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Winter lubrication?

walter62

walter62

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I have a reasonably tight fitting 1911 and normally use Wilson Ultima or Slip grease or SFL-1
but with winter, I find it all thickens up to the point where the 1911 won't eject at all.

Do you guys change out to a lighter, more oily lube for the colder months?
 
MAJoe said:
WD40 isn’t a lube, it’s to replace water. Good for a wipe down after shooting in the wet before you can get home and oil things.

I use m pro 7.
Click to expand...
We know about the water thing. Everybody’s talking about it in the cool kids cafe.
But it does also lubricate too.
 
walter62 said:
I have a reasonably tight fitting 1911 and normally use Wilson Ultima or Slip grease or SFL-1
but with winter, I find it all thickens up to the point where the 1911 won't eject at all.

Do you guys change out to a lighter, more oily lube for the colder months?
Click to expand...
Use an oil year round none of that frogluby style cornstarch stuff and you won't have an issue
 
MAJoe said:
WD40 isn’t a lube, it’s to replace water. Good for a wipe down after shooting in the wet before you can get home and oil things.

I use m pro 7.
Click to expand...
Nonsense. It was developed by the Rocket Chemical Company to displace water on the Atlas rocket fuselage, that's true, but shortly thereafter they found that it's also an excellent solvent, penetrating oil, and lubricant.
I've been using it to clean and protect and lubricate my guns for over 40 years.
 
Wickedcoolname said:
Nonsense. It was developed by the Rocket Chemical Company to displace water on the Atlas rocket fuselage, that's true, but shortly thereafter they found that it's also an excellent solvent, penetrating oil, and lubricant.
I've been using it to clean and protect and lubricate my guns for over 40 years.
Click to expand...

Trivia: WD-40 stands for Water Displacement formula 40. Evidently there were 39 previous formulas which did not make the cut.
 
So I recently did a field strip and clean on my buddy's AR-15. It was so gummy it wasn't cycling, so I offered to give it a quick field strip to put her back in action, but would go no further as I didn't have a proper table with containers to go any deeper.

I've always had the same cleaning protocol.

1. Dry brush to remove any loose residue.
2. Apply solvent and use stiff bristled plastic brush - really like the dollar store stiff toothbrushes for this.
3. Use WD-40 to flush away solvent and wipe down parts. Finish with an air-dry, which with WD-40, only takes 2 minutes or so.
4. Apply a light coating of oil (hoppe's, Shooter's Lube, whatever is your preference) to wear surfaces or other points of contact. Use Q-tips for precise control and getting the oil into grooves.
5. Re-assemble and function test.

To the OP - if it's gummy, it's not lubricating your gun. If it feels tacky, that's the cold and you need something thinner, although it will probably be too thin by the time you put a mag or two through and some heat gets in the gun. I would first check to see if you might be going overboard with the lube to begin with.
 
Last edited:
AMSOIL Shock Therapy® #5 Light Suspension Fluid. Made for cold weather snowmobile shocks. Doesn't get thick in cold temps. Used on my 1911's down to 20 degrees.... After that, it is too cold for me to shoot. Works great through 100 degrees F.
 

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