Project Appleseed

Hornady Dry Lube versus Frog Lube

I read on Rimfire Central that Hornady Dry Lube is what a lot of people are using in their 10/22's.

This is no where near any sort of scientific experiment, just a recent experience.

My receivers have all been worn in (several thousand rounds) and have also been smoothed out using scotch brite pads. All 3 bolts have Kidd components and have been radiused as well. Bolts are headspaced/squared and firing pins are welded/pinned for hop.

I primarily shoot 3 position, Appleseed, CMP Rimfire Sporter and small bore prone matches.

For the past 6 years I have used frog lube exclusively. A few months ago I read on Rimfire Central about people having good experiences with the Hornady dry spray lube.

I did an experiment, my daughters rifle and another I loaned to a friend I kept with the frog lube and my rifle I did the Hornady stuff, ammo was Wolf Match for all 3 rifles.

I shot an Appleseed event and experienced several malfunctions. It was cold, temp in the morning was 27F.

The frog lube rifle had two failure to fires (light primer strikes), as did the Hornady rifle. I attribute this to the cold, and they were the 2nd and 3rd shots of the day.

After that initial issue the frog lubed rifles performed flawlessly. The Hornady lubed rifle worked OK until about 70 rounds. After 70 rounds it started to fail to extract and feed. This was discovered during the rapid fire strings. Magazine counts of 2 and 8 rounds. It would fire the first round, but the 2nd round would be a jam. Magazine change and several more jams.

I'm not saying the Hornady stuff is bad, but I will say the frog lubed rifle performed flawlessly.

My cleaning routine is to use brake cleaner on a chamber brush for the chamber, then more brake cleaner on a chamber mop. I thoroughly degrease the receiver with brake cleaner and clean the bolt and charging handle/op rod with brake cleaner as well. I use a pick and get under the extractor as well.

Then, for the Hornady rifle I sprayed the bolt down and the receiver and reassembled.

For the Frog lubed rifles I use a nylon all purpose brush and apply frog lube paste to the receiver and the bolt/op rod charging handle. I then take a hair dryer and heat the paste up till it runs like fluid and reassemble.

I have had (in cold weather) some failures to fire on the first few shots with frog lube in the past. This is a rare occurrence and typically only happens when it is really cold (think the firing pin sticks). But once 2-3 shots have been fired I have not had a malfunction and that is with shooting several hundred rounds rapid and slow fire before cleaning (in the area of 500 rds). I know an Appleseed instructor/Shoot Boss (Orion 59) that has a loaner rifle he lets attendees use and he has gone over 2000 rounds before cleaning when using frog lube.

For what it's worth, I am also an NRA High Power Rifle competitor, and I use frog lube on my competition AR15s. Same results, no issues with several hundred rounds fired between cleanings. I have also used it in my 1911 when I competed with USPSA, same results 500+ rounds in my dirty 1911 between cleanings and no malfunctions with Frog Lube.

I usually clean my AR15 after no more than 200 rounds, but I neglected to clean it for this past weekends matches, where I sent 172 rounds downrange with zero issues, that is with a rifle that had over 500 rounds thru it with absolutely zero cleaning.

The frog lube is a bit messy to apply and takes a bit more time than simply spraying some stuff out of an aerosol can. But in my opinion it is worth that extra time.  As stated I am a competitive shooter, and shoot at least 88 rounds each session, with 50% of those shots being fired rapidly with magazine changes. Typically malfunctions manifest themselves during the most inopportune times, like rapid fire seated or prone. That is where the Hornady stuff failed me.

Upon disassembly of the Hornady lubed rifle, there was a lot of grime on the chamber face, bolt face and under the extractor. Significantly more grime retained than those rifles that had the frog lube.

Highly recommend frog lube.

Have you any thoughts about the Lubri-kit article by Grant Cunningham? It talks a good fight,or just commercial hype?

Quote from: Snow Snake on September 30, 2019, 02:35:03 PM
Have you any thoughts about the Lubri-kit article by Grant Cunningham? It talks a good fight,or just commercial hype?

Snow Snake,

Personally I have not, I found what works for me, and stick with it.

This can sometimes become a contraversial topic.  Full of opinions and rarely backed up with data.  Often times it is "My drill sergeant said.....or my Grandaddy said, etc etc"
...LOL

I am just offering what I know from experience, and with several years of competition at a high level works!

I know some that dip their bolt carriers into Mobile 1 oil!  If that works...go for it.

I have had ZERO RAPID FIRE malfunctions in 5+ years of competing, with an average of 2000 rounds sent downrange a year in my centerfire AR15s.

I have however, witnessed several people with rimfires and AR's have malfunctions in rapid fire on a somewhat regular basis.  Some of that is cleaning/lube related and some of that is ammo related.

Orion59 may chime in.....he and I got on the frog lube bandwagon at the same time years ago.  I was given some by a USPSA Grand Master....I tend to listen closely to what very succesful competitors do, as they are obviously doing a lot of things that work very well.

R/
Chris

I am not a competitor like Chris but I use Hornady OneShot for semi-auto rimfire rifles, including those used as loaners. As a dry lube, it attracts less unburnt powder, doesn't get globby at low temps, and is easy to re-apply - just spray in the bolt area and call it done till you can detail clean.

I haven't had feed and extraction problems over the course of a 2 day unless we are running relays with both shooters using the same rifle and even them hard to put it all on the lube depending on the ammo they bring. I am not using rifles as "fitted" as your competitive match specials. Plus I tend to give my bolt face and extractor a finger rub or toothbrush to loosen and move out any unburnt powder and carbon out of there during a day on the line. Also find the dry lube works well on magazines - I spray a bit on and in them (particularly 10/22 mags) after cleaning and think it helps smooth insertion and ejection. Some lubes with solvents can ruin ammo so try not to have anything wet in those as well.

I use Wilson Combat UltimaLube II in and on my AR BCGs (I run them very wet) and have had no malfunctions. I would not use the dry lube for that because I want it wet.

I think we all have our favorites 

I am one who switched to the Hornady One shot.
I must admit I have never tried frog lube.

The Hornady one shot was a definite improvement over the Breakfree CLP or AFT I had been using.
The One shot gave me very good function at winter seed in the low 20s and done as well each time I have used it this year including the last Appleseed in the rain and mist for 2 days.
my 10/22s are almost stock and the most recent one has never seen a product but the Hornady one shot.

I like the One Shot for it's extreme simplicity. a can of one shot , a nylon brush and pull through seems to be all that I need to keep running. I get tired of cleaning , I also maintain a number of club guns and the Oneshot has helped a lot keeping them up and keeping my time down.

I also like the Hornady One shot in the Mags it keeps them feeding well. I had a friend spray the mags with rem-oil at a shoot , works for the shoot but then they got gummy when it dried , it also smelled horrible rancid when I opened up my plastic box of mags


but If I run into any problem , I guess I will be trying frog lube

at winterseed we found keeping the ammo warm helped reliability

thanks , Pete

If you shoot where dust blows, lube is your enemy.

I don't lube 10-22s

The ARs get one drop of mil-tech on the gas ring hole, and the leftovers from that drop get finger smeared on the cam pin, then the locking lugs.

Guys that spray juice all over a rifle don't do well a lot of places I shoot.

I'm with Mark re: dry lube on rimfire rifles.

Also, froglube is just coconut oil with some fragrance.  Check this out: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/02/21/froglube-is-probably-made-from-coconut-oil-not-frogs/

I will never use Frog Lube again in any of my rifles or pistols. It has ended up seizing them up. I have a bunch I'm trying to get rid of, though, if anyone's looking  . I use Slipstream.
Tim