WD40 for cleaning, lubricating and protecting a rifle or shotgun.
- Thread starter Erik Hamburger
- Start date
Hales Smut
Well-Known Member
I once read in a French shooting magazine that WD40 is a NATO approved gun oil. I use it for many years and never had a problem, both on rifles and shotguns. For shotguns I spray the inside of the barrel and put the gun upside down on a newspaper, after every use. The outside only when the gun is wet and dry it of with dry kitchen paper. The inside of the barrles gets 1 clean at the end of the season. Do it for maybe more than 10 years and the barrels still look like a mirror.
Sauer90
Well-Known Member
If you want problems use it on a gun, it was never made as a 'protective lubricant'. WD = Water Displacement.
After the volatiles have evaporated it turns into a hygroscopic sticky gum.
It MUST be wiped down if you do use it.
Personally I love other people using it, brings me loads of trade...
After the volatiles have evaporated it turns into a hygroscopic sticky gum.
It MUST be wiped down if you do use it.
Personally I love other people using it, brings me loads of trade...
I spray it down the barrels of both my browning then pull them through with a piece of cloth cut to size.
The cloth I use is from a roll I picked up at a boot sale, ( the blue cloth you get on hand towels)
The bits go in the washing machine with my work clothes and dried, I also give the chambers a light coat of 3 in one.
My marsh gun gets a through strip down as the Black Water mud will get on the gun even if it is in the slip lol
The pull through my Dad made a very long time ago, he enjoys stilling down holding the gun while we pull it through together.
Tim.243
The cloth I use is from a roll I picked up at a boot sale, ( the blue cloth you get on hand towels)
The bits go in the washing machine with my work clothes and dried, I also give the chambers a light coat of 3 in one.
My marsh gun gets a through strip down as the Black Water mud will get on the gun even if it is in the slip lol
The pull through my Dad made a very long time ago, he enjoys stilling down holding the gun while we pull it through together.
Tim.243
I've used Ballistol for years, seems to everything very well.
WD-40 was a popular "fix" for 22 Semi Autos amongst the uninformed when I had a shop. The Marlin Model 60's would come in, gummed with sticky brown goop and fuzzy with dust. I would pull the metal out of the wood and hose it down it in a parts washing tank. It got blown dry and lubed with Break Free. That usually returned it to operational status.~MuirIf you want problems use it on a gun.....
Personally I love other people using it, brings me loads of trade...
PeterH
Well-Known Member
Personally I love other people using it, brings me loads of trade...
+1 Our people love it too. WD and especially aerosol oils sprayed onto shotguns is like a cancer - all seems fine on the outside but oil eats wood on the inside- you would be amazed how much oil under heat can drip out from shotgun hands and fore ends - sometimes the damage is irreparable - we call it 'killed by kindness' Simple remedy - oil onto a cotton cloth.
I think WD40 is magic at getting water out of a rifle after a monsoon outing. I thankfully do not have any wood on my rifles. Wood is an issue on my shotguns and I prefer to use an oily rag on the bits with wood. I have not had any issues with the gumming up of WD40, maybe because the next application dissolves the previous gum? In the meantime we use an anti corrosion spray from Lidl which works just as well but costs only a third.
Maybe I have had little problems with WD40 because firstly we have zero dust out hunting but 90% rain, meaning one needs good cleaning after just about every outing.
edi
Maybe I have had little problems with WD40 because firstly we have zero dust out hunting but 90% rain, meaning one needs good cleaning after just about every outing.
edi
Sauer90
Well-Known Member
Had to clean a semi recently, asked the question what did you do to it? The reply was 'it did not work so freed it up with wd40 not touched it since'.
Total strip n clean (including the trigger group - hammer fall was in slow motion).
Wrong material for the application, bit like using wd40 on wheel bearings. WD40 is certainly not a long term lubricant for a semi.
edi
Topdogpippin
Well-Known Member
Can't agree more with some of the posts here. Great for automotive and some engineering applications. As far a firearms particularly those with wood stock or forends use cautiously! Yes as water disperser after good soaking on barrels and actions but NOT where it might slip behind wood. As someone states once the carrier evaporates off it dries out. If you want to use a spray lube then sparingly and probably a silicone with ptfe, but I would still avoid the wood, only thing for that is a good wax or linseed.
Leon
Well-Known Member
It's a lubricant, low viscosity (2.5cst) but it is a lubricant. It's passed the 72 hour rust test against ASTM B117 so it's a fairly good corrosion inhibitor and it's easy to apply. It's got a good low pour point -73degC so it shouldn't freeze up in extreme temps, it's boiling point isn't that high so during range days you won't get a whole load of protection. My concern over it is the low flash point 43degC (normal mineral oil would be 180degC+) igniting enough of this product down a barrel or inside a moderator could be fairly disastrous.
Sauer90
Well-Known Member
Ain't much of a lubricant- was never designed as one. I pretty much only use it for removing the adhesive from sticky labels nowadays!
Would never use it down a mod (for its hygroscopic tendency), the low flash point is probably of little concern and even less so after the volatiles have evaporated - yet to hear of the 'problem'.
Even if it 'ignited' it would not produce anywhere near the pressure that the moderator sees in normal use.
Would never use it down a mod (for its hygroscopic tendency), the low flash point is probably of little concern and even less so after the volatiles have evaporated - yet to hear of the 'problem'.
Even if it 'ignited' it would not produce anywhere near the pressure that the moderator sees in normal use.
kennyc
Well-Known Member
and yet AseUtra reccomend it in the users manual, to prevent corrosion ! where do you get its "hygroscopic tendency " from? its a water dispersant and is insoluble in water, read its MSDS as to its use as a gun oil, there are better products around, but WD40 has its uses, even if only for removing label residue
Sauer90
Well-Known Member
I get its 'hygroscopic tendency' from use - basically its protection is only for a short while then it absorbs water and helps promote rust.
Hey don't get me wrong, if you have faith in the advertising go for for it - like I'm going to care.
As I said I only use it for getting rid of sticky label residue - never on a firearm.
Hey don't get me wrong, if you have faith in the advertising go for for it - like I'm going to care.
As I said I only use it for getting rid of sticky label residue - never on a firearm.
I recon the absorbs water and promotes rust thing comes from the same source that said WD40 contains silicon. I don't believe it. The oils or left over oils after solvent evaporates will of course oxidise themselves bit by bit and might give up corrosion protection properties over time as other oils also do. Some are better some worse.
As for lubrication, of course wd40 lubricates. Of course there are better oils or greases for certain applications. I would rate WD40 for short term lubrication or to get things going again. Lubrication is a wide term, we had an application where water was a very good lubricator also depends on the materials you want to run against each other.
edi
As for lubrication, of course wd40 lubricates. Of course there are better oils or greases for certain applications. I would rate WD40 for short term lubrication or to get things going again. Lubrication is a wide term, we had an application where water was a very good lubricator also depends on the materials you want to run against each other.
edi
kennyc
Well-Known Member
nothing to do with advertising, WD40 is not hygroscopic, it will not absorb water, it was developed for exactly the oposite effect, residue from cartridge use is however hygroscopic!
I would not use WD40 on anything and leave it, however if I had a soaking wet rifle I would happily use WD40 to displace the water, and then I would clean and oil the rifle with a suitable gun oil, or Ballistol etc.
and I will still follow the manufacturers instructions to spray WD40 into my ASE mod after use to neutralise the residue and reduce corrosion.
sometimes I wonder if people ever read the users instructions that come with these common products.
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