trigger lubrication ?

[rebs]

Do you guys lube the trigger on your Tikka T3x varmint 223 and if so how do you do it ?
What do you use ?

 

[watercam]

Flush with lighter fluid and allow to dry. All you need. Repeat once a year or so to keep it clean. Do NOT use grease or oil on the interior parts of your trigger.

 

[LarryDScott]

PLUS 1. LDS

 

[1shot]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What they said.

 

[rebs]

I may have messed up. I flushed it with Otis spray dry lube. Is that going to hurt anything ? Do I need to flush it with lighter fluid to get the dry lube out ?

 

[Peterson1]

I may have messed up. I flushed it with Otis spray dry lube. Is that going to hurt anything ? Do I need to flush it with lighter fluid to get the dry lube out ?

Yes

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Probably carb cleaner or ultrasonic first then flush with lighter fluid

 

[rebs]

all my other after market triggers get lubed, why not the Tikka trigger ?

I'll pickup some carb cleaner.

 

[rardoin]

all my other after market triggers get lubed, why not the Tikka trigger ?

I'll pickup some carb cleaner.

It is not needed and will only attract contaminants and increase the chance of 'gumming up the works'. Lube provides no benefit but adds liabilities.

 

[rebs]

Thank you

 

[Dusty Stevens]

No lube except lighter fluid

 

[Danny1788]

Lube in a trigger is like sugar in your gas tank. Sure you might make it around the corner, but it will seize up pretty fast after that. Clean triggers with brake clean, acetone or carb spray, Shake the hell out of them. Best advice to give someone is use a bore guide....

 

[MihiT]

Err. I'm going to be the odd one out here.

Metal sliding against metal is bad juju. And since all the sears/levers etc are the same hardness, there's no one "wear point" which probably means the pins, and even the housing, become the wear element.

I hose out with brake cleaner.
Acetone, butane, naptha (lighter fluids), carb cleaner, isopropyl, moonshine etc would all work much the same.
I lube with a few drops of hoppes 9.
Other options would be lanolin, ATF, PTFE, whale blubber, bacon grease, the tears of elves...

Anything in there has the potential to hold grit. And any grit in there will act as grinding paste.
All my guns are hunt guns, that is, in the bush, dirt, snow, sand, and this isn't a problem. I don't see possibly how it could be for BR shooters.

 

[rebs]

Thank you for all the replies. I blew it out with carb cleaner as you guys recommended. I must say that I have an expensive Geissele trigger in my AR and they sell lube for it. Rock River Arms used to recommend no lube on their trigger but now they do recommend lubing it because of wear.

 

[JMayo]

I suppose if you cleaned it after each use one could lube the trigger.
But to oil it and leave it would do more harm than good.
The wear from not lubricating,
the wear from grit in lubrication.
Hummm ....
I understand that the best lighter fluid is bbq lighter fluid. It leaves a film that helps. No compressed air. It leaves mosture.

 

[dolek]

From Bix and Andy,good enough for me .Other top makers agree,lighter fluid only .

6. Rinse the trigger mechanism with lighter fluid. 7. Very gently use a stream of compressed air to dry off the trigger.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

An AR trigger doesnt have sideplates to seal dirt in.

 

[Tommie]

Opinions on colloidal graphite?

 

[Brians356]

I suppose if you cleaned it after each use one could lube the trigger.
But to oil it and leave it would do more harm than good.
The wear from not lubricating,
the wear from grit in lubrication.
Hummm ....
I understand that the best lighter fluid is bbq lighter fluid. It leaves a film that helps. No compressed air. It leaves mosture.

Lighter fluid doesn't leave a residue, or if it does it's not a lubricant.

I ran an experiment: I cleaned an inch-square portion a plate of glass lying on my bench squeaky clean using Gun Scrubber and paper towel. Then I poured a small puddle of lighter fluid on that spot and let it evaporate for a few hours. With a desk lamp reflecting off the glass, I could not see any residue or film remaining. Then I took a fresh strip of Scotch Magic Tape and stuck it firmly where the lighter fluid had evaporated, rubbing it down and letting it "seat" for a minute. I then grasped one end of the tape strip and peeled it off. It took the same force to peel from the glass as when I subsequently ran the same tape test on glass cleaned only with Gun Scrubber. If there was the faintest "film" of lubricant on that glass, the tape simply would not stick nearly as well if at all. Looking at it another way: Any film of lubricant slight enough not to affect the tape would also be too slight to provide any lubricating effect on a trigger.
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[jpx2rk]

Should this advice for cleaning with lighter fluid. etc., be followed for all factory triggers???