Motor oil on a pistol?

Question

I had read an article where a competition shooter used mobil 1 synthetic oil on a 1911. Is there any reason this would be a bad choice? I would tent to believe that motor oil would be ok since 3,000 miles equils a whole lot more abuse than 300 rounds at the range. If you think about it a pistol cycling 300 times would be like idiling your engine for 20 seconds.

If you actually read a can of gun oil--

HOPPE'S NO. 9 HIGH VISCOSITY LUBRICATING OIL

High Viscosity and Penetration For Firearms, Fishing Reels and All Mechanisms.


Or
REMINGTON REM OIL WITH TEFLON LUBRICANT.

For cleaning, lubrication and corrosion protection of fine sporting firearms.
Ideal for all outdoor sports and marine equipment.


Does shooting fish in a barrel mean my gun is now marine equipment?

Answer 1

Yes. It is perfectly acceptable to use on a firearm.

For my competition guns, I generally use a Mobil One Full synthetic for lubricating the moving parts.

This in not to say that I lube it once and forget about it for XXXXX thousands of rounds because it can go XXX thousands of miles... it is a lubricant. And a Good one.

I shoot every week, and clean 1-2x per month depending on the number of rounds and competitions.

I go through 300 rounds (on average) per week and another 100 or so in competion.

I clean every other week or right before a competition. I have a TLE II I use for comps... I have NEVER had a failure.

For some guns I plan on storing for quite a while, I lube up with the Mobil One (it is a great protectant) and I place in a silicone sock, and in the safe. I have yet to have rust on any weapons.

Answer 2

When you read the can of motor oil, it says MOTOR oil, when you read the can of gun oil, it says GUN oil.

Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Motor oil is for motors.

Gun oil is for guns.

As stated above, the viscosity of the oils are different for 2 different applications. Motors run a lot hotter than a gun does, heat has effects on how oil works, motor oils are designed to work in a high heat environment, gun oils aren't. Machine guns (or select fire) use a different type of oil all together, most often it's gun grease of a lithium compound due to the heat generated.

Do the tried and true method, use gun oils for guns, use engine oils for engines.

Answer 3

The dirty little secret is that any decent oil of
reasonably correct weight will perform well within a
proper cleaning and maintenance regimen.
A lot of specialty oils are just expensive bottles.
Synthetic oils are temperature and viscosity stable.
A competition gun will be babied and not often
exposed to bad conditions, so why not use the stuff?

Answer 4

Yup, you do not have to relube for 10,000 rounds or 10 months. And Hoppe's Elite gun oil for my Hemi. That gets expensive though...I am joking, thanks folks I am here all night, try the veal.....

I never heard of that although I have been asked that question before so at least one person has done it or is doing it. I would not though....

Have a great day....

Answer 5

Irv is completely correct.

There is no particular special ingredient that makes gun oil "gun oil". It's not magic. *ALL* petro oils you'll find on the shelf are basically the same thing. Any military weapons manual you'll find will usually tell you the same thing.

Common motor oil has been used on firearms since motor oil became motor oil.

Answer 6

If it were a good idea, don't you think a lot more people would do it? The whole idea is somewhat bizarre, as they are lubricants that are designed for use in internal combustion engines, and in no way would they be beneficial to semi-automatic firearms as far as a lubricant. The viscosity itself could thicken and attract dirt to stick to it, and possibly render your handgun inoperable..Hardly practical or sensible..Sorry, Thanks but NO thanks....