so i was at my local gun store talking Ar’s today and it seems like alot of guys grease there bolt carrier and bolt. I dont i just use clp. Its what we used in the marines and i had no problems. But i broke down and bought Hoppe’s gun grease and figured i would give it a try. Is there any benifits to using grease as compared to clp:confused:? And how many of you guys actually use grease?
I use high temp grease on the cam pin. No oil seems to cut it there.
I also use grease on the carrier bearing rails. Oil never stays on those unless you soak the whole fucking upper receiver… then you have the grit trap going on.
I still use oil in the carrier and on the bolt surface though.
Generally speaking an AR does not benefit from grease.
I use it on the charging handle, on the small springs whenever I assemble a lower, and on pistol springs. The nice thing about grease is that it tends to stay in place better than liquid lubes, but related to what you said, it six of one/half-dozen of the other if you lube correctly.
I think it becomes a matter of personal taste and whatever gives you a better warm fuzzy about your gun. It sure won’t hurt.
I use TW-25, the same stuff used on the Dillon Aero miniguns.
Why? I run my charging handles bone dry. I used to lightly oil them until I came to the realization that they need nothing at all.
well i figured i would just try it out and see how it works out. Any suggestions where i should put the grease ?
Yup, Absolutely. No harm in trying IMHO. Cam pin as markm suggested, charging handle as well. That’s it for me but the carrier rails might be worth a shot as well. Dont go all out like youwould with lube though. I always have a fear of grease gunking up in ARs after heavy use.
Might be a big improvement from CLP but I would try a thicker non-combo lube as well to see how well the grease works vs. that.
You may end up with the same result.
Because out opinions RE: metal-on-metal rubbing somehow differ, I’m guessing.
I seriously have found that no lube at all on the CH has made absolutely ZERO difference in my guns… and I’m a lube lunatic… I run those brownells needle oilers to get a trinkle of lube on the smallest of bearing surfaces.
To me if metal is rubbing against metal it needs some type of oil. Maybe it doesnt need it but better safe then sorry i guess
I totally agree. But I’ve found that the finish on the CH rubs off to a certain extent no matter what, and beyond that the lube does nothing except give you something to clean up and relube each cleaning.
Well for me i love cleaning my AR or any gun for that matter:D. And i know alot of guys are like me so cleaning a little lube off and putting some back on something doesn’t really matter.
I also use a bit of Weapon Shield grease or TW25B on the FCG/pins during assembly.That said its short lived as I tend to keep all the moving parts well lubed with Weapon Shield CLP and it floats the grease off/out in short order.
Only other area I run grease is on the cam pin,and thats just a light smear of the Weapon Shield grease with a finger.
As far as a grease as the primary lube on the AR,the only grease Ive used in the application was TW25B and in EP form.Worked verywell too.But I’d be leary of using a grease any heavier than that,particularly with high round counts without PM.
Like Markm,I dont worry too much about the CH.I wipe it with a oil soaked cloth during PM but thats about it.I’d be concerned with running grease on the CH as it does not see excessive use and would worry that it might accumulate a large amount of fouling in its somewhat confined track.
Other than that I just give the bolt tail a shot of Weapon Shield CLP through the carrier gas ports,and a bit on the carrier every 300-400 rounds.I like to keep a sheen of oil on the BCG throughout use if possible.Ive found that it keeps the fouling in suspension and the action smooth,both of which aids in faster PM when Im done.
One area I think alot of folks neglects is the bolt tail.When Im done for the day I always put a few drops of oil through the gas ports on the side of the carrier to anoint the bolt tail.This gives a head start of getting the fouling to soften and protects the bolt tail from corrosion.
I use grease on the charging handle also. Manly on the opposite side of the latch, I find it works smoother.
I watched some video on youtube where the guy covers his BCG in grease and talks about how this is the correct way…
I tried it and the bolt wouldn’t lock back after the last round…
Now after I clean it, I coat it in FP10…
I tried Tetra Gun grease on a Colt (bolt and carrier) in moderately cold weather once. It quickly went sluggish and then became a single shot. I had to flood it with Rem Oil to finish the match.
Having been doing the grease in the AR thing for quite some time now in most of my rifles with good success I thought I’d chime in.
How that Hoppes grease will treat you OP, that I can’t tell you. However I can comment on TW25b
I lightly lube all contact points (bolt, cam pin, carrier rails, etc.) with it. It’s fairly thin for a grease but stays in place better and longer than a lot of other stuff I’ve tried. It doesn’t drip, and it doesn’t blow out or burn off as easily as well.
I have had nothing but outstanding results after very high round counts in conditions ranging from below freezing to above 100 in everything from heavy rain to blowing dust & sand. I ran Dynamic Carbine 1 having lubed my BCM upper solely with TW-25b and without re-lubing intentionally for the three days with no ill-effects.
As a general habit I give things a a few drops of MC2500 (TW-25b oil) every range trip - keeps things a little slicker , but I’ve gone without well past 2k without. In the two years or so that I’ve been using the stuff almost exclusively I have yet to have any problems. Generally I’m sold but YMMV. I’d say give it a shot if you’re not impressed with the Hoppes stuff.
Also, I have used Tetra grease in the past as well and it worked well but did noticeably slow things down in the cold in my experience. Not quite single shot but some malfs for sure.
Switched to slide glide a few months ago for all lubrication except gas rings, oil, cleaned @ 400 rounds just because. Lube still there, would have been dry w oil.
Not a long term test. Will test in cold weather for issues. Agree grease needs to be on the thin side. Fwiw, slide glide comes in “light” version and is excellent in my glocks.
Mark
I’ve been thinking about doing that for awhile now. CLP just seems like it doesn’t want to stay there. So you’ve had good results with greasing the carrier bearing rails? I bet it makes the action alot smoother.
I coat my CH with dry moly, do a mix of oil and grease on lugs, cam, and (season dependent) rails, oil on bolt and gas rings.