One last little trick i use when tuning with the old fashioned JM lubes is applying tar to the mainspring. I’ve seen springs covered with moly, springs tht have apparently been oiled, and springs ridiculously coated with black tar. I use black tar on my springs. I was once told to apply black tar with my index finger, and apply enough to make it stringy between the coils. In my humble opinion, that seems a bit too much. So this is my method. Your mileage may very. Anywoo,.....i put on a pair of nitrile gloves, and out a peanut sized dab of tar on one hand and carefully spread the tar by rubbing my hands together much like washing the palms of your hands with soap. Then i pick up the spring and simply coat the spring with the tarred up gloves to the point that it is evenly spread and more of a thin coating on the coils and in between the coils. No stinging of tar. Just enough to make the spring look powder coated or painted i suppose. I end up wasting more tar on the gloves, but tar isnt that expensive, so I can live with the loss. Then i pull the gloves off and throw in the trash. Alot less messy too. Often times i use nitrile gloves when reinstalling the spring in the action just to avoid getting my hands dirty.
Tar on mainsprings is passe...everyone stopped using it, after its otherwise great damping effect starting slowing speed too much. As pointed out, while its operating temp is safe in regard of detonation, it still has the ability to thicken/thin out dependent on the ambient temp which will impact POI.Vmach sprays on a fine film of gearbox grease, as does SFS. With the finest of coating it is not impacted by the temperature issue so much, but I suspect it is still a slight issue. However, i have a new one for you which I tested for Tony Leach under lab conditions.Its Napier shotgun slide grease. Proven to not flash over, it is a white soap free (none drying) Lithium which does not thicken, or thin out due to temp. Just a smear over the mainspring and bearing point. I am going to test some Krytox soon....pricey stuff if you have a few guns to maintain, and a liking to go inside routinely, but it does look good.
Hector, I am kind of glad you found the Krytox better...it might push me on to bother trying it now...Still think the Napier is worth considering. I know that O ring seals can really push the margin for dieseling, so that is quite an acid test you gave it. I never experienced any in with Leather, or Synthetic parachute seals.Its white, nice and clean just plain nice to use....and works beautifully on cocking slot slides....its intended use and as such, a one lube for all the bits....so i gave it an 8 out of 10 versus a 7 out of 10 for moly in my experiments..
Quote from: clarky on February 27, 2021, 06:58:37 PMHector, I am kind of glad you found the Krytox better...it might push me on to bother trying it now...Still think the Napier is worth considering. I know that O ring seals can really push the margin for dieseling, so that is quite an acid test you gave it. I never experienced any in with Leather, or Synthetic parachute seals.Its white, nice and clean just plain nice to use....and works beautifully on cocking slot slides....its intended use and as such, a one lube for all the bits....so i gave it an 8 out of 10 versus a 7 out of 10 for moly in my experiments..In that, you are quite right, but the gunsmith needs to polish the slots and the linkages/arms/shoes very well for it to work.IF the gunsmith takes the trouble to do it, then yes, it works marvelously.Thanks for the recommendation, it is one more of the "fine" points in a good tune.;-)Keep well and shoot straight!HM
I have 4 or 5 rifles that are 100% ultimox lubricated. If I choose to use Ultimox in a rifle, I will use it exclusively as not to mix petro lubes at all with the PTFE lube. I find it easier to keep track of what a particular gun needs in the way of lubrication maintenance considering that once a ptfe lube is used it is difficult to go back to petro based chemicals. I have only used ultimox on a leather sealed rifle one time. I thoroughly cleaned an Anschutz 335 and used ultimox on the leather seal and all friction points in and on the rifle. The leather piston seal quickly came apart like a cheap suit. This was my one and only experiment with ultimox and leather so I do not know weather it was the ultimox or other circumstances that destroyed the seal in short order but the seal did in fact fail quickly. The rifle was new to me and showed previous neglect so probably not a fair test but the only one I have. Recently, we had two week of extreme cold and along with the zero type temperatures came snow. When the ground is frozen or covered with snow the starlings show up in great numbers and aggressively dominate the suet cakes I use to feed native birds and mainly my favorite, the bluebird. I took advantage of this situation to eradicate many of the pest birds that compete with our native species. During this 10-12 day stent of sub freezing temperatures, I used several different springers for the task. Point of impact could vary drastically with a couple rifles lubed with moly even as close as ten meters. The rifles I’ve lubed with ultimox were MUCH more consistent in the frigid temps. It has made me rethink my use of moly mixed with STP. The only reason I haven’t used ultimox on all my rifles is that I tend to sell off some of my collection from time to time and we all know that a rifle once properly lubed with ptfe lube should remain so unless you care to buy and use a very expensive chemical to remove the ptfe compound. A bit of a conundrum if you ask me. A love hate situation me thinks. I need a sticker that warns “this rifle is lubricated with PTFE type lubes”! Anyway, interesting discussion.
Interested in your thoughts of the old SM50 lube since it is now been found to not contain silicone ..
Your a clever boy H.
Mum would say that I am irremediably, insatiably, relentlessly, irreverently, too-much-for-my-own-good, curious.;-)THANKS, keep well and shoot straight!HM