The Lube thread

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 1:29pm

Originally Posted by Bah Humbug

For us in the nanny state, it's a chargeable offence to use anything other than the lubricant issued to us on service weapons, despite the fact there's far better products available and people would be willing to purchase them off their own backs just to have something better.

One airman I know of was officially reprimanded for using a product called Cillit bang on his weapon's gas parts after a full day (sum 16 hours) of almost constant field firing. That product BTW is awesome for removing even the most stubborn of carbon deposits and just about everyone (unofficially) has a small spray bottle filled with it in their cleaning kit.

I too have a bore snake and use it but on ops last year an anal armourer (not attached to our unit) tried to be a dickface by lecturing us whilst we cleaned our weapons after a patrol. He was soon enough fucked off.

I'm not even sure how to reply to this. Pretty amazing.

One of the more frustrating ways most conventional US military units dick their soldiers out of money is by insisting upon absolute spotlessness when turning weapons into the armorer, but only providing them very minor amounts of cleaning supplies. CLP, some cotton patches, maybe some pipe cleaners, and that's about it. Hint: you can't really clean a star chamber, or much of anything else, out with any of that. At least not to the armorer's standard.

This generally leads to one of two things: Senior enlisted personnel end up eating the cost of cleaning supplies for their privates to avoid having to spend days of 100% weapons draw, or the privates end up doing retarded **** to their weapons. Like filling them with shaving cream, flushing them with water, glopping a bunch of CLP into them, wiping them down, and trying to get them to the armorer as fast as humanly possible before the rusting and discoloration set in.

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 2:53pm

Oh we get quite a comprehensive cleaning kit issued to us, a larger 'roll' with various items and a smaller operational zip-up case with enough kit to keep a weapon running whilst keeping bulk and weight to a minimum, we also get gallons of a light mineral oil (I forget the spec) thrown at us as and when needed. indeed it's often the case that when cleaning weapons en-mass after training or post-patrol, there's a platoon cleaning kit which has additional tools and consumables available for use so, in some respects I shouldn't complain. Its just the anal attitudes, especially toward people who are very often religious abut cleaning their weapon systems vs. the lazy cnut who always needs to have his kit inspected before return to the armoury.

Often it's some fuckstick REMF who's never seen outside the relative safety of the blast walls surrounding his compound who gets his tits in a twist over such trivia.

**Gezere** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 3:54pm

Originally Posted by Seasonal Affective Disorder

I'm not even sure how to reply to this. Pretty amazing.

One of the more frustrating ways most conventional US military units dick their soldiers out of money is by insisting upon absolute spotlessness when turning weapons into the armorer, but only providing them very minor amounts of cleaning supplies. CLP, some cotton patches, maybe some pipe cleaners, and that's about it. Hint: you can't really clean a star chamber, or much of anything else, out with any of that. At least not to the armorer's standard.

NOOB!

Hint: wire hanger.

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 4:13pm

Originally Posted by Gezere

NOOB!

Hint: wire hanger.

Fashioning scraping tools from coat hangers is great, but it's still beside the point. Scratch that, it highlights the point I was making.

And hey, last time I had to clean my M4, I just threw the relevant parts in the solvent tank, wiped them down, used an air compressor to get the rest of the solvent off, lubed, and reassembled. Suck it, geezer.

**Lord Skeletor** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 9:32pm

Eh.., Tetra is okay, but smells like rotten cat piss. For my money, I'm a MilTec1 man, through and through. I know the guy who owns the company and he's a cool mofo. I can't really suggest a better oil...but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention MPro7!

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 12/20/2010 10:08pm

Originally Posted by Lord Skeletor

Eh.., Tetra is okay, but smells like rotten cat piss.

The spray just has a vaguely aerosol smell, and the grease doesn't really smell like anything. I have read that some older "vintages" of the lubricant have a tendency to go bad and smell like rotten cat piss. Supposedly if you call tetra, they will replace it.

At any rate, I've had a positive experience with it, and as long as it stays cheap, I'll probably keep using it.

**Lord Skeletor** · Posted On: 12/21/2010 9:51am

Originally Posted by Seasonal Affective Disorder

The spray just has a vaguely aerosol smell, and the grease doesn't really smell like anything. I have read that some older "vintages" of the lubricant have a tendency to go bad and smell like rotten cat piss. Supposedly if you call tetra, they will replace it.

At any rate, I've had a positive experience with it, and as long as it stays cheap, I'll probably keep using it.

Yeah...I've used it in the past. We used it specifically at work, so what you're saying is probably spot-on accurate...as we all know, government agencies don't throw anything away. LOL They might have also changed the formula since the last time I used it (probably around 1999-2000). It was almost infamous at the time for its acrid, funky smell...but it still worked pretty good.