Superlube I have been using it for over 20 years great stuff.
That's exactly what is happening with my blf tank e07. It was smooth and easy to turn before as it arrived lubed. Then when I use silicone grease (MF) it became gritty and black residue formed. I cleaned the grease off before continuing this post and the grittiness diminished considerably.
What is happening? Is silicone still advisable for anodized threads or silicone oil for all threads?
Agreed. I've been using it since the early 90's with excellent results..
What exactly is the product name? Super lube oil? grease? Picture is fuzzy.
atbglenn posted a better picture. Thanks.
+1 Superlube works great. Its dirt cheap at my local Harbor Freights.
Engine oil.
I've used many things in the past, but this works fine for me. You can get a dropper bottle from DX with a very fine tip or a syringe type blunt needle. These are great for applying small amounts of oil to the right places.
If you want something thicker something like SAE90 gearbox oil ought to do the trick.
On badly worn threads, I use plumbers PTFE tape - as long as the negative contact isn't through the threads.
Not sure which countries they are in besides the US, but the precision lube Radio Shack is some really good stuff for the price. I was finding silicone gel too thick before I read about this stuff.
i use the liquid version of super lube. It works great! Anodized or not it makes the metal glide across pretty darn well and with just using one or two drops.
I've been using the DX silicone oil I linked to for several months on anodized and unanodized threads and I'm quite happy with it. Of course, I use it sparingly. Even so, I've learned to not touch the lubricated threads when I drop the battery in my hand.
Another lubricant that worked fine for me, although somewhat thicker, was a silicone grease that scuba divers use. My son pointed me to that one, as it's standard among divers, but I would have to drive to the city to buy it, whereas DX delivers to my doorstep. 
Nextorch "SL6" silicone grease, makes non-anodized threads "gritty" and produces grey/black crap that gets everywhere. Not recommended for bare threads. Works well for anodized threads tho...
Bare aluminum is inherently "dirty" so you are going to see some grey residue no matter what, your choice of lubricant can increase or reduce this however. Anodized threads are king since they are naturally much "cleaner". Deoxit is decent, does not produce "crap" nearly as fast as silicone oil and especially silicone grease.
i did a quick squirt of rem oil on the threads, and wiped excess away. made dirty feeling threads feel smooth
I thought petroleum based oil would damage the o-rings. It works okay for you Don?
I've used anything and everything ...having heard petroleum based oil isn't good for o-rings I opted for vegetable oil ,lip balm(bees wax) ,hand lotion,bear grease ,and finally silicone lube that I stumbled across in the garage . interesting to hear people don't like it very much ..my feelings on it are mixed as well . Next i'm going to try machine oil like Don ..if my o-rings only last 12 years I'm ok with that too ..
I was under the impression that silicone got along with petroleum based stuff, I thought it was latex that had issues.
Sewing machine oil is another good lubricant, it works very well but it smells odd.
Sewing machine oil, I got a bunch of that, I'll give it a try!
I was using bacon grease ......but the dog kept stealing my lights and burying them in the backyard.
It would attack natural rubber O rings but should have no effect at all on silicone rubber rings. Most engine seals these days would be silicone rubber. Natural rubber is not cheap stuff, silicone rubbers are. It is possible that there could be some solvent effect with some lubricants and some O rings but I've never seen it. The only unwise lubricant I've used was heatsink goo (AKA cutting paste). Though I'd not recommend highly flammable ones or WD40.
I use the same bottle to oil the hinges of the horror film squeaky door just outside my office which gets opened hundreds of times a day as it leads to the wards.
Thinking that the o-ring was probably silicone anyway, I lubed the spindle of a top-leaking water tap with common petroleum grease, as that was the thickest I had and I didn't have a proper replacement o-ring on hand. The effect was that in a few days the o-ring swelled (natural rubber, evidently) and the leak stopped, but I don't expect it to last.
Oh no! I just bought some of that nextorch stuff from DX before this thread started... and all of my flashlights have non-anodized threads! :O