When using your grease gun, always select a high-quality lubricant that will flow freely throughout the gun and not build up in the nozzle. It is also good practice to choose a dedicated grease gun for each specific lubricant. This is because the potential damage if these are mixed up could be dire, not so much for your grease gun, but more to the machinery you are putting the grease into. Cross-contamination is a concern – if you do not fully purge and clean a gun properly and there is an incompatibility between the two different lubricants, this could have a detrimental effect on the performance of the grease.
Best practice suggests that as long as you choose a good quality lubricant, any kind will do, provided it is suitable for the job at hand. Just be sure to calibrate your gun every year to make sure it is performing at its best. The method of calibration is simple, all you need to do is pump the trigger ten times onto a scale and divide the weight of the grease by ten. This will allow you to work out the average volume of grease per stroke. Label your gun with the number of grams or ounces per stroke, this is important to make sure when you are working on a job, you release the right amount of grease needed for lubrication.