Lubrication Of Sig Sauer Pistol Rails
This article is about what I personally recommend for lubricating Sig Sauer pistols.



I have different methods for lubricating other guns, but this article is focused on the Sig Sauer pistols.
My philosophy: If metal rubs metal, it needs grease between the parts.
We lubricate guns simply to allow the parts that rub on one another to move smoothly. Modern combat handguns are not intended to be run without lubrication. One of our customers made this mistake recently and is now spending a lot of additional money to get his gun in working order after degreasing his gun and dry firing 1,000 times after it came back from Grayguns.
Application of grease:



I had an empty “Shooter’s Choice” syringe sitting around so I filled it with my favorite grease. Any method of application will work just fine. I use about half-ounce of grease a day while working on guns. I was in need of a way to keep grease readily available without having to unscrew the top of a jar or bottle and I found the syringe to work perfectly for me. What I like best about the syringe is that I can put the grease directly where I want it, such as inside certain springs and the corners of frame rails.
Product options:



Any gun-grade grease will do the trick. I personally prefer to use Brian Enos’ Slide Glide, Shooter’s Choice grease including a cool syringe for later use or Lubriplate found at Brownells.com. The grease in the following pictures is a lithium/moly-based grease that I’m experimenting with, details available soon.
I’ve applied most of the grease to the underside of the frame rail completely filling the top inside corner. This is critical along the length of the rails because most of the force of recoil lifts the slide and applies force backward and upward against the underside of the frame rails.
Notice how there is a greater amount of grease near the muzzle end of the gun than at the rear. This is intentional. There is only so much space in the tolerance of the pistol for lubrication to reside. Since the slide goes on back to front it’ll push the remaining grease to the back of the frame and bunch it up on the back of the slide when the slide it closed.
You can see that I didn’t use as much grease on the side of the rails as I did on the underside, this is purely because it’s not generally necessary.



The top also gets a layer of grease to protect against galling and excess friction. Grease should be applied to the pistol's internals as well.
Different mission, different approach:



For my every day carry (EDC) I grease the rails, put the slide on, run the action a couple of times, remove the slide then wipe the rails off to remove the large amount of bulk. I leave the grease on the under side of the rails alone when I wipe them off, the slide normally holds enough grease to keep things running.
For an EDC, remember your gun goes everywhere you do and is exposed to everything you are, hot, cold, humidity, dust, taco shells from that ill advised taco you ate while trying to talk on your cell phone while driving last week….everything. So if you have grease squirting out of every crevasse on the gun, you’ll be attracting the general detritus of every day life into your gun. Generally, that crap doesn’t generally make it in far enough to do any kind of damage unless you’re irresponsible enough to never clean your carry gun.
For open carry EDC for law enforcement, you gotta start thinking a bit more. I’ve had a couple of cops bring me their duty pistols for work and I’ve been astonished at what I’ve found. When I cocked the hammer of one of them, I found three pieces off bitten of finger nail and a corner of plastic from a plastic ketchup packet….I mean WTF MAN! Clean your freaking gun.
I asked how long it had been since he last cleaned it and he told me it had been a couple years, “I hardly ever use it, I figured it was still pretty clean” was his excuse. His gun was absolutely bone dry, I actually found dust on the frame rails as opposed to lube.
That brings me to another subject, cleaning. Here’s what I recommend.
Competition:



Clean it after every 200 to 400 rounds. Most of the time a big match or a day of shooting will be enough of a work out that your gun will need cleaning.
EDC with frequent use including open carry:



Clean it after every time you use it. If you’re going to depend on that gun to save your life, you want it to work the first time you pull the trigger, so keep it clean and lubed.
EDC with little to no use:



Clean your gun at least once a month. More of the same of your gun being needed to save your life. Even without use, your gun needs to be cleaned and relubricated, so give it a quick bath and make sure it’s ready when you need it. There are 720 hours in a 30 day month, I think you can afford to spend 1/720 of a month cleaning your gun every month, it’s cheap insurance.








 

It's been a while since this has been up and I think that it has been archived, so I figured I'd redo it.



Important things can never be discussed too much after all.



Below is one of my favorite pistol lube greases.



Magnalube-G is cheap, effective, contains Teflon, comes in a convenient

applicator tube, and can be ordered in obnoxiously large quantities.






LINK to their online store:

Oh, and here is a link to the original article: LINK





 

I always appreciated that lube article. From Grayguns right?

That it is. I included a link to the original article in my second post.




 

Tack!!

Did you ever get a chance to post that second article about your recommendations for lubricating the rest of the sig?  If so, can you edit this post to add the info.

Is Magnalube still giving out free samples?  Got a tube last year with that, should last me another 5 or 10.

Friend of mine makes fun of me for how much grease I use. I find myself slathering Slide Glide all up and down and inside.

Very good article.  Thank you for re-posting.  

They charge shipping for the sample now.

I love the stuff until it starts getting cold.  Since my handguns might have to stay in the vehicle they need lighter lube in winter.

I never apply grease, just good amounts of CLP.
What am I missing here?

For years I have been using common and inexpensive automotive grease to lubricate all of my firearms.  I typically use a high temperature lithium complex grease with a GC-LB rating.  I began this practice after I made a discovery.  I am a professional in the transportation industry.  One of my former customers is a major supplier of petroleum products and lubricants.   I discovered that the customer was supplying several companies with inexpensive automotive grease which was then repackaged as "gun" grease which was then sold at a much higher price.  Don't be fooled folks.  You can spend a lot of money for few ounces of a "gun" lubricant, or you can spend less that $4.00 for a 14 ounce tube of the same stuff labeled "high temperature automotive grease", and you will have enough grease on hand to lubricate a large number of firearms and last a good long while.  Like I said, I've used it for years.  I own and shoot a variety of handguns and rifles.  The wear on my firearms is very favorable with less than average wear showing when compared to similar firearms of my peers.  Give it a try.

If you're unsure what to look for, ask for red high temperature grease.

CLP or another oil is good to use on the internals though. Grease is better for the rails.





 

can you tell us about the internal oiling spots?

Great post.

Thanks



 

Why is this not tacked?

Woot! Thanks for the tack!







Probably should add this one to the list too.






http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=5&f=14&t=86894





 

 












 

I run a minimal amount of CLP on my rails and inside the slide.  The problem I have with too much oil is the amount of lint the gun picks up when carried under a shirt every day.  I have over 20K through my P229 and haven't run into and issues yet, but I think I may give some grease on the rails a try.  Good post.

Tetra grease comes in a nice small tube with a small diameter applicator tip.  I really like the feel of this grease, super slick but stays where you put it.

So far I like the Tetra grease as well, and for the same reasons oldbones just listed.



 

Max, what's your take on TW25B?

I know of a couple people that use it religiously, and it seems to work well for them.

Elaborate experience with large amount of SIG's has resulted in teaching others "the only way to get a SIG to not perform is failing to lube the rails"

Have seen it over and over.  Quick check is easy. If you can't visibly see lube (your choice of lube) it's not enough.

If you have failures check the rails.

Old thread brought back to life . I quit using Tetra because after time it seperates . Even the oil would get kind of chunky . I called Tetra and they said throw it out and buy new .

+1

been packing over 20+yrs.
Clean with  CLP   ( Not much of it )

No problems with any of my handguns  even  P229 that I bought in the mid/  late 90`s

TW25B is good stuff
I used it on my M4  just to check out my free sample


TW25B would be great for   crossing rivers / swiming etc  Navy Seal work

if you have several sigs and keep them loaded up––how long will the grease in the slide rails last in between firing?

I carry 24/7 and keep my sig loaded with 1 in chamber

I have to clean my SIG P229 every single week!!
Thats  even when I aint shooting.

Lint dust gets all over my P229 while IWB carry

Add grease like above.  No Thanks!

I have a bunch of M1 Garand grease pots. What's everyones take on using that kind of grease on a sig?
I also have magnalube...which is better?

Link for ease of viewing

Thanks.

double tap

Enough-you can conduct yourself with some decorum here, or your access to this tech forum will be removed-Dog1

Because some people cannot leave the General Discussion mentality in GD.