CQB OPS
1911 Weapon System Resource

"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter." - E. Hemingway, 1936

Lubrication

If there is one piece of advise that I could pass along to a budding 1911 operator, that piece of advise would be to keep your 1911 clean, lubricated and ready for a gunfight of any duration. The 1911 is the ultimate John Browning classic pistol design based on full length frame rails that require plenty of lubrication to run properly. The plastic wonder guns have changed the frame rail engagement to small tabs or a short, single frame rail on each side of the frame to minimize the bearing surfaces between the slide and frame. As a result, these newer designs do not require anywhere near the lubrication that a 1911 does. Your 1911 needs oil... live with it!

Just about every major player in the 1911 arena has their own take of how a 1911 should be lubricated. I've come to learn that there is no best way to lubricate a 1911. Don't listen to the guy that tells you his lube system is the best and you should do it his way- he's a buffoon. When it comes to lubricating a 1911 there is more than one way to skin a cat. I've come to find out that solid 1911 operators tinker with lubes and find out what works best for them in their specific gun/environment/task. 1911 pistols can vary from an extremely loose slide to frame fit to a bank vault, ball bearing smooth hand lapped system. Different guns require different attention when it comes to lubrication. Some of the top 1911 guys only use oil- lots of it, some prefer one drop on the slide rails and barrel, some have a special mixture of lubricant they make out of synthetic motor oil, gun oil, etc. Others have settled on one of the great weapon lubricants out there like Machine Gunners Lube®, Slip 2000 EWL®, Militec-1®, Mil-Comm TW-25B®, Wilson Ultima-Lube II®, Eezox®, CLP®, Tetra® Gun, Shooter's Choice FP-10® and the list goes on and on.

I too have have settled on what works well for me at this time. I am currently using Sprinco's Machine Gunners Lube®. This lubricant has properties that, according to the manufacturer, allow the lubricant to stay resident on your gun longer in all types of temperatures. The following is the description of the lubricant that is provided on the Springco website. Machine Gunners Lube also appears to be sold via the 10-8 Performance website as a privately labeled lubricant called 10-8 Lube®.

"Unique to Machine Gunners Lube™ is a proprietary re-micronized (0.3 micron) inhibited Molybdenum Disulfide (MOS2) component in colloidal suspension. In layman's terms, this means that the particles remain suspended within the lubricant, and do not segregate to the bottom of the container. Our inhibited MOS2 is specifically modified to retard, rather than induce corrosion. This moly component allows for a solid lubrication barrier in conjunction with the hydraulic lubrication afforded by the host synthetic lubricant. The re-micronized particles are small enough to penetrate the molecular lattice structure of the carbon, stainless, or chromium plated steel working surfaces of the weapon, where they are released under the heat of use to maintain the initial solid or "boundary" lubrication layer. No other moly additives on the market contain particles this small, nor do they share the unique ability to remain in colloidal suspension. Our proprietary manufacturing process allows the uniform distribution of the re-micronized MOS2 both within and upon the lubricated surfaces of the weapon. This ability provides a further advantage over other gun oils in the form of lubrication retention when the host / hydraulic lubricant is removed by mechanical, chemical, or environmental means. Basically, the weapon is still protected and has a functional advantage even when appearing "dry". The melting point of the MOS2 component is in excess of +2700°F" - All information © Copyright 2011 Sprinco USA.