WD-40 Do & Dont's in Firearms

[striker]

Hello Fellow Shooters
Pls shed some Light on WD-40 Do's & Dont's in Firearms cleaning and lubrication Based on your experience and Theory .

Cheers
sankar

[Grumpy]

Don`t use WD-40 as a general lubricant - it`s too thin - and don`t let it soak into wood as it does no good at all.
Use WD-40 for cleaning, freeing seized components etc.

[Anand]

The "WD" in WD 40 stands for Water Displacement formula 40 ( or something like that). It is good for loosening rust and getting rid of moisture and as a general lubricant. It however evaporates eventually and ultimately needs replacement. I use it for cleaning out my guns and then apply a much heavier lubricant such as Hoppe's gun oil or Remington Gun oil.
Considering what effects it has on rust and also considering that blueing is a form of controlled rust, I have not had (so far) any problems by coating my guns on the outside with WD 40.
Anand

[timmy]

I will pass on what a friend in the US Army told me -- he has seen action in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and a number of times in Iraq.

He said that in the desert of Iraq, some troops would use WD-40 on their M16s, rather than the specified lube. He said that this worked at first, but that the WD-40 attracted every bit of dust around, and soon would cause jams. In other words, it made the weapon unreliable.

My comment to the thread is thus neither experience or theory, but for me comes from someone who has experience. You'll need to be the judge of it because you didn't hear it from the primary source, like I did.

To me, this indicates that in the home environment, where something might be expected to gather dust over some time or isn't maintained regularly (because it's not used regularly, like in a combat situation), there would be an opportunity to gather dust. In a field situation, I would guess that the dust gathering factor would depend on the environment.

For myself, I wouldn't use it, but each must feel comfortable with their own choices.

[toyfj40]

WD-40 is "Water Displacement, formula #40"...
and is primarily CH3(CH2)4CH3 = Hexane, Mineral Spirits... ~Kerosene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40
http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... hatsinside

[tirths]

I have a bitter experience with this soln. and decided not going to use to for prevention of rust or as a lubricant.

I stored my spring with this lubricant and after a week I found the spring is heavely rusted and at the same time I used motor oil for another one and found noting on it.

[sawbones]

My two pice worth
Maybe out of place as this query was in the firearms section


It is a good solution to use when u want a solvent action or rust removing action
It is also very good for jammed moving parts like the hing of a jammed surgical scissor
I also use it to clean the bolts of my rifles specially if you want to clean the firing pin slot without opening the bolt completely but not as a general lube

for air guns
NEVER put this near the seals of rubber kryteck or teflon as they will dry out and die also in a springer if you deisel with it could ber quite drastic

I put some in a co2 pistol once and had to change the teflon seal


sawbones

[MoA]

I use WD 40 quite a bit to clean the crud off my shot guns and black powder stuff.

For storage the shotguns get liberal amounts of oil...

However for the BP stuff... just tons of WD 40. Which does turn gooey over time, but nothing that more WD 40 will not cure.

I havent had issues with it. But then again I dont use it as a lubricant.

[Ticky]

Can one use sewing machine oil on guns?

[MoA]

Ticky... when I was in India... I actually used Singer Sewing Oil 3 in 1 extensively to mantain the weapons on hand. No issues.

These days if I am using my BP guns extensively I use Olive oil for them... Jokes apart.

[Ticky]

Can one use sewing machine oil on guns?

I am asking this because I used "SUZUKI" all purpose oil which could be a duplicate of Singer sewing machine oil, since it has a big "S" on the platic bottle like in the case of Singer Oil. Also, the shop keeper gave me this when I asked for Singer machine oil and said he does'nt stock Singer, but said it can be used for sewing machines and that many people were using it without complaints. There is also a symbol of guns on it which suggests it can be used on guns as well.

So, after using it on my air rifle last week. The rifle felt a bit slippery then before I kept it in my dust free cupboard. After reading this thread, I checked the rifle again. The rifle did not seem slippery this time. I am a bit worried and hope the oil I used is not something like the WD-40 oil discussed here.

[gopal]

No never use wd 40 on guns.because it removes the original blueins as well as it cleans the weapon