Image courtesy of Hornady Mfg. Co.

According to several gun manufacturers, the top firearm problem is rust and corrosion. Rust is hardly limited to firearms. Rust and corrosion costs the United States one trillion dollars annually. For example, the top threat to drinking water is rust.

A few years back, a fellow who calls himself "rancidcrabtree1964" and also "DIY_guy," whose primary interest is bow hunting, did a comprehensive test of 46 different gun care products, looking for how they inhibited corrosion. The testing was not performed on firearms, but on sheet metal. Left out in the rain, only three products did an exemplary job at stopping rust on the sheet metal "Board Number 1." These were Hornady One Shot, WD-40 Specialist and Rust Prevent. On corrosion Board Number 2, Hornady One Shot, Frog Lube, and WD-40 Specialist were the top performers.

A static coefficient of friction test was conducted and Hornady One Shot again was a top performer, with only Barricade edging it out in "Static Coefficient Test #2." Again, no firearms were used in this evaluation and no consideration was given to actual firearm performance.

Years ago, I changed to Breakfree CLP for most of my firearms care and never looked back. Now, it is going to be Hornady One Shot for me, because Hornady One Shot exceeds the NATO minimum load carrying specification by six times. It is heat and cold resistant from 400 degrees F. to -40 degrees F. Hornady states:

"DynaGlide Plus Micro-Layered Tri-Boundary Dry-Films Conditioners/lubricants offer a broad spectrum of protection not found in other gun conditioner or lubricant products."

Features

• Heat resistant to 400-plus degrees (204 plus C.)
• High load carrying capacities (metal to metals pressure)
• Hazardous cleaners and lubricants are not used or needed
• Prevents Burnt Carbon and Lead build-ups
• Humidity and Moisture repelling and displacing
• Prevents the accumulation of residues, debris, gunk build-up associated with oil or silicone lubricants
• Non-Toxic non-hazardous protective films
• Withstands 400 hours of Military salt spray corrosion test
• Maintains a sustainable near new and perfect firearm condition
• Severely restricts abrasive and erosive wear action from burnt powders and oils contaminants
• Allows a soft cleaning patch to push out lead residues without using abrasive wire brushes
• Prevents build ups of contaminants compressed into metals by gas and load pressure
• Reduced resistance to contaminant build up offers sustainable shooting velocity and accuracy
• Greatly reduces or eliminates frequent gas port adjustments in semi-auto and automatic firearms

Gun manufacturers continually warn about over-lubrication and often tell you to shoot their firearms completely dry in cold weather. A dry firearm is, of course, prone to corrosion, high friction and accelerated wear, but many consider that not only palatable but preferable compared to constant jams. The warning about over-lubrication is because most gun oils attract and retain crud and thicken in cold weather. No lube, less crud, but unfortunately more wear and more propensity towards corrosion.

The friction and wear may not be pronounced in a bolt action rifle, but for semi-automatic firearms, gummed-up actions and congealed oils are a problem. You can only blow hot gas full of particulate matter onto actions for so long before things get sluggish. I have spend most of my life cleaning "self-cleaning" actions. Most of them are anything but.

How often have you heard, "I cleaned it and lubed it, but it still jams!" It is difficult to tell what someone's version of cleaning and lubing might be, what they are using, or how they are using it. Gas pistons get full of of crud quickly and gas ports close up quicker than you might think. Gas ports are routinely ignored. It is easy to forget about them, but eventually your gun doesn't cycle light loads anymore.

To be sure, there are some applications where we want high friction. I would not suggest using Hornady One Shot on your brake pads. A good oil lubricant has to have film thickness greater than the sum of the maximum heights of the surface irregularities. That is a problem, for the thicker the film the more crud it can attract and hold.

In the case of boundary lubrication featured in Hornady One Shot, the lubricant film thickness is smaller than the sum of the maximum heights of the surface irregularities. This is why Hornady One Shot retains far less unwanted crud and debris than petroleum lubricants and this is what makes it a far better product for semi-automatic firearms. It also makes pump guns smoother and slicker functioning. Once you try it you won't use anything else.