Synthetic vs Petroleum Gun Oil
Is there any advantage in one over the other? There are so many different oils to choose from it is hard to know which one is best. I'm sure some oils can become "gummy".
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Products designed for firearms should not become "gummy" under any sort of normal use.
Frankly, under normal use I doubt you'd ever notice any functional difference between a good synthetic and a good petroleum based gun oil, let alone a significant one.
I think you're probably going to have to really start stressing the systems before you start to see functional differences, eg: running hundreds or thousands of rounds in a row at full-auto rate of fire, not cleaning or doing routine maintenance, etc.
In terms of which one to use, everybody has their own personal favorite, and its not always because the individual in question has actually done blinded testing of different gun oils on their personal weapons systems!
Personally, I just use CLP-breakfree on all my guns. Why? Its readily available, relatively inexpensive, it seems to work fine, and I figure that the US military spent millions of dollars testing it and wouldn't use it if it really "sucked". Its probably not the "best" product out there, but its certainly been "good enough" for me over the years, and I haven't noticed it working any worse than several other products I've tried.
Some people swear by high viscosity synthetic motor oil as a great and relatively inexpensive gun oil, under the logic that if these products can handle the temperature on the inside of a race car engine at 7000 rpm for a few hours, they ought to be OK for "just" a gun!
Edit, responding to below:
Agreeing 100% with Perry Shooter, WD-40 was never designed nor intended for use as a firearm lubricant. The product was intended to prevent rust. (IE the "WD" stands for "water displacement").
Lots of "bubbas" do use it on their guns, but really, its just not meant as a gun lube, it WILL get sticky with time, and there are many far better products out there. The best use for WD-40 on guns is if your gun gets wet or you're in a really humid place as an immediate stop-measure to prevent or retard rust. As a lubricant. . .no.
If you need a cheap gun lubricant available anywhere and do NOT want to go with Mobil-1 or a similar synthetic motor oil, ordinary 3-in-1 oil (ie the stuff you use for door hinges or sewing machines) is basically a light machine oil that will work on guns too.
In terms of petroleum/non petroleum, again, maybe its not the "best" product out there, but Rem-oil is petroleum based, designed for and works perfectly well on guns. It doesn't gum up and lots of people swear by it. Hoppes #9 lubricating oil is another one that is also petroleum based, widely popular, and doesn't gum up.
As a minor aside, here's some interesting reading of something like a controlled test for rust protection (NOT lubrication):
http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html0 -
You can get into trouble when you mix products that are not compatible with each other Lets say you are caught in a rain storm you get home and spray down your firearm with Wd-40 then the next day you clean and then re-oil with a petroleum base oil . Some oils and WD40 form Glue I use wd40 for many items BUT never GUNS . I have a friend that used this for long term storage we had to remove stocks on his 10 Browning SUPERPOSED and use a hair dryer to get them open./. I use Ballistol and FP10 you have to find what products work for you. Some cleaners if left on a firearm will actually etch the Bore. Anything with ammoni in it will. 0 -
LISTEN to Perry Shooter !
Don't mix different brands of product. They just turn into glue.0 -
Keep hearing bad things about WD40. Used it for years before I knew there were better products but never had a problem with it. Breakfree is my current choice and I use Breakfree Collector for long term storage. Still need to check guns out at least yearly if not more ofen just to make sure the demon rust has not came back to haunt me. 0 -
Here in WI virtually every customer who came into my gun store during deer season because their rifle misfired had used a petroleum based oil which in cold weather gummed up their action or firing pin. We would degrease them and use a small amount of light synthetic lubricant which always cured the problem. Nowadays with temperatures above 30 during deer season, it probably doesn't matter. 0 -
Guns don't have oil pans, oil pumps, or oil filters.
What is on the working surfaces is all there is.
A lot of different lubricants will work quite well
as long as you clean the gun and apply the lube.0 -
As Joel said, but here in MN (and Wisc)where it gets COLD, the issue , espec, for auto loaders is the petroleum lubes get thick and will slow down an action enough to jamb /not feed. Had a Beretta 390 that I got good at closing the action between shots. Called company and their recomm. was Break Free, Tri Flo or any synthetic lube. Used Break Free, left it outside -15 and no misfeeds again. 0 -
No argument with any of the above but would add the following regarding WD-40 and it's use as a rust preventative.
Years ago I ran some informal tests coating common nails with various rust preventatives and lubricants, leaving them outside, and making daily observations of how well each slowed the formation of rust. The only thing worse than the WD-40 was the nail that I left bare as a control. I still use it occasionally to clean things up around the house, but don't count on it as a rust preventative or (as already mentioned) a lubricant.0 -
For wiping down a gun...I just use a little Mineral Oil. When using a gun I will use a little Solvent in the barrel to clean and a little on any moving parts. For long term storage...I use a light grease called "RIG". Hoppe's makes a "premium" gun oil that I have used as well. Frankly, I have used over the years WD 40 from time to time with never a problem! Simple rule is NEVER put a gun that is wet into a case! if you wipe it down first with ANY OIL you will eliminate rust...KEEP MOISTURE FROM THE GUN as much as possible!In the field, I always have a rag handy with some kind of oil on it! In over 60 years I have never had a gun rust...except for ONE...STUPID ME! Apparently, I put a nice Model 94 in a case once that was wet...LESSON LEARNED!!!! 
:( ALSO...WIPE off Blood from any gun...This can do the WORST damage!0
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