Question about dry lube

[RaiderCop]

I have a buddy going to Bagdad soon. He is a military criminal investigator and will be spending 6 mos there. He was told he will be issued a M4 & M9. Now I'm an old Cold War Soldier, so I'm not so up on maintaining my rifle that kind of environment. I have always been under the impression that dry lube on a M16/M4 was preferable in an environment like Iraq; stay away from CLP/oil. For those who know better then I; is this indeed true? Any brand preferred over others?:2gun:

[RM]

There are various other lubes in the inventory or being issued. I tried most of them in Iraq and I came to the conclusion that, it wasn't all that important the type of lube you used but it was more important that you used moderation in its application.

CLP used in Q-tip quantities does all right.

[MrMurphy]

What he said.....try and run it drier than usual. Enough to cover the tip of your finger from what the guys I work with who've deployed have said.


Militec (dry graphite lube) is in use over there and apparently does well, I've had some Ranger friends and Airborne guys who love the stuff.

[Alwood]

run it drier

[Critter]

I am going to offer a different opinion. Run it wet and clean it often. A firearm will run dirty/gritty as long as it is wet/lubed, but let it get dry and it will stop in it's tracks. The grit is going to get into the weapon, regardless of what you try to do. It will stick to the little bit of lube and lock it down when there is none left to suspend it. I currently have two contractors working in the sandbox carrying 1911's I have done, one a full custom and one a tweaked Kimber, and also have recently had a full custom 1911 pass a 6 month hard use test at Gunsite. No stoppage complaints whatsoever, all have been asked to be run wet. Keep in mind the 1911, at least these three, have tighter tolerances than the M-9 or M-4.

Now, I know this is a small sample, really an insignifigant one, but I first subscribed to this method after an article written by Larry Vickers was brought to my attention, and based on his real world experience in combat, and his working as an instructor in the private sector gives me the confidence that this method is spot on.

Lubrication Article (http://www.vickerstactical.com/Tips/weaponlubrication.htm)

[RM]

Wet will work till the first Shamal hits, after that it will take you a day to get all the sand out of your weapon.

[RMTactical]

Having lived in the desert and hunted out in the desert, I run mine drier too. When the day is over, there is usually a good layer of dust over everything and oil will only attract more dust/dirt.

[doktarZues]

The drylube works great, it was hard to get a hold of any when I was there but I did get to use it occasionally. CLP is sufficient but you you need to clean your weapon a LOT. There really is science to it that only experience will show you, putting on enough to lube it but not so much it makes the dirt cake.

I disagree with you Critter, I'll take a dry weapon over a gritty one any day. A dry weapon you may get occasional FTFs, tap the forward assist or charge it, good to go. I've had 'grit' (TOO many times) make it near impossible to get a round chambered, not close enough to use the forward assist and repeated attempts at charging it doesn't go any further forward.

I honestly think that in a lot of cases it comes down to the individual rifle, but my experience has proven beyond a doubt that in the desert, dry is better than wet. -dok

[Critter]

Originally posted by doktarZues


I disagree with you Critter, I'll take a dry weapon over a gritty one any day. A dry weapon you may get occasional FTFs, tap the forward assist or charge it, good to go. I've had 'grit' (TOO many times) make it near impossible to get a round chambered, not close enough to use the forward assist and repeated attempts at charging it doesn't go any further forward.



I'll just take one that works. In speaking with people a lot more skilled and experienced than me in those environments I have found what works best for me, but I know I am a small sampling. I have however never had a lubrication enduced stoppage and have never needed the use of a forward assist. I have found that many malfunctions, especially those that begin after several hundred rounds, usually ge cleared up when I send the shooter to put more lube on his firearm. Again, this is only a small sampling, however, I have also found that many full time instructors, such as Pat Rogers, have found the the use of too little lube, even in those conditions, cause failures, to the point, that in his classes, he caries lube around in his pocket to 'cure' these weapons of their ails.

Will more lube attract more dirt? Yes! But there will be lube left for the firearm to run on. Will less lube keep it cleaner? Of course! But take these two weapons and expose them to the same amount of dirt and grit, and the one with less lube will pick up less dirt becasue the dirt will have absorbed and dried out what lube was on the weapon. The one with more lube will keep lube in the moving parts and hopefully squeeze out any excess grit due to hydraulic action.

Certainly there is a law of deminishing returns on both of these methods, but in order to come to a happy medium that we all can understand we would have to first determine what running one 'dry' or 'wet' or with 'enough' or 'too much' lube is.

I think we can all agree though, that in these conditions, cleaning each and every chance you get is the key to keeping your firearm up and running. I normally only clean and lube at 1000 round intervals in the environment I shoot in, but in the desert, for duty use, it would be daily, whether it was used or not.

[JWP]

try dri-slide

http://www.russack.com/

it's moly in volitile carrier - it does work on ar family weapons