Good Morning, Holden!
That's funny, you don't write like a simple farmer from Texas. If you hadn't said so, I'd suspect you of being a school teacher from New Jersey.
First, I teach this and other gun-related topics as an avocation. Seems to me that, something like, 3 out of every 4 troubled shooters I walk up behind on the line are having some sort of problem with either a dirty or poorly maintained firearm. (Which is why I usually carry all the equipment in my gun bag that nobody else ever seems to have.)
Now do I think you have done any irreversible damage to your guns? The truth is that neither I nor anyone else on this board is able to ascertain that. There are simply too many variables. Powder fouling and primer residue are, by nature, corrosive. (That's why gun shop owners and gunsmiths always shine a light into the bore before they tell you how much your used gun is worth.) A part of the corrosive effect from powder residue has the ability to attract moisture and facilitate rust. So the real question is, 'How likely is this to happen to your guns?'
I'm not able to answer that question because I don't know how you store your guns? Many of my own seldom used guns are all: cleaned, waxed, and stored inside a temperature and humidity controlled gun safe. The pistols that I carry everyday have the bores waxed and coated with Sentry Solutions, 'Smooth-Kote' - every time one of them gets used. If the gun just sits in my holster, then, once a week I'll wipe down the exterior and magazines with either, Ballistol, 'Sportsman's Oil' or my own blend of WalMart Pharmacy mineral oil.
On my revolver cylinders I use cotton patches and, either, Iosso bore paste or Flitz metal polish in order to clean the, 'powder burn' off the cylinder face. I use an old toothbrush to scrub out the area around the forcing cone before rubbing everything up with Flitz. (Which contains Carnauba wax and leaves a protective coating on any metal surface it touches and, also, has the redeeming virtue of not dripping or running while you're working with it.)
I tear down my frequently used semiautomatic frames, about, once a year and the slide internals every 800 to 1,500 rounds. All of my guns run like a, 'Swiss Rolex'; if the ammo is quality made, (Some of my practice ammo isn't.) when I touch a trigger the gun is definitely going to go bang! If you'd like my personal opinion, I don't believe anything serious has happened to your poorly maintained guns, yet. At the same time I wouldn't be carrying any of them to defend myself with either.
The Gen3 G-21 I carry everyday is presently clean enough to fool someone into believing I've never fired it. Other than the worn (silver) metal on the muzzle and the light holster scratches on the slide flats, you wouldn't believe it's had more than 18,000 rounds through it. It, still, feels and fires like a brand new Glock. (Actually better than a brand new Glock!)
The 3O-06 Sako Finnbear rifle I owned and occasionally hunted the back country with was recently purchased from me by a gun dealer who paid 4 times more than I had originally paid for it, and after I'd owned and used it for more than 25 years! Last time I saw it in his shop, there was a ticket on it that read, 'Almost new!' (Maybe, I don't know? I guess I only put about 600 rounds through it.)
Here, I wrote this awhile ago. (Don't remember who for; but, this will tell you all you need to know about cleaning a pistol from someone who's been doing it for more than a half century.) In all this time if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s how to get the job done: quickly, easily, and right. I’d make the following suggestions to you: First, you don’t need to stink the house up with Hoppes #9. Instead, get yourself any (or all) of the following cleaners:
(1) Kleen Bore, ‘Lead Away’ Gun Cleaning Cloth (Not for use on the OUTSIDE of a blued gun!)
OR -
(2) Iosso Bore Cleaning Paste. (Works the same as a, 'Lead Away' cloth; but, comes in paste form.)
(3) Ballistol Gun Cleaning Oil. You can use WalMart Pharmacy mineral oil, too; but it won't do as good a job of cleaning the bore. (Glock polymer frames love this stuff!)
(4) A Hoppe's Tynex Brush in the appropriate caliber(s) for what you're cleaning - Heavy crud requires the use of a bronze metal brush head.
(5) A large bag of Kleen-Bore Cotton Patches in the appropriate size for your pistol(s). I use 45 ACP patches for everything; and cut them to fit smaller calibers as needed.
Use the following procedure to clean a pistol in about 15-20 minutes:
1. For everything except centerfire rifles and 22 LR pistols, lose the slotted cleaning tips and jags - They're worthless. Install the Tynex brush on the end of a cleaning rod. Wrap a cotton patch soaked in any good gun oil or commercial CLP over the brush. Run this cotton-wrapped brush head through the barrel and chamber(s) several times over. Follow with one or two dry patches.
Whenever you clean a chamber or bore, do NOT switch direction in mid-stroke. The pass is always made all the way through, and then all the way back - OK.
2. Wrap a clean patch with a dab of bore cleaner paste or polish - or a cut-to-fit piece of, ‘Lead Away’ cloth - around the brush head and scrub out the barrel and cylinders. Remember: Don't, 'short-stroke' either the chamber(s) or the bore. Make sure to go ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE BARREL before reversing direction and coming back again.
Don’t worry if the patch turns black – IT WILL STILL CLEAN! Usually it takes me three or four soaked patches in order to scrub out a bore. If the crud is unusually heavy, instead of using a cotton patch wrapped around the brush, I'll apply the bore cleaner directly to a BRONZE brush head and use the bristles as the scrubbing surface. (When I'm finished I'll wash the brush head in dishwashing liquid by rolling it between my hands while holding them under running water.)
3. Follow with a couple of clean patches soaked in oil. When they stop coming out black, you’re through.
4. If you want to see how well you've done: Run a couple of dry patches through the barrel and check for varying shades of, 'gray' on the white cotton. (Doesn't have to be perfectly white - OK!)
5. Finally, wrap a clean patch soaked in gun oil around the brush; and push it through the barrel and chamber(s). This is your final oiling!
6. As an alternative to #5 above you can, also, coat the barrel (and each chamber) with Sentry Solutions, Smooth-Kote. Just be sure to apply Smooth-Kote over an undercoating of wax because the molybdenum it contains is slightly hygroscopic. (After several treatments with Smooth-Kote your gun barrels will become ridiculously easy to keep clean. Powder residue will just seem to fall out of the bore; AND you'll never need to use moly-coated bullets, either!)
You should always wear Nitrile or Latex gloves when you clean any gun. If you use, ‘Smooth-Kote’ you’ll definitely have to wear gloves and work over a garbage container. I use an eye dropper to slowly drip Smooth-Kote into the gun. You don’t want to get this stuff on your skin or in the household environment. It’s great to use INSIDE a gun, but nowhere else!
(Yes, it’s worth the trouble: The bore and chamber(s) will be waterproof for many months and firing residue will easily brush out of the gun the next time you clean it.)
Any large drug store, or Ace Hardware will sell gloves. I get mine in 250 count boxes from my dentist; they're sold under the name of Microflex, 'Diamond Grip'. (They’re made of powder-free high quality latex.) These gloves are also available on the internet, too. That should do it for ya! Everything I’ve learned from 50 some odd years of cleaning guns. The only other precaution I'd offer you is that a clean gun is a more reliable gun. If you should ever have to point your muzzle at something evil that means you harm, you'll instantly realize what I mean.
After more than 50 years on various firing lines, I'm able to state with confidence that it's seldom a clean gun a shooter ever has a problem with. Instead it's the guys with the filthy guns who usually need help.
PS: I'm going to add one more thing for you. Every polymer frame pistol should be, 'verified' with, at least, 500 rounds before it's carried for self-defense. OK!
