MiliTec

Continued from Page A1

"What the military system gives out is junk, and that's a quote," Giordani said, referring to the standard-issue cleaner lubricant preservative, or CLP, small arms maintenance oil currently issued to troops.

In the fine sands of the Iraqi desert, he said CLP becomes a "magnet" for dust and grit, causing the military's weapons to misfire and jam.

Giordani and Logan said their MiliTec-1 is a "clean" formula that seeps into the microscopic pores in the gun metal, making its surface slicker and harder, yet dry to the touch. It doesn't attract dust or grit and can reduce misfires and jams, they said.

As evidence, the company points to its thousands of satisfied customers in federal and state law enforcement as well as various military units.

Yet in March, just as U.S. troops were preparing to invade Iraq, MiliTec-1's status as an approved military gun lubricant was called into question for the first time in eight years.

Orders for hundreds of cases of Militec-1 were canceled by the military's Defense Supply Center Richmond, setting off a war of words between MiliTec and the military's civilian staff.

Taking the political route

The feud between MiliTec and DoD began in 1995, when the company convinced several congressmen to help them bypass the standard DoD acquisitions channels and pressure the department to approve MiliTec-1 as an official military gun lubricant.

According to Giordani and Logan, they were having trouble convincing DoD officials to adopt Militec-1, despite endorsements from other federal agencies. The department refused to contract MiliTec because its product could not meet military corrosion protection standards.

The company enlisted political muscle to change minds. "It appears to us that the delay in resolving this situation is denying our forces to use the same product that other federal agencies ... specify for use," reads a March 17, 1995, letter signed by 19 congressmen. "In short, why should the Armed Services be prevented from using a product used effectively by the Secret Service and mandated by the DEA? If MiliTec-1 is available to protect the President, should it not be made available to protect our soldiers, sailors and airmen?"

Two months later, DoD informed the congressmen that MiliTec products "will be made available to all activities within the federal government"

Giordani and Logan said their strategy of taking a political route around the authority

of DoD officials made enemies within the bureaucracy.

The rust test

MiliTec's claims to being the premier gun oil on the market suffered a blow two years ago, when online magazine The GunZone.com conducted its Nail Test.

Gun Zone writer Robert Firriolo conducted an experiment which pitted MiliTec-1 against a dozen other gun oils to find the best rust preventative.

Mimicking a harsh test that DoD uses to test gun preservatives, he coated 13 different steel nails with different commercial oils and subjected the nails to a spray of super-saturated saltwater solution. After a 22-hour waiting period, he compared the nails. A popular brand of standard-issue CLP earned a "best" rating with "no rust" MiliTec-1 fared badly, earning an "unsatisfactory" rating with "significant rust along bottom" and "rust freckling on top."

MiliTec protested Firriolo's findings, saying that he had not applied the product according to instructions - first applying the oil and then heating the metal in a 175-degree oven to "impregnate" the MiliTec-1. Firriolo responded that he had ignored the instructions, because they were "not realistic for the applications I was testing," such as firearms carried "in the field" where ovens are hard to come by.

"[MiliTec-1] works on guns