Grease left in my grease gun

[Davidsan]

Does anyone else suffer from having residual grease left behind the plunger when your gun runs out? Seems like everytime I change tubes and I retract the spring loaded rod, grease escapes past the plunger and oozes and oozes out of the hole the rod slides through. I end up "wasting" a lot of grease - I save it and use it for other applications outside the gun but it is still frustrating to not get the whole tubes worth through my gun. I use a Lincoln pistol grip gun and and older Sears gun. I use Chevron Ultra Duty No.2 grease (red stuff). It's real good grease (very stringy) but don't remember this happening with the cheaper Tractor supply grease (black) that I used to use. I wonder if the grease is not viscous enough.

Just wonder if this is an anomaly or do others experience this?

 

[Spanner]

I see it occasionally on customers guns. Seems to be individually g.gun-specific rather than common to all guns of a particular brand. Like you, I also detest the mess and waste.
Next time you need to reload - Dismantle the whole plunger from the gun tube and check that your follower-washer is not damaged.

 

[Mace Canute]

There's two places where grease can bypass the plunger...at the main lip seal and also where the rod attaches to the plunger.

 

[oosik]

I had a grease gun that ended up with that problem. I simply threw it away and bought a new one - Lincoln. End of problem.

 

[crazyal]

I've had the problem but it's usually caused by the plunger inside the cartridge being damaged. I seam to get either metal or plastic plunger stye tubes. The metal ones seam to dent real easy and allows grease to pass by.