More on use of WD-40

[Pahoo]

Am recommending an article on the use of WD-40, on page-60 of Shooting -Times-Magazine, Sept. 2023. Pretty much supports what some have stated in other threads. .....

My oppologies;
Basically it states that WD-40 does have some applications but if used for lubricating internal actions, it will gum them up and making your firearm inoperable. .....

Be Safe !!!

 

[Bill DeShivs]

I can tell you from testing and experience, that WD 40 does not "gum" any more than other oils. I don't know why people keep on with this myth. WD 40 contains mineral oil-the same stuff in all the gun oils.
I can back up my statements.

 

[MarkCO]

Yes, it does gum up. Not even close to the "same" stuff in "all" gun oils. Some gun oils, sure, and they also gum up.

 

[Pahoo]

Test it for yourself

The article does provide information, on conducting a test, for yourself that shows it gumming up and provides documented information. I use WD-40 but only on a selective applications. I have tested it myself and against others and have to admit that is one of my least choices. .....

I'm not into bashing products but do work on finding the best I can use.

Be Safe !!!

 

[MarkCO]

It's nice to loosen up rust on bolts when PB blaster is not available.

 

[Dfariswheel]

Years go in the 70's WD-40 was widely sold as a gun lube, and I noticed it at least thickened inside old military rifle bolts I was collecting at the time.
I never saw it thicken to the point the gun would stop functioning.

In Vietnam various military units used WD-40 as a lubricant and moisture displacement.
In his book "Good To Go" Navy SEAL Harry Constance described how he'd come in after a patrol and strip the plastic stocks off his Stoner machine gun and drop the gun AND his linked 5.56 ammo into a cut off drum of gasoline.
He'd have breakfast, then come back and wipe the gun off, then spray it AND the ammo with WD-40.
He said the gun was then ready for the next job.

He said that in two deployments to Vietnam and extensive combat, he never had a stoppage.
To be fair, SEAL's were/are fanatic about maintenance and the gun got cleaned every day, so the WD-40 wouldn't have had time to thicken.

For those who say WD-40 is not a lubricant, only a water displacing product, the can actually says it's a lubricant.
I personally won't use it as a lube, but it has definite uses around guns other then displacing water.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Here is a picture of a container I sprayed WD40 into probably 15 years ago. The carrier has evaporated and all that's left is light mineral oil. It's not "gummed."
So-absent of external additives, WD 40 does not gum.

 

[skywag]

The only way WD-40 will "gum" is if you spray a bunch of crud together and let it evaporate. What is left is not WD-40 gum but a pile of bubble gum.

I don't know how this myth is propagated.

 

[natman]

Am recommending an article on the use of WD-40, on page-60 of Shooting -Times-Magazine, Sept. 2023. Pretty much supports what some have stated in other threads. .....

My oppologies;
Basically it states that WD-40 does have some applications but if used for lubricating internal actions, it will gum them up and making your firearm inoperable. .....

I've heard this a lot. So I tried to make it happen. I asked for a repeatable test and was told that if you sprayed WD-40 into a padlock it would "gum up" enough to make it inoperable.

So I tried it. I sprayed WD-40 into a Master steel plate lock until it ran out between the plates. It opened just fine. So I waited a week. Then two weeks. Still opened easily.

Well, it's been 8 years now and that lock still opens as if it were well lubricated. Which it is.

Now there is a lot of solvent in WD-40, and it's possible that the solvent might interact with some other substance and cause it to gum up once the solvent evaporates. But I've been unable to get it to do it on clean parts, and I'll take the results of actual experimentation over internet myth.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

If you have a filthy gun, and you give it a little WD 40 "spritz," you will make mud.
If you do the same thing with any lube, the result is the same.

 

[Pahoo]

Time and place !!!

If you have a filthy gun, and you give it a little WD 40 "spritz," you will make mud. If you do the same thing with any lube, the result is the same.

I would agree except that I "won't have a dirty gun and would never consider lubricating it with WD-40. I would agree that when and if I have moisture on any gun, I "could" use WD-40. .....

Be Safe !!!!

 

[603Country]

I use a good bit of WD40, but rarely on guns and the internals. I have better lube options, but wouldn’t hesitate to use it if it was all I had. I don’t remember any problems with long term use.

 

[4V50 Gary]

At Remington Armorer's School they told of a Rem 700 whose safety was disabled from 20 years of WD-40 buildup. Remington was sued and lost. They told us don't use WD-40.

 

[georgehwbush]

ok, for the record i have had wd-40 gum up, but as stated earlier by others it was a solution of wd-40 + ... the crud was the powder fouling from 22lr ammo in an old marlin glenfield, the action would build up crud from the powder, and i would use "the solvent effect" of a heavy dose of wd-40 to "wash it out", that worked for a few years then, after leaving the gun in the heat of a parked vehicle for one summer, viola; totally gummed/stuck/jammed. the interesting thing about it was, i filled it with wd-40 and let it soak a while and it freed up... i'm not here to bash any product, nor promote them but in my younger days, i did have that particular experance. for what it's worth.

 

[RJTravel]

I highly value Bill DeShivs' info which he has freely shared for many years, and while I will never know as much as he I have had a different experience with WD-40. I gave up big game hunting when moved from the northwest in 1978, and I 'protected' my 30/06 with copious amounts of WD-40. It was stored for 30+ years. When I decided to take it to the range it was useless. The WD-40 had frozen the bolt solid. I wasn't concerned about a 60 yr old rifle I would never again use, therefore many hard whacks with a hammer finally broke it loose (I know better than that now). No WD-40 ever for current firearms!

 

[Dfariswheel]

I'd be surprised if any lubricant left for 30 years DIDN'T dry out and turn to "varnish".
Even the early CLP Breakfree would dry to a varnish-like substance if left in tight areas for years.

 

[RJTravel]

OK, but I also had a J C Higgens bolt .22 I bought approx 1950 before WD-40 was invented (those were the good ol' days when a lad could walk into Sears with $9 and walk home with a new rifle!). I treated it with 3-in-1 oil (I think) and also my Marlin 336 bought in 1954, and neither developed the sticky residue of WD-40. Perhaps time affects WD-40 more than oil - I dunno - but that was my experience.

 

[MarkCO]

OK, but I also had a J C Higgens bolt .22 I bought approx 1950 before WD-40 was invented (those were the good ol' days when a lad could walk into Sears with $9 and walk home with a new rifle!). I treated it with 3-in-1 oil (I think) and also my Marlin 336 bought in 1954, and neither developed the sticky residue of WD-40. Perhaps time affects WD-40 more than oil - I dunno - but that was my experience.

It is not just time, but the environment. Some oils will, in a very dry hot climate, almost completely dissipate, some, in that same climate will leave behind gooey, gummy, even to a solid. In a cool, moist climate, the same oils, over time, may behave very differently.

I took a graduate level tribology course, with a lab, considered one of the premier course in the country at the time, as well as worked in an oil analysis lab for several years. In both the labs, there were various common lubes that we tested in several environmentally controlled chambers to ascertain this very issue. Yes, WD40 will gum up, as I have already said. Your anecdotal experience with 3-in-1 oil is as valid as Bill DeShivs anecdotal experience with WD40. But neither rise to the level of following the scientific method to prove that WD40 does, or does not gum up.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

As I said, "WD 40 doesn't 'gum' any more than other oils." Once the carrier evaporates, all that is left is mineral oil.

 

[Jim567]

When I owned a boat I would use WD40 on the steering cable.
It locked up the cable like glue.
Expensive to replace.
The cable was stainless steel.