Cleaning: Revolver vs Semi-Auto

[jpruitt]

Which do you think is easier, less of a PITA to clean, and why?

I've always thought revolvers were easier, but the general consensus from the few people I've talked to has been the opposite.

[Meowhead]

Definitely automatic; the barrel is easier to brush.

No need to clean six chambers one by one, either.

[Cohibra45]

Yeah I know...that swing out cylinder is a pain in the butt compared to breaking down and reassembling the auto!!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[jpruitt]

Yeah I know...that swing out cylinder is a pain in the butt compared to breaking down and reassembling the auto!!!!

I take it that's a vote for revolver :) ?

FWIW, that was the main reason I thought revolvers were easier as well.

[meef]

Get a SIG.


10 seconds to take it down (if you're being casual about it)



no tools required



scrub out all 3 sections


10 seconds to put it back together (still being casual)

Voila!

Is done.

Revolvers or many (most?) other brands of semi-auto = MUCH more of a hassle.

[gwnorth]

Have to agree with that. My P226 is so trivially simple to field strip and clean, it's ridiculous.

That said, I don't find it terribly difficult to clean my revolvers either - I mean really, how hard is it to swipe a brush or patches through an open cylinder? Or the torture :rolleyes: of having to stuff a rag against the recoil shield before running a brush down the barrel?

[LightningMan]

I vote for the Auto, much quicker to clean over a revolver, but I wonder in an endurance test Revolver vs Auto pistol (shoot till they need to be cleaned to function again), which would win? I would have to give the vote to the revolver over an auto in this case. LM

[3rd Generation American]

Just got done cleaning my 2 P225/P6's. took 15 min to clean and oil lightly.
So I say semi-auto sig's are the fastest to clean.
Of course revolvers are more fun to get dirty(shoot). JMHO.

[Cohibra45]

Just curious...How many of the people posting here have both???

Cleaning either should not be a chore and actually should be enjoyed sitting in front of the boob tube with newspaper as the sop top table...I get a very good feeling when I have a clean gun to go back in the safe. I know when I get it out for the next round of sending rounds down range, that it is almost perfect and will not fail me for my part. One other thing, cleaning gives time to closely inspect all the 'innards' of your gun!!!! Never hurts.

BTW, I have both single actions and double actions along with a couple 1911s, a PPK/S and Colt Woodsman Target model.

The revolvers are easier with no parts take out or springs that sometimes go flying...BTDT!!!:eek:

[Hawk]

I've got both and the numbers are roughly equal. There are more revolvers by a slim margin.

Semis are easier to clean generally and exponentially easier to detail clean.

I can take a 1911 type down to the pins without tools and get it back together without trauma. If I took my Python down to a similar state I'd probably have to hire someone to put it back together.

The semi runs longer, on average, when not cleaned - no front of cylinder gunge buildup to bind things up. No screws to loosen, no ejector rods to unscrew.

The revolver isn't too bad to clean but that's only because the temptation to detail clean the thing doesn't exist. I can go for years cheerfully leaving the sideplate where the factory put it. Take that thing off and there will be plenty of small parts and itty bitty springs to go all over the place.

I'd suspect semis are especially easier for the obsessive compulsives in our midst - I'm thinking of the number of posts I've seen about getting the burn marks off the front of cylinders. Life is easier for those that can either ignore the burn marks or shoot something without a cylinder. Since I shoot both I've learned to ignore the things - getting them off will rapidly disabuse anyone of the notion that wheelguns are easy to clean (if a pristine cylinder front is important to the cleaning ritual).

[flyby]

Neither should be a Big Deal ..If it is, maybe you should take up knitting instead :D

[The Lone Haranguer]

Yeah I know...that swing out cylinder is a pain in the butt compared to breaking down and reassembling the auto!!!!
Only partly true. Most military/police service autos - or those based on their design - take down for normal cleaning in 10-30 seconds. Now, some others - e.g., the Ruger .22s - are not so easy.

[Rexster]

It varies, and it depends on whether we mean detailed cleaning or not. A DA revolver is really easy, until you start disassembling the extractor-ejector assembly inside the cylinder, or getting under the sideplate. Yes, fouling can get inside cylinders and frames. Colt-style single action sixguns, OTOH, detail-strip very easily, but, like all sixguns, can easily be buggered if not using the right tools and knowledge.

I can easily detail-strip a 1911 to its individual parts, except of course for the sights, some pins, and staked-on plunger tube housing, which are best left in place. SIGs and Glocks, which field-strip so easily, can be more difficult than a 1911 to detail-strip.

[pps]

I love shooting revolvers, but find semi-auto's MUCH faster to clean.

[Geronimo45]

Semis are easier... especially if you've been shooting .38s in a .357. Six chambers to scrub. Semis have one chamber to scrub... and the ones I have (1911, Beretta 21) are easy to disassemble to get to the barrel. The Beretta is simplest. Tip the barrel up, run a boresnake through it. Two passes are usually enough to do the job.

[John Wayne]

With few exceptions, I believe semi-autos are easier to clean.

My Taurus Millenium Pro takes around 10 seconds to field strip. I run a patch with Hoppes no. 9 through the barrel and while that's sitting, take the slide assembly and frame and spray them down with automotive brake cleaner. Let it sit a minute, repeat as neccessary until the runoff is clean, then go clean the barrel while I let the other parts dry. Re-Oil, and reassemble.

[gwnorth]

...or getting under the sideplate...

Sideplate? What are these sideplates you speak of :confused: :D

All I need to take my Ruger's down is a slotted screw driver to get the grips off - the main spring, hammer, trigger assembly and cylinder+crane are then pretty trivial to get off.

True though, you have to be careful with the trigger assembly, or springy things go scooting off all over. And it is a job to get the cylinder off the crane, but then I know folks with decades old Rugers that have never done that, so probably not ever necessary anyway.

Still in comparison, a SIG is just insanely simple.

[twoclones]

I have both and I much prefer shooting and cleaning the revolvers.

[KI.W.]

Revolver ofcourse with N-110 clean burning VihtaVuori powder.
I like to shoot far away and accurate. If it must to bee selfloading, then Desert Eagle.

[berettaprofessor]

If the semi-auto's are 70, 80 or 90 series Beretta's or even 1911's, I'd definitely say they're easier to clean than the revolvers. However if we're discussing Ruger Mark III's, I'd definitely say the revolvers have the edge. Haven't detail-stripped a Ruger since...the first time when I had to have someone else put it back together :)

[SAWBONES]

I can clean any semiauto handgun faster and more easily than any revolver.

The most difficult semiauto to clean thoroughly is the HK P7M8 and its variants, IME, but it's still LOTS easier than cleaning any revolver.
The Glock models are perhaps the easiest to clean of all guns extant.

All DA revolvers are markedly more difficult to clean thoroughly for at least a couple reasons: first, because of the difficulties involved in getting adequately at the bore (meaning you need to clean from the muzzle; no, a "bore snake" doesn't clean even remotely close to adequately, might as well just spit in the barrel) and secondarily the difficulty of disassembly; Smiths need a delicate right side screw removed in order to separate the cylinder from the frame, and if you want to be truly thorough, the sideplate must be removed too. Rugers need the triggerguard assembly removed from below, which while much easier and composed of more robust elements than the S&Ws is still a PITA compared to semiautos.

I've owned dozens of semiautos and dozens of revolvers, and thorough cleaning of semiautos is lots easier than similarly-thorough cleaning of revolvers.

[PRM]

Whats the rush. Sitting on the poach in the cool of the evening. Pot of coffee going - smell of Hoppes and Gibbs. Sometimes even the pungent odor of black powder wafts through the mix. Guess you could rush it all, but the cleaning and upkeep is a part of the sport. Sit back, and enjoy the ride. Maybe cleaning a slab-sided hunk of polymer is quicker - but it sure is pretty to look at a dome blued, bone case hardened, masterpiece with pre-ban ivories.

[Rexster]

gwnorth, I didn't want to get too long-winded with complicated descriptions of the various makes of DA revolvers. I like my simpler-to-clean Rugers, too. :) I have owned Colt DA revolvers, and still have a few S&Ws, and they do have sideplates, with very intricate and delicate things underneath.

[meef]

The Glock models are perhaps the easiest to clean of all guns extant.:scrutiny:

Really?

Have you never field stripped a SIG?

[jpruitt]

Whats the rush. Sitting on the poach in the cool of the evening. Pot of coffee going - smell of Hoppes and Gibbs. Sometimes even the pungent odor of black powder wafts through the mix. Guess you could rush it all, but the cleaning and upkeep is a part of the sport. Sit back, and enjoy the ride

Unfortunately, some of us lived in cramped apartments without much space to clean a gun, much less a porch, and have wives who don't appreciate the smell of Hoppes #9 :(

In fact, if I had a place I could sit comfortably and relax while cleaning instead of having to sit on the floor and spread some newspaper on the carpet by an open window, I probably wouldn't think it was such a hassle.

[General Geoff]

Really?

Have you never field stripped a SIG?

Ever field stripped a Walther P99/Smith & Wesson SW99? I think they may be the absolute quickest-to-strip autoloaders ever built. I can take one apart in about 3 seconds, put it back together in under 10.

[zoom6zoom]

The Glock models are perhaps the easiest to clean of all guns extant.
Do you use the regular cycle, or the "Pots and Pans"?

[s4s4u]

I have several of both and I'll vote revolver, unless my Uberti's as BP is a different story ;-)

[KI.W.]

I don´t care how qiuck I clean the gun. Moust important for my is how accurate the gun is. So selfloading pistols are out. I have only revolvers and T/C Contender / G2 pistols. I don´t need to carry guns for selfdefense.

[easyg]

Autoloaders are definitely easier to clean than revolvers.
And they will function longer when dirty than revolvers.

[SAWBONES]

The Glock models are perhaps the easiest to clean of all guns extant.

Really?

Have you never field stripped a SIG?


Many times, since I've have owned two P220s and a P225 over twenty years.
And the same comment applies to polymer-framed Walthers.

I'm talkng about complete detail stripping too here, not just "field stripping."

If you want to compare ease of cleaning for semiautos that are merely field-stripped, then the Sigs, Glocks, Walthers, HKs (NOT including the P7 series) and 1911s are all similarly easy to clean AFAIC.