Gun Lube/Grease/Wax Rust Prevention Experiment

[dandyrandy]

IMG_0681 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr

Here is the board I am using with stainless steel bolts to test the corrosion resistant qualities of a variety of gun lubes, greases, and waxes. Each bolt has been wire brushed and degreased with carb cleaner. Than I applied liberal amounts of each lube grease and/or wax to each bolt. The wax and grease were the most difficult to apply. I labeled each bolt.

Conditions:
Bolts sprayed with salt water and put in the rain all night long and during the day for 24 hours exposed to the outdoors.

Here is what I observed:

Disregard the white stuff that aint corrosion its dried salt water.

FP 10 - No visible rust
Fluid Film - No visible rust
TW-25b - No visible rust
Renaissance Wax - Tiny specks of rust (hard to see)
Frog Lube - Small amount of rust present
Ny Oil - Small amount of rust present
Control Bolt- Small amount of rust present
Hoppes Gun Grease - Big spots of rust

Conclusion:
All the products tested say they are for firearms and some say they are corrosion resistant. Furthermore Fluid Film is an automotive application and I wanted to throw in a random into the test. Im surprised, to say the least, on the results. Im most surprised the the Hoppes Gun Grease did worse than the control bolt with no protection on the bolt at all. I put a good thick amount of Hoppes on that bolt too.
IMG_0683 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr
No real big surprise that FP 10 and TW25 did an outstanding job resisting rust in extreme conditions.

IMG_0687 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr
IMG_0690 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr

Its important to note the difference between grease, wax, and oil. Wax is wax nothing special to say... The Frog Lube is an odd duck because it has the consistency of cool coconut oil that you use for cooking. Its like a paste wax I guess??? The Frog Lube applied a lot like the Ren Wax and was slightly difficult to apply. Frog Lube says CLP but I am putting it into the wax category because it applies much like the Ren Wax. The oils like FP 10 and Ny Oil had excellent fluidity onto the bolts and covered the threads fast and with ease. It should also be noted the gun greases like the Hoppes and TW25b were messy and were difficult to apply. I had to ensure they got onto every thread of the bolts. Like I said I put a lot of the Hoppes on that bolt and it still corroded badly.

 

[armorer951]

Here's another "non-scientific" real world test of some of the products most of use use, or are familiar with......


Comprehensive Corrosion Test: 46 Products Compared | Day At The Range

 

[dandyrandy]

Here's another "non-scientific" real world test of some of the products most of use use, or are familiar with......


Comprehensive Corrosion Test: 46 Products Compared | Day At The Range

I already read that lol. Funny thing is the Frog Lube did the best in that experiment but on my stainless steel bolts its not doing so well...

 

[wood714]

Lot of people on a Tacoma forum coat the undercarriage of their trucks in Fluid Film.

I hear it smells bad.

 

[sar4937]

If you wire brushed the bolts with a plain steel wire brush, you may have imparted some plain steel on the surface of the stainless steel bolts.

 

[curtmini14]

eezox works real well at preventing rust.

 

[DWalt]

Indeed, using a steel wire brush on stainless steel can promote corrosion. The process of passivation of SS using acid removes any iron on the SS surface and prevents corrosion. I wondered why you used stainless steel instead of regular alloy steel bolts for the test, as most guns are made of carbon steel.

 

[sar4937]

This thread involves another thread where stainless was mentioned by the poster.

 

[dandyrandy]

Lot of people on a Tacoma forum coat the undercarriage of their trucks in Fluid Film.

I hear it smells bad.

One word to describe it... RANK Seems to keep corrosion away though so thats all that matters I guess

 

[dandyrandy]

If you wire brushed the bolts with a plain steel wire brush, you may have imparted some plain steel on the surface of the stainless steel bolts.

Its possible I guess... All I can tell you is I used a wire wheel brush on a bench grinder and the brush may be stainless steel too. Who know??? I dont display my science degree, put on a lab coat, and call Bill Nye the Science Guy to come over every time I need to clean some guns either so in other words this aint an exact science im performing here

 

[dandyrandy]

Day 2 update:
The FP 10 and Ren Wax bolts now have small tiny spots of rust on them. The Hoppes bolt is looking worse and worse with rust as the days go by. Im not too impressed with the Hoppes gun grease. Interesting note one of the only bolts that still looks clean and rust free is the goofy rank smelling Fluid Film bolt. I guess they make a good rust preventative. I use it on my 1975 Ford Ranchero 500 with good results. As far as using it on a gun though??? Hmm.... Whats your thoughts on that??? Also the TW 25b bolt has no rust either. By the way Dan Wesson recommends only using FP 10 and TW 25b on there guns and I have Dan Wesson pistols so thats the only reason why I have that goofy stuff. It seems to be doing good for corrosion though so maybe they are on to something??? Who knows... They do say those are the only ones they tested and liked. Also the TW 25b can be used on any moving part on the gun, like gun grease is intended to do in my opinion, but the Hoppes grease for some goofy reason they dont recommend using it on any moving parts? Things that make you go hmmm???

 

[catadjuster]

One word to describe it... RANK Seems to keep corrosion away though so thats all that matters I guess

After it sits on the surface for a day or two I can no longer smell it. The volatiles either evaporate by then or I just get used to it.

I re-apply it every year to my 1996 truck that has absolutely no corrosion on the underbody even though I am all over the midwest with it year round.

 

[rwsmith]

Thanks, Dandy Randy....

Thanks for doing all that work and reporting on it. This is like 'what is the best bullet lubricant' and a hard question to answer. Though it's difficult to tell which product is the 'best', it's easy to see what doesn't work worth a flip.

 

[dandyrandy]

Thanks for doing all that work and reporting on it. This is like 'what is the best bullet lubricant' and a hard question to answer. Though it's difficult to tell which product is the 'best', it's easy to see what doesn't work worth a flip.

To quote Phil Collins "we live in a land of confusion." That holds true especially in the gun market too. I have so many of these different lubes and such its difficult to know which one to go with. What can be said about them is that some gun products seem to work better than others for certain applications.

 

[dandyrandy]

301618c3ed92f43d4f782a381fe742e6034e96ce-3 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr

So I just found this test board again sitting all by itself. It was a new board I made back in March to see how corrosion resistant some of these gun lubes are in the long run. I added an Outers gun lubed bolt to the mix since I have tons of this stuff I wanted to see how it performs too. Its been three months now and there hasnt been any sign of corrosion on the FP 10 lubed bolt. The Outers lubed bolt looks good too! I think it safe to say FP 10 and Outers are two superior gun lubes. I like FP 10 a lot so far. It seems to work well with some of my new tightly fitted 1911 pistols when Im shooting them during break in periods.