Press maintanence

[U.S. Patriot]

How often do you field day your press? I have loaded roughly 900 rounds, and I cleaned and ligtly oiled my ram tonight. It was starting to stick on me.

 

[EODThree]

I've known people to use gun oil, CLP, and synthetic motor oil. My first choice, a dry lubricant. Anything wet or sticky is going to become contaminated with carbon and/or unburned powder.

 

[slow1911s]

...contaminated with carbon and/or unburned powder.

Which is essentially graphite.

I use grease, and Brian Enos' Slide-Glide specifically. I use it on the ram and on the underside of the shell plate. On my Dillon, I don't think I do this but ever 2-3k. Slide-Glide is a grease that stays put as it has no aromatic carriers.

 

[william]

I have a syringe with Kroil in it that I use for my Dillon. I think I oil it every 5000 rounds or so. About 5yrs after I got it I was using it to size a big batch of .223 and it started to seize up. I got worried and called Dillon and they asked me how often I lubed it....I never had. Guess I missed that part in the instructions. The guy on the phone told me to use the Kroil and that once a year to unbolt it turn it upside down and spray a bunch of solvent or oil on it to flush all the crap out of it. It's worked real well for me ever since.

 

[rockhopper46038]

I just use powdered graphite, but I suppose if I have any problems I may try a light oil.

 

[Litlratt]

2 XL650s and an SL900 and I grease(Slide Glide) and oil(just about anything) when I notice some resistance that shouldn't be there.

 

[mospeada]

Not terribly often, probably every 5,000.

I bought a spare parts kit with my 550 and it came with a syringe of grease that I use to lube mine, oil on the ram and I use graphite on the primer mechanism.

From the manual "Lubrication Use 30 weight motor oil on the main shaft and bearing grease on the pivot pins. Do not use spray type penetrating lube such as WD40 or Break Free as you run the risk of contaminating powder and primers."

 

[jdhaines]

I use Mobil 1 Synthetic bearing grease. Mine has multiple actual grease zerks though, which is nice. In fact, Mobil 1 synthetic bearing grease is all I use on all of my guns. So far they've all run 100% with no issues. Glocks and AK somewhat dry lubing only the sliding surfaces. Sig and AR slightly wetter with a light coating on areas which may rub. I haven't found the internet claim that grease will get too sticky in the cold weather and make the guns not work to have any merit thus far.

We use it on our aircraft wheels and brakes which have damn high loads, lots of wear and tear, and constant exposure to harsh elements and chemicals (cleaners, de-icers, etc.) The tubes are cheap (free from here, but cheap normally) and they claim the following about the grease, which makes me think it would be hard to beat in any metal on metal situation.

• Excellent resistance to rust and corrosion.
• Good shock loading protection.
• Excellent resistance to water washout.
• Outstanding lubrication over a wide temperature range.

With all the fancy greases out there that are crazy expensive I wonder what exactly they are adding to standard bearing grease to make it better. I've tried slide glide, and it seems like OK stuff, but its thinner. You can tell that bearing grease is at least a constituent in it, but what is being added to make it better? What does a gun need as far as lubrication that a wheel bearing doesn't need?

• Stay in place
• Reduce heat
• Resist washing off
• Resist debris from bridging the gap
• Reduce friction
• Prevent corrosion
• Work in a wide range of temperatures
• Support high loads
• More...

It just so happens that this list works for "what we want in a gun lube" and "what we want in a bearing lube". Mobil (or your company of choice) has the best engineers, the best chemists, the nicest labs, the most research money, etc to try and solve these very problems. Airline companies, car companies, etc spend billions of dollars a year replacing worn out parts. Don't you think that all of these people work together to try to come up with the best lubricant that can be made? They do. Its called bearing grease.

I just built up my first AR and was looking into the locations for lubricant and I'll be damned if I didn't see the first video on youtube showing James Yeager dipping his finger into an almost empty tub of red high temp bearing grease and shlacking it all over his bolt rails, charging handle, etc. No matter what you think of TR you have to admit they run their guns hard and if "slide glide" worked better they'd be using it. I would venture a guess that the AK guys at Suarez are using cheap bearing grease to keep their AKs running as smoothly as possible as well.

[Off soapbox][on flame retardant gear]

 

[Aszerigan]

I'm thinking of stripping one of my 1050's today. It's been 30k rounds since it was cleaned. I try to break them down every week or so, but sometimes I don't have the time.

I still find that grease is the best lube for presses.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Single stage press gets two drops of Mobil 1 10w40 after i finish a loading session.

Why 10w40? That's what my Volkswagen demands, so its always on hand.

 

[straight-shooter]

Castrol GTX cause John Force said so!