Im VERY particular about cleaning my guns. I completely strip, clean and lubricate after every use, no matter how many rounds. I have used frog lube for years because of the convenience of not having to use harsh chemicals. I have always stored my guns in cases, and clean dry environments. Though i don't shoot as often as i would like, (certain none of us do) every gun is fired once every 3 months or so. Lately, I have been taking an extended break from shooting (BRD is all to real $$$) Just before going on this "break" I had purchased my first ever legitimate gun safe. (Storing that many guns in cases was getting impractical) Regardless, I loaded up the safe, guns lubed, cleaned and ready to be stored. Unfortunately, when i decided its been to long, roughly 4-6 months since some of the guns were cleaned, i figured i would take them out and give them a quick wipe down before the range this weekend. As i reach into the safe  i notice the first gun is a little sticky, i drop the magazine and cycle the slide to find the entire gun feels as if it was dipped in maple syrup and honey. I immediately start to strip the gun in shock to find that the inside is worse. One after one, i pull the guns out the safe to find the extended time between shooting, and new dry environment has COMPLETELY changed the properties of the lube. Though my daily carry remained perfectly lubricated and clean (Also not shot in months but exposed to air in the house) ALL guns in the safe were completely gunked up. Needless to say, the past few hours have been frustrating. This is not to bash frog lube, (used it for years with great results) but to caution people that plan on storing certain guns over extended periods of time. If i can save at least one of you from having to go through what i just did, it will have been worth typing this up. Luckily, i realized this now and not in an emergency when i need them to function, though i guess thats the whole point of the nightstand gun isn't it?

Froglube is a good product for shooting rifles often. At least once every couple months. However there are products that exist specifically for storage.

I wouldn't really call this a nightmare.

Why use a product that turns to sludge if you let it sit too long? Why not just use an oil that stays oil?

I have used Hoppes products or Remington oils for years and my father before me. His guns still look and shoot excellent.

I have been trying out Slip2000 to see if it really makes cleaning all the carbon off an AR easier than regular old gun oil. My guns other than the ARs get whatever gun oil I have laying around.

Do you use anything in the safe to keep it dry in there, like a heater/dehumidifier?
Depending on your environmental conditions (moisture) and chemicals (on the guns), a closed-up safe can cause havoc.
I would check to make sure the safe stays dry and at a constant temperature.

I only use frog lube on polymer pistols, HKs.

Slip 2000 for lube and on really bad stuff like .22 bolts and such I do a quick dip in the slip 2000 carbon cleaner. That stuff seems to work.

FYI froglube is " ALLEGEDLY" made from coconut oil. It's melting point is 76 degrees. I bet that is what you are seeing.
I just use either wd40 or CLP. they work.

It sounds to me like too much lube was applied when you were cleaning.

Had the same thing happen to me and realized I applied too much.  I stopped using Froglube after finding mold in my SBR.  The new FL formula isn't supposed to do that, but I now use Slip 2000 and sometimes G96 Gun Treatment.

LOL It's been pretty well known that froglube is garbage for a long time.  It's been also shown recently that it's just a bio based veggie oil of some kind, and it's physically bound by those properties, which you now have experienced.

Would have been better off spraying things down with WD-40, or any other mineral oil based oil (which most are) at least that way the varnish would be super easy to remove.



Well, now you know I guess.

Myth.

There is no such thing in the AR platform as too much oil.

This has been proven by Pat Rogers and Larry Vickers.

Run Mobil 1 motor oil and you will never have to be concerned again.

I don't disagree with Pat or Larry.  Wet is one thing, laying Froglube on so thick that when the carrier evaporates and leaves behind a gooey mess, is another.

I use a light amount of teflon based grease on the critical areas of my AR and have never had an issue out in the field, shooting 3-gun in the snow, or laying out in the desert shooting targets at 500 yards on a hot summer day.  I have also used Froglube on it but am not a huge fan as the product gets sticky when the carrier starts to evaporate.

I tried this Green Earth Technologies 5W-20 Full Synthetic

Not bad at all.

To use a biodegradable ( breaks down over time and/or due to environmental conditions) lube on firearms which you depend on to be 100% reliable is a poor choice, when in 2016, 100% synthetic options which are virtually impervious to the elements are available.

All this in the name of being "green" is laughable if it handicaps your weapons.

I've tried Frog Lube and FireClean and found them okay for frequent application and cleaning but in a short period of weeks they gummed up and created unwanted issues.

I'll only use 100% synthetics.

True with regular oil, but I think FrogLube can be over-applied.

I've been using Mobile-1 for a few years and I don't see any reason to switch.

I have an old Sig 229 that hasn't been shot in years. I take it out occasionally to clean up, rack the slide a few times and put away again.

I used FrogLube on the Sig after reading all the praise of it and being unhappy with the previous lube I used for years. I followed the instructions of heating and applying etc.

All seemed well until I took out the Sig after 6 months or so of not touching it. Like the OP, the Sig was completely gummed up. I did a tear down and sprayed it out with a cleaner/degreaser a few times to remove all the old Frog Lube. I re-lubed it with SLIP 2000 and TW-25 grease. Many months later I checked it out and the SLIP and TW25 was still doing a great job. It's all I use these days with great results....

2000 carbon cleaner is excellent and reusable. I use it often on caked baffle stacks and works better than anything I have ever used.

This is what Froglube does. It has also turned rancid and into a nasty brown smelly mess. It used to grow algae at times, but they added something to stop that.

Use something that isn't the latest, "well it was designed by a seal..." BS marketing scheme.
You should be able to lube your rifle and still have it at lease not a gooey mess six months later. Use some Breakfree LP, or Tetra, or TW-25B, or Shooter's Choice, or SLIP 2000. For just storage Rem Oil, or even mineral oil (Hoppe's #9 in the orange bottle) will work.

I wouldn't overthink this.

Hoppes #9 and traditional guns oils have worked well for years. Look at how many old guns are around and still in awesome condition after 75-100 years.

I am using up the last of my sample bottles of gun oil that I have. I have been trying the SLIP2000 oil on my ARs and it works good. I really don't see any difference between SLIP2000, Hoppe's or Birchwood-Casey oils except maybe SLIP2000 lasts longer but that is subjective.

I clean my guns after each range trip. I enjoy cleaning guns as much as shooting them. So any product will work well for me.

I had the same issue with Froglube when storing it. I found after storing it for as little as a week it would turn sluggish and often jams. If I freshly applied it all would be working great.

It wasn't until talking to a friend that I figured out what I was doing wrong. He had swore by this stuff and said he used it for a while. I was explaining about the problem and he told me that I had to heat it and let it settle for a while, then wipe everything off. I thought this idea was crazy but tried it on a rifle that malfunctioned before with froglube. I brushed froglube paste all over the gun, let it sit next to a heating lamp for 10 minutes, then completely wiped everything off so it looks like nothing is there. I found it worked like magic. You can store it one month, two months, three or more and it would work like the day you put it on. I took back everything bad I said about it and when I read about other people's problems with it, I find they use it similarly to what I had done before or they blasted it with heat like from a glue removing gun and completely burnt it off.

There's nothing wrong with Breakfree though. I recall back in the day when I used Breakfree the rifle would work no matter how long I stored it or how much I put on it. With that said, if you find using Breakfree good, I don't recommend changing the formula unless you want something green and non-toxic in your house. I decided years ago to try and minimize the amount of toxic chemicals I have in the house and figured I'd try with gunlube.

You can't use too much lube. Unless you're using something that's not lube. Like Froglube.

Correct. Froglube has confusing advertisement. They say you can apply froglube to run the gun wet but what they don't tell you is that you should only do this at the range then afterwards clean it off or otherwise it's going to turn into tar.

Froglube is a metal treatment. The problem is how they word this. They call it "seasoning" but what they really mean is you apply a treatment, let it absorb, then remove the excess. Also I hate how people use heat on it or how they completely take apart every piece of their guns then soak it in froglube. It's crazy because honestly you don't need to do this. Common sense should tell you if you have to use a blowtorch and disassemble every single piece of a firearm just to lube it that it's probably something off about you.

Honestly froglube should do a better job at providing a better description of their product. I recall reading their page and seeing a small tiny bit that says you should degrease and reapply after storage but they don't really put that out there. I guess they are marketing to people who do high volume shooting who might not store their guns. For myself, and probably a lot of other people on this forum, I don't shoot that often. My rifles spend most of their lives in storage.

Gunked up my rifle that sat for a little over a year. Bcg felt like spilled candle wax

Froglube is a cooking product. It is not lube.

And this is why I use proven lubricants and solvents.

On the other hand if he is using a rod heater it might be too dry and too warm .

I also prefer just old fashioned CLP . Out of all the long term tests I have seen it generally ranks up near the top for long term rust prevention and that is the top thing for me
Some claim it doesn't hold up as well as other products with heavy shooting use but I can always add a bit more at the range if the gun goes dry . Any gun I count on for self protection gets looked over every couple of days

+1 @ CLP.  I use CLP for everything except bearing surfaces on my doubles - those get high pressure wheel bearing grease.  It's a very good 'middle of the road' lube.  If you really shoot a lot buy it by the gallon.  If you believe the print from Uncle Sam it's good down to -35.  I realize some of the US will see this a few times a year but most of us won't actually be out hunting in it.

If you are - first, sorry.  Second, there are more specialized lubricants for those environments.

Are you guus talking about BreakFree?

Froglube has a CLP product as well.

Generally when someone mentions CLP they're referring to Breakfree, which used to have the contract for the mil-spec CLP product.

These bio-based lubes seem to work well when initially applied, but over time in storage go rancid / oxidize with the air to form a gummy mess. Huge liability IMO especially if you're in a job where you need your firearms every day.

Breakfree, M-pro7, Weapon Shield, G96, FP-10, all work great. If you're concerned about chemicals, M-Pro 7, WeaponShield and Ballistol claim to be non-toxic.

I cannot believe after all that has come out - there are still people that don't know Froglube is and always was a joke, and even worse, there are still people here buying into their snake oil bullshit.

Right?  All I can do is chuckle.

 

Hoppes #9 and some Breakfree CLP. No froglube, camel jizz or horse glue.

Lol, I used a cheap old can of universal machine/bicycle chain oil my dad had in the garage for the first two years I had an AR.  Worked fine.  When it ran out I bought some Hoppes and it works fine.

"+1 @ CLP. I use CLP for everything except bearing surfaces on my doubles - those get high pressure wheel bearing grease."

THANK YOU! I use nothing but wheel bearing grease on the barrel hook and rear lug surface where the bolt engages on my dbl guns. I hose the insides out with Ballistol and let them drip dry and they never ever rust inside. It's also an excellent rest preventative to wipe guns down with for long term storage. It turns into a very very light grease consistency, similar to but not as stiff as cosmoline, that stays on forever and is easy to wipe off. It's good for long term storage in bores also but needs to be cleaned or shot out when the gun is put back into service, especially in the chamber, where it can cause sticky extraction if you don't remove it. The Germans did good in inventing Ballistol. For cleaning any gun, the new kid on the street, Gunzilla, formulated and made by a family in Lansing, Michigan, seems an excellent product. I'd be interested in any experiences folks who have tried it have had with it. Seems to work very well for me. I like the Mobil-1 idea. I use it in all my vehicles and will try it on my AR's.

Froglubed gummed up my Sig so badly that I could pull the slide back with no mag and it would stay there.

I stopped using it after that.

I pulled a .380 out of the safe and carried it as CHL for 3 days in NOLA late last year.  Got back home and took it to the range next trip.  Firing pin was completely frozen up with Frog Lube muck. Would not fire at all until I soaked it in carb cleaner for a few days and then lubed again with Mobil1.
I will never use FL again nor grab a carry piece from the safe and not fully function test prior to carry.  Two lessons....thankfully not the hard way in my case.

This, stay away from fad shit.



 

Froglube wasn't even designed by a seal. More like marketed by a seal.

They took an existing product and changed its color. I fell for the marketing too and have since moved to slip products exclusively.


Here's where froglube buys their stuff:   http://www.tracklubeplus.com