Grease gun storage

[R Clark]

...NO, not the M3...

I have a number of machines that need to be greased through zerk fittings.  I always had those cheap little pistol grip guns you can buy at WalMart for a few bucks.  I've been through a few of them.  They always seem to ruin most of a cartridge of grease over time as the grease oozes around the plunger if it is stored under pressure.

I finally got fed up with the latest of those cheap guns last week when it lost pressure and the plunger went all the way to the "bottom" without dispensing any grease.  It ruined the last grease cartridge I had, and I was halfway through a grease job on the driveshaft on my pickup truck.  I went and bought a better full-size gun.  The better-quality plunger and gasket are a great improvement over the old cheapy.

My question is:  When not in use, should I store this gun with the plunger backed out and no pressure on the grease cartridge?  The instructions don't say anything about it.  If I back that plunger out, then won't it draw air into the grease chamber and it give me trouble priming it in the next use?

[Stwood_]

I've always kept full sized guns.
I've never pulled the plunger back out unless the tube has emptied and I'm replacing it with a new tube.
I store mine (grease out) downward into a five gallon bucket with it's 2 other mates. Grease has oil in it, and during hot weather, it will seep out of the grease, leaking from the grease gun. Those oil drips stay in the bucket.

[Cecil]

I've always kept full sized guns.
I've never pulled the plunger back out unless the tube has emptied and I'm replacing it with a new tube.
I store mine (grease out) downward into a five gallon bucket with it's 2 other mates. Grease has oil in it, and during hot weather, it will seep out of the grease, leaking from the grease gun. Those oil drips stay in the bucket.

Same here, except 2 guns only

[TDKPE]

Same here, except 2 guns only

Same here, except 1 gun only.  

And I store it on top of my oil change pan, since the drips always seem to originate at the pump end, which hovers over the pan with the hard pipe at one end, and the handle and body at the other end and side.  It all lives on a garbage bag on a shelf in the garage, for ready access.

I never back the plunger out unless it's to replace the cartridge.

[R Clark]

Thanks.

I'm going to load it up and leave it charged.

Understand about the oil leakage; all the little guns did that, too, over time.

[Robert Adams]

The plunger is only used when changing tubes.

     I store mine hanging inside a cat litter bucket. So any drips end up in the bucket. I have a lever a trigger and an air grease gun. The one that leaks the least is the air one but they all leak because it's so miserably hot up in the summer here. I rarely use the trigger one as its not as easy to use as a lever one. 

         If anyone has found one that doesn't leak I'd like to know what it is. Course most leakage is due to the oils separating out of the grease and finding the small cracks.

[CLETUS]

         If anyone has found one that doesn't leak I'd like to know what it is. Course most leakage is due to the oils separating out of the grease and finding the small cracks.

I've always hated my (cheap) grease gun... the best thing that happened was for someone to walk off with it.

Based on a recommendation, I bought a Lincoln pistol grip and have been happy with it.

[Stwood_]

         If anyone has found one that doesn't leak I'd like to know what it is. Course most leakage is due to the oils separating out of the grease and finding the small cracks.

I don't worry about the once in a while oil drip because I don't store mine in the living room.

[daddo]

I don't worry about the once in a while oil drip because I don't store mine in the living room.

 Yeah, the wife made me quit doing that too.

[daddo]

Get a pneumatic grease gun and most of those troubles are over. The grease still separates with the oil some in hot weather, but it is far less messy.
Once you use a pneumatic one, you're hooked. No having to pump while holding the gun and the end.