Different Gun Oil For Different Guns
One of the things I’ve discovered over the past several years is that gun oil, and I mean real gun oil, not Mobile 1 or automatic transmission fluid (ATF), can make a critical difference in the functioning of your equipment.
Prior to my transformation I was a “what ever was handy” kind of guy, using whatever was in the cleaning box and yes, even using WD-40 when the box was empty. Did you even know that WD-40 was never designed to be used as a lubricant? It was designed to displace water. Interesting how “we the people” can morph something into a completely different use than it was originally intended for. A trip to a gun shop or big box store to replenish my gun oil usually resulted in spray type oil with a gun manufacturers name on the label. Never really gave it much thought…
About three years ago I was introduced to Lucas Gun Oil, the red kind, you know, the one that doesn’t have an odor to it. I thought that I found an oil for hunting season that wouldn’t send the deer bounding away over the smell of the WD-40 or whatever spray oils I had used on my firearm to lubricate it. What I did not expect was the difference in performance of the oil. Read the review of this oil here.
I began to use that Lucas “red” on all my firearms. The little bottle was never far from hand anytime cleaning was occurring or preparing for a day in the field hunting.
Being a dyed in the wool firearm enthusiast, I have numerous different calibers’ and platform upon which my firearms are built, supplying me with the right tool for each of the tasks at hand. AR rifles for coyote and bobcat hunting, semi auto handguns for CCW, shotguns for upland birds and deer in my state. Lucas gun oil served them all well. Until… until the Older than dirt AK 47 I’ve had for ever decided to get finicky with me. I have to say that this gun I believe was drug behind a jeep for several years before being washed with a hose and offered for sale at a local gun shop I frequent. It never has fired reliably, never making it through a mag without some sort of malfunction. It shoots like rain hitting a flat rock, bullets hitting everywhere, albeit always on the paper. It never bothered me as it was and is just a fun gun to shoot, plus I get to say, “Oh sure, AK? I got one of em’” So, one day it gets so finicky I can’t get two rounds through it with out the bolt sticking. I know the AK gurus will have all sorts of solutions to the problem and a ton of really good advice on how to cure what ails my AK, but without them at hand I resorted to tearing it down for a good cleaning and oiling.
Open cleaning box, remove appropriate cleaning tools and wipes and find myself deficient in the solvent arena, Dang! I knew I needed solvent! Off to the gun shop I go. After a quick inventory of the gun cleaning box I decide I’ll need not only solvent but some swabs and a new nylon bristle brush. Gun Oil? Might as well pick up some more as the Lucas gun oil bottle is only a quarter full.
I pick up all my supplies and head to the register. No Lucas red anywhere in the cleaning isle, I resign myself to thinking I’ll buy some at the big box store on the way home. Much to my surprise when I reach the register there are two boxes of Lucas on the counter. One standard Lucas red gun oil and a bluish green bottle of Lucas Extreme Duty gun oil. What gives? I must have said it out loud because the guy behind the counter went into an in-depth explanation of what it is and what it does. SOLD! The extreme duty goes in the bag as well as another bottle of Lucas red gun oil.
The first thing I notice when applying the oil is that it stays where you put it. We all know that too much oil is just as bad as no oil.
Oil between fingers
Migration, or the oils moving into the little tiny spaces is important, but too much oils not only can affect the functioning of the firearm, but also invariably results in oily hands at best and Oily hands and glasses at worst.
Oiling seems counter productive to me at times, put the oil on, wipe the oil off. That is so there is not too much oil on your firearm. Leave a thin coat, just enough to provide lubrication in the tightly machined spaces.
The difference with Lucas Extreme Duty is one drop on the slide or bolt carrier of your fire arm and several cycles will spread the lubricant so thin it doesn’t need to be wiped off. As you can see in the picture above it has“tackiness” to it that hangs on to the metal. It allows migration but doesn’t run off like traditional gun oil.
Add to all of this the standard Lucas gun oil protection against corrosion, drying resistance, acid neutralizing properties and making powder residue and copper and carbon fouling easier to clean up after a day at the range and you have world class gun oil.
Lucas Extreme duty gun oil was developed and designed for semi auto firearms. Firearms that by design create high temperatures when used as they were designed, for rapid fire and automatic fire. It has high heat resistance as well as cold weather function ability.
So back to my AK and its saga of malfunction… Once I re assembled the firearm using the Lucas Extreme Duty gun oil, I cycled the firearm numerous times. The first thing I noticed was that the action, that always felt as though you were rubbing two rocks together, was buttery smooth. The effort, perceived or otherwise, used to cycle the gun seemed non existent compared to what I was used to and expected. Hmmm…. This stuff is magic!
So off to our outdoor range I go with a full mag to see if my old AK needs a trip to the gunsmith.
Eye wear, hearing protection and checking the range for wandering children, Check! I insert the mag and take aim. Boom! Bolt cycles and loads another round. Hmm.. just needed a good cleaning. I shoulder the firearm and keep squeezing the trigger until it doesn’t go boom any more… HEY WAIT! It’s empty! In the 10 or so years I owned this clinker it never emptied a mag without a jam!
Can’t be! Must be a fluke! Back to the house and load another mag. Out to the range and BOOM< BOOM <BOOM…. Second mag ever with out a malfunction! Holy cow this stuff is good!
I’m not going to tell you the gun was tighter or that it shot better groups, both would be a lie. But what I will tell you is that I’ve shot this AK six times at our range without so much as one malfunction since I’ve started using Lucas Extreme Duty gun oil.
No oily glasses and cleanup seems to be easier as well.
I’ve since begun to use Lucas Extreme on all of my semi auto’s . I don’t know why I never thought of my CCW as a semi auto, but I never did. It was the train of thought of the slide. The Lucas Extreme Duty made w world of difference in the slide… that’s what brought me to use it on my CCW. My Concealed carry is a Wilson CQB built on a 1911 frame. It always works flawlessly, but lubing it with the Lucas Extreme Duty gun oil gave it that ‘buttery” feeling that I experienced with its first use on my AK.
So who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?