Testing out a new product from ZMax. This bounced off my desk the other day and I’ve put it to the test. I know there are some great gun products out there already, and I know we all have our favorites… So I’m pretty dang jaded when it comes to some new latest and greatest gun care product.
However, ZMax is different. ZMax has a long history of working lubricants for the automotive industry. And a lot of that in racing. They have some serious Lubricant Engineering chops. So when I saw this stuff, it raised an eyebrow. If these guys can help race engines perform better and longer… a gun oil should be real easy for them to do right.
So I’ve been testing it since I got it. My 1911, one of my 870 Tacticals and a few other things are now lubed and coated with ZMax’s “BOLT LUBE”. My 870 is gleaming darkly with it, and the 1911 feels like its been pampered. I am genuinely impressed so far. And honestly, nothing has actually impressed me since Slipstream and FIREclean.
Some of ZMax’s claims are going to take some time to sort out. But others I’m seeing evidence that it does just as advertised. The oil is thicker than most new gun oils. It really does stay where you put it. Other oils can run like water… Such MPRO-7’s gun oil. This stuff is different… It’s slick in a way that can only be described as creamy.
You can usually feel rather quickly if a gun oil is going to work for you or not. This stuff works. I don’t know anything about the Micro-Lubricant part of the label. I’ll have to talk to them about it, but there’s something to it.
The BORE Cleaner and Conditioner seems to work just fine as well. It’s hard to test a cleaner when my guns are already clean. But I used it on some other things and it cleaned the metal quite nicely, leaving the surface with what feels like a micro-film of some sort of lubricant. That’s probably the “Conditioner” part.
The site talks a lot about “soaking into the metal”. And I’ve yet to see metal soaking a fluid in like a sponge, but I know what they are talking about. Penetrating into the microscopic nooks and crannies that are only seen under an electron microscope. That’s where moisture can get, so that’s where corrosion starts. Getting in there with whatever micro-lubricant they have is a good thing.
I have high hopes for this product. It has a solid foundation and history behind it. While it’s a new product, it didn’t just pop out of the blue. I’ll keep you guys posted on how it tests out the more I use it.
UPDATE: Tested further in my Beretta 92FS. Let’s put it this way. I’m sold on it. As I said before, “I gotta talk to these guys.” Well, I did. I talked to them. Zmax is HQ’d at the race track, and I met the fellas there at the 4 Wide Drag Strip. Okay, first off… 4 wide drag racing? That’s just bananas. I will be getting tickets to that. You want to see more power launching than that – You’ll have to get on an Aircraft Carrier. In talking with the Zmax crew – I discussed this with them. “Just what is in Zmax that makes it work different from other lube?” Pretty much the answer was in Molecule size. Here’s what they said, “If a normal oil molecule is, say, the size of a basketball. Then the the size of the Zmax molecule is the size of a ping pong ball.” It’s 80 times smaller. That’s how it penetrates into the metal, lifts carbon off, keeps carbon from sticking. That’s the secret. That is legitimately impressive. In my Beretta? Well, my Beretta was already slick. The feeling as I said before? Creamy? That’s the feel in the Beretta. But there’s a difference. Not only does it feel so smooth… But it’s not bleeding oil. The oil stays put, as advertised.
Pretty much – Bolt Lube by ZMax does what it’s advertised to do. That’s also impressive.
A bit more though that is not advertised. It works better when it gets hot. Which makes this IDEAL for all your Class III applications. In and on suppressors and full autos. Any gun that you are going to run hard… get hot. That’s where the ZMax comes into it’s own.
