I have read alot about gun lubes/oils for rust prevention on this forum and others, but there often is a difference of opinion on the subject. Finally decided to do my own test and see how things shake out. Of course this is only one test and done in the back yard for rust prevention, we all know gun lubes must do more than that, so take it for what it is, your results will vary.
The test material was a new piece of flat, mild steel that I gave a good scrubbing with a steel brush on a hand grinder. Before applying the various oils the metal was cleaned with rubbing alcohol on a white paper towel. A marker was used to number and divide the test sample areas. Application of the oils was done with a clean piece of the towel for each and was rubbed on by hand taking care to avoid cross contamination. The test was started around 9 pm on 6\28\13 and included 15 oils/lubes plus one other item, dish washing soap. Why soap? Some folks use it for patch lube and some mixed with water for cleaning and some swear to never touch it because is has salt in it....I just wanted to know what it would do.
The oils included: 1. Hoppe's Oil 2. Hoppe's #9 Solvent 3. Ballistol 4. Break Free CLP (old bottle) 5. WD-40 6. TW25B 7. Eezox 8. RIG 9. FP-10 10. Kroil 11. Bear Oil 12. Bore Butter 13. Motor Oil 14. Olive Oil 15. Dawn Soap 16. Rem Oil (sheets) Please note that TW25B is a grease that has a light brown color to it, you are not seeing rust on that sample.
With the test metal prepped, I sat it outside in the weather to see what would happen. Didn't take long for the heavy rain to start, about an hour and it was wet and would remain that way till morning. Approximately 9am , 12 hrs into the test, I looked for signs of rust. The following had some form of light rust and/or spots visable: 1. Hoppe's Oil 5. WD-40 10. Kroil 12. Bore Butter 13. Motor Oil 15. Dawn Soap 16. Rem Oil Must say the rust was very minor with WD-40 and Bore Butter. The Dawn Soap was 100% covered with rust, does that mean it shouldn't be used in muzzleloader barrels at all, decide for yourself.
Next I wanted to speed this up and really separate the men from the boys. Two words, Salt and Water, I used plenty of it! Is this a fair test as related to firearms? Maybe not, but if I dropped one from a canoe or lost it in a snow drift this might give me some idea of what works best. First the salt....
Then added water with a spray bottle......
with it still laying in the grass I covered it with a sheet of plastic in approximately 80 deg. weather for another 6hrs.
Starting to see some big changes now. Rinsed it with water and this is what I found...
I would now consider all the samples as "failed" except four standouts! They were not untouched, but clearly in much better shape than all the others. It was obvious seeing it in person, I hope it shows well to you in the photos. The best rust preventatives in my test were: 4. Break Free CLP 6. TW25B 7. Eezox 8. RIG Surprisingly to me, the Hoppe's #9 Solvent did pretty well too, just not in the same class as the top four.
After the salt test the samples were left out in the weather for a total of one week. It turned out to be a great week too, rained everyday with a total rainfall of 10 inches! The winners are easier to see now and it should be noted that the RIG was still beading water on its surface.
Would most oils be ok to protect your firearms in normal conditions, I think so. Are some better at rust prevention than others, YES!
9-10-13 OK, decided to give an update as well as ran an additional test of 18 other lubes/oils.
Week 5 of first test: We have had unusually high volumes of rain in the mountains of NC this year and the test metal has been out in it day and night the whole time, here is what it looks like now.
Test No. 2: Started 7-20-13 and included, from left to right, 20. 3n1 Silicone 21. Slick 50-One Lube 22. Dupont DriLube 23. Inhibitor 24. Shooter's Choice Rust Prevent 25. Hoppe's Elite Gun Oil 26. Outer's Gun Oil 27. Gunslick Ultra-Lube 28. M- Pro 7 Gun Oil LPX 29. Strike Hold Metal Conditioner 30. Barricade 31. S&W Bore & Action Cleaner 32. Rem Oil 33. Frog Lube 34. Eezox 35. Renaissance Wax 36. Johnson Paste Wax 37. Turtle Wax 38. ATF 39. STP
I included Rem Oil and Eezox as reference since they were in the first test also. Three waxes were included this time because they are often touted as better than oils, we will see. Frog Lube is fairly new and often talked about online, so I really wanted to see if the hype is true. Please note that I heated the metal with a hair dryer before applying the Frog Lube as recommended, I also applied the Eezox while warm, not sure if that was a good idea or not. It was allowed to cool down before putting on any of the other lubes.
Did not have rain in the overnight forecast like the first test, so I laid paper towels on the 2nd test metal and wet them with the garden hose. This is what it looked like after 12 hours.
Then I repeated the 6hr salt test using the same method as in the 1st test, really starting to see some changes now....
Now let's look at it on 8-3-13, two weeks exposure to the wet mountain weather
a closer look, the Dupont DriLube and Shooter's Choice Rust Prevent are doing pretty well
also look'n good is.........Frog Lube! Dang maybe it isn't just hype, that is Eezox to it's right and showing some rust (maybe I should not have put it on warm??).
In summary I would say top performers from both tests include:
Break Free, TW25B, Eezox, Rig, Dupont DriLube, Shooter's Choice Rust Prevent and Frog LubeAlso doing OK were Hoppe's No. 9 (the classic solvent), STP (would be very messy on a gun though) and Johnson's Paste Wax.
Let me say the waxes didn't do as well as I was hoping and the Johnson's going on the thickest of the three, did better in the long run against rust, however it might be a problem in checkering or other tight spaces with buildup. The Renaissance was disappointing against rust, but gives a really nice, clean looking finish that doesn't show finger prints. I will probably use it on some of my lighter duty guns, but keep it's limitations in mind.
Eezox didn't seem to do as well in the second test, so heating the metal before applying it may have decreased it's performance. Would require more testing to know for sure, but it did very well in the first test and has proven to be a top notch rust stopper through the years and I will continue to use it.
Two very common gun oils that I see sold in almost every gun shop are Hoppe's Oil and RemOil. From my tests and just my personal opinion they are very poor at preventing rust. They may be great at other things, your money, your guns, your choice.
These are extreme tests and I still feel the majority of gun lubes/oils will do a fine job under normal conditions, hopefully this will give you some indication of their rust prevention when deciding what your needs are.
Hope you enjoy this as much as I did doing the tests!
