doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 3 in 1 Oil

None of us is any more than a temporary curator. Judging from the condition of a great deal of the older fowling implements out there, a lot of curators should have been doing something else. Your Vaseline is a liquid at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and will not be staying on the metal as a lubricant, rather, it will be making its way to the wood, no doubt bringing untold joy to whoever follows you as curator, as he will get to post here on what to do about oil saturated lumber. If you believe Three In One oil compares to the performance of any synthetic lube at any temps, you are quite wrong. The difference between your old black powder guns and an autoloader is nobody will care what the autoloader looks like or how well it was cared for in 150 years.

Be a good curator.

Best,
Ted

I am a good curator, as my guns would indicate. There are better products than 3-in-1 and vaseline, but those work if you keep up with your maintenance. I also like Mobil one and CLP, and a lot of things in between.

You know, I agree- when talking about using motor oil from 1900 in a truck motor designed in 2010, you make perfect sense. I run into this with 2 motorcycles: one from 1983 and the other from 2005. My 70s Malibu seemed happiest with 10w30, my 2008 pickup requires 5w20, and both my son's 2010 car and my wife's 2020 car require 0w20. I would never dream of using basic 30w from 1900 in any of them.

These engines were actually designed differently, with different dimensions in oil passages and piston/cylinder wall gap, as well as bearing gaps. This requires different oil.

However, if we were talking about a Ford Model T, Stutz Bearcat, Stanley Steamer, or even a Maxwell, I would be more interested in the old oil you described- as it would match the tolerances for the engines of that era.



When talking about lubricants on a 1907 Browning Auto-5, or a 1911 Stevens 520, or a 1915 Parker Trojan, or a 1921 Winchester Model 12, it seems completely normal to discuss what they used for lubricant then.

I wouldn't hesitate to use 3 in 1 on my Parker or even a Auto-5. I am not saying that there aren't better lubes out there, but I wouldn't worry about it if that was all I had.

Yet, I would be more likely to not try 3-in-1 on a Remington V3 or Beretta Outlander. Especially for stuff with plastics inside.

I even have to be careful even on my 1950s High Standard Supermatic, due to the plastic firing pin sleeve and cleaners that will erode/dissolve them- despite the manual saying to soak it in kerosene to clean it.

I've been using Lucas Extreme Duty Gun Oil, but hated the smell. So, I recently switched to M1 15w50. For grease, I've been using Super Lube synthetic with teflon, which is white and won't stain clothes when you rub a double against them.

I am switching my "wipe-down" oil to Hornady One Shot, which will also be my quick bore wipe, based on this corrosion test.
http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

I had been using RemOil because it was thin and helped with quick bore cleaning and protection. But the test showed RemOil was a poor protectant and it's not the greatest cleaner either. So,I decided to move on to One Shot.

Thanks for posting that test, Chuck. Hard to find any holes in his testing procedures.

SRH

Stan,
Hornady now refers to that test on their website.

I only chose RemOil in the past because it was easily available locally. Then I started using a rag with 3in1 that I was keeping in the safe, mainly because I had a can. But, I like the idea of longer protection with the Hornady One Shot, if I were to get caught in the rain or forget to wipe guns down on a longer trip.

Me, too, Chuck. I will definitely be ordering a couple cans.

SRH

I note they apparently changed the spray version of RemOil.

It has almost a foaming action now which I don't care for.

I'm not throwing my 2 cans out, but when it's used up I'll try something different. It may be doomed anyway. Nobody is going to buy any more of this new crap.

I have carefully disassembled, generally not completely,but enough to get to sears, pivot point, wear surfaces, cleaned, degreased, the applied what I think is high grade synthetic lube, be it grease, usually Superlube, or oil, Mobil 1 10w30, seems to work well on just about everything, vintage guns or modern semi auto's.