To oil or not to oil?
Everyone always wonders about the type of lubrication to use in their paintball marker (gun, for those of you not familiar with the term). The internet seems to be a bastion of over-hyped information and often misleads consumers, and perhaps purposefully. Some tout oil (or petroleum) based lubricants to be too abrasive on your marker’s inner workings. They cite the fact that oil wears down the rubber in the o-rings in your gun. Others claim that water based lubricants are best because they are not abrasive. So do we oil or not?
Water based oils such as KY-Jelly and others are perhaps the most detrimental thing that can be put into a paintball marker. Water based oils don’t last as long and can cause serious problems. The KY Jelly Liquid version has a lot of extra “gelatinous” material, sucrose (sugar), and glycerin. As the water evaporates the water based lubes becomes very sticky and difficult. Imagine what this does to your internals? Imagine a sticky, sugary, residue inside your gun. Imagine walking into a grocery store and asking for a “water-based lubricant” and incidentally mentioning that it is for some type of strange gun. The looks you’d get would be more than enough. Save yourself public humiliation, these water-based oils were not created to have a long lasting effect, keeping in mind what they were actually created for. Not recommended.
Real oil seems to have a distinct advantage. One such product is AutoLube. We had previously reported this as a water-based lubricant but received a call from the president of the company that makes the product. We were reassured that AutoLube is oil-based, hence we are proud to state the we were in error and now have been corrected. The amount of wear that petroleum would do to the rubber’s internal parts is minuscule. Oil lubricates better and will “stick” to the internals, rather than slip off or evaporate. A typical 3-in-1 oil will work fine. Oil also works to retard rust.
However beware of WD40. That will, definitely, wear your rubber o rings a lot faster than plain oil. Why? WD40 was not designed to lubricate, it was designed to displace water. NASA needed a substance that would displace water in space. Maybe that’s why the shuttle crashed. Remember? The o-rings failed on the booster rockets? Ok, well probably not. But you never know.
Some companies make specific paintball marker oil. They are usually re-branded 3 in 1 light oil.
Make sure you lubricate your gun every time before you play. Improper lubrication can lead to future damage.
