Clean guns

[cold dead hands]

Went to the gun shop today and checked out .44 revolvers.
Some looked as though they were never cleaned after 1000 rounds. So i wondered how well you guys treat your firearms.
Do you clean them after every shoot no matter the round count or maybe after your own arbitrary number of rounds gets them dirty enough. It just seems a real shame that folks treat guns so poorly at times.

As for me, i shoot my autos 300 rounds give or take a little before a detailed cleaning. My revolvers get around 200 rounds before a detail cleaning and the shotgun seems to like being dirty so i leave it be.

 

[thexrayboy]

Man I gotta clean em after every use. I don't really enjoy the work but when you invest money into a product it's just stupid not to maintain it. Doesn't matter if it's a gun, a car or something else. Now when the Zombies show up and I get a little busy
I may have to rethink my priorities, till then it's Hoppes, gun scrubber and a cold one.

 

[bhardy]

I like to detail clean my S&W 629 after every shoot. It's such a finely crafted gun that I can't help but keep it pristine. Round count is now about 1000.

The one time I didn't clean it same day as shooting it, she sat up neglected, for about a week. I had shot 100 or maybe 150 rounds of UMC 240g jacketed. Anyway, I went to clean her and she was so fouled-out that I couldn't pull the trigger nor cock the hammer back. I've used that ammo since and it's great for the range. At home she's loaded with hydro-shocks. They don't foul nearly as bad.

This gun is my favorite, so I've learned to keep her clean and she works flawlessly every time.

Bill

 

[Ala Dan]

I'm very anal 'bout my firearms being clean. So after each trip to the range
regardless of round count, I detail each firearm. And, if one hasn't seen any
use (mainly my COLT D-frames) I clean them periodically. These things cost
good, hard earned $$$$; so it makes NO sense not too take care of 'em~!

 

[jeepmor]

After every firing. It may not be the same day, thanks to non-corrosive primers and powder, but it gets done before they get put away. It's the way I was raised.

My record is one week without cleaning my 45, and I only put one round thru it. Unfortunately for me, that round did not find that coyote, but the boom stepped up his resolve a bit.

Bugs me to see dirty guns, just always has. Same with a lot of things, but the guns don't get trivialized like mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, or other things that can simply wait. I got priorities y'know.

 

[tbtrout]

Every time I shoot, looking at a dirty firearm drives me nuts. I PM the ones I do not shoot regularly every 4 -6 months.

 

[qajaq59]

Clean and oil, clean and oil, cl.......

Is all I ever do. Over and over.

We live about 200 yards from the nice salty Atlantic Ocean. My guns get cleaned and oiled even if I have only fired one round. It's a case of either do that or have that nasty thing called RUST. :banghead:

 

[Kali Endgame]

I usually get back in the late afternoon or evening time so I put a movie on and clean until the movie is over. I'll watch another movie if I still think they are dirty. About twice a year I break them down as far as I can, soak parts, and really give them a good scrubbing.

 

[Working Man]

I clean and oil after every shoot and do a lite clean and re-oil before... just
incase I missed it or that particular firearm sat for a long time.

I actualy enjoy doing it.

 

[outofbattery]

I keep my rimfires reasonable clean but usually leave my CF autos alone until I start smearing residue all over myself when I handle them.I don't like to clean them and they don't mind so there isn't much harm.I might've cleaned either of my Glocks ~ 3-4k rounds ago,they're looking pretty grim right now.The only handguns I have that don't take as kindly to abuse are an SP101 than gunks up and my 1911's.Usually I'll clean my CCW about every 400 rounds or sf course I don't let my milsurps sit after shooting anything even questionable but most of my guns don't seem to mind a little neglect.

 

[Dr. Dickie]

Every time I shoot, I clean.
I will say it surprises me every time I read someone selling a gun (usually a gun shop) that mentions how dirty the firearm is they are selling (one even mention a spot on the frame of a pistol that they said was possibility of a blood spot ).
Why not just clean the thing before you sell it!

 

[Stickjockey]

Dad taught me to clean 'em when you're done with 'em. Worked then, works now.

 

[orionengnr]

I don't let the sun set on a dirty firearm.

 

[SSN Vet]

I don't let the sun set on a dirty firearm.

Until recently this has always been my policy and I have always enjoyed handling and cleaning my firearms.

I've just gotten into re-loading lately and surprise, surprise.....I can now afford to shoot a lot more than ever before.

Now, I go to the range with a more specific purpose, as I develop loads for my favorite guns.....usually putting twenty test rounds through each gun and noting the results.

So between my re-loading time and my increased shooting time, I'm finding that I'm not keeping up with the cleaning...especially when I come home with two pistols and a rifle.

Not a bad problem to have...

Shock of shockers! my guns haven't turned to rust.

I give them a quick wipe down and put them away.

after several range trips.....I give them a 'proper' cleaning.

 

[ZeSpectre]

I'm amongst the religious cleaners of guns. I shoot corrosive through my CZ-52 so that, of course, gets cleaned ASAP. The others not always and I'm usually pretty wiped out by the time I get back from a cowboy action shooting match so they often get to wait until the next day, but never longer than that.

 

[cookie4u1]

I guess I'll be the bad guy here. Although right now all my guns are clean, when the weather is warmer I will go to the range a couple of times a week and then I'll put them away dirty for a little while. They do clean back up. The only exception is the Mosins and they use corrosive ammo so they get cleaned up after every trip. Not anal about it like a few of my friends.

 

[morcoth]

Cleanliness is next to godliness

every gun i shoot, gets cleaned that night, as someone else mentioned, I put on a movie, get them in the order of difficulty, and start cleaning, when the movies is over, the guns are clean, and everyone is a happy camper.

Morcoth

 

[Cableguy]

Well, (dones protect fire gear), normally within a day or so I give my sw39-2 a run thru with the swabs, and clean and oil. However I will have to (swallows hard, clears throat) admit that I just last week did a full take apart, (field strip) and very in depth cleaning and inspection... Now you may ask how long.... Ok some of you will go ohh a 39-2 thats a (1978 era) older production model 9.. well yes It was my first time I took the pistol totally down. Guilty, yes I am a bad man. LOL ok I think I'v only run under 5000 rounds thru this pistol in its 20 yrs as being my ppw.. (personal protective weapon). I been carrying and shootin alot more lately, and looking for a new gun to add to my collection to rebuild it after loosing over a dozen civil war black powder (which I was wanting to pass on to his friends in the NSSA), and a dozen modern firearms from rifles to hg, I lost several of my own when the family cleaned out the gun safe after my dad's passing a few yrs ago. And was a fight just to get to one of my handguns as they were leaving with them. But thats history, (yea I am still pissed). So anyways, back to the moral of the story, I think there's others out there that carry for protection, go to the range shoot and just do a basic cleaning, I had not ever field stripped my pistol, after reading the proper way to clean a barrel, I realize I been doing it wrong, and was always a little leary of taking something I consider so important apart, worried I'd loose a spring or something and not get it back together right. but FOR THOSE OF YOU SIMILAR!!! Do it, take it apart and really clean it right, it's easier than you think.

 

[kfranz]

Corrosive ammo shooters right away. Others whenever. Even though it'll anger the neat freaks, everything I have will outlast both me and my children despite the bit of carbon build up.

I don't oil my shovel every time I dig either, or change the oil in my car every 2000 miles....

 

[g5reality]

I clean after every range session. Bore snake before leaving the range, full or mostly full breakdown at home afterwards. I cheat on my Glocks, I have two barrels for each so I just insert a clean barrel brush down feed area and I'm ready to go.

 

[1BLINDREF]

I always clean them as soon as I get home no matter how many rounds go through them. Dad drilled it into me and I passed it along to my boys. It's part of going shooting.
Cleaning guns was the first step for my boys in teaching them about gun safety. Before they where old enough to shoot, I would let them help me clean the guns when I came home from the range. It gave them some basic knowledge of how guns worked and how to safely handle them before their first trip to the range.
Now after we shoot, we sit down to clean our guns together and talk about the good time we had shooting (also some bragging ) It makes our time together last longer and more special

 

[Liberty1776]

What is this "cleaning guns" of which you speak??? Is that when they stop working, and I scrape some of the crud out with a screwdriver so they function again??? (I kid, I Kid...)

 

[rhubarb]

I too am picky about keeping my guns clean.

I cleaned my Marlin 60 only 1500 rounds ago. It seems like I cleaned it just last month.

I got an AR about a month ago and haven't cleaned it yet, but it only has 600 rounds through it. I read about ARs needing to be perfectly clean to operate; that's why I've been such a stickler with keeping it clean. My cleaning regimen has paid off as it has never malfunctioned in any way.

 

[Chuhhuniban]

Trained in the Army - if you shoot it, you clean it. Then I got to shooting on my lunch hour and sometimes the time was a little short. So now, I carry a squeeze bottle (small) of a mix of bore cleaner and gun oil and a Hoppes bore snake in each caliber in my range bag. When I finish at the range, I pull the bore snake through each gun fired with the cleaner-oil mix. Then, I don't have any anxiety about leaving the complete cleaning until the weekend (but never put it off more than 5 days). Then it's field strip, clean, lubricate and reassemble before storing. Of course, in Arizona, I couldn't make a gun rust unless I got out the hose, so it's easier here.

 

[loplop]

Chuhhuniban, you might like this story:

My grandfather did 2 tours in WWII, one in the Pacific and then he followed into Europe just in time for the Battle of the Bulge. By the time he got into Germany, he must have been fairly used to combat, as well as many of the guys in his battalion.

Well, as the Luftwaffe was increasingly grounded due to fuel or manpower shortages, my grandfather's battalion worried less and less about the single planes that would fly over, as they mostly left the artillery guys alone and went for the infantry. But there was one guy in his unit that was so pissed all the time at the Germans that he wanted to shoot at everything German, including lonely Luftwaffe planes.

Their supply trucks were mounted with (I think) 50 cal. machine guns to ward off aircraft. Every time a German plane made an appearance, he would run like hell for the closest supply truck, and shoot like a madman. One time he did this, and my grandpa's friend started yelling:
"STOP THAT GOD-DARNIT, STOP SHOOTING AT THE DAMN PLANE!! I have to CLEAN the damn gun and I DON'T WANT TO!!!"

LOL. Probably funnier in person when my grandpa tells it, but I always crack up at that one.

Anyway, I clean after every range trip. Just a quick field strip. +1 to the "Hoppes and a cold one."

I don't do a complete teardown but once a year, if that.