In my ops. manual it states to use one drop of oil on the rear frame & slide each side and a drop on the barrel, and that is what I have been doing. Seems sort of minimal I think. I read in a number of older posts that different types of grease/lubs are used by many instead. I'm wondering if I should be doing something different than what is stated in the ops. manual, or if there is something better than my standard gun oil that I should use. Any input is appreciated.

Gun cleaning and lubrication is not the hocus pocus that many try to make it.

One drop of oil on each slide rail and one drop on the barrel is plenty good enough. That gives you the basic lubrication that those moving surfaces need. Excess oil simply attracts dust and grit and helps the gun's moving parts to wear FASTER.

I like Breakfree CLP because it is cheap, readily available, and the US Government spent untold thousands of dollars and years of research to find and specify this one-step cleaner, lubricant, and protectant. The stuff is so good that it is used by NATO for all small arms, medium caliber automatic cannon, tank and ship artillery, as well as missile and rocket launcher mechanisms. It combines solvent, cleaner, lubricant and preservative materials that do gun mechanisms actual good in cleaning and helping to keep the surfaces clean.

Other products may be just as good, but the gun cleaning product market is simply full of hype, promotion, and advertising gimmicks.

Yeah, but in the sandbox, LSA has taken over for a number of those heavier duty applications. CLP is good, and probably as good as anything else 98+% of the time.

Thanks for the input - I'll give some a try.

CLP is good stuff, but I do not trust it as a solvent. ANY product that claims to "clean, lubricate, and protect" is stretching itself. I prefer a dedicated solvent. I have cleaned my guns with CLP, then gone at that again with Hoppes Copper solvents, and I was amazed at the filth that the CLP left behind. As for "it's good enough for the Army", well, CLP sure is good enough to get the gun clean enough to continue to operate in battle, but I want my gun CLEAN, not just "good enough". The Army doesn't mind servicing their guns more often and replacing worn parts. They also don't take pride in their weapons. I do. I have 30 year old guns that you would think I bought last week. I

I've been using Breakfree CLP for years.

On my blue and stainless S&W 3rd generation pistols it works great doing all three things it's advertised to do.

My aluminum framed S&W's are a different story. After experiencing significant frame wear on two of my aluminum framed pistols, I use Breakfree to clean and then lube with TW25 grease.

The armorer at my prior agency told me that oil does not adhere well to aluminum frames. He told me to use liberal amounts of grease. Since doing so, I don't see increased wear indicators. Regards 18DAI.

I use Hoppe#9 for cleaning my firearms, and use Rem Oil for overall protectant, and a light amount of grease on the slides.

After a good cleaning I always use a little synthetic grease on the slide rails. It does slow wear, but as stated it does collect more dust and dirt.

On my 6906 I was a little nervous about having a steel slide on alloy rails, but everything looked great. I use Slide-Glide on my pistols and it is great stuff. Makes the 6906 slide feel like it's on ball bearings.

Anyone using a small amount of dry or liquid graphite?

Prolix. I submerge the field stripped pistol in the stuff and use the heavier concentrate for the rails and top of the barrel.

Never used liquid graphite. Only Gun Slick Graphite.
Only time I ever used dry or liquid graphite is in lock work (keyed cylinders)

I never trust a combination cleaner and lubricant combination.Because of my severe migraines I use Breakthrough and Mirical Polishing Cloths for cleaning and Militec-1 for lubrication.The Breakthrough has no smell whatsoever and the polishing cloth smells like coconut because the active ingrediant is coconut oil.The Militec is coated on all metal surfaces the first three range sessions.After that a light coat of militec is placed on the frame rails.This lubricant binds to the metal and makes cleaning a breeze........Mike

I have been using Gunzilla for about a year and have been pleased with the results. No lingering odor, easy on the hands, does superb job of cleaning, and leaves just enoungh residual for lubrication and protection. Lot of testimony from the soldiers in Iraq in the hostile environment of heat, sand and wind. Order some and I think you will be sold as well.......zorro49
TopDuck Products, LLC - Creators of Gunzilla

Dry lubricants are actually specified for extreme low temperature lubrication of small arms in the military. Graphite lubricants are excellent because the graphite molecule is a two-dimensional one and allows surface sliding with resultant reduced friction.

What graphite lubes are not good for is corrosion protection, as the powdered lube does not have any film strength to it.

CLP works well enough over a wide enough operating temperature range that the lubrication, cleaning, and protection needs are met.

I've seen Canadian armorers do long-term preservation of service weapons by cleaning them, spraying inside and outside surfaces liberally with CLP, and sliding them into heavy polyethene sleeves and heat sealing the ends. Weapons so preserved are ready for use after 30 days or ten or more years with no worry about extensive depreservation needed.

What he said. With one small change. Light grease on the frame rails, particularly on alloy frame guns.

Another trick that gets lots of discussion on other forums is....


Motor oil! An excellent lube. I keep a bottle of Mobil 1 around as back-up in case I run out of Break Free (yes, I clean that many weapons). Transmission fluid actually works great too, and has good cleaning properties in addition to being a very good light lube.

The US Army's Rock Island Arsenal (not the commercial Rock Island Armory) actually recommends the use of motor oil and transmission fluid as a substitute lube for light weapons. According to Evan Marshall the DOE anti-terrorisim teams used to use Mobil 1 as the standard lube on all of their AR-platform guns with great success. They went through the stuff by the gallon. You may think your gun runs hot, but it is nothing like the inside of a car engine. If a motor oil can hold together and protect the inside of a Lexus engine screaming down the interstate it can certainly protect your 3rd Generation S&W.

That's interesting - wonder if my heat sealed/food saver bags would do the job?

The heavy polyethylene sleeving came on rolls by the (guessing) hundreds of meters. It was at least a couple mils (thousandths of an inch) in thickness, like the heaviest of ziplock plastic food storage bags, and heat sealed on the ends with what looked like a food processing heat sealer.

I found the process interesting because the weapons preserved in this way were simply piled into wooden crates, had lids nailed on and metal strapped, and sent to warehouse storage. The armorer types that I talked to said that they had never seen any corrosion on weapons preserved in this manner.

i just put a 4043 on layaway so, not sure what kind of maintenance it will need when i finally get it.
where do you buy Slide-Glide?
t'blazer

Brian Enos - Competition Shooting Books, Slide-Glide, DVDs & Reloading for Slide Glide