Best AR-15 Lube in 2024

You may be wondering what are the Best AR-15 Lube? A great place to start is with our guide here on the Best AR-15 Lubes.

The Best AR-15 Lube on the Market

The near-dominant position of the AR-15 in the market is a relatively new phenomenon in the gun community. In most cases, our fathers and especially our grandfathers, unless they served in the army, didn’t have much experience with an AR-15 style rifle. Consequently, some of the advice we got from them, on how to properly maintain and lube a firearm, that all you need is a quart of motor oil or ATF, and a can of WD-40, definitely need to be revised and modernized.

 

Why AR-15 Lube is so Important

An AR-15 still has a reputation among some people of being an unreliable gun, a myth which originates from the stories we’ve all heard, when it’s military counterpart, the M16 first entered the Vietnam jungle and malfunctioned in the hands of the troops it was issued to. Fast forward several decades later and people can’t seem to find enough words of praise for the modern AR. Just a simple search of the internet will give you thousands and thousands of results, a large majority of them confirming its reliability even in the most extreme of weather conditions.

Whether it’s zero or a hundred degrees, in heavy rain or snow, during sand storms, this rifle will keep firing no matter what. But how does it accomplish all of this? To put it simply, the AR is a really tight and sealed system. Except for the case ejection port, and the opening near the trigger, dirt, and filth can’t get that easily into the rifle. The only thing designed to enter the rifle, other than cartridges obviously, is the gas from the gas tube which pushes the bolt carrier group rearward. Unless your AR uses a piston gas system, the expanding gases will push the bolt carrier group rearward and leave residue inside the receiver.

If not properly lubed, the bolt carrier group will fairly quickly damage the inside of your AR, at best messing up the reliability and accuracy, and at worst drastically decreasing the lifespan of the rifle. Bear this in mind, this rifle is made to work “wet”, if you think you overdid it with the lube or oil, trust me, your AR will thank you for it.

Types of AR-15 Lube: What is The Best Gun Lubricant?

The other question people will ask, after ‘how much and how often should I clean and lube my rifle,’ is ‘what exactly should I use.’ Most often you will have a choice between a CLP (short for cleans, lubes and protects), an oil, or a grease. Let’s first go over what the main differences between them are.

Three-in-One VS Oil VS Grease

1. Three-in-one, or a CLP, as the name says, tries to combine all three actions, cleaning, lubricating, and protecting into one product.
2. Oil, just like your regular motor oil, protects the moving parts of your rifle by minimizing the friction and consequently reducing wear and tear.
3. Grease does the same job, except it is a bit thicker.

Which one will you use?

As always it depends on how often you shoot, your geographical location, and various other factors. CLP is used by a lot of people and also, for example, by the military, because it offers a quick and easy does-it-all solution for soldiers who are always on the go, especially in combat situations. Some people still prefer to take their time when they clean the rifle, get out all the gunk from every nook and cranny and then apply oil to lubricate it well, because they want their AR to last for a long long time. The downside of using oil, for example in high heat and high rate of fire scenarios, is that it tends to evaporate fast, doesn’t stick well and you need to reapply the lubricant more often. That’s why in such cases a better option would be to use grease. It’s thickness and adhesiveness will prevent it from sliding from the bolt and other parts. Yet, even grease has its disadvantages, all the fouling and small particles of sand and dirt that somehow end up inside your AR, will also stick to the grease, and that can be detrimental to the operation of your rifle.

Best Spray Gun Cleaner

Hornady One Shot Spray Case Lube

The challenge of choosing between a spray and a liquid isn’t that difficult, it all boils down to how fast you want that lube to penetrate to even the most remote and hidden areas of your upper receiver and the bolt carrier group. Considering that the liquid could be much thicker than its spray counterpart, if you’re in a hurry or rush, using a spray is a great option. It can cover more, penetrate deeper and go boldly where no lube has gone before.

Best All-In-One (CLP)?

Clenzoil Field & Range Essentials Combo Kit

All-in-one products have been around for what seems like almost forever, the famous Ballistol has been used by the German army since 1905, so that’s more than a 100 years of service. As mentioned previously, US Army soldiers are issued with a type of CLP to be used in the field for fast cleaning, lubrication, and short term protection of army-issued carbines and rifles. The main intention when it was originally designed was to speed up and simplify the process of cleaning and lubing the gun, and many people who serve in our armed forces and law enforcement agencies claim that a good CLP is all they will ever need.

That being said, it is worth mentioning that even the most popular and well-respected all-in-one products will not perform all three of those functions equally well. A standard CLP is sort of a quick fix compromise, and it will get the job done, when you are in a rush or somewhere outdoors and don’t have the time to properly disassemble, clean and lube your AR. But, in order to be absolutely sure that you did a proper maintenance and lubing job, invest in a good cleaning solvent and a lube that has good to excellent protective and anti-friction characteristics. It will give you peace of mind, and ensure your AR will shoot smooth and last long.

Is Mineral Oil Bad for Guns?

If you go to any gun forum, store, show, or range you will undoubtedly hear stories from not just oldtimers but novice shooters about how they use just plain old ATF (not the agency, but Automatic Transmission Fluid) to lube their guns. And you will also hear stories from people who use nothing but the best (and usually the most expensive) products on the market for the same purpose.

And both of them are right, they will perform the same job equally well, lubricating and protecting your gun, the only difference being, albeit a relatively major difference, how long they will stick and remain on the surface.

Personally, I’ve tried both options, and everything in between, the only thing I didn’t do was to experiment in my kitchen mixing different solutions, like an amateur chemist trying to discover which one would work best for my AR.

It didn’t take a lot of time before I realized that, although they work great, mineral oils are not that thick and will not hold for a long time on the surface. The bottom line is, they all perform well, the only difference being that mineral oils are usually just that, thin oils. They do act as a good lubricant, in fact, an excellent one, but their downside is often they will not contain a lot of other ingredients that will act as a cleaning agent or more importantly, a corrosion protectant.

Why not use WD-40

WD-40 is an excellent product, and there are more than a hundred ways you can use it around your home, for your car or at your work.

But not for your AR. The WD in WD-40 is short for water displacement, and while yes, it is effective in removing and keeping water at bay, penetrating deep beneath rusted and stuck bolts, or close metal parts and driving the moisture out, as a lubricant it is at best catastrophic.

If you are somewhere outdoors where your weapon has been exposed to elements like rain, or you’ve accidentally dropped your rifle into a mud puddle, spray it down with WD-40 to get the water out. Which is the only thing you should use it for, when it comes to your rifle. Even though a lot of people use it and swear by it, the ingredients in the solution don’t offer any good long term lubrication, leaving a thin and sticky layer where it has been applied, and that will attract dirt and dust if not cleaned properly. WD-40 is made for just one purpose, and it does that job well, but it is definitely not for the maintenance of your AR15. As always, invest in good products that clean, protect, and properly lube your weapon.

How often should you lube your AR-15?

Regardless of whether you are using the AR-15 for home protection, 3-gun competitions, or your job requires you to carry it daily, the iconic rifle, just like any mechanical system, needs to be maintained properly in order to consistently work and perform reliably.

If you happen to belong to the first group of people, who use it for home defense scenarios, well the answer is simple, clean and lube it as much as you can. When you come back from the range or from a competition before you store the rifle somewhere safely, it is important to get rid of all of that carbon fouling, brass and lead specs, dirt from your AR and properly lube it in preparation for the next match. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

And in the opposite corner are people who usually clean and lube their ARs only when the fouling starts to significantly affect their accuracy and general reliability of the rifle. No matter how dirty it gets, the only maintenance they will do is to occasionally wipe off extra moisture to prevent rust from forming.

The truth of the matter is, there is a reliable source that you can consult when it comes to this enigma, the manual that came with your AR, or just simply contact the manufacturer for precise instructions and details.

What other cleaning tools do you need?

Other than a good solvent and lube, you will also need some additional equipment for cleaning your AR15. On today’s market, there are many great cleaning kits you can choose from, and some of them come with solvents and oils included, albeit in small packages that will be used up after two or three cleanings. Wondering what the Best AR-15 Cleaning Kits are? Read our review to find out.

You can also buy each individual tool separately, if you want to keep things simple, here is what you essentially need:

• A rag, which can be your old T-shirt, anything made of cotton, or alternatively some paper towels,
• A whole bunch of cotton swabs,
• A barrel rod and brushes for cleaning the barrel, both nylon and brass,
• A bore snake is a good alternative for barrel cleaning, can do the job even better in some cases,
• And a regular brush with nylon bristles for cleaning the inner components of your rifle

Some kits include a bolt carrier group scraper, which you can also buy separately. The scraper looks like a small knife or piece of metal that has several surfaces and cuts that match the ones on your bolt, which can allow you to scrape off the carbon fouling from it easier and faster. In case you want to clean all those small holes and tight spaces, add a good dental pick to your list, nothing too hard, because you don’t want to damage the metal. Those are the essentials most people use, but as I mentioned previously, you can choose to buy a solid kit that will include all or most of the stuff listed.

Conclusion – What is the Best AR-15 Lube?

In a market that has been saturated with a myriad of equally high-performing products like the lube market is today, it is really difficult to make a decision on which one is the best but at the same time won’t break the bank. And yes, we all know the stories that our fathers and grandfathers keep repeating over and over again, don’t invest in a high priced 2 oz bottle of some fancy boutique oil when you can just use good old ATF or some WD-40.

Well times have changed, new technologies have entered the realm of not just modern firearms, but are also being used to improve the quality of the lubricants that we use on our best AR-15 parts.