gun cleaning

[sammy]

Unless you are shooting corrosive surplus ammo, no harm can come from not cleaning. Letting your gun run dry, or out of lube is another matter. If this gun is going on your nightstand clean it, run out and run 200 rounds through it. Wipe it down, load it up and put it back in the night stand. At that point it might be a bit dirty, but not dirty enough to cause any failures and you know it is going to work.

[Snapping Twig]

Moisture is the enemy. Carbon build up can collect it. Oil can not.

Clean it out and oil the bore.

Use it, clean it.

[oghl888]

I think it's the ARMY that advocates if you have time clean your gun. Even if you've cleaned it 3 times today already.

I clean mine every range trip, and every 6 months or so if I don't get them to the range in that period of time.

[3GunFunShooter]

Your are suppose to clean them?
My Glock and XD after 3 matches. Para 16-40, S&W 1911, before each match. 1100CM Remington before each match. Mini 14 Stainless after 2-300 rounds. AR's 100-200 rounds. 22 AR upper 300-400 rounds. I do keep the AR's well lubed.
Can't clean after each time I shoot, the better half does not know of about a third of what I have bought. Have to wait till she is out of the house.

[buffybuster]

How often do you really need to clean a gun if you are shooting jacketed ammo? I can't see any significant fouling in my barrels after 200 or 300 rounds. Sure, there is some residue from the powder, but accuracy doesn't seem to suffer and corrosion isn't caused by ash and graphite is it?

Emphasis added to really. When I was younger, as with most on this thread, I cleaned my guns after each range session. It was fun and relaxing. Now I don't clean them near as much. Mostly from what I have observed. I have observed more guns damaged/prematurely worn out from excessive or improper "cleaning". Shooting by it's very nature is a rather dirty process. You can't keep the weapon clean; the very process of shooting produces the "dirt". The question is whether this "dirt" is harmful to the weapon.

I don't "clean" my guns after every range session but I do run a bore snake and check for leading (if present I clean the barrel). I wipe the visibile crud off, relube and inspect for wear/anything out of order. The whole process takes 90 seconds.

I run my guns pretty wet (not dripping wet but well lubed) and everything runs. If you're shooting jacketed bullets only then I would just run a boresnake (takes 5 seconds) wipe the crud off and relube. Only after a couple thousand rounds I would take the time to give a good cleaning.

If there's a two-day match or something I just do what I usually do (boresnake, wipedown, relube). Never had a weapon problem.

Most of the "dirt/crud" is carbon which in and of itself isn't too bad but it mixes with the lube and creates a paste that can start slowing the functioning. From my experience, as long as you relube it keeps everything soft, flushes it out and keeps running. If you don't it can cake up and get hard and that leads to malfunctions.

Most people like to clean their guns after every session but you don't really need to clean them that often. The military has you do weapons maintenance constantly since they have to keep you busy during down time. I seen perfectly fine, brand new weapons "cleaned" to death from this practice. YMMV

[xtalpimp]

I clean after every range session. Use common sense; match the level of cleaning with how dirty the gun is. Sometimes after buying a used gun that has not been maintained I will strip to the frame and proceed with a deep cleaning. If it is just a couple of boxes at the range it is just a field strip and clean+lube. Yes overcleaning wears the gun down faster, particularly if you are sloppy with your cleaning techniques but you have to balance that with the danger of rust. If you have a large collection rust is usually more of a threat than overcleaning.

[glockfu]

90 secconds?? really? It takes me about 45 minutes per hand gun. Am I over cleaning it? It's usually the barrel that takes forever since those damn swabs take forever to come out white.

How long should it take to clean one handgun?

[USMC Tanker]

I clean every weapon and magazine after every range session or trip to the desert. I just can't stand a dirty weapon...

[buffybuster]

I don't try and get the patches to come out white. I run a nylon or copper bore brush then run a few tight patches then inspect the bore. If there's no lead/carbon then I'll call it good. Hardly ever is there any copper fouling since pistols generally don't shoot bullets fast enough to copper foul. Also, if lead bullets are cast to the correct hardness and properly lubed, then leading is practically nonexistent at handgun velocities. If you're getting consistent leading then somethings not right. I don't detail strip my guns on a regular basis. Depending on how dirty the ammo is, I'll disassemble the extractor every 5-10K rounds and clean out the extractor tunnel/cutout and the FP tunnel/safety while I'm at it. Clean the frame and make sure the disconnector and everything else runs smooth.

Regarding rust. I've found that depends partly on the climate and also your body chemistry. Luckily, I don't make my guns rust. But I have a friend and his body chemistry makes SST guns rust. Don't know what it is/neither does he, but it's a plain fact. You can clean as much as you like, as long as you clean the minimum amount to keep your weapon fully functional and rust free, that's enough.

[daemonite]

90 secconds?? really? It takes me about 45 minutes per hand gun. Am I over cleaning it? It's usually the barrel that takes forever since those damn swabs take forever to come out white.

How long should it take to clean one handgun?

I clean 3 hand guns in 15 min, so about 5 min.

Here's what I do for a basic clean.
You need cotton rag, cotton patches, bore snake, BreakFree CLP and some gun grease.

Field strip, inspect, wipe down/clean internal parts with CLP and cotton rag, spray clp down the barrel, run bore snake through the barrel, then a dry patch, inspect for remaining fouling, lube, grease, reassemble, inspect function and wipe down exterior with CLP rag.

For more detail cleaning, I just soak the dirty barrel in Hoppes No. 9 overnight or I go aggressive with Sweet 7.62 and basically that's how I get my barrels to swab out clean. That's only after maybe 1000 rounds do I ever do that, I worry more about making sure the rails are clean, I break out the tooth picks, q-tips and compressed air for that. Trigger group I thoroughly clean every 500 rounds, extractor I just check and clean it with a rag.

Guns I use regularly CZ SP-01 (3000 round count with cleaning methods above), Steyr M9-A1 (1000 rounds) and my SIG P6/225 (1000 rounds)

[22popnsplat]

I have been shooting for about 40 years , started buying guns 35 years ago and I make a strong effort to clean my guns after each outing . I now have a pretty good number of guns and I will take them all out twice a year , the 4th of july and newyears day for inspection to make sure I dont have any problems starting from missing something . I guess I really overdo the cleaning of my guns . a revolver takes me up to an hour , I use a bright light for inspection of the cylinder due to the fact that I want spotless . Proper methods of cleaning are a must .

[ontmark]

The fundamental purpose of cleaning is to remove all foreign substances from the gun. This refers to firing residues plus perspiration, dirt, debris, and other contaminants that may have accumulated on the gun during routine handling and carrying.

[Spearo]

I usually clean them after every shoot. Cannot sleep at night knowing my firearm is dirty.

[nobs11]

I wish there were a statistic of the number of barrels that have been ruined by excessive cleaning, trying to scrub them down to the metal compared to wearing them out due to shooting. So many OCD shooters will spend hours trying to scrub their barrels down to the metal. You are doing more harm that good.

Clean as much as is necessary to ensure proper functioning. Everything else is in your head. Be nice to your guns. Don't scrub the heck out of them.

[Mr. Meeseeks]

I wish there were a statistic of the number of barrels that have been ruined by excessive cleaning, trying to scrub them down to the metal compared to wearing them out due to shooting. So many OCD shooters will spend hours trying to scrub their barrels down to the metal. You are doing more harm that good.

Clean as much as is necessary to ensure proper functioning. Everything else is in your head. Be nice to your guns. Don't scrub the heck out of them.

I totally agree. You can clean inside the frame and slide, but please remember to chill on the barrel scrubbing and the ammonia based solvents.