Best oil for preventing rust?

Hornady OneShot

Clp, three in one, hoppes etc

Eezox is one of the better rust preventers but it’s not a great lube and I like to use the same stuff all over so clp is my current choice.

Well.. most any random gun oil would be a better choice than WD-40. Nowhere to go but up.

I'll give you a better alternative. These are cheap and effective. Zerust VCI ziplock gun bags with wicks in the barrel.


Below are the wicks I refer to above, all my rifles get bagged and wicked down the barrel.

WD40 actually attracts water

Anything but WD-40.
My small package of Mobil 4 stroke oil for lawn mowers should last me a while...

Rust preventative choices. Corrosion-X, sprays on, easy to apply, kills any existing rust, lasts pretty well. Renaissance wax, harder to apply, but VERY long lasting protection even against salt water spray.

Most oils are actually pretty bad unless the surface is kept visibly wet, which causes it's own host of issues.

Many tests have been done, of the oils Mobile One or other synthetic is probably best.

Gibbs, small company, Amazon is your best bet but a great product.

Hornady One-Shot is one of the better products at preventing rust and leaving a very slick/good dry lubrication.

COMPREHENSIVE CORROSION TEST: 46 PRODUCTS COMPARED

Ichi said:

Hornady One-Shot is one of the better products at preventing rust and leaving a very slick/good dry lubrication.

COMPREHENSIVE CORROSION TEST: 46 PRODUCTS COMPARED

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I post that link about a dozen times a year

7.62willdo said:

WD40 actually attracts water

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What? Where did you get that? Is that why the WD stands for “water displacement”?

I'm not a chemist so I don't know the long term deal on lubricant's. I do know this... We used the living shit out of WD 40. Like I said we were only worried about the next four or five day's until extract but WD worked good except it had a smell that was noticeable. I still use it.

pineoak said:

What oil do you use to prevent rust on the outside?

Watching someone shoot my .22 T1X yesterday, I noticed the barrel is rusting in multiple spots. I wipe all guns down with a very light film of WD-40 after cleaning, but considering a different oil or method of care. Generally don't have an issue with my guns rusting at all until now (except for Rem 700 & 870)

Or maybe I just need to wipe them down after every shooting session. Given how much they're handled, maybe the oil is rubbed off in the case, handling, shooting, etc.

Thoughts?

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Many different answers above. Most I agree with, some I don't. Stay away from specialized rust preventatives. You don't want to deal with them after long term storage when they dry out and leave gummy residues over everything.

I will just say the biggest take away is to change your care routine. Keep in mind that a blued finish does not protect against rust, and may require more regular applications of oil. Despite what that "test" posted above says, your good with just about most oils, maintaining that thin coating of oil on your firearms is the key to keeping them rust free.

The problem with Youtube corrosion tests is that there are many of them and they often contradict each other.

There's a lot of things WD-40 is great at but rust prevention isn't one of them. WD-40 specialist dry lube works great however and leaves a dry film too if you want to stick to that brand. They have a corrision inhibitor in the specialist line that also works great but doesn't have the benefit of being dry like the dry lube.

I use mineral oil on most stuff now though. I started using it on my kitchen knives based on recommendation since its food safe, then started using it on all of my other knives and saw how well it does on high carbon blades that sit in sheathes, and started using it on everything else to prevent rust that I touch regularly. It's completely safe and food safe so it's one less then I have to worry about what chemicals my body are absorbing when I come in contact with it. So if you want to use one less thing that might give you cancer mineral oil would be my suggestion for guns.

A second vote for Renaissance wax. Doubly so if you have guns you leave sit for extended periods.

Not to turn this into a bash WD-40 thread, but here’s two lock cores. The one on the right is the after effects of having WD-40 used in it.

Project Farm did a test, and my vote is for Clenzoil. I used to use nothing but CLP and it has kept my rifles rust-free in storage for years. One rifle that I never touched for 10 years was rust-free when I took it out to inspect, and all I used was BF CLP.

I like to coat the outsides with Birchwood casey gun wax. Barrel, action, scope rings if steel and whatever else. Then any flavor of oil for everything else.

RIG, the best by far. Leaves a very fine film, never gets sticky or gummy. Rust Inhibiting Grease.

One dip and you’re done.

I use Lucas gun oil.
I use it on battery posts when I clean them or install a new battery, they stay corrosion free.
Kinda pricey for how much you get but works well.

Best external metal rust protectant I know of - lanolin based.

As for comment in OP; WD40 is a pretty horrible substance. Sure we use it to realease stuck thread, but otherwise it's far from a "general purpose" product like everyone seems to think.

If you can't get a lanolin based product A) just use any thicker gun oil or B) buy a sheep : )
A way better option that WD40.

Just IMO but we do deal with some expensive and complicated metal components and live on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Best wishes to everyone from SH for 2023

pineoak said:

What oil do you use to prevent rust on the outside?

Watching someone shoot my .22 T1X yesterday, I noticed the barrel is rusting in multiple spots. I wipe all guns down with a very light film of WD-40 after cleaning, but considering a different oil or method of care. Generally don't have an issue with my guns rusting at all until now (except for Rem 700 & 870)

Or maybe I just need to wipe them down after every shooting session. Given how much they're handled, maybe the oil is rubbed off in the case, handling, shooting, etc.

Thoughts?

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you leaving it outside? would be almost impossible for any rifle left in the house to rust. how are you storing them?

Buy a roll of VCI paper off Amazon. It should be around 70 bucks for a lifetime supply.

Put a wad of that stuff in the top of the safe. Switch it out every 6 months and never worry again.

And also NEVER use WD40 on guns. It isn't made for it and there are several problems associated with its use on guns.

RIG saved my guns in a high humidity problem.

Been working for 50 years.

BugIn

Birchwood Casey ‘Barricade’, formerly ‘Sheath’.
I have been using this over 40 years after finding out thatqwe WD40 dries and leaves a hard buildup.
Stored as well as operational firearms get s little blast, rub well over the firearm, spritz the barrel,
even after safe storage for a-few years, no rust!!!

Wipe down with CLP.

Store gun sock.

-Stan

Rust prevention depends a lot on where and how the firearms are stored. I live in a very dry area and some of the firearms in my collection have sat for 10+ years with nothing more than an initial wipe down before being put away. I don't use a heating rod in any of my safes because the humidity in them rarely rises above 40 percent.

I keep a few sheets of bullfrog rust blocker emitter shields in all of my safes and change them out once a year and have never had any rust issues. My father kept shotguns in the back of his closet in Wyoming and they were not used or cleaned for decades and when I looked at them after he passed, they still looked new. There seems to be new products that come out every year with some secret or revolutionary formula but, for the most part, they do the same thing. While I may use various options for running my firearms, when it comes to just wiping them down and putting them in the safe, I just use the same rem oil I have used since the 70s.

6.5SH said:

A second vote for Renaissance wax.

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I have a question for you all using Renaissance wax. I’ve never heard of using it in the bore, only on the outside wood and metal parts. Are you using it in the bore as well?

I picked some up last summer to use on a gun stock I was refinishing and I’m very impressed with it so far and started using it on my other guns as well. But I e never used it on the inside; for that I use Slip2000EWL.

KYAggie said:

I have a question for you all using Renaissance wax. I’ve never heard of using it in the bore, only on the outside wood and metal parts. Are you using it in the bore as well?

I picked some up last summer to use on a gun stock I was refinishing and I’m very impressed with it so far and started using it on my other guns as well. But I e never used it on the inside; for that I use Slip2000EWL.

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I use it on the exterior. If it was something I planned on not shooting; a museum piece, then I'd consider treating interior surfaces with it.
Not a fan of putting anything in the bore or chamber I can't dry patch out.

Been using clp for years but I am going to try Hornady one shot.

pineoak said:

What oil do you use to prevent rust on the outside?

Watching someone shoot my .22 T1X yesterday, I noticed the barrel is rusting in multiple spots. I wipe all guns down with a very light film of WD-40 after cleaning, but considering a different oil or method of care.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Do not use WD40!
Do not use it on precision instruments (micrometers, etc) either. Long term it will also turn to a varnish like coating.
CLP, Hoppes, Rem oil or even 3in1 oil.

Eezox works very well.
Elmer

Rob01 said:

I use Hornady One Shot all the time. Works to prevent rust and to lubricate. Great product.

Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner Lube Dyna Glide Plus 5-1/2oz Aerosol

Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner with Dyna Glide Plus reduces friction, cleans grit, grime, old oil and gunk from firearms, loaders and loading tools. It...

www.midwayusa.com

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Nice thing about One Shot is it doesn't leave a greasy film. It's probably one of the best all in one products out there.

Clenzoil.

With WD-40 I think the issue is that whatever they are using evaporates and leaves nothing behind as a barrier coating. To prevent rust long term it has to stay on the metal. I don’t think this is what WD-40 was designed to do.

pineoak said:

This rifle lives in a soft case as it goes to the range 3x a week.

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nice to see someone shooting regularly

still odd unless your case is absorbing moisture

wipe it down with a oiled rag (any oil will work really) after each range use. You'll be fine

Budrichard said:

Birchwood Casey ‘Barricade’, formerly ‘Sheath’.

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I've had good luck with G96.

I've used Renaissance Wax on metal parts that don't get hot - in humid environment, where everything rusts (yes, even inside a house), that stuff works. Will have to look into how it performs when the metal is hot.

As for formerly being acquainted with Sheaths, and now encountering a Barricade ... that bears a certain resemblance to my married sex life.

Right, carry on ...

best preventative is constant maintenance

nothing works as well

Dobermann said:

I've had good luck with G96.

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I love G96, it smells like my childhood. And a little bit like eggnog.

I swear "what works best" depends on the gun itself. In my basement reloading room everything rusts (or grows mold). All my presses are rusting, I have 50-60 sets of dies, 98% of them have rust on them. Yet there's three rifles in the corner for the last 15-20 years that I don't oil and they don't rust. ?? Yet some other guns upstairs in a safe full of desiccant, constantly checked and oiled, rust if you look at them the wrong way. Who knows.

I use a whole bunch of different oils and greases. I don't think there's any one right product or best product for every gun/finish. The last few years, for guns that will potentially get used in the rain and snow, I've been using Corrosion-X on them. No complaints, so I guess it's working.

Dobermann said:

I've had good luck with G96.

I've used Renaissance Wax on metal parts that don't get hot - in humid environment, where everything rusts (yes, even inside a house), that stuff works. Will have to look into how it performs when the metal is hot.

As for formerly being acquainted with Sheaths, and now encountering a Barricade ... that bears a certain resemblance to my married sex life.

Right, carry on ...

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I think I might be addicted to the smell of that stuff. I opened a new Colt once and there was this smell, it was unique and something I'd not smelled before. I figured out what it was and bought the stuff..........Not only does it smell good, it works well.

hkguns said:

I think I might be addicted to the smell of that stuff. I opened a new Colt once and there was this smell, it was unique and something I'd not smelled before. I figured out what it was and bought the stuff..........Not only does it smell good, it works well.

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I'm definitely addicted to the smell of G96.

Chris Bartocci jokes about possibly releasing a beard oil with the same smell. Never used beard oil in my life, but I'd be all over that like a rash ...

TW25B.

pineoak said:

This rifle lives in a soft case as it goes to the range 3x a week.

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Your soft case is most likely the problem. Soft cases are NOT for storage, they are for transport only. The foam and other polymer products in them can release caustic chemicals as they break down, causing sometimes pretty severe corrosion. This comes up on gun forums once in a while, and everyone is quick to jump in with promoting their favorite gun oil (usually for no reason other than "this is what I use, you should too!!!!"), but the soft cases are a definite issue. Store it in a safe, wooden cabinet, or even a carboard box.

Just about any of the decent gun oils are all the protection your firearm needs for storage. A number of them though can dry up and leave a varnish just like everyone warns about with WD40, if you leave enough of it on the steel. If you wipe it down well, even WD40 prevents rust well enough for the kind of storage intervals you're describing.

I've repeated that test Aftermath loves so much, several times, and not once has Hornady One Shot proven the best. CorrosionX has consistently given better results for me. The difference may be that I apply it like I would on my guns, not like they did for that test.

Budrichard said:

Birchwood Casey ‘Barricade’, formerly ‘Sheath’.
I have been using this over 40 years after finding out thatqwe WD40 dries and leaves a hard buildup.
Stored as well as operational firearms get s little blast, rub well over the firearm, spritz the barrel,
even after safe storage for a-few years, no rust!!!

Barricade® Rust Protection, 10 fl. oz. Aerosol

www.birchwoodcasey.com

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Absolutely. WD-40 will lacquer. I too have used Sheath/Barricade for a very long time and it works great.

Also like old fashion Rustprufe.

If you take just a bit of care and stay on top of it with of your guns, almost any good product will do…except WD-40.