Gun lube

[Kevin McCormack]

Unless you encounter a problem, I wouldn't remove the trigger plate very often at all (once a year is probably too frequent). Messing with it gives rise to a host of ills (buggered screws, damaged front lip of the plate, uneven replacement along the milled rim, etc.). Also, over-lubricating the interior workings dramatically increases the accumulation of dust, dirt, grime & etc. Once heavy oil or grease traps these particles, you essentially have the equivalent of a grinding compound working on the bearing surfaces. A VERY light (one or 2 drops) application of fine gun oil is all that is needed. The other end of this spectrum is the VH that a man brought to our table at the first Greenwich show and actually asked us to disassemble the action because it was so hard to cock and fire that he'd quit using it (think 'grandpop's old duck gun). When we took the trigger plate off it looked like someone had used a straightedge to screed heavy wheel bearing grease into the interior - you couldn't make out the individual parts at all. The action was completely clogged with gunk the consistency of pudding. The worst of all is squirting oil, WD40, GunScrubber, G96 or some other spray into the firing pin holes; this goes directly on and into the stock head.