What's the verdict on WD-40 for gun cleaning

[Castaway]

I've stayed out of this one.  Thought the test done at Brownell's was a fair one and layed out the conditions where WD 40 had it's place.  Jeager is right  about what "WD" stands for, but the "40" isn't a gimmic.  It's the 40th formula they tried and worked they way they wanted it to.

[BobYoung]

In the past, the WD40 cans were labeled "Extremely Flammable".  Now they're just labeled "Flammable".  The formulation has changed.  The old stuff made a great starting fluid for outboard motors.  Not so good now.

Fish also like it.  Spray it on your lures.  Supposedly NY State has outlawed its use as a fish attractant....I've heard that, but never come across it in the regs.  I keep a can in the boat, to help with the outboard y'know  :wink: .

On guns, I like to use it as a short term fix for a wet gun.  It puts something between the water and the metal that might delay the onset of rust.  Besides Remoil, Break-free, and something called Kellube; I've had good luck with LPS 1 and 2.  LPS 3 will stop rust on anything, but is too heavy for most gun applications other than long term storage.
Bob

[SoftPoint]

As a follow up to my own post, I started using WD-40 on my hunting rifles 10 years ago, and the bores are just as shiny as new. I recently got into this pistol craze, shooting the practical stuff. I've cleaned my autoloaders with it exclusively, and they function and look clean. They dont seem to gum up when using the cheap dity ammo. I give it two thumbs up. I think the gun industry wants people to use the "just for guns" stuff because they dont want to share the wealth. Just my honest opinion.

[Redhawk1]

I would never use WD40 for any of my guns. Bottom line is, there are products made for guns, why not use them. Break free comes to mind.

[Siskiyou]

While we are talking about WD-40 at what tempature does it freeze?  I know back in the late 60's my hunting partners had their bolts frezze while hunting in Colorado in December.  Three out of five bolts froze.  I believe the problem was the result of the oil they were using.

My father-in-law's did not freeze.  I think he was using the lube from an off the shelve cleaning kit.  He was a retired army Colonel who kept good care of his firearms.  I took two rifles on the hunt.  Before the hunt I flushed the actions and bolts with WD-40 and then used a high pressure air hose to blow the WD-40 and any residue out.  I am not sure but I may have used my first container of Break Free to lightly lube the bolt lugs.  My rifle did not freeze up.

I believe one of the partners who had his bolt freeze had used 3-1 oil.  He lost an oppertunity at a buck.

When I was a kid I used a lot of 3-1 oil on the old double 12 I used for duck and goose hunting.  On a very cold morning I thought the Alcan primers were bad, or the firing pin springs had failed on the shotgun.  When I got home Dad check the gun and said it was just fine.  The lesson was the lube on the firing pins had started to freeze and they lacked the force to pop the primers.

[SoftPoint]

One other thing I noticed today is that the guns are easier to clean after a shooting seesion when WD-40 had been used to previously clean them. I had always used wd-40 on my pistol to clean, but the last time I cleaned and lubricated it with breakfree. After this shooting session, where the breakfree had been used previously, the barrel required a bronze brush to clean the fouling whereas the previous range sessions, where the wd-40 had been used previously to clean and lube, the barrel was easlily cleaned with a nylon brush. I dont know what this means, or if really means anything, but it is another data point. Maybe the wd-40 keeps the copper and powder from adhering to the barrel. Has anyone else noticed this?

[JD11]

Well this is a new one on me, I went to a branding yesterday and we did about 300 head and after castrating the calves believe it or not, the guy doing the castrating sprayed the incision site with WD 40.   Definitely ranks it as an all-purpose product.  At the followup barbeque and beer drinking contest I didn't get around to asking him who came up with that idea.

[slink]

No problems, but I don't use it on guns that I don't shoot regularly, because I don't OWN any guns that I don't shoot regularly. I get rid of such dead weight, ASAP, and I always did.

That said, I dont trust any oil or grease on a "duty" gun. I degrease them carefully, and put on car paste wax where there's no friction. Friction areas get TINY amounts of LockEase graphite. I don't shoot the carry guns much at all, because I don't want the wear-fouling issues. Instead, I shoot the "practice-spares" that feel/look just like the carry guns. The duty guns see maybe 200 rds a year (of medium power reloads) and about 20 rds a year of the "duty" ammo (usually on critters, checking performance on flesh and blood, removing a problem animal, etc. For putting animals out of their misery, I load up with practice ammo, carried specifically for that purpose.  My defensive handgun ammo is $3 a shot, and a skunk on the road is not worth that much to me.

[sawfish]

I am a scuba diver as well as a hunter/shooter.  As most of you know, even stainless (ss alloys commonly used in guns and knives) will rust in salt water after prolonged exposure.   I use Boeshield on my dive knives, and they have remained rust free after a week diving in the hot humid conditions of the Carribean.  

I have also used Boeshield on my rifle when on an Alaskan bear hunt where we were spotting and stalking from a skiff.  The salt spray did not penetrate the waxy coating, and my Sako remained rust free.  Other hunters using different products on their rifles had rust problems, until I "loaned" them some of my Boeshield.  I have also had good luck using Birchwood Casey Sheath on this type of hunt, and the individually packed wipes are easy to take along.  I have not tried Sheath on the dive knives, but may do so this year.

[oldandslow]

WD-40 is good for a lot of things. A very unsientific experiment I did convinced me it is not a long term rust preventive. I took two brand new B7 stud bolts and sprayed one with WD-40 and left the other clean. I laid them outside in a rain shower. The clean one had light rust the following morning. The one sprayed with WD-40 stayed clean for seven days and then it began rusting. I decided to use something different on guns. I live in a dry climate[ 10 inches of rain a year isn't bad except the day you get it] so I use wax. It neutralizes fingerprints is one of the main reasons why I went to it. After thirty-five or so years I have had no rust problems.

[sawfish]

In the early seventies, I worked for a large Remington dealer.  Many of the guns we received had an almost brown patina to them.  WD-40 and a little light rubbing with steel wool removed the discoloration and revealed the true blue color of the gun.  I do not know whether the discoloration was a light rust from residual bluing salts or was just a cosmoline type rust preventative.  I do know that buyers got pretty upset at the rust colored residue on their gun wiping rags.  Wd-40 fixed the problem.  An old product, but still very useful in a lot of areas.

[quickdtoo]

I've looked at estate sale guns that had a brown patina on them, it was caused by smoking in the area of the guns for years causing the build up smoke residue, in fact entire rooms had this build up on everything in them.

Tim

[jro45]

It is a great cleaner and after I clean I use it to protect my barrels. Been doing that for 45 years with no rust

[PaulS]

All I will say is that WD-40 is not a bore cleaner, nor is it a solvent. It was made to displace water - not protect against rust. For a gun there are beeter tools to do any of those jobs and ATF is a better lubricant than WD-40. Use products that are made for the task at hand and you will never be sorry. If you want cheep then do it right. mix equal parts of Dextron ATF and odorless Kerosine. That mixture is as good a gun oil as you can buy anywhere and a quart of it will last one or two lifetimes.

The above formula is recomended in the making of Ed's Red black powder bore cleaner - If I had the website I would post it to give Ed the credit he is due for working out the chemistry and providing us with an excellent product not only for cleaning BP weapons but to keep our smokeless powered guns lubed and rust free.

[nrb]

The first fact is that the composition of WD-40 has changed over the years since it was brought to market as a "water displacer". So comparing todays WD-40 with experiences from years ago are not valid.  Second, I have had the experience over years to examine and repair guns from several acquaintances. I have seen nearly frozen triggers and actions that were sprayed with WD-40 as storage protection. The WD-40 gummed up like a varnish inside the moving parts of the action. I've seen bolts that will not fire when cocked and the trigger pulled, until flushed and cleaned of the WD-40 residue. So, never leave WD-40 in a gun. Yet I use WD-40 on wet guns and for other mechanical uses. It is a good water displacer but I then displace the WD-40 with a good firearms lubricant and rust preventative. I NEVER leave WD-40 on or inside a firearm. It is always amazing that people will trust a 2 cent protection for a hundred dollar item. Use a trusted firearm protection and don't regret your decision.  
best,           nrb

[Lone Star]

The basic formula of WD-40 has not changed since it was introduced; however, the propellent has changed several times.  At one time the propellant was a flamable gas, and may folks in northern climes used WD-40 as a starting fluid in cold weather.  Don't try that today, the carrier is non-flamable.  I believe the current carrier in the US is CO2 - in the past it was thought to have been propane among other gasses.
.

[Heavyhaul]

I guess the residue ting would explain why I heard several people that use WD-40 saying that it removes the blueing.  I like Remoil w/ teflon and am particularly partial to G-96.  Just my 2-cents.

[Dusty Miller]

I used some on my Vaguero yesterday and today when I opened my safe that gun had turned into a pool of slimey green goo :-D  :-D  :-D  :-D  :-D