Slipstream Lubricant -- First Impression

I have been reading a bit of hype recently about Slipstream lubricant from Crusader Weaponry. There are glowing reviews to be found on the web (eg. here, here and here) with, so far, no distinctly negative ones. Given that is not terribly expensive I decide to try it.

For my first experiment I used it on a S&W 686+. This is not a stock revolver. The return slide and the mating surfaces on the frame have been stoned and polished. The hammer and trigger frame studs are lightly polished. Exclusive of the cylinder, those are the three most significant source of friction in the S&W lockworks. Additionally, the factory mainspring was replaced with a Wolff full-power spring and a 15# Wolff spring was substituted for the factory 18# return slide spring.

Crusader's instructions recommend I completely clean and degrease the gun before applying their lubricant so I cleaned the cylinder and small parts in an ultrasonic cleaner. The frame I cleaned using Tetra's Action Blaster. Everything was rubbed down and dried with Scott disposable shop towels I bought at the local Home Depot. I reassembled the gun using Slipstream in the places I normally applied my usual oil.

First thing I noticed is the cylinder did not spin as freely as before.  Secondly there is a noticeable drag when opening and closing the cylinder. Finally, the ejector seem to have a bit more drag in it. I measured the trigger pull before and after. The average of seven measurements (one for each chamber) was:

Before: 9.42 lbs, StdDev: 0.28 lbs

After:  9.46 lbs, StdDev: 0.25 lbs

The difference in the trigger weight is not significant and the overall subjective feel of the action does not seem to be affected.

So far, the jury is still out on using Slipstream on my revolvers. The additional drag noted above is slight enough I might not have noticed were this not my personal gun which I shoot a lot. Slipstream has not improved the overall action but neither has it diminished it. Being, to all appearances, a "dry" lube it may help reduce the powder residue and other gunk that gathers in the action. That would be an advantage over the other oils I've tried. Hopefully I will get a chance to get to the range this weekend and see how it performs in that regard. Also, since it was probably formulated with autoloaders in mind, I will eventually try the grease and oil on my P95 and Sig 220 to see how it affects them.

Time and Again

Cathy L.Z. Smith, whom I believe is L. Neil Smith's wife, has a new artice on Intellectual Property entitled Time—Going, Going, Gone. Go there and read it if you're interested.

The Intellectual-is-the-same-as-Real Property arguments have always struck me as kind of silly. Carrying Ms. Smith's argument to a logical conclusion would means the design for the 1911 was stolen from Browning (when the Government expired his patent) and all the clones makers are now profiting from that theft. Seems it would also mean that Smith and Wesson might not have not been able to make their first revolver since Colt owned that Intellectual Property. If so, since S&W owned the IP for the drilled through cylinder, the metallic cartridge might not have replaced the cap and ball.

I don't know offhand who owned (owns?) the IP for the metallic cartridge.

Even Ayn Rand recognized the need for an expiration date on IP. An expiration of IP happens because patents and copyright are not property as we normally think of property but represent a debt owed to the creator by people that copy the invention or book. However, debts are not eternal so patents and copyrights are limited.

I think I'll just leave the Smiths to arguing about angels and pinheads while I head to the range to use my pirated 1911 and immorally obtained S&W revolvers.

Arrrr Matey!

Smith and Wesson Internal Lock

There is a minor brouhaha on Calguns over the S&W internal lock. Most of it is the typical S&W bashing but one poster put up a link to a video showing how easy it is to disable the lock.



Tempests are forever in search of new teapots. The S&W internal lock is one of the most furious of late. For the record, I don't like the lock. Neither do I like those sub-standard magazines S&W, Ruger, Glock, Beretta, etc sells with their California models. So what?

I try to be realistic about such things. Over 300,000 handguns are sold in California every year. Most of these are new. I have no right to expect a gun maker to willingly give up competing in a market that size and if S&W has to put a chickenshit lock on their guns to be able to sell it to me then I'm glad it is one I can deactive in a few minutes.

Range Day with the 686.

Went to the Oak Tree Gun Club range in Newhall today with the California Bears shooting club. It's a long drive from Glendora but it really was worth it. In addition to trap and skeet, which don't interest me much, they have a very nice handgun range which I took advantage of while the rest of the club was busting clays.

I recently had my 686 machined for moon clips and wanted to make sure it was in shape for a Zombie Shoot next month so I concentrated on the plates at 12 and 25 yards. However even when using 38 special +P (the range doesn't allow magnum loads on the steel plates), that got boring so I switched to flipping a six inch plate at 50 yards back and forth. After my second cylinder (fourteen shots) at the longer range I realized mine was the only gun shooting. Ah crap, I thought to myself, did I miss the range officer calling a break? I set the empty gun down, stepped back and realized everybody had stopped to watch me shoot.

A couple of guys complimented me on my shooting. I thanked them then made a beeline for the restroom. When I got back, everyone was back to normal.

Yes, it was an undeniable ego boost to hear the congratulations but I don't mind admitting it was a bit intimidating too. I do not consider myself to be all that great a shooter. I mean, it was only fifty yards. If it had been at 100 or more then, yeah, I'd think I was doing good but fifty?

I had great time and I feel pretty confident I can beat up on the Zombies next month.

God versus Smith and Wesson

News Article in the UK Times Online:

Toddler kills cousin with father's gun

The toddler son of a US police officer shot and killed his three year old cousin with the gun his father had left in the family car.

Police were called to a house in Louisiana at 2.30 pm local time on Thursday after the three-year-old boy gunned down his cousin when they were playing in their front garden.
More

In the comments, someone identifying himself as "harish lathia" wrote:

Dear all American Brothers and Sisters

Please get rid of these guns.
You are a very intelligent and rich/ educated people, please TRUST IN GOD, not guns.
Do not fear, but analyse yourselves and you will see that your essence is a spark of divinity as you are human beings.

With this knowledge and your other endowments you can lead us to a better world.

You do not need guns.

Harish Lathia

If any one of mankind's gods exists -- a big if in my opinion -- It doesn't seem to care much about human beings. So, even if God exists, I am still on my own.

Self defense is a natural function as fundamental to the human animal as eating, sleeping and excreting. It cannot be delegated. Turning the other cheek and giving the criminal what he wants is a fool's game. You may believe it will buy you an eternity in Paradise but in the real world it will get you hurt or killed.

In the Movie version of Watchmen, the character Rorshach tells a prison psychiatrist about an early case involving a kidnapped girl and her killer. He summed up the lesson of that case thusly:

You see, Doctor, God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her and destiny didn't feed her to those dogs. If God saw what any of us did that night he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew... God doesn't make the world this way. We do.

Good advice. In any encounter with a criminal, given a choice between trusting in God or trusting in a Smith and Wesson revolver, I'll pick the revolver. I have evidence it works.

H/T to David Codrea