What Grease reccomended for Stainless Steal Actions ??

05 November 2003, 15:02

A while ago there was a grease reccomended for applying to the lugs of Stainless Steal Rifles would someone be able to Jog my memory to what that was.

Kind Regards PC.

06 November 2003, 02:50

John Ricks

I use black moly grease. Just buy a can of wheel bearing grease at the auto supply store and you will have a lifetime supply.

Place a small amount on the lugs each time you clean the rifle. Put some on the bolt cocking cam also. And, if you ever take a cocking piece and shroud apart (like a M70 or a Mauser) place some grease on the mating parts, it makes the safety easier to operate.

Chances are if you do your own automotive repair, you have some moly grease in the garage.

06 November 2003, 04:26

<Savage 99>

I favor a grease made with a synthetic oil. The reason is that if the gun gets cold a grease made with a mineral oil can become a solid and your gun will freeze up. This is why some greases are made from synthetic or semi synthetic oil.

I use a EP grease (grease with an extreme pressure additive), synthetic oil and moly.

If I had to give up any of those features to get a synthetic grease it would be the moly. However moly is also quite desireable.

Most stores carry a Mobil synthetic EP grease. There may be some specialty lube mfg that puts up grease in a small tube that would work also but you have to get one with a synthetic oil.

"Synthetics don't know temperature"

06 November 2003, 05:32

mete

There are a number of greases made specially for high pressure applications like shotgun hinge pins and stainless steel. I use RIG +P grease.

06 November 2003, 05:40

R-WEST

Tetra Gun's high tech synthetic grease seems to work pretty well. $3.98 at Wally's [Smile]

R-WEST

06 November 2003, 07:18

Thanks for the help folks, I have some grease here but I am not sure it is of the type you mention. Now the test is to see what grease Aussie shops sell [Smile]

06 November 2003, 15:42

Arock

Gonna jump in late with a plug for Militec grease. My current fave...

Militec Webpage

And they give away FREE samples.

That is a bad picture... [Roll Eyes]

06 November 2003, 17:00

Recoil Rob

Wasn't there a recommendation a while back that the lugs in a stainless action be "burnished" with a softer metal so it would have a better interaction with the grease?

Rob

07 November 2003, 00:34

Thanks for the help, I may try and chase some of the miltec grease up if possible in Oz.

07 November 2003, 05:38

<Savage 99>

quote:
Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
Wasn't there a recommendation a while back that the lugs in a stainless action be "burnished" with a softer metal so it would have a better interaction with the grease?

Rob

That may have come from one of the smiths here who was concerned about gauling. Like Rick's suggested use Moly and an EP grease if this is your concern. Moly is a solid lubricant and will work when the grease's oil film is compressed to boundry condition.

Grease by the way is just oil held by a thickener or base as they call it just like jello holds water. When under load the base releases the oil and then in an action called reverseability it retracts the oil as the load relaxes on the surface.

07 November 2003, 17:11

triggerguard1

quote:
Originally posted by Savage 99:
[QBGrease by the way is just oil held by a thickener or base as they call it just like jello holds water. When under load the base releases the oil and then in an action called reverseability it retracts the oil as the load relaxes on the surface.[/QB]

Excellent description Savage. Most people never understand that concept. This is one of the few times that I've ever heard anyone even mention that. It commonly goes unnoticed or recognized. [Smile]

09 November 2003, 02:48

NotRicochet

What I've been using on mine is just the good old Coastal Unilube high temperature wheel bearing grease I've got a tub of in the basement. Looked up its composition. The base oil is a highly paraffinic mineral oil of a high viscosity index, its viscosity falling in the upper end of the SAE 30 range. The thickener is a lithium complex soap, mostly 12-hydroxystearate (a.k.a. ricinic acid, the main fatty acid in castor oil), with some azaleate (a straight chain 9 carbon saturated fatty acid with a carboxylate at each end.) Certainly the solid particles of molybdenum disulfide would provide better lubrication under sliding friction with sustained high pressure, but the high pressure of firing lasts only a millisecond or so during which time the lugs are stationary. SAE 30 oil isn't going to squeeze out far during that time. A plain grease works fine. Moly's messy, nasty stuff.

I also use that grease as a cast bullet lube with perfect satisfaction, BTW. With a wink towards our distinguished board member who's world famous for his excellent bullet lube home-brewed from a complex recipe, I call my off-the-shelf grease "Ricochet Lube."
[Wink]

09 November 2003, 07:49

<Savage 99>

NotRicochet,

That grease is too heavy to use in very cold weather. The pour point of a 30W oil is zero degrees F (ASTM D-97. Wheel bearing grease is usually NLGI 3 and as stated before a grease with a synthetic oil is really what should be used. While your grease would work fine on the lugs sure enough someone will put it on the treads on a firing pin and it may freeze in sub zero weather.

The camming surfaces of a bolt and the cam on the firing pin are a good application for moly. Just don't get it on your shirt. The rifle will thank you for the moly, your shirt will not.

09 November 2003, 11:46

NotRicochet

You're right, I'm not out hunting in northern Idaho or someplace like that. If it gets that cold I'll stay inside and load cartridges.
[Smile]

09 November 2003, 13:48

<Savage 99>

I am thinking the same thing. It's 25 here and with the windchill 21.

10 November 2003, 08:31

NotRicochet

You're welcome to keep that cold weather, 99. I just finished walking the dog here in my shirtsleeves. It's a gorgeous sunny, breezy, slightly cool afternoon.

10 November 2003, 16:36

<Savage 99>

I just got in from two hours in the garage where it's 19 F. I turned a forty minute serpentine belt change into an evening of knuckle gouging.

10 November 2003, 16:49

craigster

I've been using plain old milsurp LSA since my days in Vietnam. Seems to work in every application I've tried so far although I will admit I've not had the good fortune to try in real cold country. BTW, shot ducks this AM down at the river mouth (ten minute drive), it was in the low fiftys, damn near froze my ass off. [Razz]

11 November 2003, 00:42

frank d

Like Savage99 said go with the synthetic grease. I like the Mobil1 version.

Frank d

11 November 2003, 07:19

NotRicochet

I've been using LSA since the early '80s. I notice that it tends to dry into a soapy sort of solid. Wonder if that's responsible for the shallow primer dents my M77 (of early 80s vintage, long lubed probably overgenerously with LSA) is making? I'm going to soak that bolt in a degreasing solvent for a while and see what it does.