Lubricating: Oil vs. Grease???

[AlReiter]

Does anyone have instructions for lubricating an M1917? Which parts should be oiled and which parts should be greased? As a general rule, I clean all of the metal parts with mineral spirits, let dry, apply a liberal amount of oil (I use MILITEC-1 for this part), let sit for a while, wipe off the excess, then apply oil or grease as appropriate as I reassemble. If no written instructions are available, I guess the old "if it rotates, oil it; if it slides, grease it" would be a good starting point!!

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[gunner]

I use synthetic motoroil to lubricate my rifles. Only use grease ( also synthetic) at the trigger group in sommer. In winter works the oil betterwe have somedays till -20C° so the crease is al little to tough.

Gunner

[Dan Wilson]

I use only the Miltec stuff myself, its just excellent stuff and beats the hell out of that CLP crap.
Generally you could get away with strictly using oil on the rifle since its not a semi auto and its parts are not moving at the speed of light.
But that being said I still use a slight amount of grease (the miltech grease in the grease gun tube and an acid brush) on the bolt raceways and oil everywhere else on mine.

Dan

[Curt]

I have some blue and red mobil synthetic grease I like a THIN! amount in the raceways only.Then a spot of oil here and there.

[slamfire1]

Grease gets its lubricating properties from the oil in the grease. Grease stays better on surfaces, takes longer to evaporate. For any rifle I wipe the bolt surface with a oily patch, then I paint grease in the cocking cam, locking surfaces, flats. I use a 1/4" artist brush to paint grease, works great.

The grease you use in not critical. Something light works well. I can recommend Lubriplate 105, used in outboard motors. You can find the stuff at any auto shop. Sometimes walmart carries the stuff, or an equivalent.