Does anyone use Break Free Oil for lubricate for M1 Garand Rifles ?
This is a factory recondition Garand.
This is a factory recondition Garand.
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M1 Garand Lub
- Thread starter jimmyj
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Ozark Marine
US Veteran
We used LuberPlate for our M-14's in the Corps.
OFT II
US Veteran
Lubricate the bolt lugs and inside of the operating rod with a lithium based grease. The military used to issue the grease in a little tub that held about an ounce of it.
sureshotbob
Member
I've read any high temp. grease is o/k to use on a Garand.
I've been using a bearing grease that I've got a 15 gallon barrel of from a bearing shop that I worked at for 3 years before I became a sprinkler fitter back in the early 80's.
The only thing I don't use it on is the firing pin . For that I just use a very light coating of oil.
I use this both for Garands and M1 Carbines and have never had problems.
I've been using a bearing grease that I've got a 15 gallon barrel of from a bearing shop that I worked at for 3 years before I became a sprinkler fitter back in the early 80's.
The only thing I don't use it on is the firing pin . For that I just use a very light coating of oil.
I use this both for Garands and M1 Carbines and have never had problems.
MichiganScott
Member
I bought a pound of Valveline molybdenum high temp bearing grease in the mid-1970's and have used it on any part of a firearm that requires grease. I figure I should run out about 2040. 
To answer jimmyj's question, Garands need to be greased wherever parts slide and oil where they rotate. Aside from spraying oil every time they cycle, they may bind up if oil is used in place of grease, particularly if they have recently been reparked.
To answer jimmyj's question, Garands need to be greased wherever parts slide and oil where they rotate. Aside from spraying oil every time they cycle, they may bind up if oil is used in place of grease, particularly if they have recently been reparked.
dfariswheel
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In the M1 and M14 oil is a rust prevention coating, grease is the lubricant.
The old adage that if "It rotates oil it, if it slides grease it" is not necessarily true.
As example Match shooters discovered that if they greased the hammer and trigger pins they had less galling and broken pins.
The official M1 and early M14 grease was Lubriplate 120, which is the yellow-white grease.
It's Lithium grease.
The later brown grease is Plasti-Lube.
You can still buy Lubriplate 120 from Brownell's and Plasti-Lube from one of the big Match shooter supply houses.
Truth is, most any heat and water resistant grease will do.
A lot of match shooters just buy tubes or cans of Lithium grease at Walmart, auto or farm stores, or hardware stores.
The old adage that if "It rotates oil it, if it slides grease it" is not necessarily true.
As example Match shooters discovered that if they greased the hammer and trigger pins they had less galling and broken pins.
The official M1 and early M14 grease was Lubriplate 120, which is the yellow-white grease.
It's Lithium grease.
The later brown grease is Plasti-Lube.
You can still buy Lubriplate 120 from Brownell's and Plasti-Lube from one of the big Match shooter supply houses.
Truth is, most any heat and water resistant grease will do.
A lot of match shooters just buy tubes or cans of Lithium grease at Walmart, auto or farm stores, or hardware stores.
This is what I use, No. 105 Motor Assembly Grease | Lubriplate Lubricants Co.
It seems like heresy, to use anything but grease on a
Garand...but the Army tech manual has a change (#3,
IIRC) that specifies "do not use grease" and says to
use oil for lubing all moving parts.
S.B.
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I believe this is the stuff used in WWII on Garands also?
Steve
one eye joe
US Veteran
IMHO---LUBRIPLATE, LITHIUM BASED GREASE, IS EXCELLENT LUBE, FOR ANYWHERE METAL CONTACTS METAL, IN SEMI-AUTO RIFLES AND HANDGUNS.....
PPS1980
Member
I'll stick with what the Corps told me about caring for a weapon. Grease it and be happy.
POS1980,
I’m with you on that and I was issued oil not grease to my weapons. It worked great.
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The official USGI Manual I've read specifies Grease - not oil. If they changed it after the War, I am unaware..... AFAIK the tiny little "grease pots" (brown grease) that are meant to be stored in the Stock are still for sale, are what the US Military specified and what most of my friends do use. Seems to work perfectly.
Certainly it works and that is why it was supplied when the weapon was in its prime. Relying on my ever aging memory (what is my name?) as I recall the change from grease to oil was because they found that grease trapped more foreign matter than light oil. In a combat environment the amount of **** that can get into your weapon is startling. When it gets lodged in grease it just complicates maintenance. In that environment light oil is better. After all you are just trying to reduce the affect of friction. Foreign matter lodged in grease is increasing friction. It can lodge in oil too, but not as much.
I won’t get into the affect of cold on greasea as compared to oil because it is not relevant to most gun owners just like getting foreign matter trapped in oil is not relevant.
I’m use Rem Oil in the spring, summer, and fall, and I use Remington Dri Lube in the winter.
dfariswheel
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Again, the M1 through early days of the M14 grease was Lubriplate 120, which is a yellow-white Lithium grease.
The later M14 grease was Plasti-Lube which is a brown grease.
Both were packed in the small plastic grease containers that were stored in the butt trap.
Both were also available in larger cans.
MichiganScott
Member
Actually they changed from oil to grease very early in the development of the Garand when they found out that heavy rain (like the Philippines during the monsoon season) would wash out oil from what is a very open design. The military doesn't care about longevity of its equipment during combat, but they certainly care about 100% function when needed.
sureshotbob
Member
I remember reading that in North Africa in WWII they told GI's to run the Garand dry because of the dry blowing sand.
I went back and looked at three versions (1940, 1951,
1958) of FM 23-5, and multiple change docs for each
version. Apparently the use of grease was something
of a "back & forth" issue.
In a 1942 change to the 1940 FM, do not use grease
appears in lubrication instructions.
The 1958 FM specified grease only "to parts...subject to
heavy wear" before firing, with oil everywhere else, and
warns against grease use in sandy, dusty or extreme cold
environments.
