doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rangoon Oil

Does anyone know what's in it?

It is petroleum based, as I understand, relatively thick, and insoluable. Makes a good protectant for steel. It was used in the oil bottles issued to British troops for lubrication and protection of their Martini Henrys and Sniders. I am not sure what effect BP has on this oil as some petroleum products react negatively to BP and some don't. Been in use for over 150 years I understand.

Rangoon oil is actually a heavy petroleum distillate roughly along the lines of kerosene and fuel oil. It has a slow evaporation rate and was used as a rust preventative by the British around the 1850s. They found that it worked rather well, especially in hot and steaming jungles. The name comes from the fact that the first source was from a natural oil well found in Rangoon (now Yangoon), Burma (now Myanmar).

Is it still made? Perhaps by the English makers?

Yes it is still made. Westley Richards sells it.

Ken

I have some Rangoon Oil that I bought from Westley Richards. If it has the ingredients on the bottles I will post it here.

OK....I just checked. No ingredients listed.

Bottle says:

"Specially Refined
RANGOON OIL
For The Protection of All Steel Surfaces
Made In England"

"Rangoon Oil: A traditional formula, excellent for long-term storage of firearms, their working parts, and metallic surfaces."

It is very much more, thinner, than say Beretta gun oil which I use too.

I have an older bottle of H & H rangoon oil too.......will check that and see what it says.........

Just checked......my Holland & Holland Rangoon Oil gives no ingredients either.

My old bottle is from A&F, no ingredients listed.

I would suspect that the 21st Century petroleum industry has managed to improve on some boiled in an iron pot over a wood fire concoction.

yes, but it really smells good

So does CastrolR and grease drippings off a steak but I'm not sure that is a qualification of any significance

It doesn't hurt. Did you ever open an old English hard leather gun case and smell the combination of leather, cigar smoke, Rangoon oil and maybe a little mildew. It's all part of it.

My bottle of Rangoon Oil was sold by CCL, and came in a gun cleaning kit by Parker Hale. I just checked mine, and it has zero odor that I can detect. Clear and relatively thin. The bottle of CCL NitroSolv, however, is fragrant beyond description. I came back in and asked my wife to smell my fingers and tell me if she liked the smell. She squenched her face up and said, "That's awful".

I love it.

SRH

Something which has stood the test of time for 150+ years is not necessarily "Bad". Alot of "So Called" improvements are anything But.

Pass me the Rangoon Please. I think I'll have a second helping.

As Wonko mentioned, I would also surmise the original Rangoon Oil is old technology, superseded immensely by many newer products. I would bet too that what my friend Stan has is similar in name only to the original, and WR is just labeling it as such, but I could be entirely wrong about that. I seem to recall the only time I smelled Rangoon Oil, it had a definite phenol character to it, but that may have been Young's 303.
JR

Rangoon is really 3 in 1 with a dash of High Karate.

I kept my guns rust free and lubed for many years with 3 in 1 oil, before I got so "sophisticated". Actually, many of the lubricants I have today are gifts and prizes. Can't say a single one of them has ever failed me if I used them properly.

SRH

3-in-1 oil was formulated in 1894 by George W Cole. 20+ years ago I had acquired an older Lufkin 0"-1" micrometer on which the thimble could hardly be turned it was stuck up with old grimy oil. I carefully managed to get it apart & cleaned it up with acetone. Then just to see what it would do I oiled it with
3-in-1. From that time to this it has not had a drop of any other oil applied. To this day it still has as smooth a motion & as sweet a feel as any micrometer I used in my 35+ years as a machinist. Not bad for an approximately 125 year old product.

3-in-1 was given its name because it "Cleaned, Lubricated & Protected" against rust, the "Original" CLP if you will. A lot of these old products did their job while many ff the newer ones are answers to non-existent problems with Fancy Names & matching Fancy Price Tags.

Someone gave me an air freshener for my car in Hoppe's Number 9 scent. When it quits smelling, I have a bottle of the original recipe to soak it in and get it going again...Geo

For your consideration: http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

Would any new Rangoon oil not now be Yangon oil ?
The genuine article would come from Myanmar.
O.M

Bluestem,
Very enlightening, thanks for posting.
Karl

Thanks for that link.

FrogLube looks pretty good all round, eh?

SRH

I've used Froglube for a few years in different applications. What I've discovered was that it makes a very good layer of protection for exterior metal surfaces. I would personally not use it for internal mechanics (perhaps a hinge pin lubricant), due to its tendency to thicken and harden with age. Cold weather also has a strong effect on Froglube and causes it to harden much faster than typical thin-viscosity oil lubricants at low temps. That said, it is a pretty good rust preventative, is non-toxic I believe, and smells like wintergreen (or teaberry to some). Just my personal experience...YMMV

Never have used Rangoon Oil, though I have a vintage Purdey gun that held some at one time

My go to lube is Eezox

From this link, I especially liked No. 1 on the list of final thoughts about the very comprehensive test of gun metal care products...

1. There are two enemies to our guns. Neglect and liberal Democrats who dislike the 2nd amendment. Do everything in your power to make sure neither are allowed to make any advances on your weapons.

I'm having good luck using Thompson Center Natural Lube 1000 on the exterior of some of my guns. It did such a great job of preventing after-rust in the bore of my flintlock rifles that I figured it might do just as well on the outside. It does.

Jojoba oil for metal and few drops Schaftol for oil-finished stock.

The Japanese have been using camellia oil on their edged weapons and tools for hundreds of years.

There is nothing better for preserving steel.

It also will not hurt wood, so it's perfect for items made from steel and wood.

That said, I spray my outdoor padlocks with WD-40 every so often and they are doing fine after many, many years.

Open the gun case~~Ah the smell of Rangoon Oil; the smell of your walnut stock rotting..

Ahh, another oil that ruins timber.
Do you believe that all petroleum products damage walnut or all timber ?
From what I have seen in stock heads, I think that wax is a far better alternative for rust prevention coating the outside of firearms.
O.M

Clenzoil and ballistol are supposed to be safe for wood.
Karl

When I posed the question, it was with two assumptions.
The first was that Rangoon oil was at least part sperm oil.
The second was, that if the first assumption was correct, the formulation
has changed.

I have never seen any reference that suggested that Rangoon oil ever contained sperm oil. Sperm oil was used as a lubricant for guns, watches, and other fine mechanisms because it had no tendency to gum up. It was also used by gunsmiths for tempering springs. The old German gunsmith who taught me spring tempering had a good supply of it with a picture of a whale on the label of the glass jugs.

KY Jon's initial post provided the best answer for what Rangoon oil was. It seems unlikely that the source today would be the same natural oil seep near Rangoon, Burma that was used in the 1800's, or that the same early refining technique would still be used today, even though fractional distillation is still used. The original Burmese petroleum base stock seems to be an important part of the recipe. Holland & Holland Rangoon oil is advertised as containing synthetic esters, so we can be sure their formula is not the same as the original product.

I use to import both Rangoon oil and Neverust oils. I used the Neverust for long term storage. I still keep both on hand but have not use them in years. I may have to get some back out again.

John