WD/40

[TimmyP]

Ok, the horse is dead, now lets all grab a stick and beat it. "just a pun". I've heard lots of folks bad experiences with WD/40 in firearms maintanance. I personally DO NOT use WD/40 as a protectant or lubricant, as I believe it is neither of these. I do however use it as an AID to cleaning. If my memory serves me correct, (I could be way off here) it was developed for NASA. WD- water disspersent, 40-formula#40. I find it works great at removing MOST forms of fouling and clearing heavy debris from actions and such. After cleaning my barrels with hot soapy water and cooling with cold water, I use it to remove any residual moisture from the bore, swab the bore dry then apply good ole B/C barricade.

 

[LRB]

I use it after the basic cleaning to remove any water left behind. With a plugged vent I give the bore a generous dose of WD then stand the gun upside down to drain for 10 minutes or so, wipe it out and oil. The WD seems to get more of the graphite residue out than water does. Of course, as far as I know, the residual graphite will do no harm anyway.

 

[RC]

after I clean the gun, I spray the barrel and lock w/wd40 run a wd40'd patch thru an an every couple days jus run another patch thru it..it takes the water out, water causes rust,,therefor no water-no rust! :grin: but probably not good for longer time period...works great fer me! :thumbsup:

 

[Rifleman1776]

I use it as both a lubricant and protectant. However, I use it keeping mind it is neighter a heavy duty lube or a long term protectant for guns. Depending on yer climate, it will protect longer or shorter periods of time.

 

[tiger955]

I think one of us may have a bad memory but as I recall it was developed for Boeing, or maybe by Boeing for NASA? Doesn't matter.
I find it makes a fairly good cleaner for gunked up actions and a water displacer. I lube afterwards. It also works great for removing the goo left behind when removing stickers from various items.

 

[BillinOregon]

It is when I used it as a protectant that it let me down horribly. It is best used to displace water after cleaning and BEFORE lubing.

 

[roundball]

I order it by the case of a dozen large size aerosol cans at a time.
After cleaning everything up with soapy water I use it to power flush the lock, lube the bore, dry patch that out, then heavily lube the bore for cased storage.

And I agree, WD40 is also outstanding to loosen / remove label adhesive...if I didn't already have it on hand for guns, I'd continue to buy it just for that...LOL.

 

[necchi]

The stuff has it's place and uses, usually car parts and door knobs.
If it's stuck and not suposed to be,, WD-40.

A friend is a gunsmith. His formal education was 35yrs ago. Of course part of the two year class was lubrication/protection.

They submersed clean gun parts in mason jars of various products and put them on a shelf in the classroom for extended observation.
As the months passed, the parts in WD-40 rusted!

I use the stuff as intended, water displacement, followed by cleaning and proper protection.
It's seldom if ever needed with or around any of the guns at my house.

A single can of WD-40 lasts me for years, I simpley use other more efficiant products
:idunno:

 

[George]

Wikipedia seems to have the basic formula for the stuff accurately described. It is a light mineral oil diluted with a volatile solvent to reduce its viscosity so it will flow and penetrate crevices. When applied the solvent evaporates away leaving a thin film of oil as a lubricant and protectant. It was developed to protect the skins of missiles, apparently, but NASA had nothing to do with it.

I rarely use the stuff for my guns, now, because I'm constantly trying to learn what the old boys did, and they didn't have it. I did use it for a long time, though, as both a lubricant for moving lock parts and an anti-rust protectant for the rest of the gun. I never had a problem with it, it always seemed to do an excellent job on my guns. I've heard a hundred horror stories about how destructive and inefficient the stuff is over the years. For a long time the gospel was that it would cause 'checking' of metal. In my experience, it seems all such tales are a bunch of :bull:.

Spence

 

[Roy]

I use it as a final cleaner and a protectant for the last 4 or 5 years now. I have the advantage though of being able to run a wd40 soaked patch down the barrel anytime I think of it :haha:. Seriously if the barrel is clean and you keep it clean free of water or powder residue there is no chance of rust.. :v I live in the South where it is hot a humid most of the time and it has worked for me.

 

[roundball]

I never had a problem with it, it always seemed to do an excellent job on my guns.

I've heard a hundred horror stories about how destructive and inefficient the stuff is over the years. For a long time the gospel was that it would cause 'checking' of metal.

In my experience, it seems all such tales are a bunch of :bull:.
Spence

Same here...and I live in humid central North Carolina.
IMO if you get a bore 100% clean, 100% bone dry, and 100% coated with some kind of lube, it's not going to rust.

Rust or corrosion can either only start two ways:
1) If bare raw metal is not insulated by lube from air which contains moisture;
2) If the coating of lube is applied over the top of some minor film of moisture or fouling;

If it starts from underneath...which I personally believe is the case in the vast majority of the claims of poor performance...then that's on the gun owner, its not a short coming of WD40.
I don't think I've ever seen a post where a gun owner states being responsible for not doing a proper job cleaning/drying/lubing...its always the lube's fault...LOL.

In fact, the often maligned Natural Lube 1000 is a good bore lube as well...I used NL1000 successfully for years as a bore lube just fine, but it was a lot more time consuming the way I did it to ensure every square inch of bore walls was plastered, than just using WD40.

With WD40 being a liquid and spreading/migrating easily like it does lubing is quick...a big sloppy dripping wet WD40 patch up and down several times, dry patch that out, repeat and store muzzle down.

 

[Deadeye]

After cleaning and dry patching, I run a WD40 soaked patch down the bore then take that patch and wipe down all the metal outside parts. Been doing that as long as WD40 has been available.
Never had a speck of rust on any of my muzzleloaders. Use Rig stainless steel lube on the lock internals.
Deadeye

 

[Bill Hall]

Like most folks here, I think it makes a great cleaning aid, probably not the best for long term lubrication and storage. It has its place. Then again, Roundball and Roy use it for a final lube with apperantly no problems (can't argue with success), and I have spent some time near both of their homes, so I know how humid it can get. There must be something to what they say. I just personally feel better if I put a whole bunch of gun oil down the barrel and in the lock parts when storing a gun for an extending period of time. Call it a psychological band-aid :grin: .

Just as a side note: My daughter lives just a few miles from Roy. Every time I visit her I get out the rifle I built for her to find it rusty. I slather on the Remington gun oil, only to find it rusty again on my next visit. Since she somehow "forgets" to oil it now and then :cursing:, I wonder if something like barricade would work better in her situation, long term storage with no maitainance. Fill the barrel with grease? In this case, I doubt if WD-40 would come close to helping. Bill

 

[roundball]

My daughter lives just a few miles from Roy. Every time I visit her I get out the rifle I built for her to find it rusty.
I slather on the Remington gun oil, only to find it rusty again on my next visit.
In this case, I doubt if WD-40 would come close to helping.

Yes, obviously WD40 works, and as you said, it works for Roy right in the same locale as your Daughter...just curious what the differences might be:

Does she use it / handle it between your visits?

If so, does she 'really' know how fanatical we usually need to be with the 100%/100%/100% regimen?

Does she keep it cased after the 100%/100%/100%?

Does it stay in an air conditioned house?

Or is it openly exposed to high humidity all the time?

 

[Roy]

Barricade would do better for a long term storage no doubts about it. My guns never see long term storage though :haha:

 

[Bill Hall]

Does she use it / handle it between your visits? Nope. She usually has to think about where she last put it. :idunno:

If so, does she 'really' know how fanatical we usually need to be with the 100%/100%/100% regimen? Not a clue, no matter how hard I try to drive it home. :idunno:

Does she keep it cased after the 100%/100%/100%? Nope, usually standing in her closet.

Does it stay in an air conditioned house? Yep.

Or is it openly exposed to high humidity all the time? All day long, every day.

I love this kid to death! She is extremely successful at her education, marriage, and family life. But when it comes to gun maintainance, it just won't sink in, and sometimes you just need to accept a person's shortcomings and go from there. This is what I have to work with. (kids, gotta love em)

Now that the situation is known (yes, I have an indifferent gun owner in my family, oh the shame!), just curious if I should try something like barricade, or just fill the bore up with grease, along with the underside of the lock. So far it looks like the only time she gets it out is when I make my deer hunting pilgrimage to Georgia, hopefully an annual thing, and after that, the gun sits in her closet all lonely and exposed to the Georgia air. Maybe a spanking is in order, but I fear she would get the best of me. Bill

 

[Rifleman1776]

I'm sure what works on bores as a rust protectant will be argued long after we are gone. As I said, I use WD-40 for short term protection and have found barrels still in good condition after a couple years. OTOH, when I took out my wife's rifle recently, that had been 'protected' with RIG the barrel had quite a bit of surface rust. I was very surprised at that finding. Fortunately, it cleaned out well.
I've seen Barricade mentioned. Guess I'll try it. Need to keep the vendors in business. :wink:

 

[hanshi]

I use WD40 every time I clean a gun. It really does get out graphite and stuff after you think the bore's spanking clean. I dry my locks and bores with a hair dryer AND apply WD40 and leave it over night. Next day (maybe two) I'll wipe away the WD40 and apply Barricade - which also brings out any latent graphite. I lube the lock and that's it. None of my guns know what "long term storage" is; I use them regularly.

 

[larry wv]

Back in 1969 a couple nva decided to fill the receiver of my M16 full of their blood. :grin: I had one of those small spray cans of Wd40 about the size of a 10 gauge shotgun shell my mom had sent me. I sprayed the whole bottle in the action and it pretty well dissolved the baked on blood out enough to get it firing again. I think the formula has been changed since then. :idunno: So kids don't try this at home. :grin: Larry

 

[nkbj]

My uncle Jimmy once told me he used it as mosquito repellent one time when he was really desperate. Said it worked. I use it for water displacement back at the breech crevices.