Lithium Grease in Barrel?

[baddarryl]

Hi all. I just paid for me what is good money for a CZ 527 American in .223. I know that there is no real consensus on barrel break in and everybody has different opinions, but I was doing some reading on cleaning and accuracy and came across this site. Part 4 talks about swabbing a clean barrel with lithium grease then swabbing out to leave a light film before firing. What do you guys think of this? I would ask at least read it before chiming in. This is my first what I would call truly nice rifle and I want to treat it right. Thank you.

https://www.peregrinemonolithics.com/how-to-prepare-a-barrel-before-shooting/

 

[bobn]

sounds like a long term storage thing. otherwise you will more than likely have a borderline barrel obstruction problem.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

Grease inside a barrel you're about to shoot sounds like a bad idea.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

To treat your barrel right, just keep it rust free and don't fire rounds fast enough to cook an egg on the barrel. You'll be fine. To clean your barrel get a high quality one piece cleaning rod, bore guide, and plastic jags. Use bore cleaners your choice.

In short keep it rust free, keep it cool, and if your gonna clean the barrel clean it the right way.

 

[Scorch]

Light coat of oil I have heard of, light coat of grease never. Oil is much more volatile, a light coat of oil will burn away with the first shot. After that, the rifle will settle down and shoot consistently. Grease, being less volatile, will take longer to burn away. But, you know what they say: if it's on the internet, it's GOTTA be true!

 

[baddarryl]

I know. It is the first time I had heard of it and frankly his scientific arguments are beyond my understanding. I am wondering if there is any merit to them.

 

[hdwhit]

baddarryl wrote:
What do you guys think of this?

Not to put too fine a point on it, I don't think the guy knows the first thing about what he is talking about. He seems to suggest that after the first shot, the lubricant is still present even though the bullet has been driven through a barrel whose lands are of smaller diameter than the bullet itself.

You want to clean a firearm after every use. And when you finish that cleaning, you want to leave a thin film of oil (or grease) in the bore to inhibit corrosion, but that film of oil (grease) is scraped off the walls of the barrel by the oversized bullet and any remnant that might happen to get left behind is combusted by the burning powder.

 

[hdwhit]

And, yes, I know that in the last post I said:

You want to clean a firearm after every use.

And there will inevitably be a sting of posters who follow along afterwards saying that I don't know what I'm talking about and they only clean their guns under particular circumstances, per a particular schedule or under a particular phase of the moon.

The fact of the matter is that the first round shot out of a gun strips the barrel of (essentially) all the oil/grease that was used to preserve it the last time it was cleaned. Leaving it uncleaned means that the hygroscopic (i.e. water-attracting) by-products of the powder's burning are left in the barrel.

Shoot the gun regularly and those water-attracting by-products will get pushed out of the barrel (just to be replaced by new water-attracting by-products) but get sick for a few weeks and when you return to your gun, you may not be happy with the result.

So, unless you have an accurate crystal ball, clean your gun every time.

 

[MarkCO]

There are some old guys (like 60+ years ago) who would coat a barrel with lithium grease and then set it outside for a few days. The grease absorbed a little water and oxidized the edges of the lands and any burrs. Then they would clean it and shoot it. It was a shortcut to get a little better accuracy from barrels that were not of the highest quality to start with. I highly doubt it would yield any benefit with today's barrels.

 

[OzeanJaeger]

When I’m done cleaning I run a patch of Kroil, and then a dry patch, but I wouldn’t put grease in my barrel. I only put grease (I use RIG) on sliding parts, and then I use a q-tip and only put a thin film.

As was mentioned, lithium grease might be good for storage, but that’s about the only reason that makes sense to me.

Removing the edges of your lands doesn’t make any sense to me. I’d rather have tool chatter and sharp rifling than than rounded lands. I know at least ten barrel makers who agree.

 

[Dufus]

The only times I use grease in a barrel is when I am fire lapping. That grease has the grit in it.

Otherwise, it is only a protective coat of a light oil that gets removed before the next firing session.

 

[natman]

There are some old guys (like 60+ years ago) who would coat a barrel with lithium grease and then set it outside for a few days. The grease absorbed a little water and oxidized the edges of the lands and any burrs.

Grease absorbs water? Grease causes oxidation?

 

[kraigwy]

Gen Hatcher has written a lot about greasing bullets and grease in barrels and the excessive pressure that occurs.

If you was to do some checking. Target shooters, HP, Bench Rest, ISU small bore, etc. most always never shoot matches with clean barrels. They always take a few sighting shoots.

Use to call them "fouling shots".

 

[GorillaGunworks]

Hi all. I just paid for me what is good money for a CZ 527 American in .223. I know that there is no real consensus on barrel break in and everybody has different opinions, but I was doing some reading on cleaning and accuracy and came across this site. Part 4 talks about swabbing a clean barrel with lithium grease then swabbing out to leave a light film before firing. What do you guys think of this? I would ask at least read it before chiming in. This is my first what I would call truly nice rifle and I want to treat it right. Thank you.

The only time you want to leave a light coat of Grease or oil in there is for long term storage to prevent any sort of corrosion on your land and grooves from humidity. but if you are going to be using it frequently you will be safe with passing a lightly soaked patch and running it down the barrel a few time after cleaning it. and when i say lightly soaked i mean a few drops of oil on a clean patch. just my 2 cents as a former gunsmith.

 

[ShootistPRS]

It has been shown that a single drop of water can throw a bullets point of impact off by a large margin.
I don't even want to think of what a greased bore would do to the point of impact.
I was taught to clean the bore at the range after I finished shooting and then do a thorough cleaning when I got the rifle home running an oiled patch through the clean bore. Before putting the gun into service I run a tight patch through the bore to remove that lube and the dust(or bugs) before I fire the gun. The gilding jacket is self lubricating and doesn't require oil or grease to make it slide down the bore.

 

[DMK]

Weren't there some old (turn of last century) military rifles that actually required greased bullets?

 

[ShootistPRS]

Lubricated cases, not the bullets, as I recall. They needed the cases lubed in order to function in the gun at the rate of fire.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...Lubricated cases..." Yep. Very early M1 Rifles and other semi-auto experimentals used lubed cases. Caused more trouble than it solved. Proved to be a bad thing in the field too.
No grease or oil in the barrel except for long and short term storage respectively.
Reading only part of Hermann's dissertation won't help. Mind you, the 'About the Author' link goes to a sales page.

 

[MarkCO]

Grease absorbs water? Grease causes oxidation?

Lithium Hydroxide, which is what is in Lithium grease, is hygroscopic. Yes, it absorbs water and really should not be used as a lubricant in firearms at all, especially AR15 barrel nuts.

Some other compounds used in industrial greases are also hygroscopic.

 

[bn12gg]

My practice with any new or new to me gun is to run a boresnake thru it. No barrel obstruction therefore good to go. Shoot the gun.

.02. David.