own concoction for cleaning

1/3 ATF
1/3 Mineral oil
1/3 Mobil 1, 0-W30 motor oil

I was using straight ATF and it's an OK cleaner. Rem Oil is basically mineral oil and a lot of people swear by it. A lot of people use Mobil 1 and say it's great, so I combined all three.

It works OK.

I am pretty sure it doesn’t clean as well as Ed’s Red because I have no kerosene in it, but I’ve found it works well enough for cleaning my Glocks after a few hundred rounds.

I clean with the mineral oil / ATF / Mobile 1 concoction, but then I make sure I get it all off. I don't want the mineral oil mix left on the pistol. Then I lube with Mobil 1, and Lubriplate SFL-0 on the rails. I have used just regular EP Lithium Grease for the rails and for dry firing my Glock it’s actually a little smoother than the Lubriplate. But what I’ve noticed is that the EP grease can get a little tacky, whereas the Lubriplate doesn’t. So when I am dry firing I use the Wal-Mart Super Tech EP Multi-Complex grease. If I'm putting the gun away - i get the EP Litium grease off of it and put Lubriplate on it.

For my Glock, I also put a little grease on the top of the barrel where the slide moves over it during cycling. The grease stays put better than oil.

I also wipe down the slide with SAE 50 motor oil and wax it. The way I do this is that I put a light coat of fairly think Halvoline SAE 50 on the outside of the slide - just basically wiping down the slide with it. Then I wrap the pistol in cloth and let it sit over night. The next day I give it a wipe down with a dry cloth so I can't see the oil. The oil is still there... I can smell it and I can feel it with my fingers... it is in the pores of the finish. I then use Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Paste Wax on the slide or frame (any exterior metal parts). Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Paste Wax is more oily than other paste wax / car waxes that I’ve seen. On my Glock – I’m careful not to let the wax get near the extractor, or the space behind the extractor where the plunger presses up against the extractor. But anyway, then I apply the wax. The wax takes longer to dry than if I were waxing a car because it's not being applied to a painted surface with a clear coat finish - it's being applied to a surface that's been oiled. So anyway it does eventually dry. Then I polish it out with a cotton cloth and my slide has a hydrophobic coating on top of the gun's finish.
 
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I've also totally over-greased my Glocks and taken them shooting just to see what would happen.

The number one reason Glocks are returned is because they've been over-lubricated, fail to function and the owner then returns them to the factory.

I personally can't understand that. It takes maybe 20 minutes to detail strip a Glock and clean it. I can't understand how someone can slather on lubrication and then can't figure out why their firearm is gunked up - like I said 20 minutes at tops should uncover sludge somewhere - either on the slide or most likey in the firing pin channel.
 
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Originally Posted By: Count
The number one reason Glocks are returned is because they've been over-lubricated, fail to function and the owner then returns them to the factory.



On my XDM and my wifes PK380. All I need is a Q-tip and 2 drops of Hoppes oil around the slides, inside and outside of the bore and that's it.
 
I've fired my Glocks "dry" also and they've run likr champs.

By dry I mean, I gave them a light coat of oil before putting them in their cases, but the morning I went to the range, I took cloth and q-tips and got all of the oil off.

I know here was still some oil in the metal, I didn't take a degreaser to them, but they were dry in that there was no surface oil present anywhere on the pistols.

I've fired them wet - just oil everywherem dripping oil off of the trigger housing.

I've fired them dry, and I've fired them totally gooped up with grease,
 
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Wax on certain surfaces is probably not a bad idea. I wax my wooden stocks with a good paste wax.

As far as lube goes I haven't found anything I really need that requires a viscosity in the range of motor oil or ATF. I use synthetic (spray) grease on rails and other sliding contact parts. For smaller parts like trigger parts, etc, I use Amsoil MP.

But I don't understand maybe, you are using your mix for cleaning powder and barrels and such? I don't think it would be a great cleaner, IMHO. For cleaning I use MPro7 and Hoppe's #9.
 
I was using strait ATF and it does get the surfaces clean - like the breach face, but it takes work, going over the same spot 4 or 5 times.

This mix I'm using cleans a little better, I go over the breach face 2 times and then a white cloth isn't picking up any carbon off of it.

But I don't fire cheap foreign ammo, or dirty mil surplus or anything.

When I was in the military we used carb cleaner and you'd spray it on an M16 bolt and the black would just run off of it exposing bright shiney metal... on the other hand cleaning that same bolt with break-Free CLP would mean applying the CLP, wiping it or scrubbing it with a cloth or brush repeat, repeat, repeat unitl it was finally clean. There are degrees of effectiveness with cleaners and this mixture I'm using is OK. Not the most powerful cleaner, but it works well enough for me and it does get the gun clean.

CLP is convienient because there is no extra step needed - it cleans and lubricates, but I think I'd rather use one solution for cleaning, get it off the metal and use oil and grease for lubricating and corrosion resistance.
 
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It's just like motor oil in a car, everybody thinks they know better than the designers. If you are dealing with Glocks, use a thin oil like Hoppes and apply it lightly and you'll be fine.
 
The old ATF/M1 mix. I see this everywhere and no one has any idea why. There is NO reason to do this, at all...not one.

50Wt is way heavy. I'd go with a 20 grade, 30 grade max.

I just use the ultra evil, chlorine based Weapon Shield and somehow all is good.
 
I put the 50 weight only on the exterior of the slide and I let it sit and then wipe it down. Then I use the carnauba wax.

The 50 weight oil isn't on the rails or internals.

I can't find where Weapon Sheild identifies a chlorinated ester,they have a pretty vague MSDS but I think that they would have to identify chlorine.

[img:left]http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=74476&d=1318305938[/img]



I don't understand why this post shows the HTML code and doesn't show an actual image.
 
I have used M1 syn #2 grease on glock rails and barrel, and it seems to run really smooth. No jams or misfeeds ever, even in rapid 3-gun shooting. stays in place. Does anyone actually use the copper anti-sieze Glock recommends?
 
The copper grease only lasted for 2 trips to the range but I left it on my Glock and only took it off with normal cleaning.

I don't think the copper grease they apply is any better than a good moly grease. It just happens to be the grease Glock chose.

There are some people though who beleive that since Glock applied it before shipping that it must be the best stuff for Glocks so they go out and purchase their own and keep using it.

I have heard that it is the same as Permatex copper anit-seize (lubricant)
http://www.permatex.com/products/automot...Lubricant_b.htm


Besides copper dust, I don't know what's in that copper grease though, the MSDS sheets are vague, so after the second cleaning when the copper basically got wiped off - I don't use it.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1083290
 
Originally Posted By: Count

I can't find where Weapon Sheild identifies a chlorinated ester,they have a pretty vague MSDS but I think that they would have to identify chlorine.

Weapon Shield's website states that it uses "long-chain halogenated hydrocarbons" which = chlorinated paraffin. They are very upfront about this. I have also had the chlorine content confirmed with an independent test.

Long chain halogens are not considered to be dangerous.
 
Count - Do you ever use a copper solvent to clean the bores?

I wouldn't think that any of the lubricants you are using would do anything to dissolve copper build up.

Fortunately, Glocks have polyagonal rifling that reduces copper fouling significantly. I would suspect that other firearms, with a traditional rifling design, would see significant copper fouling with your described cleaning regime.
 
I bought a used G34 that does have some copper in the barrel.

I'll have to research it before I apply anything to the barrel.
 
I have started to use Simple Green to clean my S&W M&P 9 mm. It works really good and is cheap, readily available, and does not smell bad. I saw a video where a professional gunsmith recommended Simple Green for cleaning a gun and Breakfree as a lube. Another certified S&W M&P armorer also said to use Simple Green.

Just make sure to dry well and put a light coat of Breakfree on the parts.

You definitely can use Simple Green on at least a few of the parts, such as the gun barrel, the magazines (which you can take apart and reassemble), the recoil spring assembly, and the slide. If there is copper buildup in the barrel you might need to use some sort of copper remover.

Using the Simple Green has really speeded up cleaning. After I clean the gun with Simple Green I then do a cleaning with Breakfree because the Simple Green removes the oil as well as carbon buildup. And I lubricate the gun with Breakfree at the required locations.

It all works so well I am thinking about tossing the Hoppes cleaning products and almost everything else I have. The only other stuff I might keep are products to clean out copper buildup in the barrel. I can use those occasionally.
 
Originally Posted By: Count
I bought a used G34 that does have some copper in the barrel.

I'll have to research it before I apply anything to the barrel.


The best copper remover I have used is Knock-Out bore cleaning foam. You jut foam the barrel for 15 minutes or overnight if you want and patch out the barrel. Any copper is dissolved and comes out as blue on the patch. no blue = no more copper fowling.
 
Count: You might try the milder version of Ed's Red cleaning solution which is equal parts of kerosene, mineral spirits and ATF. (You can add a bit of Mobil 1 to this also if you want.)

Also, for your concoction, you might want to replace the mineral oil with kerosene for a better, quicker cleaner.
 
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Hoppes Elite cleaner for cleaning the bore and other parts and Breakfree LP to lube. . .I shoot Glocks and they don't require a lot of lube. After a few thousand rounds, both of my Glocks run like they're on ball bearings. . . .it just takes time and money!
 
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