Author Topic: What's the verdict on WD-40 for gun cleaning (Read 2445 times)

SoftPoint · « **on:** April 07, 2006, 02:32:59 PM »

I've got some people telling me it's great, and some saying to stay away form it. I've been using it with no negative effects. So what does this board thing about it?

quickdtoo · « **Reply #1 on:** April 07, 2006, 02:49:39 PM »

While I don't use it for long term protection, I have used it for years for wiping down a wet firearm. You can use other gun oils that are thought to be good that are far worse than WD40 though.

Tim

http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html

rockbilly · « **Reply #2 on:** April 07, 2006, 03:11:35 PM »

Some people say WD-40 and CRC will gum up after a period of time. I have used both for years and only had one problem that I can not totally blame on the WD-40.

Many years ago when my wife smoked we had a problem with the Mauser HSc she carried in her purse. Of course, the cigarettes were in there too, but the gun was usually in a Crown Royal bag. Tobacco had accumulated inside the Crown bag and got in the action of the gun. The gun would not fire. I had to soak it overnight in a degreaser to get the crud out. I don't know how much of a part the tobacco played, but this was the only time I ever had a problem using it.

Normally, I try to clean every gun I own at least once a year. Cleaning that often may also be the reason I have not experienced problems with the WD-40 or CRC. :wink:

KN · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2006, 03:29:39 PM »

WD-40 makes a great "CLEANER". I have been cleaning guns with it for 30yrs. It is not a good gun oil. I believe he reports of WD-40 "guming up" is pure bull. If you don't get the gun clean and leave the residue along with the gunk in the action then yes it will probably cause problems. But so will any of the other fancy cleaners that are out there. KN

257 roberts · « **Reply #4 on:** April 07, 2006, 03:48:28 PM »

I use WD40, hoppes, and elbow grease, it has always worked for me
never had a problem.

Dusty Miller · « **Reply #5 on:** April 07, 2006, 09:39:35 PM »

Strange to see this in a gun forum. I've read that it causes everything from clymidia to ingrown toenails and is strictly VERBOTEN for gun use. Who knows, eh? :?

williamlayton · « **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2006, 12:37:33 AM »

I think, just-me think, that there are other products which are better suited and more design specific for this than WD-40. That said I have no compulsion to fear using WD-40.
Some folks have more resources than others, some have better access to more products and some are just "hung-up" on using brand names that appear to have some class appeal [that in itself does not make them a bad person].
Blessings

Questor · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2006, 04:41:02 AM »

The WD in WD-40 stands for water displacement. It's good for wiping down equipment that you want to shed water. It's good on saw blades, and other tools. There are better things for gun maintenance. I don't use it for gun maintenance.

Redhawk1 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 08, 2006, 05:10:33 AM »

Also good for removing pine tar of dogs, but you got to wash them real good after words.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #9 on:** April 08, 2006, 05:27:18 AM »

I have used WD-40 as a quick "Flush" on both hunting and duty weapons. I normally wipe them down afterwards with Break Free. I would not trust WD-40 to keep my duty autoloader operating. On a range day where two or three hundred rounds are fired WD-40 will not keep an autoloader operating. A drop of Break free on the rails keep things going.

At one time I was testing a bunch of loads in three different rifles before hunting season. I would fire ten-fifteen shots from each rifle. Wipe them down withWD-40 and run a brush and a few patchs in the bore. Just before the season started accuracy dropped off in my rifles. My quick cleaning had failed to do one thing. I was not removing the copper build-up from the bore. Elbow grease and a bore cleaner designed to remove copper corrected the problem. I knew better but was quilty of takeing a shortcut.

WD-40 recieved a bad reputation in law enforcement. There are some cops that are not gun nuts. Their duty weapon was subject to daily inspection so before inspection they would spray the weapon and ammuntion with WD-40 wipe the gun down. When the Sargeant inspected weapons they and the ammunition were nice and shiney. The problem was that a number of mis-fires occurred. WD-40 had penetrated the primers. This was misuse of the product.

In 1967-68 my brother was a Marine in Vietnam. His first letter ask for underware. After that he asked for Break Free and WD-40. They had turned in their M-14 and issued the new M16.

kyote · « **Reply #10 on:** April 08, 2006, 01:31:39 PM »

I keep it on my work bench (WD40) I use it for cleaning.and really use it a lot when cleaning rifle bores with brass and even nylon brush's after scrubbing the bore with sweet's or barnes I blast the brush with brake cleaner then hit it with WD40 after every cleaning of the bore.
It takes glue and other sticky stuff off things well.
I was in the tropics for a very long time.and did a lot of hunting.one of the indians that was on a hunt with us in the rio bayano area wanted ducks to eat and for his tribe and family.turns out his definition of ducks was egrets and white swamp birds even the herons.well me and one of my buds.who I knew used WD40 to wipe down his firearms.went out in a small boat in these waterways at high tide that took us through the swamps and started shooting ducks for this guy.there was plenty salt spray coming in to the boat and on to us.not getting us real wet but I guess more of a mist.my bud said look at my shotgun it was full of rust new surface rust, he said yours has no rust on it.what do you wipe your's with?I said RIG. what do you use on yours?WD40 he said.I had remembered that my Brother told me that the navy quit using WD40 they said it was terrible stuff.at least on the aircraft carriers.he was a plane engine mech.on the carriers a master chief.I really forget why he said the navy got rid of it.and he also said they used to use armour all, had it on board in 55 gallon drums.he said that stuff ruined rubber and was a prohibited substance after they found out it helped with the deterioration of rubber and plastics ship board.

jeager106 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 08, 2006, 01:45:59 PM »

Well here's the voice of experience, "been there done that".
Avoid WD-40 for long term storage.
It has it's place, it's works, it's cheap, it's available anywhere.
It will gum, over time.
It happened to me and it's happened to others.
WD-40 is nothing but a very thin oil like kerosene and it does evaporate leaving a hard varnish coating metal.
Use it if you want but why?
Break Free and gun care products work much better as a lube, cleaner, protectant but cost more, but how much do you use?
Not much really.
For the little you use on a firearms for lubrication and protection Break Free and other good gun care oils are a bargain.

WD is o.k. for loosening parts, wiping metal down and has it's place on the tool work bench but as a gun care product it is a poor performer.

Swamp Yankee · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2006, 02:28:05 PM »

Check this out if you can open it?
www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=O&t=1&i=503 I know it's long but it's about rust protection...Jim

Swamp Yankee · « **Reply #13 on:** April 08, 2006, 02:51:33 PM »

I couldn't get it to open.........anyway it gave some of the best rust protection in a test with some of the most popular oils sorry, maybe you can find it at Brownells.....jim

quickdtoo · « **Reply #14 on:** April 08, 2006, 02:55:21 PM »

Try this one.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=0&t=2&i=503

savageT · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2006, 04:12:29 PM »

quickdtoo,
Great article, Thanks! Wish the author had included some more products that I have on hand:
Vasoline Petroleum Jelly (best I've found next to RIG)
Kroil Penetrating Oil
Remington Gun Oil w/teflon
Ballistol Lube, water displacing, safe for wood, metal and leather
LAW 0-157 Lubricating Oil, weapons, low temperature Mil-L-14107C-AM.2

Jim

Swamp Yankee · « **Reply #16 on:** April 08, 2006, 04:33:51 PM »

Quickdtoo,

Thanks for the "right address". Jim

quickdtoo · « **Reply #17 on:** April 08, 2006, 04:52:04 PM »

savageT,

Swamp Yankee did the foot work, I just fixed the link to the good stuff he found. :wink:

Tim

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #18 on:** April 08, 2006, 05:28:25 PM »

Am with Jeager106 on this one.
The WD40 does ok as long as you are able to wipe down the surface afterwards. If not, you will get the hard brown varnish.
I first noticed this several years ago after pulling a rifle barrel out of the stock. The outside looked great but the lower inner barrel was badly streaked with this stuff.
Sure would hate to get this buildup in the inner-action of any firearm.

PaulS · « **Reply #19 on:** April 08, 2006, 07:21:24 PM »

That Boeshield T-9 looked like the "Best of Test" to me. Can you get it anywhere other than Brownells?

Questor · « **Reply #20 on:** April 09, 2006, 03:50:13 AM »

Where to get Boeshield T9? It is a very popular chain lubricant with bicyclists. Try a bike shop.

PaulS · « **Reply #21 on:** April 09, 2006, 07:01:53 PM »

Thanks! I can do that easily. Here in Seattle there are plenty of bike shops.

NONYA · « **Reply #22 on:** April 09, 2006, 07:14:58 PM »

The only way Wd will"gum up" is if there is way too much of it in the gun and it mix's with contaminants like burnt powder because the gun is dirty to begin with,if you lube a clean rifle with WD and wipe off the excess it will NEVER gum up

jeager106 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 09, 2006, 08:59:20 PM »

Quote from: NONYA

The only way Wd will"gum up" is if there is way too much of it in the gun and it mix's with contaminants like burnt powder because the gun is dirty to begin with,if you lube a clean rifle with WD and wipe off the excess it will NEVER gum up

Horse biscuits!
Over time the junk evaporates and leaves a hard brown varnish on metal parts.
It's very similar to gasoline left in a carburator over time.
Tell me pilgrim. If you spray the stuff in your guns innerds how to do wipe it off?
Those little nooks and crannies are the very places you don't want to have a varnish residue.
Once again. There are so many products made for firearms lubrication and metal protection and we use only a very small amount, wny use WD for anything firearms related.
A spary can of Break Free CLP for under four bucks will last a very long time.
So why gunk the guns action up with WD to save under 3 bucks?

PaulS · « **Reply #24 on:** April 09, 2006, 09:30:02 PM »

PaulS · « **Reply #25 on:** April 09, 2006, 09:30:54 PM »

First - WD-40 is NOT a lubricant it is a water repellant

Second - WD-40 will not mix with petroleum based lubricants, it is a silicone product and will congeal or make other lubes congeal when contaminated with them.

third - there are a number of products - including ATF that work better as a lubrcant for your guns than WD-40.

fourth - if my gun gets wet I take it apart and dry it, clean it and lubricate it and then reassemble it.

I use something called "Ed's Red" to clean my gun with and when I was making it I kept out some of the oil (as recommended) to lubricate my guns with. I have no need to use a product that is incompatible with that oil to get the water out of my guns. I am interested in the Boeshield for use in long term storage but I have to test it to see if it is compatible with the products that I am already using. If it is not then I will find other uses for it and add lanolin to the Ed's Red for long term storage.

jgalar · « **Reply #26 on:** April 10, 2006, 02:21:31 AM »

I also use Ed's Red to clean and use ATF as a lube. The first auto transmissions used whale oil and ATF was made to be a synthetic whale oil.

I use WD40 in the bores of my muzzleloaders after cleaning with water, but will also oil them the next day.

Somewhere on the web is a site where someone used Lee tumble lube as a rust preventitive. He had pictures and test results which looked good. From what he stated the tumble lube is similar to what the Navy uses when mothballing ships.

JD11 · « **Reply #27 on:** April 10, 2006, 03:33:55 AM »

jeager106, I agree. As a heavy truck mechanic for over thirty years I've always thought of WD 40 as a product that does a number of things just a little bit, but nothing well at all. As PaulS posted, it's basically a water displacer. It's not a good penetrant, not a good lube, not really a silicone spray. There's way better single purpose stuff out there that does a great job as the product was designed to do.

As a sidenote, I'm usually skepical of people pushing products from an exhibitors booth at an event, but I listened to the Tetra Gun Cleaning Products rep for an hour+ last week as he cleaned various firearms and did demos. All of us listening found out we sure didn't know all we thought we knew about cleaning firearms. Besides learning a lot, he sure sold me on their products, in fact I ended up with one of the Tetra cleaning packs.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #28 on:** April 10, 2006, 05:48:24 AM »

WD-40 saved the day in Mexico. Came across some good old US citizens with a flooded out T bird at a low water crossing on Highway 1. The car would not start, but after spraying the ignition wires and distributer cap with WD-40 they were on their way. They had found that a water crossing 450 miles below the border rather lonely.

jeager106 · « **Reply #29 on:** April 11, 2006, 12:01:39 AM »

Quote from: Siskiyou

WD-40 saved the day in Mexico. Came across some good old US citizens with a flooded out T bird at a low water crossing on Highway 1. The car would not start, but after spraying the ignition wires and distributer cap with WD-40 they were on their way. They had found that a water crossing 450 miles below the border rather lonely.

That's why it's call WD-40. The W stands for water, the D for displacing the 40 is a gimmicky trade name for the forumula.
It is good for displacing moisture, can be used to start your lawnmower, loosen rusty bolts, has a lot of ligitimate general purpose uses but is junk for lubricating anything.
It's a poor excuse for a lube.
And Paul is spot on the money; it should never be using with other products as it will gunk things up royal.
Like I said the cost of a proper gun lube/protectant is minor because you don't use the stuff by the gallon.