That Grant Cunningham page is a great reference when it comes to the practical aspects of firearms lubrication. This particular quote is especially insightful even if it ought to be self-evident:
"Let's be clear: there are no "new", "revolutionary" lubricant products made for firearms. That's a flat statement, and it's intended to be. All of the lubricants, bases, and additives of suitable use are already well known to the lubricant industry. Specific combinations might be unique, but it's all been tried before - if not necessarily on guns."
In the last 15 years of my LE, SWAT, and competitive shooting experiences, I have never once had an "Ah-HA!" or "Eureka!" moment when it came to a particular lubricant brand name or manufacturer. There was never a time that using a particular lubricant resulted in extra-special or superior performance from my weapons that had not been previously experienced; including some intense schools where I fired approximately 5K to 6K rounds through my rifle in 5 days.
I admit that I did have a bit of an epiphany about 5 years ago while reading another oil thread on a motorcycle website where a petrochemical engineer posted some facts and testing data regarding oils (don't have that URL available anymore). After following up with some other petrochemical SME's, I learned that most of the lubricants we use for guns and motorcycles are neither special nor exotic, no matter what creative names are printed on the bottles. In many cases, we pay enormous markups for "specialty" lubricants in small containers that is literally the same stuff we purchase by the quart or gallon under different names and for much less money. In other cases, we pay a lot for specialty oils in small bottles that can be had for much less money and in larger bottles from industrial or machine-shop supply houses. Many of us don't like to hear that and such statements have inspired more than a few heated "oil threads" on both firearms and motorcycle forums.
I have used all of the standard stuff common to LE/MIL units and I have used some of the "fancy" mix-it-yourself concoctions. I have also used various synthetic motor oils (both for cars and motorcycles). They all worked just fine.
These days, I use a mixture of 95% Royal Purple 10W-30 synthetic motor oil and 5% Slick 50 (for real...I measure it). It gives me a whole lotta high-quality lubricant for a very low price.


If you're one of the guys who uses Slick 50 to duplicate some of the more expensive gun lubricants, don't use much at all....a little PTFE goes a long, long way.
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