Recently purchased a M19, and would like to keep that blued finish nice for a long, long, time, what do you guys recommend these days?

Had a M15 awhile back, and I used whatever was available at the time over the years, but I do recall on one side of the gun, the bluing was of a slightly different hue as compared to the other side. Perhaps using several different lubes over a period of time did not help it.

Birchwood Casey (SNO), silicone treated cloth, break free CLP, are what I have on hand. Don't want to mess this gun up. Any recommendations to keep a SafeQ nice.

Break Free CLP is a fine choice, but there are many others as well. Rem Oil also works good. I have always been distrustful of the "treated cloth" type products. I have seen some that have caused unwanted special effects with revolver finishes, both blue and stainless. Break Free or Rem Oil and a shop rag works just fine.

Naturally, if all you are going to do is put it up without use, then a weapons grade gun grease will provide good protection.

Thanks...would that BC SNO qualify as weapons grade? Or would RIG gun grease be a better choice?

Maybe it was the silicone cloth that caused the change in color.

For the non-moving blued parts, wax is superior to oil or grease for protection and uniform appearance. Renaissance Wax is on the guns you see in museums.

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Science plus Art

Rem Oil is great stuff. I've used it for years. Stays fluid to minus 45 degrees F., won't gum up over time, very little needed. I use it for guns, fishing reels, knife joints, door locks, etc., etc.

I also keep the silicone-impregnated cloth handy.

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Oh well, what the hell.

It really doesn't matter which brand of gun oil you use , the important thing is to keep it wiped down. Use grease for long term storage. Wax, like the expensive Renaissance wax or good old automotive wax , work well, stay on the surface and don't evaporate and I like it. Makes the blue finish look nice too. Birchwood Casey Barricade ( used to be called sheath) is excellent...seems to be a wax based product in a spray...I like and use this too. I'm talking exterior products to keep the bluing shiny not interior parts lubricants.
Gary

The other posts are right. Use wax on the outside of your blued revolver and oil on the inside. It protects better and looks much better. You wouldn't use oil on the outside of your car would you? Renasance wax is even good for the grips.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

Break Free & Rem Oil are garbage. Avoid them like the plague.

The Military dropped Break Free years ago as they have been bought & sold several times and changed the formula. It was never a great lube anyway and the PTFE beads merely rolled to the bottom of any surface. Rem Oil dries to a hard shellac in revolver actions not unlike WD40. I have seen many a revolver dried up internally and sluggish from its usage.

I use G96 products as their CLP (synthetic gun oil) is Milspec approved & used by our Military after extensive testing under conditions you will never encounter in normal life. The original G96 was approved by Canada's RCMP after extensive torture testing as well in Arctic conditions.

G96 Products Company - We Support Our Troops!

Been using Break Free for years, works like a charm........

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Even older, even crankier....

If you want to protect the nice blued finish and you have CLP Breakfree, that's all you really need.

A wax (NOT a car wax) like Johnson's Paste Wax or the excellent Renaissance Museum wax are great, but for ease of use it's hard to beat CLP Breakfree.
Breakfree is always at or near the top of gun products that prevent rust, and the cleaner part of CLP will help remove old oxidized bluing off the finish.

After applying some CLP and letting it stand for a week or so, you may notice a slight brownish stain to the patch as you apply a little more.
That's oxidized bluing, and you may notice the gun is slightly shinier.

A thin coat of CLP will do a great job of protecting your gun and that's really all you need.
The rest is just the usual internet arguing over what the "best" lubricant is.

I've used RIG for years, including for long-term storage. It may well be, as posted above, that wax is better, but I have solid experience that RIG works. I'll probably stick with it as long as I can put up with the fact that it is grease, and then maybe I'll try wax on a beater. Of course, I'm already fairly old, so I may not get around to it. Come to think of it, though, wax might be a LOT better for a carry gun.

I also like RIG Universal Grease for long term storage and Rig #2 Oil for regularly used guns. Been using these two products for 30+ years with EXCELLENT results.

The truth is that almost any main stream - brand name product that has been around for a number of years will also work just fine. I have a closet full of gun care products and while I favor the Rig I do also use Remoil, CLP, Hoppes, G96, Birchwood Casey, blah blah blah and have not had any issues. For long term or salty / humid situations though, DEFINITELY stick with RIG UNIVERSAL GREASE!

For long term storage I use RIG grease. A friend that has access to a food grade vacuum packer uses PET (polyethylene terephthalate)film bags and a few desiccant packs for his long term storage.

For short term storage/EDC I use Mobil 1 5W30. If it's good enough for my 1988 K-5 Blazer with 400,000+ miles (The only lubricant thats been in the crank case since the first oil change at 500 miles) it's good enough to protect my guns.

Class III

Rig grease or Renaissance Museum wax

Breakfree CLP. I've spent entire days out in the rain with blued guns
hunting deer that never developed any signs of rust afterward. The
guns were dried and cleaned and relubed with CLP of course and I have
come to really trust it as a rust preventative. Several years ago I read
about a process to test and compare different lubes that used common
nails. When cleaned of the coating that they come with common cheap
nails will quickly rust if exposed to moisture. Coat the nails with a few
different lubes and put them in plastic drink cups with the nail half
submerged in water and the cups covered with plastic wrap and labeled. Test your favorites and see which takes the longest to begin
to rust. Nails with no coating will start to rust in two hours. Some
oils will delay rusting for 24 hours. Some for several months. CLP rules.

Ask some of the people on here with pictures of fantastic looking guns what they use. Not only will they look good but they are protected for storage. I don't think that one of these guys will take their gun out of the safe, take the oil off, wax the gun, take nice pictures, re-oil the gun and then put it back in the safe. I used to be in the same camp as the oil group before I joined the forum. I asked the most senior guys with the best looking guns what they used. All of them said wax on the outside. But in the long run it's your gun, do whatever is the best for you.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

I've had guns for 40 years. I've used many a lube and cleaner. THE most important thing is to USE SOMETHING and care for your guns. Doesn't really matter which you use, in terms of gun oils and gun cleaners, just make sure to use it properly and you'll be fine.

Story: we never used anything but WD-40 years back when it came out. I had guns that were liberally sprayed with WD and let drip dry. These were put in a gun cabinet (the wooden kind with a glass door) and not touched for 15 years! I removed them a while back, wiped them off and they looked just as good as they did when I sprayed them. I did not use WD on them this time, but I wouldn't have lost any sleep doing so at all.

Again, just use something of your choice.

DR

Break Free CLP and Johnson's Paste Wax work for me. G96 is great also plus it smells good...gotta find some more.

Shoot often but don't carry 27-2



Shoot often & carry often 19-2 and 36-2





Waxed J-frames







Waxed Off Brands





Wax works well on my hunting rifles also.



etc.

etc.

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C & L

Cocked & Locked:I really like the Gold T-Grip with the stags they go great together.Those are also some mighty fine "off brands" you got there.When I see the term off brand I always think Ruger,Taurus,etc not Colt.

Thank you Sir. I just referred to them as off brands since this is the S&W Forum. I should have said, "a different brand."

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C & L

Thanks guys! Let me see what the LGS has in stock, Wax, CLP, RIG, G96, EEZOX, Rem oil, WD 40, a lot of great products to choose from. Those pics are appreciated! Great looking guns!!

"A wax (NOT a car wax) like Johnson's Paste Wax or the excellent Renaissance Museum wax are great, ..."

I'm following the same path as Cocked & Locked, dfariswheel, and tlay. I was using Renaissance Wax and still have it, but the deep gloss shine just wasn't there. Another (wiser and older) forum member recommended Johnson's Paste Wax. It is sold in a large, yellow can, just as it was in the 1950s. The advantage - its petroleum base which provides both the oil and wax in one product.

I'm using it on my Model 29-2 "Dirty Harry" revolver and the blue shines like a diamond in a goat's bottom!! (My drill instructor used that expression in 1965, among many others that can't be posted).

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That's what we do!

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C & L

Quoted for truth. I have one addition, wax is sometimes nice on the exterior, but it is a pain to apply and buff on guns that get shot frequently. Makes guns pretty for pictures.

My shooters get CLP, inside and out.

The extra steps!

Guns treated with CLP clean up easily with CLP, too.

No one mentioned another great choice , cheap readily available and works really well, Kiwi shoe polish neutral color. I have Ren wax too and I cannot tell one bit of difference in them! Except for the Price.

Interesting info from 35 miles away from me!

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C & L

Another vote for Ren Wax

Waxes and clear shoe polish may make guns look great when properly
applied and buffed if the guns are stored in a safe. As a rust
preventative when used in outdoor activities involving damp weather
I wouldn't bet on them. In my wet nails test described above I included
one wax, Johnson's Paste Wax, and it came up way short of the better
oils.

No, no pics or published results online or anywhere. I got the
idea and method from a magazine article. The author included
a few pics of his test results but rather than make any specific
recommendations he advised readers to run their own tests.
Simple and easy; buy a box of plain uncoated nails of about
3 or 3 1/2 in length and several clear plastic cups. Using
alcohol or similar, throughly clean several nails of the oil or
thin grease protective film they will have and liberally coat one
nail at a time with your choice of lubes to be compared, put
each into a plastic cup, gently pour water into each cup to a
level that has the nail half submerged, cover and seal the
cups with plastic wrap and a rubber band. A nail with no lube
applied will start to rust in 2 hrs. The first indication is the
water turning yellow. It's been a few years and I can't
remember everything I tested, but basically everything I had.
CLP,Rem oil, 10W30, Paste wax, WD-40, Rig, Bearing grease,
Hoppes. It's easy and interesting so I tested a bunch of stuff.
My results were similar to the author's. Some lubes are not
much better than nothing. Some will protect for about 24 hrs.
Some for a week or longer. I finally gave up on ever seeing
one nail start to rust and took it out of the cup. It was the
CLP coated nail. It had been in the cup for TWO YEARS!
Do your own tests with your choice of lubes. Way more fun
than reading about someone else's tests.

Ok, thanks. I've got some nails lying around, see what happens. Just picked up some M-PRO 7 from the LGS yesterday, they were out of CLP.

Here's a pic of the gun.

I think just about everyone has run a rust test.
Even when done to laboratory standards the results vary wildly.

In my test, I used sheet steel from the hardware store because of it's propensity for rusting.
I cut it into 2 inch squares, polished it with fine sand cloth, then ran it through three ultrasonic cleaning cycles using various soap and solvent degreasers.

I applied a coat of various products being tested using q-tips or spraying, whichever was appropriate and set the squares out under a porch cover.

As with most rust tests, CLP Breakfree did very well.
Products that failed to protect well at all were synthetic motor oil as used by some people as a gun lube, and 3-in-1 oil.
Surprisingly, WD-40 did pretty well.

You can easily run your own tests, but again, results will vary wildly from the results other people get, so how valid they are is uncertain.

I have used breakfree and RemOil pretty much interchangeably. I am also fond of Tetra gun grease where apropriate .

I think the "best" oil to use is whatever oil you use.

Use it regularly and appropriately and I think it's likely that anything from chicken fat to 3-in-1 to the latest CLP formulation will all give lubrication and protection.

The moving parts in guns aren't in particularly high stress situations like bearings in a car engine. I think, more than anything, the oils we use are providing a coating that allows us to remove powder/lead/copper after shooting. They provide a little bit of lubrication of moving parts. But a gun that's fired maybe 100 times at the range is nothing like a car crankshaft that rotates several thousand times per minute for several hours daily.

Anyone else remember doing this with your Hot Rod? When washing your car, dump a cup of kerosene or diesel into the wash bucket. Some would also dump a healthy dollop of Simonize car wax into the mix. Wash the jalopy and it leaves a micro thin bit of oil on the finish. Bugs and dirt embed in the oil instead of your lacquer paint job. Next week, the old oil layer washes off, thanks to the new oil in the new wash bucket, and a new layer is laid down.

I think the same thing happens with guns. Put down a layer of oil, shoot it, remove the old and renew the new layer. That, to me, is what gun cleaning and oiling is all about.

With all that in mind, I have nothing but BreakFree CLP as the only chemical in all my guns for half a century. I'm pretty sure I could have used sewing machine oil or penzoil or marvel mystery oil or just about anything else. I've owned exactly TWO small bottles of BreakFree in 50 years. One of them I still own. I bought the other just so I could have a bottle in my range bag and one on my bench. It lasts forever and I shoot a LOT.

I say just put SOMETHING on your guns. Doesn't really matter what.

Just oil it.


Sgt Lumpy