Updated 9.21.23: Complete overhaul with new products based on recent testing.
When our guns, knives, and other gadgets run smooth, they are reliable
We selected a mixture of oil, grease, and CLP options to test on various guns and knives to see what each brought to the party.
Some of these products were tried and true for me; some were new, but I enjoyed using them all to lather up my goods.
Some might think that lube is lube and that they’re all the same, but this article will help point out the pros and cons of each and help you narrow down the best fit.
Summary of Our Top Picks
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Best General PurposeHoppe's No. 9 Gun Cleaning Kit
Best general purpose oil, the "OG" of oils for a reason
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Table of Contents
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Why You Should Trust Us
We here at Pew Pew Tactical have cleaned a lot of guns…like a lot. We’ve spent countless hours scrubbing, greasing, and oiling our firearms, so we know a thing or two about which products work and which don’t.
Alongside our writers who have experience in competition, law enforcement, and recreational shooting, we’ve come up with a list of what we think is the best gun oils, grease, and CLP based on our hands-on experiences using these over several months (and in some cases, years).
Best Gun Oils
1. M-Pro 7
This oil was new to me but came out as the overall favorite.
When using M-Pro 7, there was a light odor in the air, but not in a bad way; some might say it was nostalgic. The smell reminded me of touring the inside of a battleship.
The consistency and color were similar to coconut milk, and I found it easy to apply across various knives and guns.
M-Pro 7 kept all my guns operating well without worrying about excessive cleaning or reapplication. It whatever you wipe down with a nice light and clean shine.
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2. Lucas Extreme
This oil is my favorite for competition purposes and great for speed and precision shooters.
Lucas Oil is well known in the automotive industry, but did you know they also dabble in the firearms realm? This oil is very thin and has a long, skinny applicator for precise use.
It smells like I’m back in time leaning over the hood of a ’69 Chevy installing a double barrel carburetor, making it likely the go-to for the wrench monkeys here.
I like to use this oil, but I have also found that it needs to be applied more frequently.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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3. Hoppes 9
This oil is a classic staple from your grandpa’s gun cleaning kit that has stood the test of time.
Hoppes 9 is the definition of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” saying in the gun oil industry. Hoppes has been around since 1903 and has repeatedly proven its merit on this list.
The kit I received for this came with cleaning oil and lubricating oil separately, along with some cleaning cloths to apply and wipe down the oil.
It came with a fine tip applicator for the lubricating oil for those hard-to-reach spaces. This is it if you’re looking for a place to start with lubricants.
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3. Militec-1
This oil leans more towards the grease side of oil because it is thicker and multi-use.
Militec advises that their product can be used for automotive bearings and gears, off-road equipment, and other industrial applications such as conveyor belts and drilling equipment.
This is a multi-use one, so it’s a do-it-all all type oil.
In an end-of-times type scenario (you know, the one you’ve been thinking may come soon), this oil would be great to keep anything and everything running smooth and looking sexy, especially if it’s likely to get wet.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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4. Slip 2000
This oil made it on the list because of its unique, non-toxic, non-hazardous, and biodegradable attributes.
So many things these days seem “toxic,” and if you’re trying to remove that from everything in your life, including gun lube, Slip 2000 is the way to go.
Slip 2000 worked in my guns without issues, leaving a nice, mild shine. Interestingly enough, I thought the non-toxic, biodegradable stuff would smell funny, but it didn’t smell like much at all.
This oil came in a two-bottle configuration with a large and small applicator for big and small tasks.
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Best CLP
5. Break Free Wipes
The wipes from Break Free were an interesting concept and definitely piqued my interest.
Having never used CLP in the form of wipes before, I was excited and nervous to give it a try. I was mostly worried that it would be dry and not provide much cleaning effect when I used it.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the wipes I used were soaked in CLP…but they worked really well without tearing.
This CLP lathered up and cleaned every surface area I used it on, from dirty guns to knives with duct tape residue on them (wiped right off).
The most interesting thing about Break Free wipes was that when I opened the packaging, I immediately got a faint odor of cardboard, followed by a pleasant aroma of almond-flavored coffee.
What a funny smell to come from a gun lube, but I love coffee and definitely wasn’t complaining.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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6. Ballistol
The oil from Ballistol and I have a love / hate relationship. Of all the options I tested, this product was hands down the best at cleaning any surface I used.
I dabbed some onto a towel and easily wiped an unidentified gunk off my work knife. This was something I had tried to clean off before but couldn’t.
The Ballistol was extremely effective and didn’t leave the knife feeling greasy afterward.
The other side of that coin with Ballistol is that it does NOT smell pleasant.
Interestingly, Ballistol can be used on everything, from leather to wood or metal surfaces, without a problem. Ballistol is another long-standing product that deserves a spot on this list of top gun lubricants.
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Best Grease
7. Mil-Comm
With only one grease in the test, Mil-Comm had one job, and it was effective.
Mil-Comm comes out of the small tube in thick white grease and is nice and slippery. The grease isn’t too bad in the smell department and leaves a dry-ish appearance on surfaces after being rubbed in.
This lubricant is good at sitting on metal surfaces and extending their life by keeping them operating smoothly.
Mil-Comm can also be used for industrial purposes and is even used by Boeing for some of their airplane applications.
An interesting fact about Mil-Comm is that they boast their grease keeps metal parts moving in temperatures as low as -90 degrees.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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Oil vs. Grease vs. Lube: What’s the Difference?
Oil, grease, and lube have been used for centuries in various forms and origins. Where there is friction, there is a need for lubricant.
Because of time, oxidation, and other superscientific factors, there is also a need for protection, which oil and grease can provide.
My first thought about oil, grease, and lube is that they all are lubricants in application, so for ease of explanation, I’ll use the word lubricant to describe all three. For different applications, there will be different needs and desires of the user for the lubricant.
Two identifiable differences in lubricants would be texture and viscosity. Texture and viscosity may sound odd to discuss when going over gun lubricants, but I use them as a quick way to determine what the lubricant is best designed for.
The thicker the lubricant, such as grease, the better it is to coat something that needs long-term protection.
The middle-of-the-road option is CLP (cleaner lubricant protectant), which has a different viscosity due to its mixture with a cleaning agent to help clean gear and provide a protected finish.
Oil is the thinnest and smoothest lubricant, which provides the best performance under high-heat applications but can still leave a nice shine on barrels and blades.
Final Thoughts
Having at least one of each is the way to go. I can tell you that I now keep a small bottle of Mpro7 in my go-bag, but I still have some CLP in my cleaning kit.
Either way, you need to have something on hand.
Find what works best for you. But if you need some guidance, any of the above recommendations should work.
Got any thoughts about gun oil? What’s your preferred product? Let me know in the comments below! Want more? Check out our picks for Best Gun Cleaning Kits.
FAQ
Can you use WD40 for gun oil?
WD stands for water displacement and is not a viable gun oil. Do not use it on your firearms!
Is motor oil ok for use in guns?
Yes, motor oils such as Mobile 1 work reliably in engines that get hot and move much more than guns.
What does CLP stand for in firearms?
Cleaner, Lubricant and Preservative.
97 Leave a Reply
I was using "Gun Butter" oil on my Beretta PX4 Storm Subcompact, and getting a huge number of failures to feed. (Only Spear Gold Dot shot reliably all the time in my Beretta.) I then read a comment that I should use grease, not oil, so I looked for the best grease. Wilson Combat has an excellent reputation for quality, so I went to their online store and found Ultima-Lube II grease. There were several varieties listed, so I got the one that was for the most severe conditions. I Immediately saw a huge reduction in failures to feed. And soon after I started using it, there were zero failures to feed with my Beretta. That's all I use now to lubricate any gun.
Lots of words + not many facts = wasted time. I don't like it when internet writers waste my time.
I suppose the best "Gun Oil" is not the same as "best oil for guns." Automatic transmission fluid worked the best for me at a few multi-day 1k round courses. Gun oil worked about the same as spray-on lithium grease, not very good at all. Hopefully, soon the gun oil manufacturers will realize their products need to work better than the lubricants that already exist.
Tested...but not really. This is not a very useful review.
I was happy with Hoppes grease , but tried Hoppes Oil on the rails: dried out after only 140 rounds , had issues feeding.
I tried CLP on the rails but that didn’t make it through a 5 hr class.
I tried Ballistol. It was ok.
Winner for was Gun Shield oil for protection. Steel Shield Solvent cleaner was equal or better than Hoppes 9 cleaner. The SS grease lasted 600 rounds with no issue as does Hoppes grease.
Greased rails worked best for me with no FTF’s.
Great guide here to what are the better options on the shelf. For what it's worth, I use the MIL-COMM military TW25B synthetic grease and I had to double-check the math here -- the 1.5 Oz Tube works out to be about $13 an ounce (not $20) and it's a better value because it stays in place, lasts longer, than your typical gun lube = more value per ounce.
What type of tests did you perform? Project Farm on YouTube showed his extensive scientific testing and his results contradict yours.
Uh.. not to put too fine a point on it but Hoppe's #9 Bore Cleaner is a CLEANER -- a solvent! Not an oil! You have to follow up with oil. The only thing from Hoppe's you show is the cleaner, never once did you mention the oil! Remoil would also work.
Pro Tip: For Hoppe's 9 bore cleaner to be effective, with yoru rifle pointing SLIGHTLY muzzle-down, pour some down the barrel from the breech end when you get home from shooting, preferably while the barrel's still warm. Let it sit 15-20 minutes, then flip the rifle over and do it again to get the other half of the barrel. You should be rewarded with a steady drip of blue-green dissolved copper. Then run your patches through to get rid of it, then couple of oily patches. If you just ram the bore with patches soaked in bore cleaner you won't remove much copper. LET IT SIT!
Hos internet gun journalism really fallen this far, that people can't remember what hoppe's bore cleaner's for and how it's used? It's not a lubricant. It eats lubricants and copper for lunch. Has to be followed up with dry patches and then an oily patch or two.
VOICE OF SANITY CRYING IN THE WILDENESS: THANK YOU DEAR SIR.
Hoppes offers a #9 oil as well as cleaner. I know, because I have some and have used it. Look at the article again - the oil is in the orange bottle, just like the one I use!
Lots of custom gunsmiths including guys who build 3 gun competition pieces use Mobil One SYNTHETIC 5W-30 on literally every gun they work on. I've used it ever since speaking to some of those gunsmiths years ago and it seems to be superior in every way to stuff sold in a sporting goods store.
What about the old stand-by Clenzoil? Nobody seems to remember that this WW2 Vet mixed up what was most likely the original CLP and put it on the market back in the 1950's. The Farm Project utube video "Best CLP" seem to confirm (for me) that the old stuff still works pretty darned good! Actually, amazing well!
Hoppes bore cleaner. Breakfree CLP and a "touch", a touch of Lucas oil... and a bore snake to help!
First, it’s not pronounced Hops. It’s pronounced Hoppies. There are videos made by Hoppes employees who pronounce it Hoppies. Do some research.
Actual practical testing of several popular CLPs was recently (Jan 2022) done on the Project Farm YouTube channel.
The question is whether you want one that performs well in freezing temperatures, or one that performs well is hot & corrosive conditions. Because they might do well in one or the other, but not both. I've been using Ballistol for my modest storage and routine maintenance needs, but was surprised at how poorly it performed in testing under harsher conditions. For freezing temperatures you want Break Free CLP, for hot & sweaty you want Clenzoil - they perform significantly better than the competition.
Agreed 99.99%.Except here in Nevada add Lucas CLP... we have no rust problems here, it coats a little longer.
Gr8 article.
I tend to use the “gun scrubber” spray can sold at a local BIG 5 followed by whatever “gun oil” they have on sale. If I have a choice, I choose hoppe’s = solid brand. I must admit to using hair clipper oil a couple of times. Am I ruining my tools when I do so ?
This was a great article and your facetiousness is great. As a retired soldier, I've never seen an person wearing an ACH/MICH helmet where the helmet is completely filled in with a users head, with no room to spare.
Good advice as well, most of my rifles have nickle boron bolt carriers as their ease of use in the maintenance of my rifles has grown on me. Despite this, I clean and lube as if it was a normal steel BCG. Some people never clean nickel boron coated parts, that's foolish if you ask me. But still, great recommendations and fun to read article.
Bought a new german gun oil, its called Nano Gun Oil Universal.
Never had such a nice LP in my whole life!
Before was always and only Hoppe's products. But I've used Breakfree CLP on all of my firearms exclusively since it hit the market with rave reviews from the military. That was about thirty or forty years ago. It has worked for me in sub-zero temps in Michigan to Mississippi's hot humid deer seasons. I've found no need to experiment with anything else. That said, I love how these articles always bring out all the expert opinions. The coments are more fun than the article!
I use a lot of CRC Beakclean on metal parts. Best degreaser out there (not the green stuff - worthless). I also use a lot of Deep Creep for bores, breech face, bolts, etc. And I still use Hoppe's occasionally.
For lube I've experimented and settled back on Break-Free CLP. I shy away from motor oil because I don't know enough about the additives. I use grease very sparingly. I live in the desert and there is enough dust and grit floating around to turn grease into lapping compound.
20 years military, CLP and LSA
Motor oil in a SHTF emergency
Im a TW25b guy. Or lucas oil.
Is this a troll article?
I have been using breakthrough clean technologies products for a couple of years now. I started with their grease and then used their gun oil. Their product keeps my weapons happy.
Hoppe's is indeed NOT pronounced "hopps". Source from Youtube:
/watch?v=ebogB1HocRA
Just recently received Black Rambo Carbon Destroyer and Accuracy Oil. I have been very impressed with the cleaning ability, lubing ability and aromatics! I will be trying the copper destroyer and crystal clear optics cleaner at some point.
Hoppe's No. 9 gun bore cleaner (seen in the pics) is not a lube!!! Jesus Christ. How could the author and the editor mix it up with Hoppe's gun oil?
Good old high temp red lithium soap grease you get at WalMart is all you need for an AK. A $5 can will last generations.
It's pronounced Hop-ees. Young people these days....I swear.....
People who pronounce it Hop-ees also say ambidex-tree-us...
Much BS without any testing or bonafide recommendations...
Wd 40 has always work aim avoid hunter and my buddy or to it just works
Oh yeah, I will use Motul fully synthetic motor oil in a pinch. I figure if its made to the German standard to handle turbos or superchargers, it can handle some use out in the field. That being said, I wouldn't use motor oil for storage as it is good to keep in mind that motor oil is continually pumped to keep it in place. Great for some quick shooting though.
Honerable mention...Eesox. Been using it for years "only on certain parts that I deem CLP to be used on", but it has never failed me and has also beaten out Ballistol as well as Break Free, in a salt water mist test for rust.
N Pro 7 cleaner....slip 2000 EWL oil....Milcom TW25B grease....EEZOX long term storage.
Weapon Shield. Nothing better.
Just discovered it while digging deep into some online research to better maintain my 10 firearms without having to worry about missing this or that, harsh chems, safe disposal etc. Seems a lot of people are cool with just the bare minimal. Personally I want the most comprehensive care while not having to hunt down a bunch of different clps, degreasers, solvents etc. Used Weapon Shield for the first time last night with my OTIS tactical cleaning kit on an absolutely FILTHY M70 AK... Its over. This is it right here. WEAPON SHIELD
I just saw an old commercial from Hoppe's and the company pronounces it with 2 syllables, as in Hop-eez. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3eRGnXhkbk
I’m seeing Shooter Lube all over the net. Does it live up to the hype?
I been using synthetic motor grease (sparingly) on my guns for a short while. Attended many beginners and intermediate courses with pistols and rifles lubed by Valvoline moly-fortified grease and never had any issues. One pound cost me six dollars and will probably last several lifetimes.
Once tried using white lithium grease on a rifle. Took it to the range, it belched giant smoke clouds in just about every color of the rainbow. made me sick. I was alone so I didnt look stupid, but will never make that mistake again. Also it left yellow hard gunk all over the insides that was a pain to clean off. I had to experiment with several cleaners to get it looking decent again. White lithium is great for moving parts that dont get too hot. Guns get hot.
I recommend NOT experimenting unless its with a weapon you dont mind damaging.
Jim Fuller, formerly at Rifle Dynamics, used to recommend white lithium grease for AK47 lubrication.
TW25B info - Temperature range: – 89°F (- 67°C) to +450°F (+232°C) $17.99 for 1.5oz
Super Lube info - Temperature range: – 49°F (- 45°C) to +450°F (+232°C) $6.99 for 3oz.
I've been using Super Lube forever and its never not impressed. While I am not going into the Artic, Afghanistan or a jungle, it is really good for most people's needs. I use a solvent like kroil penetrating oil to break up foiling and after everything i s spotless I place some Super Lube on the metal on metal areas. My guns seem to like this. I just shot my 10/22 using 3 different dirty brands and I didn't start getting failure to ejects until after 1600 rds. I did mag after mag after mag and finally got some hiccups with the rifle. I may buy the TW25B for special occasions I guess, but for most things Super Lube is awesome. At least in my opinion.
Mobil 1 synthetic grease, Mobil 1 synthetic oil (0W-40 or 5W-50), Wipe-Out Bore Foam, Kroil and Breakfree CLP as needed, and Eezox for rust prevention. I used to use Shooter's Choice bore solvent, but since that brand became MC-7 the formula changed and they added too many variants: "lead remover," "copper remover," "bore cleaner," "extra strength bore cleaner," "shotgun cleaner." I cannot tell who is on first. A quart of Mobil 1 oil and a tube of Mobil 1 grease is enough to last a lifetime. Ballistol mixed with water is useful when cleaning after shooting corrosive ammo.
I'm with you as to the pronunciation. I've been shooting for nearly 60 years and that has always been the way it was pronounced. Plus the smell evokes memories of good times. When my dor smells it she know fun is about to happen.
Funny. It says Hoppe's (pronounced "hops" for the unfamiliar). No, it's actually pronounced "Hop-eez". Now I'm wondering about the value of the rest of the 'familiarization'.