You won't need much. It stays on and works for a long time.

I've been using the same bottle of Black Rifle Balm for over two years now and I'm the sort that cleans after almost every time I go shooting.  I'm almost at the point where the applicator brush can't reach anymore (they never seem to be long enough on any container that includes them).  I've also been using the same little tub of Bolt Balm for about a year and a half.

I've been using the Black Rifle Balm on my Hi Powers and I'm loving it.  I use ALG Go-Juice on a couple of spots where I want the lube to flow, but every other spot that needs to be lubed gets the Black Rifle Balm.

I put the black rifle balm on all my Glocks.

Still waiting for something like a tracking number or a response to my email, CherryBalmz.

Yuuup. Same here.

Black Rifle Balm is my go to.

Rimfire for rimfires

I ordered Sunday. Shipped Tuesday and should be here tomorrow.

Thanks man!! PM inbound.

Got my CB and lubed up a few guns. I'm sure it'll work fine, but I'd rate it a solid "meh" so far.

The grease is...a lightweight grease. Maybe it seems novel if you've never used grease on your guns. Outside of the color/scent difference, M-Pro 7 grease seems a comparable product at a lower cost with a better applicator.

The CB bottle is dumb. I won't ever be able to get all the grease out of it. I'd prefer an open tub or the plunger like M-Pro 7 has...either way, you can use all the product you paid for. (ETA: The CB Bolt Balm tub is great. Wish they all came like that.)

The "rack the slide" test didn't reveal any difference in slickness, lubricity, etc. I think it will perform exactly the same as M-Pro 7 grease. Both are lightweight and stay where you put them.

ETA: I guess the M-Pro 7 could be considered more expensive if you take advantage of the CB "5 for 2" deal. So throw price out the window... it probably comes down to personal preference with regard to packaging and scent.

Replaced my Slip2K with CB on the Glocks. Seems slippery for a grease but I’ll see how it does in the sandbox here. I’m worried about attracting more dirt particles increasing wear.

4 days waiting?  Fucking lucky man!

at week 6 on a pvs30  Any day now!  maybe, I hope

Was given a bunch of CB bottles as swag for sponsoring Cola, tossed them in a bin and didn't look at it for another year.  Was having lube issues with my 300s and suppressed before a class, gave it a chance on the recommendation of another Cola, did the trick.  Now its all I use on evil black things, spinny things and even my fancy AI powered 1050.  I liked it so much I now even stock it.

Only 6 weeks waiting?  Look at Mister Gotta-Have-It-Next-Day here.  

I’m at week 14 waiting for a pair of ARC magazines, and about the same time waiting for a pair of barreled Nucleus actions.

That shit will be titties when it finally arrives, though.

This fucking Cherry Balmz (would John Wayne ever say that name...?) better be the same.  

I remember, at CWW 1, when CB came on as a sponsor, there was a healthy dose of skepticism, and a lot of folks had an "I want to see how this works out on a recreational rifle before I try it on my duty/competition/class rifle."  Over time, more and more Cola warriors had good results with it, and gained confidence in the Black Rifle Balm as it was put to use, and more and more went to using it near exclusively, even on those more important rifles, even the ones that the shooter's life might depend on.  Cola Warriors, in my experience, don't pimp the CB because of sponsorship, but because we have tried it in, at the very least, moon dust/desert sand/swamp mud/flooded terrain, and at most, in harsh war zones, and have found that it does an excellent job.

This is my favorite.

Military uses TW25B in the M61A1.  It is good enough for the 20mm @ 6k rounds per minute then it's good enough for my semi autos.

Just received mine today. Took a while but as it's a free sample I'm okay with it.

Funny you mentioned that, when I first saw Dallas standing by a tailgate offering to clean and lube peoples rifles, I avoided walking nearby because I didn't want someone slinging some shit on my rifle.

Cut to later that night I end up standing near him and overhear him talking, and this dude is a fuckin lubrication genius. So after observing for a bit, I decided to watch him strip, clean, and lube a rifle. After that I was pretty convinced I was going to give it a try. So I went and grabbed my rifle and watched him apply this stuff to my bcg, and I finally learned how and where to properly lube a bcg without just smearing or spraying lube all over the bcg. I did my run the next morning and everything went great.

Over the next couple days I spent hours talking with Dallas about all kinds of shit. He's an awesome dude and never set off my BS meter once. His product is amazing and it's all I've used for 2 years now.

His Cold War stories are great too.

I had him lube up my fake knee. No more squeaking and smooth as glass.

No response.  Emailed two days ago, just tried FB.

Same thing that happened to me. They gave Rusted Ace a bunch to hand out. I was like WTF is this stuff. Didn't touch it for about a year. Wingnut put some in my glock at East.  I was like oh this stuff is pretty cool. Started putting it on my suppressed SBR that would gum up like crazy with CLP. Now I don't have issues with it anymore.

I used slide glide when I shot uspsa. Worked great on my pistols. Don’t think I ever tried it on a AR or any other rifle.

I actually talked to the Cherry Balmz guy at a machine gun shoot locally. He asked me what I used for lube and I told him a little bit of everything but lately just left over Mobil one oil. We talked about slide glide as well. He said slide glide was good stuff and if everyone used it they would be a lot better off than most oils. He also said Mobil One works well too but he is a definite grease guy. Points out that guns are pretty much the only reciprocating machine that people slop oil on.

I don’t do enough shooting anymore to really have a good lube comparison. I’ve used so many different things and they all work for a day at the range or competition. I’m sure the good stuff shines under hard use I just don’t get to do much of that anymore.

I think we ordered the same day. I got tracking yesterday, should be here tomorrow. I just ordered the sample.

You guys have my interest peaked! I've looked at it a few times over the years but haven't purchased any.

I use slip mostly but after getting burned on Frog Lube, i'm a little hesitant to jump ship.

This shit really that good?

It's not unicorn jizz that'll make your rifle turn into a fully semiautomatic bullet hose, but it is top shelf lube. I highly recommend it.

It's just as good as any lightweight gun grease, but it smells like cherry lip balm and costs $35/oz.

M-Pro 7 is probably about the same consistency. Slip 2000 EWG is a little heavier. And Geissele's (ALG) VTG is lighter weight than all of them. I highly doubt the average user will see any difference in performance between the four options so I'd choose the cheapest.

VTG and EWG both sell for about $3.40/oz.  Cherry Balmz sells for $14/oz even after the 5 for 2 deal. $35/oz if you buy them individually.

You could buy a 4oz tub of VTG and a 4oz tub of EWG for $25 total and have just about all your needs covered with the two different weights. Or you can send Cherry Balmz $35 for 2.5oz of grease with barely distinguishable weights.

CB users, the directions state not to use on the bore or feed ramps so do I go back to my Slip2K for bore swipes and feed ramps or what? They shouldn’t really mix but who knows.

That was my plan.

Although that’s why I like slip ewl 30. It’s a 30 weight so it is not as thin as regular ewl.

Then use regular ewl for the bore.

Your ewl should be thin in the bore. So it should not drop into the chamber area.

Mine slipped between the cracks big time, didn’t ship until Friday, I was annoyed but I’ll live.

No, you should not be lubing your feed ramps.  Light, LIGHT coat is ok in your bore only if storing long term, and preferably something that doesn’t compress like Kroil.

I’m trying to tell you that you’re over doing it.

Got my bottle in today.
It actually smells quite nice but doesn't taste nearly as good as it smells.
I wish the brush was bigger, too.

We are on the same page, I just hit the bore to store or for cleaning and feed ramps, I’ve got the 1911 bug and have had very very lightly lubed slick ramps on those species but yeah I probably should back off that practice.

Lubriplate FL0

My cleaning schedule is no sooner than 2k for all my weapons including a very dirty blowback 9mm AR. It's still slick when i clean them.

At least yours shipped.

Dammit.

Greases aren't meant for bores, really. If I'm going to lube the bore, I lightly oil a path and run it through once really quickly, and then only in humid areas or for longer-term storage. Bores stay dry, otherwise. Chamber, feed ramps, and anything else that contacts the ammo such that lube can get in the chamber or on the cases should not be lubed at all, but should be kept dry. You don't want excessive chamber pressures to form due to lube being between the case and chamber wall.

Gents,

A few of you have emailed me to let me know about this thread's great discussion - I'm the owner of CherryBalmz.  Thanks to all who have shared personal experience with it here, I appreciate it.  Everyone has had a chance to read what members have had to say who have actually used it, and the praise is pretty high.

The reason I'm jumping into the thread, however, is there's enough interest in the science of our lubricants that most users just won't know, and enough misunderstanding about lubricants being presented, that I've created an account today just to be able to offer some insights for everyone, and to make myself available for Q&A.

This is an opportunity for you to get questions answered about not just our lubricants, but lubricants and gun reliability in general, at an extremely high level. When engaging in Q&A, my commitment to you is that I'll always provide the best info possible - science, as unbiased as possible.  There's been some excellent, extensive discussion like this over on reddit, which you can pull an immense amount of information out of - and where you can see how much of a priority I place on this commitment to sharing broad lubrication science info. It's never a shill-fest for our products, and with any lube-specific questions I get about other lubricants out there, my response is to provide a fair sharing of the science they're based on, both pros and cons.

The bottom line for me in taking part in this kind of Q&A, is that one of my two missions for my company is getting this extremely valuable, life-saving lubrication info into the broader shooting community - I want people being able to walk into a walmart and know exactly what they can use there to keep their guns running the best, and the why and how that lube will work, entirely separate from my company's products.  It's the last frontier of what should be common shooter knowledge, but much of it has been siloed in other fields.

On that note, I do want to clarify something up front that has been discussed in this thread:  I am not a tribologist, nor did I "invent" any of our lubricants.  What I did, was assemble and extremely talented team of people far more intelligent and capable than I am, and we spent well over a year and a half engineering our lubricants.  What you're getting from me is what amounts to roughly 4 years of extremely intense study of weapons tribology in this environment - I'm translating the science I've been taught and learned, and offering the insights on weapons reliability that we've learned as a whole.  My job was assembling the team, building the company - and translating info for you. As you'll see, while the science of engineering what we've accomplished can be exceedingly complex, at the user or conceptual levels, very little of it is complicated.

So this post is my introduction to you.  I'll be putting in a lot of effort over the next few days in making myself available to you here for this Q&A, to provide very valuable information - all I ask from any of you is this:

1) Ask questions and exchange info with everyone here in a way that is respectful, considerate, and welcoming of new information, because...

2) Opinions about gun lube are as contentious as Glock vs 1911, and 9mm vs .45 - only much less informed. If you ask a question of me, you will get science-based answers, not opinion - please return the consideration, for everyone's sake.

3) Please avoid saying things like, "I've always used ____, and I've never had a problem with it." This is often said to kill a conversation - nobody had a problem with iron sights or horses, either. Technology evolves, keep an open mind.

The one final thing to remember about this entire conversation is this: On any given lubricant, the question is not, "Will it lube?".  The question is, "How well will it lubricate, for how long, and under what circumstances?" The lube you're using right now works...what your job is, is to understand its capabilities and limitations - just as you would any other piece of your gear.  My job isn't to bash it or mindlessly shill our products - it's to share info with you that will allow you to make informed decisions in a way that isn't just lube-specific, but will allow you to have useful insight on lube capability in any situation you may find yourself in.

I'll try to respond directly to several posts in here with quotes in order to address a specific point, but as it's my first time on arfcom, please pardon in advance any styling errors or awkwardness in responding. Looking forward to hearing from you all, and sharing some pretty interesting info.

Well, CherryBalmz? Two or three orders missed last week.

You're right - with our Black Rifle Balm and our Field Balm, both are a lithium based grease, with a scent added.

I've actually said this publicly before, in several fairly extensive conversations in reddit - run a search for CherryBalmz there. And there are several places in our website where we mention that it's a lithium-complex formulation, with scent added.  However, as has been mentioned by several others here, our lubes are all lightweight greases - there are literally thousands of "lithium greases" on the market, ranging from the thickness of cooking oil, up to the thickness of some cheeses - what you need to search out in assessing a grease, are the basics of NLGI grade, additives, and performance ranges.  The label of "lithium grease" gives about as much insight as "sedan" or "SUV".

There are over a dozen grease thickeners or "soaps" that an engineer can build a formulation around - calcium's good for anti-corrosion properties, but washes out too easily.  Aluminum's phenomenal at not washing out, but has severe incompatibility with other greases and some oils.  Bentonite Clay thickeners are outstanding for high-heat performance, but when a lube is exposed to gas temps from a DI AR, especially suppressed, it leaves an abrasive behind.

I could go on, but the reason we build all of our greases around Lithium Complex comes down to these critical factors:

1) Wide temperature range usefulness in this application

2) Exceptional work-life endurance

3) Excellent compatibility with other grease thickeners

4) Excellent workability in formulation preparation

5) Excellent water wash-out resistance

There are a bunch of other factors as well, but these are some of the key reasons we use Lithium Complex in our formulations.  The scent in the Black Rifle Balm and Field Balm was added after I looked at one of our first lab batches...it had a slight fruity aroma.  I'm not the only guy who has had a significant other object to the smells of guns being cleaned, and thought that might help the issue. I asked one of my engineers if he could enhance the smell, and he replied that he could make it smell like anything, including cocoa-puffs, if we wanted.  The formulation was bright red at that point, so I went with cherry.  Our other greases, however, have no scent added at all - didn't see the utility of it, and in hindsight, market reactions of the cherry scent are about 60/25/15  with positive reaction/neutral reaction/negative reaction, so I'm not sure I'd go that route again.  But the smell does have some appeal to a lot of folks.

If I'm not mistaken, Lubriplate spec'd for Garands and M1As is a calcium-based grease - is that correct?

What do you mean by "washes out easily"?  Does that mean moisture thins it?  Or that is scatters around too easily?

This is one of the most important issues to address in this thread - and it's one of the primary issues that started me on the path to starting CherryBalmz.  Teflon/PTFE produces a storm of over a dozen toxins when heated at temps beginning as low as 325F, and it seems to be in well over 75% of the gun lubricants on the market.  It's extremely dangerous stuff in temps DI ARs and suppressed guns easily reach, which get as high as 1500F. The toxins come out in microscopic doses that are bio-accumulative, adding up in your system and taking sometimes decades to leave - the neurotoxins in particular begin producing parkinsons-like effects if enough adds up.

The toxins are primarily neurotoxins, carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and acid.

Two neurotoxins are literally chemical weapons agents - the fluorine variant of Phosgene (the WWI nerve gas), and PFIB, which is literally 10x more potent.  Google "teflon pyrolysis PFIB" to start looking into some of it.

PFOA is of the most disturbing byproducts, being both carcinogen and endocrine disruptor, that can mess with hormonal balance in things like testosterone - it's dangerous in general, but in women it also builds up in breast milk and will be dumped into their infants, some of whom will end up with more in their system at just a couple of months old than their mothers have remaining in their bodies.

Hydrogen Fluoride is also released at high enough temps - it's an extremely potent corrosive agent, which turns to Hydrofluoric Acid with moisture.  Back during the 1990s some shooters experimented with teflon as a bullet and/or barrel coating - it forms a plasticized, pyrolized deposit on top, but underneath you find fairly serious pitting...from the hydrogen fluoride.

The big things to know about all of this, is that Teflon/PTFE releases different agents at different temperatures, and it is in microscopic amounts - but those temps are easily reached in some parts of DI guns and any suppressed gun, and it's not stuff you want being blown back in your face with every shot.

As to DI AR temps, here's the breakdown:

Gas Key: 1000F in rifle-length systems, 1500F in SBRs.  Carbine length is about 1200F
Cam Pin/Cam Channel: 450F-750F
Bolt Tail: 450F-750F

When you add a suppressor to a gun, it serves as a pressure chamber to capture the gasses and slow them down - but the timing of a gun's mechanism isn't changed. Unsuppressed, bore pressure is about 5-15psi in semi-autos, but with the suppressor on the bore is at about 250psi when the lugs unlock, blasting 1500F gas back across your lugs and BCG.

In almost any other gun, you're more or less fine with teflon in a lube - but it has zero place in a lube for a DI AR, or suppressed weapons.

Been using this product for a while on my glocks and ARs. Very happy with it. I only use it at the lube points though. I use slip 2000 on larger non-friction points that have potential for corrosion.

@DallasCB

If curious for an answer of this as well.  Since in addition to AR's I have a Garand.

You know man - I just shipped a full set of our lubes to a guy in Canada on Friday plus a few extras, when he only ordered 1 free bottle and 1 other...I sent it out on my dime, and refunded his entire order cost, which I did because he spent a couple of days trying to get ahold of us and didn't get a quick reply. I was on the road working with a distributor, and the person monitoring our customer service emails neglected to post an out-of-office automated response while she was on a few days of vacation.  I also sent him a note with my personal email and personal cell number, in case he had any questions.  I take customer service extremely seriously.

Now, if anyone's missing an order, PM me.  But I'd also ask that a little perspective be kept here: this thread went up exactly 7 days ago, on a Sunday - hundreds of orders went out during that period, most of which go out within 2 business days, and unless I'm mistaken, most people don't hold a small business up to Amazon standards of immediate fulfillment, right?  Everyone wants to get their online orders asap, including me - but I don't believe it would be fair or reasonable for anyone to label ordering on a Tuesday and shipping on a Friday as "orders missed" or orders "falling through the cracks".

As I said, if anyone is missing an order, PM me. But lets keep things in perspective here - and keep criticism fair and reasonable.

I don’t know how any of us were supposed to know that and furthermore, there’s still one guy in this thread saying his wasn’t shipped at all.  I ordered on a Monday, started asking for shipping data on Wednesday, and got shipping confirmation on Friday.

Please take other forms of payment besides paypal!

Great questions - thanks for asking them.

The original grease that went into the Garands was indeed a calcium-based thickener - it was yellow, and came in grease cups about the diameter of a dime. John Garand benefited tremendously from the timing of his development of the M1 - modern "complex" greases had just been developed, whereas Browning and Thompson were limited to sperm whale oil (itself a phenomenal oil), or sludge-like stuff called "grease" that bears zero similarity to modern complex greases.  It's not an accident that the most reliable semi-autos DoD ever issued have been using grease - it's actually a misunderstanding to think Garands were designed for grease. What Garand did, was select the most effective lubricant available for the unsealed, sliding machine he had developed.

The two key things to know about modern greases here, is this:

1) Grease is best understood as a sponge, containing oils and additives, used as a kind of "lubricant deployment system"

2) Grease will stay in place even on vertical surfaces in violently cycling machines, also acting as a sealant to keep contaminant out of the machine - this is why grease is used in virtually every unsealed machine on the planet (excepting some chain-drive systems), and why the gun lube industry is so backward in using oils on unsealed, sliding machines.  Oils flow out, thin out, and dry out when not behind gaskets, driven by pumps through filters and reservoirs - properly engineered grease actually serves as gasket, pump, reservoir, and even filter when weighted properly for a machine.

The calcium-soap grease from Lubriplate back then that Garand was using was the Rolls-Royce grease of the day - excellent in preventing corrosion, but IIRC, it also was using sperm whale oil as the primary oil, which was extremely lubricious and resistant to oxidation. Synthetic oils didn't surpass it until the mid to late 1980s.  However, grease, oil, and additive tech is light-years beyond that original Garand grease. Interestingly though, DoD went starkly backwards with later M1 and M-14 grease - it was a heavy petroleum grease that was junk compared to the Calcium-based grease as far as I can tell, performing worse in cold weather and offering less corrosion protection, and being less inherently lubricious.

It may have been better in the jungle though, at preventing water wash-out.  That term basically is what happens when a lubricant is exposed to environmental water - rain, rivers, etc, and is washed away.  In a vehicle bearing, for example, poor water wash-out properties would see a grease more or less leave the bearing after being driven through a river once or twice.

The paramount issue in engineering a lubricant is to always engineer the lubricant to the machine at hand, and the expected conditions that machine will be exposed do.

I ordered last Sunday night, 4/29.

@USPcompact, PM me your order info - I'll see where it is, and let you know.  If it hasn't shipped yet, you'll get a refund and the order will still go out.  Do check your junk mail folder just in case, as the UPS emails do occasionally get routed there.