Ballistol vs Hoppes 9 vs RemOil

What brand of oil do you use for guns AND knives?

  • KPL

  • Hoppes9

  • Ballistol

  • RemOil

  • 3-in-1

  • Liberal Tears (yes it's a real oil)

  • CLP

  • Other (explain yourself)

Results are only viewable after voting.
Synthetic motor oil for guns (or a 50/50 mix of synth oil and ATF), and mineral oil for knives.
 
Food grade mineral oil for knives.

Hoppe’s Benchrest Copper Sovent or Barnes solvent for guns, followed by Montana gun oil for barrels. Lucas Red’n Tacky No. 2 for bolt lugs, bolt on rifles and most pistol parts.
 
navman said:
I make the wife daub it on like perfume on date night.
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Hey! I just put a dab of Hoppes No 9 behind each ear! It drives the ladies wild! For knives I prefer liquid wax for folders. It doesn’t attract lint, dirt. Human grade mineral oil for carbon steel knives & especially cutting boards. Do not put olive oil on wood cutting boards. It can turn rancid & make you poop like a Goose…
 
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Hoppe's, Lucas Oil, and Rem Oil primarily on guns with mineral oil on knives that may be in contact with food.

They should make candles that smell like Hoppe's to light in the fall to bring in hunting season to offset the pumpkin spice everything.
 
Milspec CLP. Knife and firearm lube is more about where and how much. Any decent product will do the job. I don't worry much about the oil on my knife pivot contaminating my food.
 
Still my go to.

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Hoppes 9 for a solvent.

Break free CLP for lubricant and to wipe down after handling.

Lubriplate Food safe grease, it won’t run or stain clothesIMG_8900.jpeg
 
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I have always considered Gun Lube to be terrible knife lube. Always gums up the action of the knife, imo.

I use Benchmade Blue lube on folding knives. Works wonders and lasts longer than most, also doesn't collect a lot of dust and dirt. Ive had the same bottle for about 15 years but, it works so well its tough to beat. For my Autos I use Clipper Oil, seems to be light enough to keep the action smooth and not sticky.

I used Lucas (the blue stuff) on my guns for a long time but have recently switched to Slip 2000. I dont get to shoot my rifle a lot so I dont know if i will like the Slip 2000 on that but for my pistols it has been great. I have Glock performance triggers in all my Glocks and it it instantly made them smoother and less likely to get gritty after a few hundred rounds. Haven't tried it on knives yet 🤔
 
Cutty79 said:
Where in the world are people getting that gun oil will gum up the joints of a knife? That's not accurate at all in my experience.
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I believe it was hoppes that I had used that really slowed down the action, 3-in-1 and miniral oil can be even worse. The Lucas extreme was a bit better but nothing like the blue lube, blue lube is just thinner and smoother. I have used lots of oils to lubricate knives, I stick with the blue lube because I have yet to find better for a folding knifes action. Im open to try other oils but gun or car oils ain't it for me.
 
Jason B. said:
I believe it was hoppes that I had used that really slowed down the action, 3-in-1 and miniral oil can be even worse. The Lucas extreme was a bit better but nothing like the blue lube, blue lube is just thinner and smoother. I have used lots of oils to lubricate knives, I stick with the blue lube because I have yet to find better for a folding knifes action. Im open to try other oils but gun or car oils ain't it for me.
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In 3-in-1 it's seemingly the result of the small amount of citronella oil oxidizing and forming a varnish. Straight mineral oil is highly resistant to oxidative decomposition but can form varnishes over time from thermal and UV degradation.
 
No votes for Boeshield?! I’m a big fan of Ballistol, use mineral oil on carbon steel knives, but the Boeing engineers know what they’re doing with metal lube.IMG_0005.jpeg
 
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That's because WD-40 is basically mineral oil with hydrocarbon solvents of a few different grades in it and ~1% surfactant and a little fragrance/colorant.

The range of the hydrocarbons used is very broad and word is that it's because WD-40 Co. will vary the composition depending on supply chain price fluctuation. It's likely that between the broad range stated in the SDS and those source variations, the degree of refinement and impurity removal/isolation is fairly low. That is to say, the petrochemical fractions are probably a fairly "crude" stage of refinement, and this probably is responsible for varnish formation. When used as a water displacer that's unlikely to cause issues, but letting it sit and evaporate in larger volume is more likely to lead to circumstances that form varnishes. Varnish formation is the plague of many industries, and the mechanisms and circumstances that cause it are as varied as there are forms of cancer, but a lot of it comes down to oxygen and heat.
 
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