Best brand of lubricant for rifle

[debjeetganguly]

Hello ! Can someone kindly advise me what would be the best lubricant to be used for both synthetic and metallic washer type rifles? Regards !

[striker]

airguns uses three kinds of lubricants irrespective of brands


moly grease- applied where there is metal to metal friction /contact

silicon grease -used for rubber/plastic/synthetic to metal contact areas

tar-used in springs to dampen the vibration.

[Basu]

Most important lube is moly for springers.
Only Balmer Lowrie brand of moly is available in the market in general.
One can ask lathe shops who may let know the source.
I have used four brands of moly so far ,namely
1) Balmer Lawrie
2) Precihole
3) Jim Maccari
4) Target tune India.
The 1st and the 2nd is very similar in texture ,where as 3rd and 4th have similarity too.
It is felt the presence of MOS2 is more , compare to Balmer lawrie in Precihole product.
Both Maccari and TTI use a different base which increases the surface affinity to a greater extent.
I have Maccari tar too. Having tested its texture , i am sure it has capacity to reduce buzz/twang of the spring but in the process , one may have to compromise velocity.

Basu

[mercury]

Basu...loctite also has a molly paste, don't know if its available in India though. 65% molly.

one very interesting product is the molly powder by mollykote.

MOLYKOTE Z moly powder ...98% MoS2 content.

i got in touch with their Bangalore dealer. available ; only problem , minimum is a 1Kg tin. and priced around 5500/- !! i would love to try this out..but what do i do with a kg !

[Basu]

Dear Mercury,
Long back I had spoken to a dealer of Balmer Lowrie regarding 65% MOS2 .
He was shocked and awed by the %tage and said almost same price and minimun of 10+kgs tin pack.
I ran away .....

Basu

[R.D.Dominic]

I have used WGF 130 GREASE from WURTH (Lethium soap grease with MoS2) for my IHP air rifle, I have used this grease on the piston seal and the piston. I have used HHS DRYLUBE from WURTH on the spring. It has reduced the buzz/ twang.

[estousandy]

A thin coat of moly paste all over the entire internals, with an even finer heavy tar film on the mainspring OD will do the trick.

Even the seal is just moly coated in mine. I don't know how silicone grease sticks to the seal once it's pushed through the tight cylinder.

60% or above moly paste is needed, not moly grease(usually 3-10% mos2). I use the JM moly paste & tar.

[Basu]

Dear estousandy,
I have Maccari tar but I am worried that it may reduce velocity along with vibration.
Please enlighten....

Basu

[estousandy]

Basu, i haven't done a before-after chrono yet but my IHP still got the same or more power with assorted pellets, while keeping any vibrations/twang/buzz to very minimum. There's a world's difference in the feel.

So i don't think the velocity will take a hit from the tar but i don't have any solid figures to back this up. Everything is by instinct & i did a lot more than lubing to the gun to attribute all its current fine health to any one process.

[Basu]

A follow up question , pl.bear with me.
Have you put heavy layer or fine ??

Basu

[estousandy]

No worries. I put a very fine layer of tar on OD of the moly coated spring.

How such a fine layer filters down to final performance gain, i'm yet to fully grasp. Hope someone better at this can chip in.

[Basu]

Hmm.....
First I need to apply a fine moly coat on spring followed by thin coat of Tar .
Reasons for so many questions as this tar is quite sticky and if it touches ID of the spring alone , guide will stick with it .
However , mixing it with moly , is a good idea.
Thanks indeed.

Basu

[mercury]

the tar is more for dampening the spring twang/ buzz etc than as a lubricant. ideal for guns with loose fitting guides and / or spring fit in pistons. the stickiness is there for a reason...so it does not migrate and stays put. as Estousandy posts..a fine coating coating on the spring od is good. too much and it will be sticking to the guide , chamber etc. a reason for the loss in fps.

a good fit guide is a better alternative..less messy at least.

[Basu]

Recently I retuned my SDB 45 aka SN45.
I used maccari tar and Precihohe moly, mixing it in 1:3 v/v and used on spring.
The effect is amazing.No buzz, no twang ,absolutely smooth.


Basu

[bennedose]

One thing bothers me here - and that is the fact that Tar is a hydrocarbon and under the right conditions it is also subject to dieseling. Admittedly the dieseling temperatures for coal-tar are somehwat on the higher side - but depending on the actual component molecules of the tar you use it could be quite possible. If tar is causing dieseling it is no use mixing with Moly becasue Moly is a metal to metal lubricant that does not cause dieseling.

A performance gain from tar is most probably due to dieseling. Cardew and Cardew showed that the only way to stop dieseling in the presence of a flammable hydrocarbon or alcohol was to exclude oxygen completely, and that reduces performance in springers.