Good, cheap gun lubricant

[curioushooter]

3 In One oil with PTFE.

I've used 3-in-one oil for years, and this is a real level up from the ordinary kind for firearms.

1) It is a thinner, runnier product. It will get to places with the spout that are not ordinarily reachable.
2) It is highly refined. It is nearly clear.
3) Doesn't react with the plastics found in firearms.
4) Temperature range is well within anything you'd expect with firearms.
5) It is extremely hydrophobic. Water will bead up on metal with the thinnest film of this stuff.
6) High film strength and takes extreme pressures due to the teflon.
7) Claims to be long lasting and it seems to last pretty long compared to any other thinnish oil. After a while most of the oil evaporates eventually, a very thin teflon film remains. It probably possesses moderately good long-term corrosion prevention characteristics.
8) Extremely good friction reducer. One of the slipperiest lubricants I've experienced.
9) It's $3 a bottle at Lowes, and the bottle is enough for years and years as so little of it is needed.

Bad:
1) Low odor but it has an odor.
2) Teflon has an annoying characteristic of getting on hands and wood and places you don't want it to. So does silicone.
3) Once it's on something you need to use a solvent to get it off...though it never seems to come off completely unless a some pretty drastic measures are taken.
4) It is not a food grade product and has some presumable amount of toxicity, though the bottle carries no warnings.

[stinjie]

Great,now another lube I'm gonna have to buy and try.Thanks for the good info.

[Winger Ed.]

I like it.
Its all I've ever used on a industrial sewing machine.
I use it on guns too if I'm too lazy to go across the shop and get the bottle of 5-20 weight synthetic motor oil.

[Drm50]

How many firearms do you guys own that cheap oil is a consideration? I buy Hopes and I’ve had the same bottle for years, think it’s 6oz. I’ve had more but usually running 100-150 guns in my old age.

[725]

One quart of 5-20 full synthetic motor oil is the best and only oil you will buy / need for a very long time.

[BigAlofPa.]

I use a 50/50 blend of atf and synthetic motor oil.

[Prcshooter]

+1 on the synthetic motor oil. 5/20 or 0/20

[elmacgyver0]

I use LSA Weapons oil.

[Randy Bohannon]

Motor oil is designed to ‘cling’ and not migrate it’s suppose to be on critical journals in engines on start up. Which makes it a superlative firearm lubricant,the thin gun lubes migrate into the wood if present and soften plastic .I quit using ‘gun oil’ 25 years ago. I also wax my guns, oil the inside wax the outside sure makes cleanup easy.

[roysha]

Back in the 50s one of the favorite stock finish repair "recipes" was 1 part 3in1 Oil and 1 part ether. The 3in1 from that era would gum up and harden eventually even without the ether acting as a dryer. I didn't like 3in1 for anything then and I still don't. I do remember my Grandma using the stuff on her treadle sewing machine.

I have an acquaintance that has some Class 3 stuff and the only lube that even remotely lasts through an afternoon of shooting is 0-20 FULL synthetic.

It is what I use regularly now. I have a few other older bottles of gun oil that sometimes get used on various lube jobs but for guns I really care about, it's 0-20.

[gypsyman]

Plenty of good ones out there, ask 10 shooters, get 10 different replies. If you want something cheap, what was mentioned earlier in the thread, ATF. I'd go with the full synthetic. Has to stay thin enough to flow at extreme cold temperature's, thick enough when temperature gets real hot. If you want to go with an oil that is/has been developed for firearms, Ballistol. Not the cheapest, but works pretty good.

[Burnt Fingers]

Back in the 50s one of the favorite stock finish repair "recipes" was 1 part 3in1 Oil and 1 part ether. The 3in1 from that era would gum up and harden eventually even without the ether acting as a dryer. I didn't like 3in1 for anything then and I still don't. I do remember my Grandma using the stuff on her treadle sewing machine.

I have an acquaintance that has some Class 3 stuff and the only lube that even remotely lasts through an afternoon of shooting is 0-20 FULL synthetic.

It is what I use regularly now. I have a few other older bottles of gun oil that sometimes get used on various lube jobs but for guns I really care about, it's 0-20.

Get some LSA. It was designed for full auto stuff.

[elmacgyver0]

Get some LSA. It was designed for full auto stuff.

Besides, it comes in neat olive drab cans and squeeze bottles.
Made for the military.

[roysha]

Indeed LSA is a good product. However, part of the OP's question included the word "cheap", which I interpreted to mean relatively inexpensive.

Given that the LSA is running somewhere in the area of $12.00 and up for 4 ounces, as compared to $8-10.00 for 32 ounces of full synthetic, I don't think the LSA qualifies as "cheap"

I will say it before someone else does. really cheap "gun oil", in the truest meaning of cheap, is ultimately much more expensive the even the most high priced oil.

[gnostic]

Mobil 1, I've been using it for years. It's the absolute best for AR's....

[Winger Ed.]

I quit using ‘gun oil’ 25 years ago.

That's about when I quit buying it.
When we lived in the city, and more people came over, some would see me use 5-20 synthetic,
and tell me it would tear up my guns--
So, I kept my last empty bottle of 'gun oil' and kept refilling it with 5-20 so they'd think I was 'doing it right'.

I clean & lube a gun before I take it out to shoot, then again when I bring it in.
So far, I haven't 'torn one up' yet with motor oil.

[Larry Gibson]

I use LSA Weapons oil.

Me too......

[alamogunr]

Get some LSA. It was designed for full auto stuff.

Never heard of LSA before this thread. Looked it up. $14.38 for 4 oz at Amazon.

I don't have any full auto guns and I'm not hard on those that I do have. I'm a sucker for anything that I can mix and the latest is a recipe I found that is attributed to Ed of Ed's Red fame. This gives me 3 or 4 different oils that I can reach for on my shelves. I somehow doubt that I will damage any of my guns by using any one of them.

[elmacgyver0]

How cheap do you want it?
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/281390

[elmacgyver0]

It is out of stock at Numrich right now but google it.
It shows up from time to time.
Sportsman's Guide sometimes have it in olive drab plastic squeeze bottles.
Don't know if they have it right now, didn't check.
Surplus is the way to buy it.