Found this stuff in the shed that I had bought many years ago.  Anyone know if it is still good?  I know that lubricants generally have an expiration date and this stuff is 50+ years old now.  The containers seem fairly airtight though if that matters.

This is the exact stuff.  Says "Grease Rifle" on the top.  Box shows 1971 manufacture date.  Is in cute little 2.5cc containers.  Grease smells exactly like an old ammo can, consistency seems ok and smears well, looks yellowing.  I'm not sure what it looked like originally.  

Worth trying on a garand?  How do you know if it lubes well?  Usually using Mobile 1, red stuff but would be neat to use grease that is almost as old as the rifle.




Pics aren't mine but almost exactly the same.

Greases do get nasty over time.  I'd bet it's NFG.  But a test is worth a thousand expert opinions.  Nothing to lose.

I've got a couple 1LB cans of GI rifle grease from the 60's.

No issues using it.

It's fine.

I have had several boxes of the same stuff. Its fine, use it

What color is the grease.  IIRC they changed over to a reddish grease sometime after WWII.  The older stuff was white (lubriplate).  It gets kinda watery after sitting but can be mixed back up and used with no issue.

Petroleum is already millions of years old when it’s extracted from the ground so all grease is already on the verge of “going bad”. ;)

Seriously, it will be fine.

That said, there’s nothing magic about military rifle grease.  If you read the technical specifications for the reddish brown iteration dating back to WWII and the Garand, the major concern was resistance against washout.

*Any* automotive grease from your local auto parts store will be superior in terms of washout resistance, heat resistance and lubrication.

The value in that box is in the little plastic containers and their value to collectors and Garand shooters.

If the container has remained sealed, it's still good for use.

It's worth far more to someone that likes to finger bang their rifle, rather than shoot it.

Old stuff I have come across was buff colored and did mostly dry out to a firm paste and it had drying cracks in the product in the tiny container.

The red brown stuff in the little butt trap jars was always fine.

Even the dryish buff stuff would still have some lubricity.