Tech Poll How many here clean (not lubricant) firearms with WD-40?

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

WD-40 Smells like crap. If quality motor oil is good enough to protect pistons, rods, bearings, crank, etc etc in a thousand horsepower engine while slamming your foot to the floor, it's good enough for your firearm

I hear running differential gear oil (such as 75w140) smells pretty bad; when it heats up at the range. I have some extra that I havnt used for rear different fluid changes yet, and thought about running it in a semi auto; but havnt yet because of what I read about it and that motor oil smells better.

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

I was talking to a very reputable gunsmith about cleaning and lubricating my precision rifle. He told me that he has been using WD-40 for well over 30+ years to scrub his barrel, slides and other carbon deposited areas in his rifles and handguns. Then he proceeded to tell me after a good scrubbing and wipe down of the WD-40, he uses 10/W-30 motor oil in a squeeze bottle tube with a needle for final lubricant.

How many here follow the same technique? Is he crazy? Am I for considering this? I’m getting tired of spending triple the price for cleaners and lubricants because they say“ gun” on the bottle.

Hoppes #9 solvent in the 16/32oz can be fairly inexpensive if we are talking about cleaning solvents. The during smell is strong with that kerosene scent, smells like it might be cancerous; but I like the after smell.

 

[Jimi Jah]

All Slip 2000 here. Bore cleaner works great, no smell, non toxic.

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

I noticed bore tech carbon c4 and copper is considered on the pricier side. I’ve bought it before, and tend to use it on jobs where I need something stronger. I like that it doesn’t have a strong smell; it’s actually pretty neutral on scent for indoor use.

 

[GoldensRule]

It all depends on which parts of your gun you are trying to clean. If you have heavy carbon deposits in a barrel, one of the best cleaners is "Brakleen" by CRC. It leaves zero residue and is amazingly effective. This, as with WD-40 will also dissolve other lubricants but Brakleen leaves no residue where WD-40 does and as others have said, it gums up into a nasty mess.

WD-40 was developed as a water displacement agent (Hence "WD") and was initially used by Convair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile. Personally, I wouldn't use WD-40 on any of my firearms.

My favorite go-to lubricants for firearms are "Dri-slide" (graphite suspended in a volatile solution), White Lightning, a product developed for bicycle chains, basically a waxy liquid in a volatile solution that dries completely, leaves a slippery coating behind that attracts zero dirt and dust, anti seize lubricant fantastic for preventing galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals, also fantastic for slide rails and synthetic motor oil, such as Mobil One or the Kirkland brand.

 

[Coolguy]

WD-40 is the dirty little secret of the firearms manufacturing industry. Its widely used for everything from the obvious water displacing to cleaning, lube, protectant, and manganese phosphate finishing. Yeah, thats right - right out of the parkerizing tank into a tub of WD-40. Why do they use it? Not only does it perform all those tasks adequately, but its cheap and available in bulk. It comes in 55 gallon drums. Most manufacturers are not spending huge sums of money on the very expensive products specifically designed to clean or lubricate firearms. If you were to ask them about it, they'd probably deny it, but they use it.

 

[dakient]

No, my experience with WD40 is that it attracts dirt and gets grimey pretty quickly in non-perfect conditions.

 

[jacrispies]

Coming from some work in the engine mechanic industry, WD-40 works very well as a grease cleaner, and as said by @Coolguy, it is available in bulk. I probably wouldn't oppose cleaning filthy firearms with WD-40 if there was excessive dirt/grease, but residue would be removed afterward and greased properly. Regarding caked carbon, I am sure there are much better options for removing abundant buildup.

 

[FekTok]

I clean with mineral spirits and lubricate with mineral oil. Cheapest and best way.

 

[BillSmith]

Was introduced to HOUDINI this week. No, the ghost of Harry. A product used by locksmiths. Anyone use on their firearms?

 

[NedSled]

I was talking to a very reputable gunsmith about cleaning and lubricating my precision rifle. He told me that he has been using WD-40 for well over 30+ years to scrub his barrel, slides and other carbon deposited areas in his rifles and handguns. Then he proceeded to tell me after a good scrubbing and wipe down of the WD-40, he uses 10/W-30 motor oil in a squeeze bottle tube with a needle for final lubricant.

How many here follow the same technique? Is he crazy? Am I for considering this? I’m getting tired of spending triple the price for cleaners and lubricants because they say“ gun” on the bottle.

WD40 is a penetrant so it will work for cleaning purposes.

That being said:

• Brake cleaner is also good for getting carbon off stuff (such as bolt and breech face of rimfires)
• Keeping AR15s wet with CLP works REALLY good to be able to just basically wipe carbon off BCG bits

But at the end of the day, cleaning with WD40 will work just fine. Just don't leave it on there IMHO; although internet horror stories are just that, "stories" for the most part, I do believe it tends to gum up if left on in large amounts, and It's not much of a protective in terms of rust.

Generally speaking, all bores get Wipeout and/or C4, and maybe some Hoppes if I am feeling nostalgic. CLP as protectant.
BCG gets taken apart and hosed down with brake cleaner or wipeout, then slathered in CLP (so I can just wipe the crud off, more or less).
Glock slide gets wiped down with rag and brake cleaner saturated Qtip in the grooves and stuff. One Shot dry lube periodically applied to striker assembled and extractor.
Rimfire bits (breech face, slide face, etc) get cleaned with Qtip saturated in brake cleaner and then Qtip saturated with OneShot dry lube as lube and protectant.

The ONE THING I would advise everyone: DO NOT LET WATER BASED STUFF LIKE C4 OR WIPEOUT GO PLACES YOU DON'T WANT IT... IT WILL RUST STUFF AFTER A TIME (I tested this on random bits of metal from my workbench; there ARE nooks and crannies in most guns where that stuff can sit and fester and not dry out, so be careful).

 

[AR15barrels]

If you guys want the truth id just wait for @AR15barrels to chime in....

No single product is good at everything so I keep lots of different products around my shop and use them accordingly.

WD40 is a good solvent for a quick wipe-down cleaning but it's not a good lube.
WD40 is good at creeping into frozen mechanisms that I am trying to free up and I keep it on my workbench for that.
Acetone/ATF 50/50 also works for that but the acetone is always drying out of my squeeze bottle.

I use brake cleaner as my first-line cleaner when I want to strip-off wd-40 or old oil and grease.
If it needs more, it goes into the solvent tank filled with mineral spirits where it gets scrubbed.
If that won't do it, it goes into the heated ultrasonic cleaner.

I keep a bottle of break-free CLP on my workbench as an assembly lube for detents, springs and pins.
I use Aeroshell 33MS on AR barrel nuts and copper anti-sieze on bolt action barrels.
I use Starrett instrument oil (likely 10w spindle oil) on my measuring tools and pocket knives.
I use Sunnen press-fit lube when press-fitting parts.
I use wipe-out to clean bores of copper and carbon.
I use slip 2000 EWL or Weaponshield EWL as my dedicated gun oil and tw-25b as my dedicated gun grease.

 

[fiatlux]

I was looking for a simple cleaner and lubricant for the frame. I came across Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner and Lube. Seems to be the best do it all spray? And then for the slide and a barrel so go with clp and a thicker lube like lucas gun oil?

 

[Coolguy]

Coming from some work in the engine mechanic industry, WD-40 works very well as a grease cleaner, and as said by @Coolguy, it is available in bulk. I probably wouldn't oppose cleaning filthy firearms with WD-40 if there was excessive dirt/grease, but residue would be removed afterward and greased properly. Regarding caked carbon, I am sure there are much better options for removing abundant buildup.

As I mentioned, it does most jobs adequately well. Its not the best at every aspect, but it works good enough for most. I think many gun companies assume that the end user will use their own lubricant of choice for that purpose and not rely on it coming lubed from the factory with maybe the exception being Glock that puts grease on their guns. I've also seen new guns from the factory come bone dry with zero lube on them.

My personally, I use it for most things including lube. I ran a tactical carbine course using WD-40 for lube during breaks. My gun was one of two guns that didn't go down all day. The rest of the class's guns went down one by one. I can't say it was the WD-40, but it certainly didn't cause any failures from attracting carbon and powder residue. I ran it super wet, and it worked great.

Are there better products out there?

 

[BobGBA]

I use slip 2000 EWL or Weaponshield EWL as my dedicated gun oil and tw-25b as my dedicated gun grease.

Do you use tw-25b for choke tubes? I use Briley

For an O/U, what do you use for:

• Hinge pins
• Where the forend iron meets the receiver
• The forend latch

I use Super Lube.

 

[Warpspeed]

I use to fill my parts washer with stoddard solvent back in the 80's but as that got harder to source, I looked for something that wasn't flamable, for obvious reasons.

A friend suggested WD-40 and since it comes by the gallon and 5 gallon, it seemed like a good fit. 20+ years later, it's still working great and requires a small addition every so often to keep the barrel level above the pump.

It cleans extremely well.

 

[AR15barrels]

Do you use tw-25b for choke tubes? I use Briley

For an O/U, what do you use for:

• Hinge pins
• Where the forend iron meets the receiver
• The forend latch

I use Super Lube.

I use tw25b for hinge pins and locking lugs.
I use anti-sieze for choke tube threads.

 

[AR15barrels]

I use to fill my parts washer with stoddard solvent back in the 80's but as that got harder to source,

I got a screaming deal on an old parts washer that was hard to move because it was still full of stoddard solvent.
The pump ran so I pumped out 20 gallons into 5 gallon buckets to get the tank emptied enough to load on to my truck.
Once I got it home, I cleaned out about an inch of grease and small parts out of the sump and cleaned the inside of the tank in preparation for solvent.
I then rebuilt the pump/filter system to accept spin-on 5" diameter x 12" tall diesel fuel filters that I found for $7 each.
I let all the old solvent settle a few weeks in the 5 gallon buckets and then pumped the clearish liquid back into the parts washer.
I recovered about 18 gallons to which I added another 10 gallons of fresh full VOC mineral spirits.
I let the pump circulate for a couple days and now I have some pretty clean solvent in my parts washer.

 

[jclusin]

I'm not sure if this correct, but I just wipe them down with paper towels, Q-Tips and use one pass of a bore snake to clean out the schmutz.

I bought a bottle of Breakfree Lubricate & Protect (LP) 15 years ago and I haven't run out of the stuff. At this rate I kind of worry I bought a lifetime supply of gun-oil.

When the sandpaper grip-tape on pistols get caked in chalk and skin, I wash with hot soapy water and a brush.

I've used Pro-Grip grip enhancer and thought that was pretty good, but I've kind of given up on pro-grip and just bring a plastic bag full of chalk to competitions.

 

[Brandon Breeze]

No WD40 here, still use Break Free CLP for cleaning, sometimes G96, Hoppe's #9 for bore cleaning.

Side note, Break Free CLP it THE best penetrating oil I've ever used. Got a stuck bolt on anything? Break Free CLP and 5 seconds, it's an absolute game changer.