lubing a DE

[seed]

I am relatively new to the DE scene, but I have come to the conclusion that DE's need to be more heavily lubed than most guns. When my brother borrowed my DE to take on a shooting trip, upon his return it would not open (by pulling the slide back) until the 4th or 5th pull. This happened multiple times. So, I took it apart, cleaned it pretty well (not immaculate, but more than sufficient) and proceeded to lube the hell out of it at the key points...this includes the obvious parts (slide rails, recoil rods, etc) as well as some not so obvious parts. I took the slide apart and lubed the bolt, and the bolt stabilizer pin (part number 4) where it slides against the bolt. I note this here because I believe that it was the culprit preventing the slide from being able to be racked. The only other part that I can imagine doing this is the cross bar of the recoil assembly...but I doubt it because of how the slide would not budge until it finally would...and in a manner as if there was nothing dragging.

Anyway, long story short: after heavy lubing my DE, it is smoother than it ever was...EVER. It's like a totally different gun. And absolutely no hint of my previous problem. Even though I have yet to shoot it since, I am pretty convinced I did the right thing. I have to confess that the reason I did it was because of that excellent youtube video where that guy shows you how to disassemble and reassemble a DE to a very thorough degree. He bubbled that he stopped having problems with reliability when he started lubing more heavily.

Bottom line is that the DE is a beast that is different from any other firearm. I won't be using it for defense and am not worried about dust or lint...so if I need to lube it heavily (relatively speaking, of course) to make it work, then I will.

[Excavator]

I am relatively new to the DE scene, but I have come to the conclusion that DE's need to be more heavily lubed than most guns. When my brother borrowed my DE to take on a shooting trip, upon his return it would not open (by pulling the slide back) until the 4th or 5th pull. This happened multiple times. So, I took it apart, cleaned it pretty well (not immaculate, but more than sufficient) and proceeded to lube the hell out of it at the key points...this includes the obvious parts (slide rails, recoil rods, etc) as well as some not so obvious parts. I took the slide apart and lubed the bolt, and the bolt stabilizer pin (part number 4) where it slides against the bolt. I note this here because I believe that it was the culprit preventing the slide from being able to be racked. The only other part that I can imagine doing this is the cross bar of the recoil assembly...but I doubt it because of how the slide would not budge until it finally would...and in a manner as if there was nothing dragging.

Anyway, long story short: after heavy lubing my DE, it is smoother than it ever was...EVER. It's like a totally different gun. And absolutely no hint of my previous problem. Even though I have yet to shoot it since, I am pretty convinced I did the right thing. I have to confess that the reason I did it was because of that excellent youtube video where that guy shows you how to disassemble and reassemble a DE to a very thorough degree. He bubbled that he stopped having problems with reliability when he started lubing more heavily.

Bottom line is that the DE is a beast that is different from any other firearm. I won't be using it for defense and am not worried about dust or lint...so if I need to lube it heavily (relatively speaking, of course) to make it work, then I will.

Great post! :anim_bounce:

Also, check the sides of your frame and slide where they meet together for Carbon build up.

Make sure your cross bar that holds your two recoil springs together is free of Carbon. ( Big Culprit )

I use a hard bristle brush soaked in solvent.

When I was new to the gun I missed looking closely at these areas, and had the same problem that you describe.

If you look good you can see the hard cancer like build up of carbon.

Correct, the DE doesn't mind a good lubing, and gets dirty as hell.

I use to use Gun Scrubber on the DE. Now I have an Ultra Sonic that does a great job at cleaning the DE.

[seed]

Yeah, it actually says straight in the manual to be mindful of the cross-bar and piston areas...It says that if poorly maintained, it could actually break your slide! It makes sense once you look at how the gun operates. Scary though.

Incidentally, the video on youtube I mentioned is done by a guy who goes by the handle of korn1536. It's a three parter. I found it searching: Desert Eagle disassembly. I would link it, but I have noticed a lot of boards lately discouraging such things. But you will easily find it. It is well worth the time and effort.

[seed]

Just saw that Weapons Shield is on sale for the remaindor of August. 20% off. Phenomenal stuff and the only lube anyone should use in my opinion. I will elaborate later, but I did my homework and you owe it to yourself to at least try it.

With the admin's permission, I will post how you can find this stuff. No, I don't work for them, am not affiliated in any way with them, nor have I any sort of relationship with them. I just really like their product.

[thomaswmaz]

I have an LWRC rifle, and their tech support has a section on LWRC forum about cleaning. They actually suggest windex without ammonia, and using warm lightly soaped water. Of course dry throughly and lube appropiately. All their rifles ship with slip oil so I used this on my guns now. Windex seems wild to me, has anyone used windex to clean their weapons. LWRC is a gas much like the infamous DESERT EAGLE.
Desert Eagle .50AE in black used for home defense and soon to be my new CCW, waiting on a holster, thats right you heard it correctly.

[seed]

As long as there is no ammonia and you dry it out thoroughly. But ammonia is used as a copper solvent, if I am not mistaken...you just have to follow it with another solvent to remove the ammonia afterwards.

Simple Green has been recommended before by A.G.I. And of course MPro-7 and its Hoppes counterpart (not #9, obviously) are water-based solvents which don't seem to cause problems. But personally, after using one of them I like to either finish the cleaning job with my old formulation FP-10 (the predecessor of Weapons Shield and not the new FP-10 formulation which is totally different and inferior to the original) and or lay out my field stripped parts on top of a long flat electric guitar case in front of a fan to help speed the evaporation of any remaining water-based solvent -- and then lube and reassemble the guns some time later.

[Hard Chrome]

I give all of my Desert Eagles a thorough lubing after cleaning.

The only downside is that you have a lot of messy greasy dirty innards when you return home.

I use Kroil for a lube, especially if I need to go heavier than usual.

[Excavator]

Just saw that Weapons Shield is on sale for the remaindor of August. 20% off. Phenomenal stuff and the only lube anyone should use in my opinion. I will elaborate later, but I did my homework and you owe it to yourself to at least try it.

With the admin's permission, I will post how you can find this stuff. No, I don't work for them, am not affiliated in any way with them, nor have I any sort of relationship with them. I just really like their product.

This is fine, members can post links and information as you have described.

Constantly promoting your own business or one that you are affiliated with via links and subjects in threads & posts is not allowed. " using the forums dime "

Thanks!

[seed]

Well the site is steelshieldtech.com. It is not the best site and is kind of hard to find the order page for exactly what you want. But it's not that hard. Just look up the order sheet tab at the top and then search for "Weapons Shield". Right now he is having a sale for 20% off if you call their number (I can post with permission) and mention the August sale. Good stuff and Fennell is highly knowledgeable in tribology. If you're bored, you might want to look up the old threads on TFL about lubes. They are what made me sign up to boards in general way back in '04. Very interesting, informative and entertaining. Back then his product was FP-10, but he left them and restarted on his own with WS. Since then, the product being sold as FP-10 is not the same formulation as before and is inferior to the original.

[Sean]

I have used Kroil for years, good stuff. Brownell's is about the only place I have found it in stock.
My Desert Eagle likes a lot of lube as well, and I found Kroil works best during the winter months.

[thomaswmaz]

How much lube do you all use? I only use a light coating on my Desert Eagle .50 XIX and it seems to do fine, I usually put 20 -30 rounds through it at the range and can go shooting twice before it even needs a cleaning. You guys must be reloading, I guess??? I use Slip 2000, used to use MPRO-7 oil. I do still use Mpro cleaning spray solution though.

[seed]

A light coating is what you want...you just need to put it at all friction points. And you have to keep these points clean. In other pistols, you usually get away with missing a spot, using less than ideal or dirty ammo, not cleaning as much as you should. But with DE's, many, if not most suffer reliability problems in the early lives of their DE's if they neglect some area of maintenance. If you don't, consider yourself lucky...or rich enough to shoot an adequate number of rounds to finally fully break it in!

[Hard Chrome]

A light coating is what you want...you just need to put it at all friction points. And you have to keep these points clean. In other pistols, you usually get away with missing a spot, using less than ideal or dirty ammo, not cleaning as much as you should. But with DE's, many, if not most suffer reliability problems in the early lives of their DE's if they neglect some area of maintenance. If you don't, consider yourself lucky...or rich enough to shoot an adequate number of rounds to finally fully break it in!

I agree. When you compare other Semi Auto handguns to the DE, there is a lot going on inside the DE.

[flanman]

Anyone able to post the youtube site? I just got an early model and would love to disassemble and give it a complete scrubbing. flanman

[seed]

Just look up the name of the guy who posted it. I would link it, but my dumb ass is still having fun trying to figure out Windows 7 and for some reason I have not been able to put in links.

[Sean]

It's not very hard to break down completely & Clean & reassemble. Give it a whirl!

The DE is very forgiving in fit tolerances.

They come apart and re-assemble as easy as a Harley Motor!

[seed]

Anyone able to post the youtube site? I just got an early model and would love to disassemble and give it a complete scrubbing. flanman

The youtube poster goes by korn 1536. You can find his videos (two or three part...I forget) under the search: desert eagle disassembly. I highly recommend it. He took it down almost all the way, but I just wish he would have gone just a tiny bit further. Still great though.

[flanman]

Anyone her tried GunButter as lube? and if so what cleaner do you prefer to use first as it is supposed to be one without lube properties. Hard to find a cleaner that does not include a lube component today. flanman

[LargeCaliber]

I actually run mine dry. However in fairness I also clean mine after every time I operate it and it's a pretty thorough cleaning job too, I want mine immaculate and ready to go and take pride in cleaning it well too. One session my friend and I went about 50 rounds without failure or jam so it can run dry as long as you clean it well. My solvant is Break Free and it really gets the powder and stuff out, it's pretty good stuff.

[flanman]

Interesting. I am fanatical about cleaning to the point that I have more fun watching the kids and family shoot knowing that I will get to completely disassemble and clean for hours. Mostly I use Hoppes #9 and then rub down with either Hoppes oil or spray coat with Remington oil. flanman

[Mark Ducati]

To the OP,

I detailed/cleaned my DE50 or the first time after a few hundred rounds... brushed chrome sure is easy to take care of.

Anyway, before I'd just wipe down with some Breakfree CLP, this go around I took the whole thing apart, scraped all the carbon off and lubed the shit out of it.

I mostly used Breakfree CLP, but I also have this beige/whiteish lube that comes in some kind nylon bottle that looks very much like a white glue bottle. I got it when I was in the Army and its Mil-Spec (I can get the part number if anybody is really interested)... Anyway, BreakFree CLP all the way around and then my "special lube" for the rails"... this time I lubed heavily as you suggested. I too only shoot 10-20 rounds at a time, then clean after every session...

A little extra lube really seems to make this handgun cycle more reliably... maybe its mental, but that's been my observance.

[seed]

It's been my observation and the observation of others that DE's need to be a little more wet than most conventional pistols. There are so many moving parts that have to glide over other parts in twists and turns (the bolt) and sliding over one another that anywhere along the line, something may get caught up a bit and affect reliability...especially in less-broken in examples.

[50AE]

I agree Seed. And I have had exc luck running the thinnest lube that I have on the bench.

Kroll seems to work very well for me in the DE.

[Rodentman]

I use basic oil. Even 3 in 1 works well. I thought Kand Kroil, like WD40 is really a solvent, not a lube. I'd prefer something heavier anyway.

[Hard Chrome]

I use basic oil. Even 3 in 1 works well. I thought Kand Kroil, like WD40 is really a solvent, not a lube. I'd prefer something heavier anyway.

Same here, keep her wet. I love Kroil with the Desert Eagle. You don't want to run any thick shit. Kroil seems to be just enough. :Thumbs up: