[greyhound]

So I was fiddling around over at the Ruger Forum and was reading about some folks who feel that gunk accumulating in the pistol could be causing the above problems.

As a semi-auto newbie, I followed the owner's manual of my Ruger P97 DC and field strip and clean my weapon every time I use it.

Now, I'm hearing that may not be enough, gunk in the extractor/firing pin(cleaning those not covered in the manual) can also cause failures.

I ask because my first 375 rounds had no problems, but the last session I had about 8 FTE/FT(Fire). I thought I had been limp wristing ( and once I really concentrated, the last 50 rounds went off without a hitch), now I'm not sure I am not cleaning my pistol improperly.

Taking it to the range next Sat. to test. If I clean and lube the weapon Friday (Hoppes and Rem Oil) will that just cause it to gunk up on Saturday due to the cleaner not having time to evaporate (what I can't get off with Q Tips etc)?

Any tips or thoughts on this from those with more experience? Dang, it was such a shock to have failures after the first 375 went fine!

[cool45auto]

Get a Beretta and you won't have those problems!:neener:

Just kidding! I have a P97DC also. I just do a regular field strip cleaning on it whenever I take it to the range. I've got about a 1000 rounds thru it and only had one FTF. When this happened I had let a friend shoot it. He limp wristed big time and only shot it that one time so I'm sure that's what caused it. I have a set of detail brushes I use to get around the extractor and other small parts. Seems to work really well.

[El Tejon]

When we shoot, we clean.

The sun must not set on a dirty gun.:)

[hansolo]

In my humble opinion, assuming your pistol is NEW, it's still "breaking-in" and may need hundreds more rounds fired to settle-in. I have "broken-in" 3 CZ 75's and one S&W 910s(9mm): all three CZ's had a few fail to feed/fail to eject issues....they started off really tight and are now about 100% reliable. The S&W 910s is the Value Line....I haven't had ONE malfunction yet, with about 3,000 rounds through it. What kind of ammo were you using when you had the malfunction? Some pistols fail to eject Winchester Value Box(Wal*Mart)and others...like my S&W love it.

Cleaning after each session: many shooters clean and lube after each session, while others may put hundreds of rounds through the pistol before cleaning. With today's non-corrosive ammo, you could go a couple or more sessions W/O cleaning and not do any damage. Unless you drop it in the mud or use REALLY dirty ammo, you shouldn't have to go overboard regarding the extractor or firing pin. Good Luck!

My opinion...I could be wrong:evil:

[P95Carry]

IMO crud should be pretty slow to collect under normal circumstances. I confess I do not strip clean my P97 or P95 after every shoot ... mostly a bore clean etc ..... I do tho inspect breech face, pin and extractor etc in case.

I would be surprised to have an FTF other than thru bad ammo .... and i guess same might be said for FTE tho limp wristing certainly can be prejudicial.

[Dave R]

Yes, dirty pistols do have more FTE's and FTF's. And yes, you do need to clean and lube your extractor once in a while. And no, that's generally not covered in field stripping details.

FTE's can be cause by gunk on the rails. Prevents the slide from cycling fully. May make the slide close before the empty is ejected=stovepipe.

FTF's can also be caused by a bad magazine. Dented feed lips, worn springs, etc. Or by gunk accumulating on the feed ramp. Which is also not covered in some cleaning instructions.

[Caliburn]

Cleaning is always good. The only time my P89 failed was when my girlfriend was limp-wristing it, and sometimes for me using cheap 30-round mags. For target practice the stick mags are reliable enough (0 or 1 FTF per mag, a quick touch to the slide lock lever puts it back in battery). And it's really nice to get into the rythym of shooting without having to stop and switch mags every 15 or :cuss: 10 rounds.