TargetTalk

OK, so if TS301 isn't available, what other synthetic lubricants are safe for airgun o-rings, seals, etc?

Slip 2000?

Birchwood Casey Synthetic Gun Oil?

The B-C specifically says "synthetic." Neither say they contain petroleum distillates (petroleum distillates are bad, right?).

Want a lube to soak cleaning pellets and lube o-ring on "bolt"/loading area.

Steve Swartz

I'm curious: why is TSI 301 not available?

In any case, TSI 301 is not much of a lubricant, in that it is very thin and volatile. I think of it as a cleaner/lubricant rather than a lubricant per se. For lubricating all airguns, Randy Bimrose strongly recommends M-Pro-7 gun oil. He says it will not harm any seals or O-rings. Given the 1000s of airguns he has serviced over the years, I figure he knows what he's talking about.

Also, from my own limited experience, I have found that PURE silicone grease works well on O-rings. My chemist dad gave me a tube of lab-quality pure silicone stop-cock grease that I have used, for example, on my Steyr LP-1 O-rings since I bought it in the early 1990s. Still has the original seals (knock wood).

HTH,
FredB

I use Beeman Cleaner/Degreaser on the first pellet when cleaning my LP-10, which isn't all that often.

For O-ring lubrication I've been using a perfluorinated grease from Fomblin, synthetic, low vapor pressure lubricant for vacuum furnaces. It's kind to o-rings and not very flammable. Cost will rock yer socks though... $45 for 10 grams. Mine was a circular file rescue. If I didn't have this stuff, I'd use silicone based dielectric lubricant. You can get that at the auto parts store. I have no idea what these o-rings are made of. If they ever wear out, I'll probably replace them with viton. The originals have been through at least 15K pellets.

I'd stay away from gun cleaning solvents since there are purpose specific products for air guns as well as any liquid lubricant like gun oils, synthetic or not. One of the supposed reasons that the old springers needed cleaning was that small amounts of seal lubricant got blown into the bore on firing.

Larry

Don Nygord when he was alive just recommended that I used the silicone grease that diver's use on the O rings for the diver's gear. You don't need very much and they are readily available at any dive shop and you get the same silcone grease at any industrial lubricant shop.

Fred,

Can we assume that Hoppe's Elite Gun Oil is the same as M Pro-7? There cleaner and bore gel is the same.

Misny wrote:Fred,
Can we assume that Hoppe's Elite Gun Oil is the same as M Pro-7? There cleaner and bore gel is the same.

If you are saying that M Pro-7 cleaner and bore gel are the same products as Hoppe's Elite cleaner and bore gel, I didn't know that. I suppose you'd have to ask M Pro-7 or Hoppe's if the same is true for the two gun oils.

I do know that Hoppe's Elite cleaner and Hoppe's Elite bore gel are basically the same product, with the bore gel just being somewhat thicker. Is that possibly what you are saying?

In any case, I'm no expert on this topic, but I figured Randy Bimrose is.

HTH,
FredB

randy8745 wrote:Don Nygord when he was alive just recommended that I used the silicone grease that diver's use on the O rings for the diver's gear. You don't need very much and they are readily available at any dive shop and you get the same silcone grease at any industrial lubricant shop.

Randy,

I used some Silicone O-ring grrease from my local dive shop and the threads on my daughters Anschutz 2002 galled up.

Steve Moore at 10-Ring said to use TW25

I use a silicon lub that is supplied in small white tubes by Pardini. It is somehwhat thick, clear, and flows well. I use it as an all purpose general airgun lube.

I would not consider any automotive/electronic product unless I saw the formula. And, that won't happen as they are propietary! Put the wrong stuff on an o-ring and you can sit there and watch it swell.

The stuff from my dive shop came in a small white container. Just says Silicone O-Ring Grease and has an address in Colorado Springs on it.

I don't know that it is the root cause of the problem, just that the problem coincided with the use of the silicone grease.