how often do you clean your weapons?

Safe queens get cleaned up after everyone of their somewhat rare outings. Range favorites get cleaned pretty much only when I start having issues, otherwise its just a patch of Hoppes, a bore snake, a few drops of oil on the moving parts and a wipe down to be ready for the next outing.

Well I have no safe queens and shoot every gun I own in a month. Now I clean after ever trip to the range or fired. Now on the chance I don't fire a gun in a month I will clean it and lube. But then I'm a bit anal retentive when it comes to a tool that my life might depend on.

After shooting one of mine I clean and lube it if I don't expect to shoot it again for a while.

My regular range pistols such as my SIG P226 and Walther PPQ get cleaned maybe every three months which means after about three range trips. I do however put a fresh coat of lube on the frame rails and barrel of my P226 if it looks like it needs it before any range session but usually does not need it since I lube it with Slide Glide grease.

Firearms that have not used in a year are taken out and inspected and the barrel bore and exterior metal are given a light coat of Breakfree CLP or Eezox depending on the firearm.

I live in a climate however where rust is not a problem any time of the year with my firearms that are all stored indoors.

Safe queens get cleaned up after everyone of their somewhat rare outings. Range favorites get cleaned pretty much only when I start having issues, otherwise its just a patch of Hoppes, a bore snake, a few drops of oil on the moving parts and a wipe down to be ready for the next outing.

Click to expand...

X 2

They don't get it until they need it...except for the gun that I am carrying at the time. However, I do wipe them down with CLP after a trip to the range.

I try to rotate all my handguns at the range so that they all get cleaned and lubed regularly. I clean each of them after each range trip--usually after about 100 rounds. I wipe down the exteriors of all of them periodically (every several weeks), whether they've been used recently or not. The solvent that I use (PrOlix) is supposed to bond to the metal at a molecular level and resist corrosion, which I can believe, because every time any of it gets into my stainless steel kitchen sink, the steel seems to be impervious to water for a while.

Though I live in a very dry climate (Arizona), the cooling system in my apartment complex makes the inside of my apartment insanely humid during the summer months. Dirty, unprotected metal will rust in short order. I clean and oil every time I shoot.

I prefer to clean my guns after every outing with them.

Only if I am hunting or carrying and they somehow get perspiration on them or somehow end up wet. Otherwise, I can go a year or two, or three and not clean them. I don't shoot as often as I used to. In the past year, I may have shot 20 to 30 rounds out of a combination of about five guns. When I shoot the steel Russian Wolf ammo, I do clean my AR immediately after that, even though it says Non-corrosive, I don't trust them. Perhaps the primer is corrosive, I would rather not find out the hard way.

There was a time when I would break-down every single tiny part and go through the entire weapon after every shooting. I no longer do that, it seems I have other more important things to do around my house that need doing NOW than spend time cleaning my weapons. I do check them to be sure they are not rusting. If I see a speck of rust, I will go over the entire gun. That hardly ever happens, though. My guns are in a very dry house that is dry all summer with a dehumidifier running all summer in the basement and all kinds of hydronic heat eight months out of the year.

I think it's really important to keep firearms clean and ready-to-go; accordingly, I clean and lube my 1911s about every three hours and clean and lube my Glocks about every 10,000 rounds.

Honestly, I clean them when they need to be cleaned, and that isn't necessarily after every time shooting them.

In some cases, such as with my 10/22, I can say that I have never cleaned it. Given that I shot it as recently as yesterday, and given that it still shoots exactly as accurate today as it did almost 30 years ago when I got it, I am not too concerned about it.

WIth other cases, such as with my Mosin, I have been known to drop a wet rag down the pipe before even leaving the range. Corrosive ammo, you see.

Otherwise, I just inspect them and clean them as necessary.

+1 on the 10-22. I cleaned mine for the first time in about 15 years. I'll be there have been 10,000 rounds through that thing.

I clean my carry gun (G26) if I shoot it at a match. My normal comp gun (G34) gets cleaned about once a summer. I will lube it a few more times than that. I shoot about 1500 - 2000 rounds in a summer.

If I fire one round in it, it gets cleaned, ESPECIALLY my carries. I clean them even if I haven't fired 'em, lube 'em up and make sure there's no pocket lint about every month if carried. Hey, I shoot black powder. I'm used to it and, besides, my carries and .22s are quite easy, even fun to clean compared to a Hawken or '58 remmy after a few rounds of holy black. I may be anal about cleaning my guns, but they'll work if I have to use 'em.

When they get dirty.

I'll wipe off the exterior and use a brush and cloth to wipe out the action area on a regular basis, but a full blown cleaning is only as needed. Especially on centerfire hunting rifles. Most shoot much more accurately after 20-30 rounds are down the tube and don't start to lose accuracy until around 200-300 rounds. Once it is shooting good I don't mess with it.

My Glocks get cleaned about once per year. 1911's need it far more often or reliability starts to become an issue.

I only own 2 guns at the moment. I clean each of them after range visits, which means a minimum of 1/week. I let my PPQ go 600 rounds without cleaning or lube, and it ran fine. Still, I like doing everything I can to keep them going strong.

When I first got my Ruger I cleaned it every time I shot it...until I realized there wasn't much of anything to clean. I've got about 500 rounds through it since last cleaning. Probably will take it down this week sometime.

Field strip my Glock after every outing. Complete do about once a year.

I make a point to clean off whatever new guns have on them when they come from the factory.

I used to be super anal, and with some guns that are really intended for accuracy, I am much more disciplined, but for the guns I shoot the most, like the 10/22, the SKS, the .22 AR, the 1911 .22, the 870......I count the stuff I wipe out of the way when I modify them as cleaning.

My carry gun, every 2-300 rounds. I figure, if you can't trust it to run unless you clean it meticulously on a schedule, can you really trust it to run well when you really really need it?

I can't put any gun away dirty, I just can't. I can't do it, I can't get to sleep knowing a gun is dirty.

I also clean my pistols BEFORE I go to the range. There's not a lot clean but I get peace of mind doing it.

I always want to make sure the striker channel is dry on my Glocks and that there is no gunk under the extractor, and even though I cleaned all that when I came back from the range I clean it again before I go to the range again.

I also like to clean my weapons on days that I can't go firing. And I like waxing them too.

I put a coat of Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Paste Wax on the slide and I'm happy with it. It's got a nice hydrophobic coating on it

^^You know you can get medication for that, right?

Comp & carry pistols/revolvers: ~500-1,000 rds, whether they need it or not.

Carbines/rifles that have seen corrosive ammo, same day they're shot.

Shotguns and hunting rifles, whenever they seem to "need" it, or if they've been out in foul weather.

I trust most of my guns to work appropriately THIS time, if they worked last time. If I've taken a gun down into pieces, I always like to go put some rounds through it to make sure all the bits and pieces went back together right, the springs are in the right way and seated well, no bits of cleaning cloth or brush bristles stuck some place that might cause it to hang up.

After each range trip... Could be an hour after, or three days after, but I don't let them sit long.

After every firing. Guns are like, well, your teeth ... you don't have to clean them after every use, but they'll last longer and work better if you do.

Corrosive ammo would be cleaned immediatly, as for just std. commercial grade ammo shootings "depending on the gun" sometimes I don't clean it until the day before I go shoot again. None of my guns have ever had an issue just as long as it was cleaned before I go shoot.

I'm not putting as many rounds through my guns on a regular basis as some folks here (200-400 rounds/month max) so unless I'm seeing symptoms of a blatantly dirty gun, my usual routine is to spray some Gun Scrubber through each one after a range visit, hang it upside-down overnight, and then give each a few drops of oil the next day. If it ends up being a long time before I make it back to the range, I just just a little more oil beforehand.