101 Mini Grease Gun

First I bought a tube of bike lube (Finish Line) with ptfe (e.g. teflon). It works, is easy to squeeze, and a bit messy. But a 16 oz jar of grease and this grease gun is a much better deal and a more lasting solution. I'll still take the 2 oz tube of bike lube when I travel with a disassembled bike. (Whatever happened to 35mm film canisters?!) My grease gun arrived with a perfectly fine pinpoint hole in the nozzle, ready to go. True, the instructions are on the side of the grease gun. 1) I unscrewed the top. 2) I used a piece of plastic coated cardboard from my trash can as a paddle (cut to just fit inside the tube,) and started paddling in my grease. (True, the picture shows a finger.) 3a) Once I had crammed in as much grease as I could easily fit, I put the lid on firmly, shoved the disk inside the bottom toward the top with a screwdriver, and then took the lid back off. (True, this was an extra step not pictured on the can.) 3b) Now I took the cartridge and sharply hit the bottom of it downward onto my other hand. What do you know, the grease slid in, allowing me to again fill the cartridge. (True, the pictures don't show filling the cartridge more after the tapping.) Filling it twice was good enough. 4) I screwed the top on tightly (by hand firmly) so the grease wouldn't leak through the threads, pressed up again through the hole in the bottom with the screwdriver, more firmly this time. (True, the instructions show the cap on, while the previous picture shows it off.) 5) I began to pump the spring-loaded plunger (with the tip pointed toward my open can of grease.) A satisfying, but highly controlled thread of grease emerged from the pinpoint tip. (True, there is no fifth picture on the can.) I'm actually using Finish Line Ceramic Grease, which has both ceramic and fluoropolymer (ptfe, teflon, etc) additives. A 16 oz tub ends up cheaper than multiple tubes of grease, even including this grease gun. But still, a ziploc baggy with a hole cut in the corner, and automotive grease would be cheaper, so this is more or less a little luxury for a guy who buys his fancy bikes off Craigslist.... To each his own!

So far, I'm really happy with this product. The price is competitive and it does everything that you'd expect from a small hand grease gun, which isn't a surprise given how long this design has been in production (the earliest versions date back to the 1930s and Dualco has owned the patent since the 1950s). My only gripe with the thing is the body doesn't seem to seal well against the head/pump mechanism on its own. I think this is a design feature, there's a cast slot cutting across the threads on the bump, but I can't identify the justification for its inclusion in the mold/final product. When you prime the device, you use something inserted into the bottom to force the grease into the pumping mechanism. On mine, which doesn't seem flawed from the factory, there is a little grease that escapes where the body/grease reservoir threads into the head/pump mechanism. Let me emphasize that, once fully primed and running, the tool works flawlessly. But, I still felt the need to cut a small piece of .060", oil resistant silicone gasket material to insure a positive seal. With the seal in place, the two components seam to seat together more firmly and there is no loss of function, so I'm not sure why it was omitted from the product. This is a very useful tool for bicycle and tool service/repair, and I would happily buy it again, but I think it feels better with a gasket of some kind between the body and pump. Also, Astro Tool should really have them cast their emblem or put a logo sticker on the side because there is nothing that really differentiates this from generic copies.

Great mini grease gun. Works great. Just what I needed. The instructions are right on the gun. After you add the grease make sure to place something in the bottom of the gun into the hole to push the pressure plate up to put pressure on the grease and push out air inside the gun. Very easy and simple. I used a letter opener or chop stick. Then it will dispense grease when pushing the button.

Bought this several years ago and only just now decided to fill it and try to use it in 2025. It is well made and feels good but is messy to fill if you have a tub of park tool grease. Would be easier with a squeeze tube, probably but more expensive. The messiness is why I didn’t ever use it before. Once filled, it somewhat worked but had a split stream of grease coming out and then stopped putting out any grease at all. I may have needed to press the plunger up but I’m not sure. I assumed the nozzle was clogged and used a tiny piece of wire to ream out the hole in the nozzle. After doing this a few times the grease was a small single stream. I did press up on the plunger during this also so that undoubtedly fixed the no grease part. All of my prior grease guns have been spring loaded so this is new to me. Overall it’s good but I haven’t used it in a real project/maintenance task yet but assume it will be fine. I took off one star for the issue with the nozzle that teaming it out fixed. I assume it was a burr in there. If you have similar issues, that may be worth trying.

I have a few of these things. They work well. They not like the cartridge type grease guns tho. They work best with a thinner grease like 00. I use these to grease my chainsaw bars and such and they work well. One fill up lasts a long time. They low priced enough that I have one on the table where I clean and sharpen my chain and one in my chainsaw bag. I have a couple on the shelf in case I lose or break one. If you have a chainsaw bar that requires sprocket grease, get a bottle of 00 grease and this little grease gun. Works great. A lot cheaper than buying those disposable things.

A very handy grease gun. I use this to grease my pneumatic die grinders. Fits great in the hand and easy to pump grease. Filling it up and priming it was easy.

when filing up for the first time, push the metal bottom plate up until it's almost at the top. Leave a small volume available and then fill in the grease. As you add more grease, the bottom plate will move back down. It's less messy this way. Thanks to another reviewer who suggested this. For ease of filing, I used an old butter knife. Crazily enough, I had to use a sharp pin / panel nail to burst the sprout open. It was completely sealed. Once that's out of the way, works like a charm. Well made basic grease gun for my bike repairs.

Ich habe mir die Astro 101 Mini-Fettpresse mit Nadel-Düse für feinere Schmierarbeiten gekauft und bin wirklich begeistert. Die Größe ist ideal: sehr handlich, leicht zu führen und perfekt für Stellen, an die man mit einer normalen Fettpresse kaum oder gar nicht herankommt. Die Nadel-Düse ist ein echtes Highlight. Damit lässt sich das Fett extrem gezielt aufbringen, ohne alles zu verschmieren oder unnötig Material zu verschwenden. Genau das war mir wichtig, z. B. bei Lagern, Gelenken oder kleinen Mechaniken. Die Verarbeitung wirkt insgesamt solide und hochwertig, nichts fühlt sich billig an. Auch die Dosierung funktioniert sehr kontrolliert, man hat jederzeit das Gefühl, die volle Kontrolle zu haben. Für Wartung, Modellbau, Werkstatt oder auch feinmechanische Arbeiten ist diese Mini-Fettpresse wirklich ideal. Insgesamt ein durchdachtes, zuverlässiges Werkzeug, das genau das tut, was es soll. Für mich eine klare Kaufempfehlung – würde ich jederzeit wieder kaufen!

Handy, working ok

Worked perfectly, no issue with nozzle, important to follow instructions Re: filling it with grease and priming it before use.

Un excelente producto, muy práctico para su empleo, lo recomiendo