I have come across way too many people, including those within the firearms industry, and especially working on gun shops, who don’t know enough about gun care. How to clean. Where to lubricate. And, even, why bother.

I do get some people’s attention when I share knowledge, including when I cite firearm manufacturer’s who either specify or recommend a particular product, and how to use it, within their user’s guide or instruction manual. Unfortunately, due to liability and to avoid favoritism, or out of pride, it is very often the case that a gun brand may not officially endorse the use of any lubricant, not to mention alluding to a particular brand. However, you may get more honest feedback from the customer service representative at a firearm manufacturer.

Over the years, some of my best contacts in the industry have been those kinds of people – the ones who are hands on, and active in problem solving consumer issues with finicky guns – the gunsmiths, factory technicians and even regional sales representatives. Whether it be over the phone, or face-to-face at a competitive shooting event, the dialogue is often honest. We all have our favorite recipe for success, but the people “in the know” rarely steer people towards the low performance cleaners and lubes.

Having discussed maintenance procedures with consumers all over, and helped them problem solve lubrication issues and alike, I am amazed how many different opinions there are, and how stubborn some people can be in their thinking. However, when somebody listens and makes adjustments, just like when you take a lesson from a firearms instructor, they realize very quickly the benefit of doing things better. Some people will always fight the current, and will insist on doing things the hard way. Whatever.

Over the years, I have worked with expert opinions from many companies, including Dillon Aero, FN, Glock, Smith & Wesson, SigSauer, LWRC, POF, Kreighoff, and many others. I even influenced technical changes at leading manufacturers in related hardware categories, like knives, folding stocks, mounts and various rail attachments. Nonetheless, it comes down to the unifying concept of properly cleaning and lubricating two surfaces of finely precision metal with tight tolerances. The rule of thumb is, gunmetal either has to bang together, or slide across one another. Those are the two scenarios.

Considerations to upgrade your cleaning procedures and lubricating practices typically include temperature – hot or cold – and other environmental challenges such as theatre, including everything from sandy, dusty condition, to high humidity or corrosive coastal exposure. Beyond that, rapid fire use where 1,000s of rounds are to be fired, the differences in performance really show. Not all products can live up to the challenge, and the popular traditional brands will never admit shortcomings, so you have to figure it out for yourself.

The best way to describe justifying these changes can be summed up this way – whatever material makes contact with the metal owns the performance. Think about that. If the best lube in the world is blocked by damaging solvent residue, or a lesser lube, or buildup, you are wasting your time. That is why, for best results, no matter what you use, you want to apply a superior product to clean, dry surfaces. Too often, people can think they have properly prepped the surface, but there is probably still solvent residue there, and there are ways to check, and correct that, if you care.

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