Boscoebrea if reel oil makes my guns 1/2 as smooth as my Stella’s, I’m all in. Use instead of Ballisol ? oil.
Thumper had no idea this would raise some hairs, Sorry. I have no idea what to use and I thought this forum would be my best chance of getting solid answers. I watch u-tube lots which is fascinating but lots of controversy about oil and grease. Almost confusing at times. I will never criticize you or anybody if I ask for advice. All thoughts good and bad are good to hear and certainly why never hurts to be in the vocabulary. Thanks Crow
Well here is
my thoughts on what you DON'T do:
Don't put anything "oil" or the consistency of oil INSIDE the rifle. Especially don't put silicone oil on the piston seal. And instead of justifying it with "I've done it this way for XX years!!", I'll tell you why
I think it's a bad idea.
Because silicone oil is liquid (duh) and it will run wherever it wants to, even small amounts. Moly lube is a solid, suspended in just enough grease to keep it together. You get your moly lube put on, burnished in, whatever. Now you have oil run across it and guess what happens? The moly paste gets thinned and now it's running everywhere too, and most importantly away from where it needs to be. Particularly away from the walls of the cylinder.
But the
BIGGER QUESTION, is why are we squirting silicone oil in to begin with, when it's completely unnecessary?
Silicone is a horrible lubricant for anything but rubber. Those are facts, not my opinion.
Moly is an excellent extreme pressure solid lubricant that is excellent for sliding steel surfaces. Those are facts, not my opinion.
It's also a very good lubricant for hard rubber, such as urethane and won't get squeegeed away by a tight fitting piston seal like silicone oil or any other oil would.
Modern aftermarket piston seals are made from urethane, which is a very abrasion and wear resistant rubber. In a smooth tube, it only requires enough lubrication so that it doesn't squeak and drag against the tube. It's not going to wear away quickly in the absence of lube. The moly alone is more than enough lubricant for the piston seal, and will stay there!
The whole point of the moly paste for the piston seal VS a straight grease or oil is that it doesn't get squeezed away. It's a solid lubricant that shears between the parts and doesn't burn away or diesel when used right. The moly itself is a solid, and won't burn until a couple thousand degrees or so. If it diesels, it's the grease carrier burning off, and you used too much.
A tub of moly paste and clear tar from ARH will lube any part of your rifles properly and will be all you need to do it right. Substitute any decent grease for the clear tar if you like, it's just for lubing the compression chamber to receiver on the underlevers and pivot points. Moly is fine there too, but it's dark colored, and a tiny smear will be all over you if you happen to pick any up on your finger. Hence the clear stuff or regular grease preference there.
As for the heavy tar or "silicone grease" or "dampening compound" that some use on the spring OD to dampen vibration, I don't see the need for it. I use a piston sleeve so that the spring can't rattle inside the piston. And the stuff really doesn't make that much difference anyway.
If you're using Vortek kits, which I personally don't care for, they are already slathered with grease inside the guide. So lubing the piston body and seal is all you have left to do. Again, moly paste would do the job fine there. I'd clean the goop out of the Vortek kit and replace it with a thin wipe of moly if it were me. And if it's the new steel type kits, a wipe of moly on the outside of the outer guide won't be a bad idea either. The last one I had was VERY soft steel and tried to gall inside the piston. One of many reasons I don't like the Vortek kits..
These are my thoughts, with a few facts tossed in for good measure. It's your gun, use whatever you see fit. Good news is, none of it (well almost none of it) will cause your gun to seize up or be ruined immediately.
As always, I encourage anyone to use facts, hard data and common sense to make their decisions rather than blindly trusting the opinions of someone else.
