For those who care to learn, it really is about understanding the Science.

The difference between a gun lube (LP) and a cleaner, lubricant and protectant (CLP) comes down to chemical engineering design. LP vs. CLP gun oil applied to gun metal offers two ways to arrive at similar results. Grease type lubricant is usually an LP.

The term CLP is probably misused and overused by many brands in firearm maintenance but I understand how for the consumer, it is a simplified and unifying way to understand what the product is intended to do, but just like our repeated statement that oil is not oil and grease is not grease, different CLP products are not the same either.

Remember that the original CLP formula was developed for the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War to address jams and other operational failures with the Colt M16 carbine rifle in that specifically wet, humid and muddy theater so that a soldier can quickly flush out the bolt and get that weapon back into action. It was never intended to be a permanent fix. The Tetra Gun Triple Action CLP is based on that formulation featuring the fluoropolymer PTFE additive package to give it that much needed boost to make it so.

Some firearm CLP products out there are completely different which is why you should tread lightly. It’s not like comparing Coke and Pepsi. It’s more like being fed White Claw. Now you know. CLP should not have a base of engine oil, wax or some nasty, damaging solvent. It misses the point of CLP.

Gun lubricant by its nature is supposed to lubricate and protect, not clean. That means it should not have a CLP-type solvent base because by its nature the cleaner function is designed to eat away at and break down lubricant. It’s a bit counterproductive. That is why a premium dedicated gun lube will outperform a CLP, more appropriately referred to as a C+LP. So yes, you need to use a dedicated first as a pre-treatment. It takes more time, but it is worth it. But then again, for best results, you also want to get that cleaner residue off of the gunmetal before lubrication.

And in the aerosol format, the same principle applies. The propellant and any possible additional solvent carrier will provide the cleaner function, evaporating off and leaving you with just lubricant and protectant. The key is developing an ingredient mix that will deliver results that are not hurt by the cleaner ingredients.

To make this a little bit more complicated, any firearms lubricant could provide you with the cleaner function. Some products have minor ingredients that will engage metal as a cleaner while others accomplish that without any solvent ingredient whatsoever. In the case of Tetra Gun lubricant products, the fluoropolymer particle itself being so small, literally works its way under fouling and helps to lift it out of the metal substrate. In a way, it’s like scrubbing with your gun brush. It’s about physical contact.

Better yet, the Tetra PTFE particle treatment delivers the spherical BB-like particles into those micronic if not submicronic nooks and crannies that can be seen under a microscope. Even the finest polished bore surface will feel smooth, but when you zoom in you will see hills and valleys. Smoothing that surface out creates a very smooth surface that is going to repel future buildup from copper fouling or carbon residue with the help of the other ingredients like the oil base and the specialty additives that are each given a task.

Of course, generic gun oil simply isn’t going to do anything special for your guns. It will give you something, but they all eventually give way to friction and wear without that PTFE barrier that has the flexibility to bend like a balloon under pressure and load bearing in a way that a hard particle can’t. Those will simply contribute to wear much like sandpaper.

So called nano-particle lubes are false. Back in the day, moly-based lube made claims like this, replaced by the latest and greatest particle additive like graphene made from carbon. Sounds cool but as laboratory tests proved to us many years ago, that stuff is actually too small and does little more than act like muddy silt that can actually trap fouling deep in your bore where fouling might fester, and it does not offer the flex I just wrote about.

And don’t get me started on wax-type lubes aka paraffin-based. They are temperature sensitive so you can get freezing or hot temp breakdown if not messy dripping. And, once again, no particle.

Some gun nuts will eternally pursue something else, and that’s fine, but you will just be contaminating your firearm metal with yet another material that you will have to struggle to clean off before your next new and exciting thing – because, as we often say – whatever makes contact with the metal owns the performance. That means you want to get that stuff off and you do not want to mix chemicals from different brands. Big mess in the making.

Also, gun lubricant can take different forms, usually based on viscosity which is intended for different types of applications:

• Oil– usually the lowest viscosity so it migrates quickly
• Semi-fluid – heavier consistency and sometimes a gel
• Grease – typically grade 1, light
• Bearing Grease – grade 2, heavy duty, best choice for mounts

Many of the most widely produced choices used by hardware companies that are cost conscious, select super-cheap low-tech substitutes that don’t always fall under any of the above categories as used on guns, fishing reels and other sporting goods, household appliances and industrial equipment as well – things like: glycerin, petroleum jelly, graphite, lithium and organic oil.

To all of the gun owners out there, do yourself a favor by treating your guns to a healthy helping of real Gun Lube or CLP.

#PTFE #synthetic #fluoropolymer #gunlube #gunowners #gunrange #gunshop #rifleshooting #shotgunshooting #pistolshooting #edc #ccw #secondamendment #handgunshooting #shooting #pewpewlife #pewpew

@tetragundirect