How do you clean your handgun?

The method is the same I use. I have never used Ballistol but have nothing against it.

Pretty much the same for me, handgun or long gun. I use Hoppes and Mobil One.

A couple of times a year I'll strip the slides on the Glocks I shoot the most and give them a good cleaning as well. I usually pull the frame apart and clean and inspect it at least once a year too.

I shoot mostly Glocks and don’t clean them every time I shoot. But I also strip the slides when I think I’ve got 1,000 rounds through them to get the brass shavings out of the striker channel.

Otherwise, same as everyone else. Wipe down and add some lube.

Pretty much the same-I like to run a saturated patch through first to get the bulk of the fowling out & then a dry patch & determine if a bristle brush is needed.

I'm very similar. I use a CLP, I've used Ballistol, BreakFree, SLIP2000, etc. I've recently skipped the bore brush step and just use patches down the barrel.

I've been influenced by this from Schuemann Barrels

https://szbarrels.com/Portals/0/Doc...rel_Cleaning.pdf?ver=HsveiaoPD4Wz6fMSqzGVYw==

My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets...

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Roughly the same, but I probably only clean the bore once for every 3 or so times I clean any given gun.

I've also been influenced by posts like this one

https://slip2000.com/blogs/news/after-6000-rounds-i-cleaned-my-gun-with-a-paper-towel

Using a CLP is like using a cast iron fry pan. The more you use it, the better it works. Crud just wipes off. You start using a degreaser, now you're starting over. Using a degreaser on your gun is like putting your well seasoned cast iron fry pan in the dishwasher. Sure you can do it, but it will work a lot better if you don't.

These days: I only clean when needed. Due to serious environmental concerns (immersion for example) or when it's so dirty it starts being visibly slow to cycle. From experience, I am still 200+ rounds from stoppage at that point so I just don't over clean.

Since I have one, I ultrasonic it then. Strip all but the fire control system, lightly toothbrush some bits to be sure chunks fall off between cleaning cycles, and do a Bore snake; once or twice with that cleans it to shiny but... I don't do bare lead bullets anymore much. When I did lots of .45 in lead the bore cleaning was more often, and much more serious.

Also a Ballistol lover. Give some squirts of that when out of the bath, and spread it all around/wipe excess with a rag once assembled and function checked.

Smokepole14 said:

Just curious as to how everyone else cleans there handgun? I field strip my down and clean everything with ballistol. I run a bore brush down the barrel followed with a wet patch of ballistol. After that i just wipe them down and reassemble. So far I’ve had good results with this, anybody do it different? Any tips you would add?

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I was going to suggest Ballistol but you already know LOL . You are doing it right .

I thought we has determined in the other thread that we don't clean our guns...

I am in the just add oil and keep going camp.

mcb said:

I thought we has determined in the other thread that we don't clean our guns...

I am in the just add oil and keep going camp.

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LOL! This will work fine for thousands of rounds....

Given that modern powder and primers don't use corrosive or hygroscopic materials, it's not all that critical to tear a gun down to parade rest and clean to bare metal and relube.

I typically take the slide off my pistols, pull barrel, spring, etc., take the grips off, then clean with a solvent (Hoppes, usually), and put a thin coat of oil on afterwards (Mobile 1).

Barrel gets a brush run through a few times, followed by a patch.

That's it.

Once in a blue moon I spend a lot more time being more thorough.

I used Balistol for a few years, but I have a couple of automatics where it's not cleaning the barrel as well as I would prefer. Works great in most, but has trouble with Walther Q5. I switched to Shooter Lube solvent and that works better. That said, unlike Balistol it is not something that can be just sprayed and left alone.

Before Balistol, I used things like Remington bore cleaner. That concoction was nasty, but it could lift anything - carbon, lead, mercury, copper, aluminum - but I am not sure if it weren't abrasive to steel and chrome bores. I suspect it had something like chalk mixed in. If it were detrimental, I could not detect any big effect, but it was worrysome and I eventually stopped using it just for the peace of mind.

Similar method with my own spin. Field strip vast majority of the time. I don't do a full break down unless something is very wrong. Wipe/brush/blow pocket lint/dust etc. Loose stuff I can see. Apply gun oil, usually G96 or Remoil. Wipe off carbon and anything else that comes from that. One wet patch down the barrel, hard brush if it is needed, dry patches until it is clean and dry. Put lubricating grease where grease goes, oil where oil goes, reassemble.

IMO Ballistol is great for everything but getting the copper fouling out of the barrel. I use Otis copper remover on a patch thru the barrel and Ballistol and all else.

Given that modern powder and primers don't use corrosive or hygroscopic materials, it's not all that critical to tear a gun down to parade rest and clean to bare metal and relube.

I typically take the slide off my pistols, pull barrel, spring, etc. Out, take the grips off, then clean with a good solvent, like Hoppes. Run a brush and swab through the barrel. Then lightly swab everything down with Mobil 1 oil (the dregs from the oil changes to the cars more than keeps my gun lube oil bottle filled).

Once in a blue moon I give the guns a deeper, more thorough cleaning.

JTQ said:

I've also been influenced by posts like this one

https://slip2000.com/blogs/news/after-6000-rounds-i-cleaned-my-gun-with-a-paper-towel

Using a CLP is like using a cast iron fry pan. The more you use it, the better it works. Crud just wipes off. You start using a degreaser, now you're starting over. Using a degreaser on your gun is like putting your well seasoned cast iron fry pan in the dishwasher. Sure you can do it, but it will work a lot better if you don't.

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I looked at that web page. The shooter fired 6000 rounds in practice prior to a match. That is fine for practice, and given the short time period, the oil/grease did not have time to dry out and congeal. The poster was smart enough to clean his pistol before going to the big match. And I think it stupid to show up at a big match and have your firearm go down due to lack of maintenance. And I have seen it a number of times.

At one two day Regional, a shooter had his early 60's Anschutz rifle lock up. He needed help disassembling and reassembling the bolt, and because I have one of similar vintage, I tried to help

This is the disassembled bolt on mine. Notice all the grease? I lube the heck out of things. And if the rifle or pistol has not been lubed recently, I will lube it before going to the range or a match. I do not want a dry gun.



I doubt the shooter had ever cleaned and lubed his bolt, since he had the rifle on a high school rifle team, from the 60's! The cocking lug recesses and firing pin cocking cams were dry, and galled! And even after liberally pouring oil into the recesses of his bolt, the thing was still extremely stiff to open. The firing line did not have the resources, nor the time, to polish the old parts in an attempt to make operation smooth. And given the age of these rifles, finding new cocking cams and firing pins can be a multi year effort. (That firing pin is unavailable, I have looked for years for a spare) By not keeping things clean and lubricated, that shooter damaged his rifle, and may not be able to make the thing smoothly operational again.

The primary agent in Ballistol is medical grade mineral oil, which is commonly used in laxatives, baby lotions and vaginal lubricants.
I found the smell nauseating and the performance unimpressive.

Slamfire said:

I looked at that web page. ...

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My take away from that article seems to be different than yours.

It's not that he went 6,000 rounds between cleanings, folks can choose to do whatever they want, the point I was making by linking to that article is if you use a CLP, as a CLP, to Clean, Lubricate, and Protect, the more you use it the easier it gets to keep your gun clean.

In this instance, he wiped off nearly all the "crud" with just a paper towel. He didn't soak his gun overnight, he didn't degrease it, he didn't use some harsh chemical, he didn't spend 30 minutes with a bore brush on his barrel. He wiped off the crud. If it was a little stubborn, he used a little more CLP.

The more you use a CLP, without stripping it all off with some kind of degreaser, the better it works. That's the takeaway I got from that article, and the procedure I use. I normally clean my guns after every time I shoot them, but it is little more than some patches through the barrel, and wipe the crud off the gun with a paper towel.

JTQ said:

.....the more you use it the easier it gets to keep your gun clean.

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Id say that goes without saying, no matter what you use. Its a lot easier to clean a gun thats been maintained, than it is to clean one left to get to the point you "have" to do it.

trackskippy said:

Id say that goes without saying, no matter what you use. Its a lot easier to clean a gun thats been maintained, than it is to clean one left to get to the point you "have" to do it.

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Not exactly. The number of folks that don't use a CLP properly is huge. You can see it on nearly any one of these cleaning threads.

In the linked article, the user used a CLP as a CLP. He went much longer than most will between cleanings, 6,000 rounds. He would probably be in the area of what you call the point where you "have to do it". However, since he used his CLP properly, he simply wiped off the crud.

Folks all over the place take their guns home, and hose them down with a degreaser, or some other harsh chemical, wiping all the CLP off their guns. You are now back to square one. Unless you dunk your gun in a bucket of CLP, you're probably going to miss a spot. That area will be tougher to clean next go around. If you never strip the CLP off your gun, it will get easier and easier to clean over time.

Ive used it the past, but have never been a fan of CLP type cleaners, mostly because things that are a "do everything" type thing, never seem to do everything well.

The worst of that lot was Frog Lube. Worked OK if youre constantly keeping things up, and by that, I mean regular, weekly cleaning, but let it sit just a short while, and the gun either wont function, or barely functions, and Ive had light rust on a couple of guns with it as well.

I lube with hoppes oil or 3in1 oil. Mostly I will field strip an auto pistol and wipe the soot out with remoil, or just oil. The stubborn spots I scrub with a bronze brush. Then oil and reassble.

Revolvers I do the same. Remove cylinder and wipe with a remoil soaked rag.

I like clp too, but don't have any other than a trial bottle I the original stuff.

Frog lube sucks. It makes a gun sticky and gummy from my limited experience.

Ballistol stinks to high heaven.