Cleaning after every range trip?

[wu_dot_com]

And I'm just saying that a man that's neglectful of his equipment tends to neglect other areas of his life (and his personal hygiene) as well. I'm less likely to be getting naked with that sort of person. JMPO

Yea, I'm kinda a pain in the a** that way. Awful that I make you take a shower first.

so if im reading this right the bottom line is that you may still get naked with the guy w/ a dirty gun as long as he takes a shower first.

wow my post sounds dirty, but its really not.

BTW this is so not true, i had roommate both guy and gal who looked clean yet they lived like pigs.

improper cleaning tools / methods / intervals will actually damage your gun more than you think. take a bore scope and check your bores, and you will know what im talking about. but the reality is, those micro damages are usually not enough to cause any noticeable performance difference in guns with combat accuracy. anther thing is that sometime its just not economical to clean that often with no added benefit. the accuracy for my gun will not improve if i were to clean it at 1k vs 5k. the reliability will not decrease as long as i keep it lightly oil. so for guys like me who shoots about 2-3k rds per week or more, the little money that goes into cleaning supplies adds up.

[Arondos]

Depends on the weapon.

My 1911 RIA I jeep for HD gets cleaned if it gets fired, every time, no matter what.

My Hi-Point C9 has 2100 rounds through it. I clean the barrel and what I can get to. Not going to take it apart and clean it till it starts to have issues.

The P22 gets cleaned when I feel like cleaning it. If it starts getting finicky with 22 LR I clean it. gives me practice clearing malfunctions...

[themailman]

Yea, I'm kinda a pain in the a** that way. Awful that I make you take a shower first.

God I hate females on CG.

[Noxx]

Field strip and clean every time.

Not only is cleaning essential, but the act of doing so properly provides an inspection at the same time. While your firearm may suffer no harm from going several trips between gleanings, the same cannot be said of failing to notice a damaged extractor, or similar failure.

[Voo]

I dont' clean the guns every time they get fired.. For the most part, it's not necessary... Most guns will run fine without all that cleaning...

This is not to be mistaken for not "maintaining' the weapon. Lube gets blown or burnt away. You can run the gun dry but you definitely increase wear and increase the chances of a malfunction... I always make sure the gun is well lubed, even if this means stopping and getting the CLP to re-lube the internals.. For home storage, if i'm not going to field strip clean it, I'll just lube, boresnake, and work the action adding more lube to the right spots.. All this is followed by a wipe down to keep surface rust at bay..

If you look at the internals after a few hundred rounds, you'll see that it's not that much dirtier compared to if you had fired a thousand rounds.. It will definitely be drier, but most of the crud/residue is simply blown or pushed away.. After a certain point, dirty is dirty, but it stops building up..

[Voo]

God I hate females on CG.

I wont go so far as to say "hate".. But agreed, the innuendo is "meh"..

[NinjaKaren]

God I hate females on CG.

Wow, nice.

[Nodda Duma]

negative, again.

nylon bristle brushes and cloth rags do NOT wearout metal. nor does taking them apart.
the only way your parts are wearing out from cleaning is if your using a dremel polish wheel or grinder.

Good point on the face of it, but incorrect when you consider key details.

1) your nylon brush and cloth rags can and do pick up particles of other, harder materials and drag them across surfaces you are cleaning. Look into the composition of free-floating dust particles. These particles are what hold the potential for causing damage, depending on pressure applied (pressure higher on average when running through barrel, for example, due to compression of cloth required to clean well). Good advice is to use minimal force necessary to wipe down surface.

2) Borrowing from my optical engineering experience, I know that ablation at the molecular level occurs when two surfaces are rubbed across each other. In routine use of precision optics, cleaning is one of the most damaging actions you can perform especially given the minimal return in performance (a few dust particles on an optical surface have a negligible effect on performance. However, forget about the optics world.. consider holster wear and lapping a knife edge. Steel and blued finishes are significantly harder than leather or denim, yet lapping improves the edge in part through ablation of the steel, and holster wear is a well-known occurrence.

[Snapping Twig]

Every range trip. Scrub the bore and chamber & clean the forcing cone, etc as applicable. Oil the bore for storage.

Every return from a hunt I re-oil the exterior if it was wet.

Once a year or thereabouts I get into the guts and clean & oil the lockworks.

I have guns older than myself that look factory new because I keep 'em clean.

They go bang every time too. Try neglecting ANY machine and over time it will let you down.

[gobi fish]

I always clean everything till it has a mirror shine every time just cuz I have nothing better to do. then again all my guns never give me any problems and work flawlessly so what do I know...

[Hopalong]

I guess it depends on your definition of "necessary".

I clean mine after each use, but I don't think it's "necessary" as to how I define the word.

[ZX-10R]

I clean my handguns after each range visit...Usually no less than 100 rounds go down range. My WASR gets cleaned every two range visits. =)

[Inkman]

Funny that ALMOST nobody has added the factor of what ammo they are shooting. Jacketed or lead? Factory or target loads? Military surplus or new? What powder?

Those four particulars can make the difference between cleaning every 500 rds or every 5,000 rds. The lube you use can make a huge difference in buildup. Ain't no cut and dried answer to cleaning intervals, unless you just like to break em down or for peace of mind.

Personally i used to hate cleaning my guns and put it off as long as possible, but in the last few years, i've gone to cleaning them WAYYYYYY more often, simply because they run better cleaned and lubed than they do dirty. It's as simple as that for me. YMMV.

Al

[cocorador]

I clean my 1911 type pistols every few thousand rounds. My plastic guns, Glocks and HKs, not much. Maybe once and a while, I may sray my plastic guns with WD or whatever I have close to me and compressed air and that's it. Precision rifles, whenever accuracy goes poop.

[sanjosebmx]

I clean it after every trip to the range, which is about weekly...100 - 200 rounds. I don't use solvents though, just a light brushing and the patches. The gun is pretty new though, just about 1000 rounds through it so thats all it takes to clean it. It may not need it, but its fun to do so why not?

Anyway if I waited 1000 rounds to clean it, I may NEED to use solvents to get the crud out...I have a can of cleaner, but haven't needed to use it.

I also lightly oil of course, and use a gun cleaning cloth to shine up the outside....I'm pretty much OCD though..I admit that....