cleaning mags

I used to use a lot of WD-40 for cleaning.  It does seem to be good at carrying off dirt.  Its also not a bad penatrating oil, although not my first choice.   I used to use it on bicycle chains as it left them pretty dry and so didn't hold road dirt and grime.  Later my friends in the bike shop gave me grief about that and convinced me to use something that would provide 'better lubrication'.  At the time the various liquid wax type products were the in thing.  Now I'm told they're out.  Its really hard to know with these proprietary products what the actual properties are. 

All that was to get to this.  I was really a bit surprised to see how well WD-40 (regular) did in this guy's test of sliding friction as well as moisture resistance.

(Some of you may have seen this as its a link from CMP's forum, where its pinned)

I'm NOT saying his tests are definative.  But they are interesting reference points.

  For example many more products did better at protecting from moisture (even salt water) immediately after application, than after drying (or evaporating?).

In terms of reducing friction, the surface finishes of his test sled were very smooth compared to many machined surfaces.  It also wasn't subject to repeating motion. Motion that might remove the oils and soon result in metal to metal contact.

Displacing water is one thing, and being a preventative is another.  I used to deal in used machinery and I cannot tell you how many rusty machines were "Protected" with WD-40. Some you could make out the spray marks that are nor represented in rust.

As to the post on the "day at the Range" Matt posted you will see that he used WD-40 and WD-40 Specialist.

I am not familiar with the latter, but will pick some up at the next trip to the hardware store. Wont be using it on my firearms though. I will stick with my dehumidifiers and regular cleanings.

I also only glossed over it it seemed the longest control test was 20 something days. Also regular WD-40 was eliminated at that point.

If we are talking about long term storage being a month, have at it and let me know how it turns out. I may take a piece of metal and bath in in the specialist and through it in the shed to see how it holds over time

Years ago (Pre-Internet) I decided to use WD40 on one of my Wife's Pre 1930's Musical German Black Forest Cuckoo clocks.

All parts, case, decorative details, bellows, mechanical components...... Everything Authentic. 

How hard could it be ? Clock just needed some oil... right ?

I laid a thin layer of dry cheesecloth over the mechanics and lightly sprayed over it. Let it set a few hours, wound it and carefully hung it back up. It was purring like a kitten and me grinning away at what I knew I'd saved $$. She has quite the clock collection and back then they'd run $375 to over $400+ for just a cleaning and oiling.

She wasn't home, it was a surprise for her when she heard / seen it working again for all of a couple days. Then after a few days of 'The Look' she called her Clock guy. The old gruff German guy had it about 3 or 4 weeks. He called her when it was ready and requested I be there. I figured no big deal he is old and that clock is F'ing heavy. Upon arriving he chewed on me for what felt like a hour. Clocks take multiple types of oil and lube depending on the part. My WD40 trick discolored and gummed up the brass gears. Worst thing was it had attracted moisture that affected the balance of precision parts. My WD40 backyard tune up cost me over $1500.00 and near ruined a clock valued back then at over $6k. He showed me minute bottles of highly refined oils that he said ran nearly $200 per fl oz.

To this day when I see a can of it I think about that clock.

I'll use WD40 to break a nut and bolt apart, if I can't find the Liquid Wrench. But I'll put real oil on it when it's being put back together. So the next time it will unscrew.

FWIW

Ch-P777

This is classic example of what I hate about propriatary and SSS.

Its nearly impossible to know what's in them and so its impossible to know if the stuff is compatible.

I've seen charts for automative greases showing which bases are comaptible and which are not.   But in the automotive and industrial markets there's a lot of pressure from the manufacturers and the industries themselves to use products that meet certain standards and specs.

What do we have to rely on?  Not much.  For the carbines we know there were two oils spec'd during the war, and the standard gun oil (heavier) was obsoleted. 

A few months ago I bought the SSSS oil and grease that Fulton has been selling because I figured they were 'the experts'.  Well now I have my doubts about how deep their expertise in lubricants goes.

For those who dont know

SSS =  Secret Squirrel S___  or any number of variants thereof.

Add another S for Super.  That's the really good stuff.

And not to pick on WD, a can of it bailed me out of a situation yesterday.  The sno-throw's clutch wouldn't slide on the shaft - maybe from the ancient grease.  WD cleaned it up enough to work pretty well.  Then I used it to get the grease off my hands since I nothing else there.  

When the used barrels were no longer needed I had a bunch of people that would take them for burn barrels.

When we painted the Lansing GM Assembly Plant addition on the big open areas 1 man could put out 1,000 gals in a 12 hr shift. Usually 6 Sprayers a shift, night and day. 24hrs could see 12,000 - 14,000 gallons of ceiling Dry Fall sprayed on. It would take 12 to 14 men to maintain the pump stations to keep material getting to those 6 spray tips. Add the cover up and draping crews along with the (Sub'ed out) scaffold crews and you could have 60 Journey men / Laborers to keep 6 men spraying overhead deck a shift. I had people from all over coming for barrels. I miss the challenge..... but my back sure doesn't.

Ch-P777

I recently went to pick up some naphtha at the big box store for cleaning electronic contacts

I found there is no longer a place on the shelf for it.

I went to the local hardware store and they no longer stock it in qt size. The price of the gallon expensive at 65 bucks!

I found some Ronsonal to use.

So is it covid, or is it something that is being phased out?