Cleaning your guns or waste of time

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Force of habit I guess but I clean my guns every time they've been used. Field strip, clean with Hoppes No. 9, lightly oil, then back in the gun case. So much of a routine that I don't even give it all that much thought and I'm too old to start changing my ways.
 
I picked up a Ruger Standard Model way back when--I paid under $50 for it.
It got cleaned about 5 years ago--it sits in the safe
Got a 22/45 not long ago I clean it every time I use it.
Then those rats at Ruger came out with the gun you push a button & the gun comes apart.
they should have done it 30 years ago.
If I ever get one I may clean it.
 
handgun gets done after each firing because my life depends on a functioning weapon. My 223rem bolt guns get shot about 100rds or so and cleaned but a clean barrel can print a baseball group and a fouled barrel will touch holes. I shot today with a squeaky clean barrel and 5 shots covered with a baseball and after 9-10rds they shrunk. some of my hunting guns don't get cleaned but once a year cause its sight in, leave fouled for accuracy and hunt and then cleaned and stored until a year later.
 
Carry/SD guns get a thorough cleaning every time they are fired. I don't want to be carrying a dirty gun around, for one thing, and I want to inspect it carefully to make sure everything is ok.

Range use only guns get cleaned depending on the round count and conditions under which they are fired. If I go put a couple of boxes of ammo through a range use only gun for a match, it's not getting cleaned when I get home unless I dropped it in the dirt, it got rained on, or unless it already had a couple hundred rounds through it before that range trip.

I've put over 1000 rounds through a gun in a single day on a couple of occasions with no ill effects at all. Hard to imagine how it's worse to clean one every 300-500 rounds or so even though that round count is spread over 2 or 3 range trips.
 
Jack B. said:
I saw a post on Facebook that someone said that he cleans his guns once a year and cleaning them more often is a waste of time and harmful to them. What do you think?
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Somebody had a tagline that read "Information you get on the Internet is worth what you pay for it". The above leads me to see the truth in that. You can't just make a blanket statement like that, well I guess you can...

I would guess it really depends on the gun. Some guns require more periodic cleaning (depending of course on round count) than others. Cleaning a gun once a year is likely fine if you shoot it once a year. I guess it will come down to the gun and frequency of firing it and the number of rounds fired. Then maybe we could toss dirty verse clean ammunition in the mix. Uh, what about if it started raining while shooting? I clean my guns when I figure they need cleaned. Pretty simple huh?

Ron
 
I never learned a thing about cleaning guns until buying a black powder revolver. I clean that thing after every outing, it makes such a mess. Then I looked back on a childhood wondering why my 10/22 action got sticky after years of abuse and thousands of rounds, my Remington 760 .270 pump started locking up after putting it away dirty and/or wet year after year. Yeah, dad never cleaned his guns or paid any attention to them. I bet his 30.06 has never been cleaned. I spiffed the 10/22 and .270 back up, and take really good care of my old Colt .38 revolver. I enjoy the cleaning, and especially the part where they work correctly the next time I use them.
 
I'm totally confident that they don't need cleaned and fondled as often as I do....but I was taught to clean em when you use em..especially the bp guns.

On the bp guns, the old joke of once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, once a year afterwards,......not too far from reality in humid midwest.
Luckily, I don't go a month without shooting them.
 
If it is a bench rifle that shoots about 20 rounds a year for hunting season and spends the rest of the time in the safe, yes. Once a year would be plenty. If it is a carry firearm that gets regular practice, once a year isn't anywhere near enough.
 
.308 Norma said:
I think I'd be skeptical of advice I read on the internet about how to take care of my guns. And even more skeptical of what I read on Facebook about it.:D
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Why? I read on the Internet that they can't say something on the Internet unless it's true. I am pretty sure it"s even a law. Well in the lower 48, I am not sure about Alaska and Hawaii.

Ron
 
It might be unwarranted and devoid of merit, but my concern is that the carbon and other chemical residues might adversely affect the bore and other metal parts of the gun, particularly my military surplus rifles.

For example, I have a K31 with a bright bore and is very accurate – I’d hate to lose that just because I failed to clean the rifle.
 
There are a couple of ways to look at this.

Defensive guns are lifesaving tools, and should be cared for accordingly. Cleaning gives you a chance to examine them and check to make sure nothing is wrong with them. It is unreasonable to neglect an important machine and expect it to function well when you need it.

However comma there is a lot of belief about cleaning guns that has ballooned into superstition. That if your gun isn't surgically clean, it will fail. Decades ago, the military used corrosive primers. If you used this ammunition, and failed to clean the bore, it would start to pit very quickly. This is where a lot of the "Clean it every time you shoot it" religion comes from.

Do you REALLY want to trust your life to a tool that is at risk of failure if it is a tiny bit dirty?

I know a 3-gun shooter who has shot thousands of rounds through his main carbine, he has literally lost count, and it still runs. He has NEVER cleaned it. Keep the bolt sloppy wet, it will run. Any of the modern polymer-frame auto pistols should run fine for a long time with little to no maintenence.
 
And either one knows better ... or one knows nothing. I can't believe how many otherwise intelligent people worry about stuff that they see on Facebook or YouTube.
 
.308 Norma said:
I think I'd be skeptical of advice I read on the internet about how to take care of my guns. And even more skeptical of what I read on Facebook about it.:D
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You are right . I'm skeptical of what I read on the internet and internet forums. See you all later going to go clean my guns.;)
 
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