To lube or not to lube

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C

copen

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Dec 2, 2019
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Virginia
Some of you folks may already know of this product but I just found it. Alchemy Air Werks Chamber Lube. It's on eBay. Tried to post a link but it didn't work. Seems a lot less expensive than most. There seems to be two opinions as to whether silicone drops should be put in the port of the compression chamber. Some say just use moly paste during rebuilds, others say use the drops, SPARINGLY, for maintenance as in every 3 to 5 hundred shots. IDKS about these things so I'm just passing it along. Opinions?

Thanks, Bill
 
should never need chamber oil if properly maintained especially in higher powered piston guns unless leather seals are in it.
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So how do you properly maintain a synthetic piston seal without using a drop of silicone oil in the compression chamber periodically, short of disassembly to put moly grease on the seal.?
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You shouldn't have to add chamber oil to the gun in order to maintain a synthetic piston seal. If the piston has a quality seal and has been properly installed and lubed there should be no need for this. In the video he said that oil should only be added if there is a loss in power, or "honking" when the rifle is cocked. And then only sparingly. I would suggest that if your experiencing these symptoms, it is time to tear your springer down and clean, reseal and relube the spring, piston and seal. But....if you're not gonna perform that type of maintenance to your gun, I guess just do as Mr. Gaylord said and only a drop or two if and when you experience those symptoms. You may never need to use the chamber oil I guess??
 
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Here's the thing Rooster, I just replaced the seal in my FWB 124 with one of those macaroni seals and everything went fine. The gentleman that sold the seal said moly grease is all you need . I'm good with that. My original seal looked like an over baked biscuit down there in the compression chamber and I never performed any kind of maintenance to the compression chamber on the rifle. So, that's what I'm trying to avoid in the future. Some say do, some say not needed. All I'm asking, I guess, is if using the Silicone oil periodically is going to hurt anything, sparingly of course.
 
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Copen,

I understand completely. I really do. When I started in with springers, I researched so many topics on how to do this, how to do that, how not to do this, how not to do that. And as with most things, there were so many opinions and many of them contradicting one another that it will drive you crazy. I ended up kinda gleaning info from a lot of different sources that were obviously very experienced in the springer world. From there I really began to educate myself from just doing!! I have tried many different ways of doing things as far as springs, pistons, lubes, even polishing parts. What I learned from actually doing these things and testing the real world results has been invaluable. So to your question.....NO I don't think using a little bit of chamber lube sparingly from time to to time will hurt anything. However....I don't know if it will help either. If your piston seal is a good quality and Maccari sells very high quality stuff, (I have a Maccari spring, guide and one of his Apex seals in one of my springers), and you use just a bit of molypaste on the outer edge of the seal.......I really don't think that the chamber lube is needed. That's all I'm saying. I don't want to confound you or confuse you. Hope this explanation may help a bit.

TR
 
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Copen,

I understand completely. I really do. When I started in with springers, I researched so many topics on how to do this, how to do that, how not to do this, how not to do that. And as with most things, there were so many opinions and many of them contradicting one another that it will drive you crazy. I ended up kinda gleaning info from a lot of different sources that were obviously very experienced in the springer world. From there I really began to educate myself from just doing!! I have tried many different ways of doing things as far as springs, pistons, lubes, even polishing parts. What I learned from actually doing these things and testing the real world results has been invaluable. So to your question.....NO I don't think using a little bit of chamber lube sparingly from time to to time will hurt anything. However....I don't know if it will help either. If your piston seal is a good quality and Maccari sells very high quality stuff, (I have a Maccari spring, guide and one of his Apex seals in one of my springers), and you use just a bit of molypaste on the outer edge of the seal.......I really don't think that the chamber lube is needed. That's all I'm saying. I don't want to confound you or confuse you. Hope this explanation may help a bit.

TR

TR,

It does indeed. That's exactly what I'm looking for, experience rather than speculation. And don't misunderstand, folks are trying to help and I really appreciate it. That Maccari seal worked like a charm. And ARH stated no seal/ chamber lube needed other than the moly grease I used to reassemble. It just seems like a little tiny bit of silicone occasionally would be a good thing for maintenance. Thank you my friend. We'll call this case closed.

Bill
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I'm beginning to wonder if the stories of mainspring breakage on RWS airguns is a result of not using chamber lube. Seems to me that a dry piston seal and chamber wall could cause some piston bindage when fired. This binding...or catching...could create an uneven stress on the mainspring. That in turn could cause spring to break. Very little lube is needed with a synthetic cup. Two drops every 500-1000 shots is OK. Leather seals need to be kept wet with oil to prevent them from shrinking.
 
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The old factory seal in the 124 was junk. They turned to a crumbled mess due to the fact they were not the same quality we have today. Chamber oil wouldn't have helped it either. I use Maccari piston seals in my TX200's and they will last for a very long time. I've had them go for 50,000 pellets with only the moly lube used during a reseal. I don't know how long the Maccari seal will last, but I've never worn one out and I shoot around 20,000 pellets a year.
 
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The old factory seal in the 124 was junk. They turned to a crumbled mess due to the fact they were not the same quality we have today. Chamber oil wouldn't have helped it either. I use Maccari piston seals in my TX200's and they will last for a very long time. I've had them go for 50,000 pellets with only the moly lube used during a reseal. I don't know how long the Maccari seal will last, but I've never worn one out and I shoot around 20,000 pellets a year.
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They turned into a crumbled mess because of heat generated upon firing. This heat would be compounded with lack of lube.
 
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Far more heat is generated when dieseling then not which is what chamber lube promotes. no fuel, no dieseling... the more likely cause of the crumbling seals is less an ideal material used in them and time. I can't think of another seal that has as much notoriety for falling to pieces even from an era when chamber lube was so highly touted and likely used by many. My current FWB124 Macarri seal is now going on 15 years old and is intact with no chamber lube ever being used.
 
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Far more heat is generated when dieseling then not which is what chamber lube promotes. no fuel, no dieseling... the more likely cause of the crumbling seals is less an ideal material used in them and time. I can't think of another seal that has as much notoriety for falling to pieces even from an era when chamber lube was so highly touted and likely used by many. My current FWB124 Macarri seal is now going on 15 years old and is intact with no chamber lube ever being used.
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Just firing a springer is said to produce 500 deg during the compression cycle. With...or without chamber lube. Who knows how much heat is rapidly produced from a dry piston seal against a dry cylinder wall. Eventually, that dry nylon seal will be effected. I agree, to much lube produces dieseling which will damage a springer. Key words being TO MUCH ! Running a dry seal and chamber will effect the harmonics of the releasing mainspring during firing. Which could be a contributing factor in a mainspring breaking. Doesn't HW and Diana reccomend a couple drops of chamber oil in their springers running the factory spring? I'd say they do it for a reason. Wouldn't you ?
 
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