Preserving an Enfield. Oils and Grease

[paulseamus]

One for the Aussie Armourers.

Wanting to keep my small collection in the best possible condition, could you please advise what regime of oils and grease you recommend to keep corrosion at bay.

I currently use bucket loads of Rem Oil. And a bit of Balistol.

Should I be lightly geasing the outside of the barrel and bottom of the receiver prior to refitting my foreend and handguards or should I just stick with a good coat of Rem Oil?

What locally available grease would you recommend?

Cheers

Paul

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Brian Dick]

Grease it under the woodwork Paul. That's the correct way to do it. I just use an old, soft toothbrush. Dip it in and spread on a coat.

---------- Post added at 11:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 AM ----------

I think the correct Australian rifle grease nomenclatures were mentioned in an earlier thread. The British stuff is XG279.

[Warren]

I know a lot of the old guys (yes, older than the old curmudgeon hisself) used to use Singer Sewing Machine Oil. Acid free and excellent lub qualities plus it does not break down. A bargain at $20.00 Cdn per litre at your friendly Singer Store.

[newcastle]

Is this for preservation while in collection or presevation for storage. For the latter I used Z-Corr bags which supposedly preserve for 20years. If you're wallhanging and occasional shooting then unless you're planning to do it from a waterlogged trench or in rain or snow then not much need for a ton of grease under the wood.

[Peter Laidler]

Where did you read that there was no need for grease under the wood Newcastle. Does he say thaat there's no need between any of the steel and wood interfaces too? And who's to say that they/he know better than the Army who have been doing it for several years now and know a little bit about looking after their kit? I'd like to know and am sure that some of the other forumers would too.............

No grease indeed...............

[Brian Dick]

I just serviced a deer rifle and mounted a scope for an outdoors writer who lives about five miles from here. It's a very nice, late 1940's or early 1950's vintage Remington Model 721 in .270 Winchester and his favorite. I disassembled, cleaned, inspected all the metal and applied a coat of RLO to the stock. Guess what? I greased all of the underlying metal with XG279 because there were a few rust spots I had to clean off. It might have taken just one light rain storm which does happen sometimes around here when deer hunting or on the target range. It still had lots of remaining oil under there too that obviously didn't do the job. I even removed the buttplate before I oiled the stock so the end grain would get a good dose of RLO. I also removed the swivel studs, cleaned and greased them too before reinstalling. They were rusty. I guarantee there won't be any rust the next time he has it serviced. There's a good reason for using grease Gentlemen. 'Nuff said.

[newcastle]

I stand corrected in my orthepedic shoes. I shall grease each time I strip a rifle down from hereon. Brian do you have any of this XG stuff available?

[GDU]

I mix Vaseline with Turpentine so its still a liquid.
Then brush it on everywhere that will be under the woodwork.
Being liquid it will migrate into all the nooks and cranny's.
Give it 30 min or so for the turpentine to evaporate and you will have a nice thin layer of Vaseline to protect everything.
This is very similar to the cosmoline the military used for years,does not seem to bother the wood much either.
Its an old British gunsmiths trick,works a treat.