Lube for ammo

[zan89]

Hi,

What group of oil is best for lubing pellets or slugs? There is ton of possible aplications. Should it be lube for hot oplications, cold, light lube in spray or thick paste? .22lr bullets are usualy coated with thick wall of low viscosity lube.

Also lubes can be based on many materials, thinking of trying with graphite spray lube.

Any idea? 

 

[sonny]

I use Napier power pellet lube, no Idea what its made from.

 

[Skip-in-WV]

I use Slick 50. Some use bicycle chain lube. I can't remember the name.

 

[Enkey]

I use Slick 50. Some use bicycle chain lube. I can't remember the name.

FINISH LINE

 

[jdanvers]

White Lightning (bicycle chain lube) here. Guessing it's likely the same as Finish Line above - wax based.

 

[lenweber2]

WD40 silicone spray. Light coat let dry or use hair dryer.

 

[Xbowsniper]

Nation,

I use several different lubes, depending upon the gun and the barrel.

I'll use Finsh Line Krytech for most guns.

I have also used Lemon Pledge ( you can also use plain, I like the lemon because you can smell it easily, thus determining if the pellets are lubed....I loose track sometimes)

Lemon Pledge is applied differently than most lubes, look at video below.

I also use a proprietary lube on my slugs, that I can say is wax based, and works very well.

https://youtu.be/b_9fP1z8D08



Hope this sheds some light on the subject 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

 

[MrP]

Newbie here. I plan to do some internet research in a moment on this but wanted to ask: 

Why are you all lubricating pellets as opposed to just slugs?

I can think of an obvious potential reason, based on what lube is supposed to do but I recall reading somewhere that it actually increases friction in barrels when pellets are involved. 


also it seems like lubricating slugs is more often mentioned than lubricating pellets, and I would like to know more about why and what I should be doing (if anything) when I get a new tin of pellets or slugs. 


thanks I have been learning a lot here.

 

[Xbowsniper]

Mr. P,

A lot of it is trial and error. There is nothing that says you should, or shouldn't lube pellets and slugs.

Every barrel is different, thus every barrel has its own personality, quirks, if you will. That being said, there's no guarantee that lubing your pellets and/or slugs will make the gun shoot any better. Usually, it stays the same, if anything, but instead of cleaning your barrel every 500 shots, you might only have to clean your barrel once or twice a season. On rare occasions the accuracy can get worse, or even better. It's a crapshoot. 

If you take 10 guns off of any manufacturers assembly line, consecutive, I'll guarantee that they all will not shoot the same. With the same pellet. Different velocities. Different accuracy.

What my Steyr LG 110 Ft @ 12 ft.lb likes, the exact same gun a friend of mine has does not. Same gun. And barrel. Every gun has a personality of its own. Some guns shoot better with no lube. Some have to be lubed. If I don't lube pellets coming out of my Air Arms EV ll Mark lV, it won't shoot well at all. My RAW TM1000 will eat anything that I can put into it, lubed or not. My Benjamin Marauder does not like lubed pellets at all.

So, there's really no science involved, nor any way to tell if any gun likes lubed pellets/slugs, or not. It's purely a trial and error test for a day (or more) at the range.

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

 

[mtnGhost]

Newbie here. I plan to do some internet research in a moment on this but wanted to ask: 

Why are you all lubricating pellets as opposed to just slugs?

I can think of an obvious potential reason, based on what lube is supposed to do but I recall reading somewhere that it actually increases friction in barrels when pellets are involved. 


also it seems like lubricating slugs is more often mentioned than lubricating pellets, and I would like to know more about why and what I should be doing (if anything) when I get a new tin of pellets or slugs. 


thanks I have been learning a lot here.

Simple answer - it's a results-driven thing.

 

[theotherpursuit]

I also use Napier with great results.

A lot of White Lighting and Finish Line chain lubes use Teflon which science is learning can be very bad for the environment and human health. A lot of bike lubes coming out now are omitting Teflon (mainly PFAS and PFOS compounds). Teflon nowadays is supposedly free of these compounds, but the new ingredients could be just as bad or worse which we may learn down the road.

top

Also, lube can help minimize pellets from oxidizing. I usually lube all new tin of pellets when I receive them as I rarely ever use my airguns.

 

[thumper]

White Lighnin bicycle chain lube. I always try lubed pellets first, then unlubed if necessary. But most of my stuff likes lubed pellets. 

I put a few drops in the lid of a tin, smear it around, and then just cap it and roll em around. 

I've had particularly good results in my Weihrauch .177 spring guns with the hard Crosman Premier Lites and lube. Virtually no fliers and all the barrel ever needs is a dry patch pulled through after every zillion rounds if accuracy changes. 

 

[MrP]

Thanks for taking a moment to explain. I just tried squirting some drops of silicone oil on the little sponge that comes in the jsb exact tins. Rolled stuff around. I will never notice any accuracy difference shooting in my garage but if it keeps the barrel cleaner that’s reason enough. Interesting that property lubricated break barrel guns tend to have barrels that stay lightly lubricated because a little mist of oil follows every pellet down the barrel with these guns from the piston mechanism.

 

[Why]

Napier and Pledge worked best for me.

 

[rich9cinti]

I never really had any luck lubing my pellets. I just get lots of residue into my moderator. I don't over-saturate the pellets but I still get excess into the moderators.