Hi all - Congratulations for your wonderful community for which I wish to expand and prosper. Andy, I really love your presentation style, impeccable language, sparkling humour and subtle sarcasm. Always a joy to watch your reviews.... I am a highly addicted newbie in airguns. Already counting 4 months, having read tons of specs, articles, theory and reviews, still struggling with the much controversial issue of gun lubing.... I already own a Crossman 1377 pistol, a Daisy 717, and a Weihrauch HW75 (what a classy gun! - still low WAF though (aka wife acceptance factor)). Take the HW75 for example. After half a tin (or more) of pellets, I started wondering on oiling instructions, still wondering to this day after a thorough research..... A chronicle of my quest follows: THE MANUAL (rtfm first...) It suggests 1-2 drops of acid/resin free oil on the piston skirt. Right - any type/brand suggestions? THE WEIRAUCH DEALER in GREECE He suggested any kind of high-temperature resistant grease (not oil, he mentioned that expicitly). THE OFFICIAL WEIRAUCH ONLINE SUPPORT Contacted three times with very specific questions. The monotonous reply was "use high quality oil (not grease) and trust your local dealer, he is very knowledgeable" (what?...). VARIOUS UK & US AIRGUN FORA An answer for anyone's taste: silicon oil, synthetic oil, mineral oil, ceramic lub, PTFE based, lithium grease, pellgun oil, motorcycle hydraulic oil, X-Y-Z weight oil, ...the list is endless and of course a parade of brands, rws, ballistol, napier, hoppe, walther, bisley, magic9, castrol, superlub, abbey, gunex, some guys' secret formula, and some other high-tech miracles for a dollar a drop. It seems that there is some kind of concensus on the fact that silicon oil is best for synthetic seals but not so much for metal-metal friction. But then, even the same people suggest using silicon oil for SSP gun compression chambers (isn't the pump_shaft/chamber_wall a metal-metal case? or the purpose is to eventually just reach the seal and ignore the rest? Another typical contradiction: "use pellgun oil, it's silicon oil suggested by Crossman to lube the seals" but the tube itself states "petroleum based product". In this vain life full of doubt and despair, I always turn to science when in trouble. In this particular case, Andy, it is your turn to enlighten me, starting with the fundamentals along the decision tree line: a) why do we lube the pump/chamber of an ssp? is it for the piston/chamber friction, or eventually to lube the seal, or to even reach the valve? maybe all of the above? b) what type of lub shall one use for this purpose, oil or grease? does viscosity matter? how relevant is heat resistance for an ssp (as opposed to a pcp, for example)? c) depending on the answer for (b) what is the appropriate chemical composition and why, for the ssp case in particular? I dare to ask....any brand in particular? d) finally, referring to all those $$$ miracle stuff, is it worth the money? As a disclaimer, if I precociously assumed that I can flood your forum with my stupid newbie queries, I apologise in advance. Any kind reply on your behalf on the above though, will greatly help me. Also, how about a new video on the topic? Last but not least, my greetings to the much talented Mrs AAR. Best Regards, Vasilis