The Gun Counter

Interesting article, video and comments over at the Firearm Blog about a new lube, Italian Gun Grease. It's compared to several leading gun oils, such as Remoil, BreakFree, and Hoppe's Elite, using a Timken bearing tester. Here's the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... n49IKN_cDw

Here's the article:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013 ... un-grease/

Some commenters there remark that comparing a "grease" to oils is like apples vs. oranges. I wondered at the guy in the vid comparing the test to bullets travelling down the barrel, a guy from IGG chimes in and says that IGG does advocate a thin coat of their grease in the barrel, saying it increases velocity and flattens trajectory. The talk of "filling pores" reminds me of claims made by Microlon and some other such products. Whatcha think? Perhaps it is apples to oranges, but the vid looks like the stuff does work. I find the product name and logo a bit silly, though.

I'd love to see that test against ATF, but what I'd probably love more is to find out what type industrial lube they're using. I'm convinced that the gun-oil market is such a small subset of the industrial lubrication market that there are no gun oils specifically developed for the gun market. Even our much beloved Alox, used for lubricating cast bullets, is simply an industrial preservative. You can buy it in 55 gallon drums and repackage it for retail sales, which is what everyone selling it does.

Alox reminds me of the "Grade 4" corrosion preventative we used on aircraft in the Navy to apply to bare metal.

The difference between something light like Remoil and something of such an obviously heavier weight is going to be significant. As Paw Paw said, I'd love to see them do a test comparing their product to ATF, something like a 75 weight gear oil and something really kick ass like 2190 TEP. I'm instantly suspicious of most new metal treatment products as a rule. What was that sutff a while back making the rounds? Bore Stinger? They were running 30,000 volts through tree sap and CLP in an "ancient native American metal seasoning secret process" or some bunk. Yeah, the Indians were producing and holding 30,000 volts for days at a time. Pull the other one.

PawPaw wrote:I'd love to see that test against ATF, but what I'd probably love more is to find out what type industrial lube they're using. I'm convinced that the gun-oil market is such a small subset of the industrial lubrication market that there are no gun oils specifically developed for the gun market. Even our much beloved Alox, used for lubricating cast bullets, is simply an industrial preservative. You can buy it in 55 gallon drums and repackage it for retail sales, which is what everyone selling it does.

I wonder that it might not have gone the other way, in the case of CLP. BreakFree sells an industrial product called PCL (which is great stuff, btw), I've often wondered if it's the same thing in a different package. PCL goes for $70 or so a gallon.

I wondered, watching the video--the can of CLP is labeled Winchester. Did they buy BreakFree?

Darrell wrote:I wondered, watching the video--the can of CLP is labeled Winchester. Did they buy BreakFree?

I notice that too, and I wonder who is selling Winchester labeled products. Winchester is no longer a company per se, but a labeling device. For example, FN owns the label for consumer firearms, Hodgdon owns the label for rifle powder, and I think that Olin owns the label for chemical products. Winchester (as we recognize the brand) no longer exists, except as a marketing tool.

PawPaw wrote:

Darrell wrote:I wondered, watching the video--the can of CLP is labeled Winchester. Did they buy BreakFree?

I notice that too, and I wonder who is selling Winchester labeled products. Winchester is no longer a company per se, but a labeling device. For example, FN owns the label for consumer firearms, Hodgdon owns the label for rifle powder, and I think that Olin owns the label for chemical products. Winchester (as we recognize the brand) no longer exists, except as a marketing tool.

Huh. Perhaps I had heard that before, or parts at least.

As noted in the Firearm Blog article, IGG is offering "free" samples of their product. You do have to pay shipping:

http://www.italiangungrease.com/index.p ... Itemid=444

Winchester has a long and varied history - the original company was bought by Olin in the 1930s on the 11th hour of bankruptcy.. In 1980, the company was sold(but not the name!)to it's employees, to form United States Repeating Arms corporation, who used the name "Winchester" under a licensing agreement.

PawPaw wrote:I notice that too, and I wonder who is selling Winchester labeled products. Winchester is no longer a company per se, but a labeling device. For example, FN owns the label for consumer firearms, Hodgdon owns the label for rifle powder, and I think that Olin owns the label for chemical products. Winchester (as we recognize the brand) no longer exists, except as a marketing tool.

HTRN wrote:Winchester has a long and varied history - the original company was bought by Olin in the 1930s on the 11th hour of bankruptcy.. In 1980, the company was sold(but not the name!)to it's employees, to form United States Repeating Arms corporation, who used the name "Winchester" under a licensing agreement.

Interesting division of purposes and products. I wonder who owns the name for purposes of resume writing and employment history embellishment

But on a serious note, and back to the original post, how does Italian Gun Grease compare to the Swiss Waffenfett or Automatenfett?

Darrell wrote:The talk of "filling pores" reminds me of claims made by Microlon and some other such products.

Do you have to season the bore by stuffing the rifle into the oven for 15 minutes? Can you just use Crisco and let it turn black with repeated use? Is there someone out there claiming that Flax oil is the best for seasoning?

How much of this is really black artistry and how much is snake oil salesmanship?

Has anyone actually used Microlon and what can they say about it?