This may be an ingnorant question but I want to get some insight from the real pros on this forum.

I happen to know a lot of people that dont lube the lugs, for fear sand or dirt will cling and cuase damage. I rarely see much lubrication on the lugs in gun stores, new or used. In fact, most rack guns are suprisingly dry, in general.

Having said that, I know a lot of Highpower target shooters that have their guns all slicked up with oil, grease or whatever when they shoot. I also had a gunsmith tell me he's squared and lapped the lugs for customers and they later galled due to lack of lubrication. I normally use a small amount of Plastilube-2 to apply a light film on the lugs.

So what is the best lube to use on lugs? Will too much oil or grease cause problems?

I use a dab of Shooters Choice grease on mine, the red stuff in a syringe type aplicator. It takes very little to lube, a speck the size of a pin head per lug and spread around will do it. You don`t need to gob it on.

use the same shooters choice, just a small dab will do it. have being doing this for years, first started doing it after meeting a rifle smith, out in a dog town. we got to chatting and this is one thing he told me that made sense then and still does today

Same here, especially with stainless. Stainless galls bad, a small dab of tefflon grease.

All metal on metal bearing surfaces benefit from a little lube. Especially those under a heavy load like bolt lugs on Automatic and Semi-Automatic Weapons. We would regularly use lubriplate on the bolt lugs and roller of our M-14's to help reduce wear and to protect against corrosion (wet environment). Putting a light amount of grease on the lugs would probably be okay, however, if the gun is to be used in a dirty, dusty or sandy environment, you are better off removing all traces of the stuff and letting it go dry. No need in creating any unecessary wear.

A single can of any common "anti-sieze" compound will work great, be very inexpensive, and will last you several lifetimes. I buy mine at the local tool specialty shop, "Oregon Tool" in Roseburg.

Most of us here who were benchrest competitors in our now almost distant past used it (and still use it). Just a little dab on the back of each locking lug after every rifle cleaning kept our BR rifles perking along smoothly.... As we also clean our locking lug recesses every time we clean our rifles, there is not much danger of grit building up in the anti-sieze compound.