Oiling the barrel.

[CaliberRoyale]

Do any of you put a light coat of oil on the inside of your barrel? Are there any benefits to doing so or is it frowned upon? I figured it would just evaporate quickly inside the barrel. Thoughts?

 

[Infidel137]

Yes. Last step in cleaning, pull a patch with a couple drops of CLP on it through the bore. Protects against rust.

 

[mgriffin]

i give mine a little shot of Hornady One Shot dry lube. Makes cleaning a lot easier after your done shooting. I use it on everything except the BGC on my ARs.....still use light coat of oil on the BGC. Just my opinion....

 

[Pef]

Ditto. After wiping dry of solvent I run a lightly oiled patch down the barrel. Just deposits a very light coat of oil. Been doing this since I got my first .22 about 40 years ago...nothing is going to make me change my habits now...

 

[Targets Guy]

I use Strike Hold on my last swab. For revolvers as well.

 

[gwpercle]

In hot humid Louisiana it helps keep the rust problem at bay.
Even if it evaporates an oil like RemOil leaves a thin film of Teflon and it does help in the fight against rust....I even do it with stainless steel barrels...just because it's an ingrained habit .
Gary

 

[Kurusu]

Do any of you put a light coat of oil on the inside of your barrel? Are there any benefits to doing so or is it frowned upon? I figured it would just evaporate quickly inside the barrel. Thoughts?

Always do that. But, rember to clean the excess oil out of the barrel before shooting. If a hunting rifle, go to the range just before the start of the season, do a few sighting shots and don't clean the barrel afterwards. It works for me.

 

[sheepdawg]

I run a patch of Mobil One down the barrel after cleaning then an hour later a dry patch or two.

 

[MichiganScott]

I don't bother with M&P barrels. The barrel is nitrided stainless steel. It doesn't get much more rust resistant than this.

I do oil down blued pistol barrels.

 

[Saudade]

Mobil 1 down the pipe before back to sleep. I run a few clean, dry patches before the next range session.

 

[jrclen]

The last thing I do when cleaning.

 

[Pisgah]

If a gun's going in to storage, I put a light coat of oil inside the bore and leave it. Before shooting, I wipe it out. For a gun that's going to be carried, the routine is the same, except that I wipe it out before loading and holstering. Even then, there's enough of a film left to offer the short-term corrosion protection it will need before the next time it's cleaned.

 

[Jboutfishn]

Always do that. But, rember to clean the excess oil out of the barrel before shooting. If a hunting rifle, go to the range just before the start of the season, do a few sighting shots and don't clean the barrel afterwards. It works for me.

What he said.

 

[rwsmith]

If I'm not shooting it...

...the whole gun can be oil. Until it's time to shoot.

 

[martybee]

After you've cleaned the gun and barrel, running a lightly oiled patch through the bore will show you how clean the bore is...!

 

[OLDSTER]

I try to leave my bores as dry as possible to prevent collection of "stuff". I run an oiled patch through them, and follow with a couple dry patches until there is no sign of oil. That process still leaves enough protection in the barrel to avoid any corrosion.

 

[kramden]

Yep. Always do.

 

[CB3]

Modern stainless barrels are much less susceptible to rust and corrosion, especially if the times between shooting are within a couple of weeks. Nevertheless, a thin film of some kind of oil will not hurt, and if it is really thin, there is no need to try to wipe dried oil out of the barrel before shooting.

My preference is to polish all my new guns' bores before I first shoot them. I use a bore paste, lots of patches, and 20-30 minutes of elbow grease. A smooth bore fouls less and is easier to clean. I clean the bore well after polishing it. Then I use a lubricant that binds to the metal rather than just laying on top of it. I use Militec-1. I swab it well, let it sit a few minutes, then dry patch out the excess. Then I put a pistol barrel in the oven at low temp (150-170 degrees) for 20 minutes. This helps bond the lubricant into the metal.

Thereafter, I can clean a bore easily in just a few minutes. If I am going to shoot that gun again soon, I'm done. If it's going into storage, I run a patch with a few drops of the same oil though the bore. I never wipe it out before shooting.

 

[jnichols2]

Just Note: All who advocated a coating of oil specified a LIGHT COAT. Some said to run a dry patch afterward.

That's because the gap between bullet and barrel is very small, and oil DOES NOT compress.

But DO put a light coat of oil - rust doesn't compress very well either.

 

[Flyingfool]

Full synthetic oils are fantastic lubricants, however offer poor corrosion resistance.

In the general aviation engine (cessnas and pipers etc). When full synthetics came out. Mobile almost went bankrupt because rhey had to buy so many aircraft engines that were ruined. And now only semi-synthetic oils are offered. This was primarily because aviation fuel to this day has lead in it. And full synthetic would not scavenge the lead and it would clog the bearings and ruim the engine. Also many small aircraft sit all winter and low isage and the engines with poor corrosion protection from full synthetic oils shortened engine life and internal parts.

This experience wojld suggest that full synthetic motor oil while being a superior lubricant, may not be the best choice for corrosion resistance and also to help prevent leas build up in the bore.

Pure petroleum oils or at least semisynthetic oils would be better.

As always YMMV.