My EDC is an S&W 638 that I shoot fairly regularly. Several times/month at least. So yesterday I was at the range and decided to do some practicing with my snubbie. I had loaded up about 35 wad cutter loads for that purpose.
About half way through my double-action practice I noticed the hammer wasn't acting the way it should. Once or twice it didn't come all the way back even though the cylinder rotated. It was cold out. I stopped shooting and unloaded the gun, and worked the action several times. It worked ok.
When I got home, took the side-plate off and found that the lube had collected enough soot and debris over time from firing that it had pretty much gunked up the action. I shoot this gun a lot. Always cast bullets. I keep the outsides and the chambers very clean. But this little lesson taught me that any and every little crack and crevice is going to allow in just a little bit of smudge, and over time that stuff builds up and can cause a problem.
Guess it's been several years since I had the side-plate off. From now on I will take it off every New Years. I'm just glad I didn't find out about this in the midst of a serious social situation.

As a note, a while back I learned about this home made tool which greatly aids re-insertion of the rebound slide and spring. I cannot recommend this tool highly enough. If you don't have one, you should make one. Sorry about the crummy picture. If you need more info about it let me know. It turns a touchy job into a piece of cake.

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Thanks very much for this post. Your post is a classic illustration of how important it is to periodically and regularly check and test fire our EDC firearms. There is no real way of testing their fitness, other than a trip to a local range.

Also serves to show how important it is to think about the integrity of the lubricants used, especially when the guns are subject to the influence of severe cold and humidity. Viscosity can change dramatically when the weather turns, and the wrong lubricant can render your firearm useless for the purpose intended.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

I also made one years ago, it is a big help.
But once a person gets used to it a Phillips head screwdriver works pretty well. It’s gets easier after a while.

I have always used a ballpoint pen. Works well for me.

Hugh


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You can buy one too....

BROWNELLS S&W REBOUND SLIDE SPRING TOOL | Brownells

Cold weather affects everything that needs to move. Oil is good, grease is bad in cold weather.

Tetra Gun grease will lock a 1911 slide up in cold weather. Ditch the grease and use a light oil in really cold weather.

Maybe not use grease at all. M1 carbines came with a built in oiler tube in the stock.

Lots of lubes on the market but oil always works if you use it on moving parts.

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That's just somebody talkin.

Some firearms require grease. Some of the early all-stainless pistols would suffer slide and receiver rail galling with oil, so grease was required. White lithium grease has a useful temperature range of about -40F to 360F. I don't see me holding a pistol that is outside of these temperature ranges, so I do grease slide/receiver rails.

Revolvers need less lubricant and typically only need a tiny bit of oil. Most of the oil on my revolvers is on the exterior of blued finishes, remarkably little on interior surfaces.

Regardless, Max 503 has made a very good point about routine care of firearms.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

When living in Mn., we used to take ALL the oil out of our hunting guns. I learned from having a Rem. 700 that did not go bang out in the field because the lube in the bolt (I assumed) stopped the firing pin. Once I removed all lube from inside the bolt, all better. Yesterday, here in sunny NYS, I was routinely cleaning some guns and found that my 686 seemed to be a little less smooth when cocking and lowering the hammer. Pulled off the side-plate and found the very tiny amount of oil that I had put in there years ago was starting to gel; other than that, there was nothing dirty inside that gun. Now, I just hand-rub some oil on some of the moving parts and leave it be. All my guns' insides are always kept supremely clean as a rule.
J.

Some folks will not agree to what I’m going to say because it offends decades of use/habit/love in their family history… so, apologies. However:

RemOil

RemOil congeals first and turns in to a plastic-like lacquer over a couple of years.

It’s been my experience multiple times that RemOil will eventually make a revolver NOT work. The last gun I rescued from RemOil was a S&W Model 317, for my brother. He agreed to grab his bottle and together we shot that bottle at the pistol range.

^^congealed and lacquered RemOil

^^after RemOil-ectomy

The frame of the 317 lost some anodizing over this, but it hasn’t affected the function of the revolver, just it’s curb appeal.

Lately I've been using Ballistol but I have no idea about it's efficacy or ability to gum/not-gum things up. I still just rub it into parts with my finger and wipe excess off.

Thoughts?

J.

Of all the revolvers that I own, I know for certain that THREE of them have never had the side plate off and have never had oil dribbled in to their guts.

All are S&W and all three feel like a swiss watch as mechanics are concerned. One is from 1988, one from 1989 and the old one shipped in 1921 and my Grandfather purchased it very near where Mr. Jinks said that it shipped.

My anecdotal evidence says that either “whatever S&W puts in there…” or NOTHING is really what needs to be in there.

But my evidence (of that and of RemOil also) is absolutely anecdotal.

What’s the diameter of the tip on your fabricated spring tool?

You know what? I think I used Rem Oil on mine. And it was black, just like those pics. Only drier. When I first got it, I tried one of those spring kits. But I didn't like it so I put the stock springs back in.

This last time I reassembled it using Hoppes gun oil.

Here's the one I made. (pic doesn't show the offsset very well)



As to cold-weather lubricant, I can't speak from experience, but I'd think a drop of ATF or perhaps- for real cold - a dusting with powdered graphite or molybdenum would do the trick. (Gun would have to be really dry inside first, though.)

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A drop of motor oil works fine, but isn't expensive enough for some folks' tastes.

I always try to search out the optimal lube program for a given firearm family. Within that, sometimes you find the need for ordinary temps, cold temps and in some cases wet conditions.

Revolvers require only a small amount of light oil on a few specific spots. Other firearms families, such as the M-1 Garand, requires quality grease mostly with oil on a few spots. The M-16 family requires mostly oil with grease on a few spots. The 1911 family runs fine with oil on everthing except a tiny dab of grease on sear/hammer hooks.

For oil these days I use Break Free LP (not CLP) as my primary oil. For grease Mobil 1 red synthetic grease is my choice. In both cases, a little goes a looong way.

What is that thing it is laying on?

TOO MUCH OIL. None is better than too much. When I clean the inside of one I then get some light oil on my fingers (I uses synthetic motor oil). Just enough my fingers are slightly oily. Touch the studs and parts that move against one another as I assemble. If I ever do the brake cleaner spray clean method. I then spray in some light a bit of light oil and cycle it, hit is with a light shot of brake cleaner again. But, it is going to get the side plate off next time I am set up to clean.

If your parts glisten that is too much. I don't care what super lube you use it, even those that will not harden, will collect dust, burnt powder etc. Use to much and your going to have gunk.

Decades ago I got introduced to Dri-Slide. This is a dry film Moly disulfide lube in an evaporative carrier fluid. Goes on wet, dries to a dry film. Doesn't collect dirt or powder particulates, resists water/rust, isn't affected by temperatures and seems to get into the pores of the metal.

You might have to go to folks who sell industrial lubes to get it, but it's worth it. One caution: when wet it can stain clothing.

As one of my department's FTOs, I ended up mucking out a few S&W service revolvers. Stuff just gets into them, and oil dries up.

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Keep your powder dry.

A partial box of my powder coated 9mm boolits. (But that's another thread.)

Exactly what he said. If you've got so much lube inside the sideplate that it's collecting gunk, you've got too much in there. I lube with very little oil and only the rebound slide, and a smidge on the hammer pivot post (probably not the right name for that part).

I think this is similar? Available on Amazon. As I recall it's a bit hard to control, application-wise, though.

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I have a friend who would take the side plate off his 442 every time he cleaned it. I asked him why and the answer was because he saw it in a video on YouTube.

I told there was no reason to take the side plate off for cleaning and that the inside never needs to be removed.

%÷×<%&+! YOUTUBE!

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Or just buy grease for cold temperatures TW-25b keeps its lubricity down to -90F.

From Myth Busters on Brownell's.::: Difference between synthetic motor oil & Gun Oil is that synthetic has no rust inhibitors.