Cleaning Magazines-How Often?

[mgmorden]

Depends on what you've been doing with them.

Doing action shooting on a range where you're dropping them on the ground? Every one to two range trips. I actually clean my mags more than I clean my guns there because they actually get mud/dirt/crud in them.

Shooting them carefully where you aren't dropping them on the ground? Next to never.

Carrying them around in your pocket? If them seem link clogged do so, otherwise don't bother.

Or general rule of thumb - with the mag empty push down on the follower. If it feels gritty then clean it. If its still going down smooth, then don't bother.

In general though I'm not big on cleaning guns that often. They need it every now and then, but the "Clean it every time you shoot it ZOMG!?!?!" crowd is mostly operating off of gun culture practices established back when black powder and corrosive primers were common. Modern guns shooting modern ammo just don't need to be cleaned that often.

 

[ny32182]

I pop the spring out to shake out the dirt/grit every time they hit the deck on a sandy type surface, so... depending on where I am, many times per shooting session. If I'm on a grass surface or something else that doesn't penetrate into the mag when it hits the ground, then never, really... but usually I'm on more sand/dirt oriented ranges.

I find that they do accumulate a layer of carbon in the top half of the mag body; it is not really functionally a big deal since the follower and rounds are not really using any kind of tight tolerance during feeding, but even if I never dropped my mags in the dirt I'd still wipe that out every few thousand rounds on general principle.... maybe when I detailed the rest of the gun.

 

[ku4hx]

I wipe down the feed lips and follower after each use. If any end up in the dirt, it gets blown out with compressed air and disassembled if it still feels gritty.

 

[Wishoot]

I don't have any particular schedule, but usually after 500 rounds or so.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I make a ritual for once a year, thoroughly cleaned and oiled. I take them completely apart. I have anywhere from 3 to 25 magazines for each gun (the most for the .45 1911, just accumulated over the years), so that is a lot of cleaning. I just wipe them down, wipe out the top, and oil lightly after use during the year.

 

[beatledog7]

When I buy them, I clean out the factory goo, leave just the lightest coat of a good oil on the spring, and load them.

After that I clean them in the same manner when they need it, which unless they hit dirt, mud, or sand is very infrequently.

If one starts giving me issues, I clean it and try it again.

 

[Schwing]

The only magazines I have ever cleaned in the last 30 years were military surplus mags that I bought and cleaned. Aside from that, I give my carry pistol mags a squirt from the air compressor if I see lint.... I think that happens about once every year or so.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

No reason to clean unless you drop them in the sandbox or if they get wet.

 

[fastbolt]

I clean them when I first get them, to clean out any packing oil (especially with blued magazines produced overseas), check for anything left over from production that shouldn't be there, and to make sure everything that should be there is in proper position and good condition. I've found some brand new magazines that had the springs installed improperly (upside down & backwards ).

I also clean them each time one of them hits the ground for quals, training, practice, etc. This is especially important for me because my agency range is an outdoor range covered with sand. I've seen many magazines fail to function normally after only being dropped once or twice onto the sandy ground.

Magazines are at the very heart of a semiauto pistol's normal operation & functioning.

I remember it being said in one of my armorer classes (Sig), that a pistol isn't really clean unless the magazines being used with it are also clean. There's something to be said for that thinking.

As an armorer & instructor, I've seen more instances than I could ever hope to remember where some stoppage or functioning problem experienced by an owner or issued pistol user was discovered to be caused by a dirty, fouled, worn or damaged magazine, and the shooter didn't realize it until the gun stopped working during some course-of-fire. The typical response I received when asking them about how they maintained their magazines was either a blank look, or that they couldn't remember when they last disassembled, cleaned & inspected their magazine, or, that they'd never done so.

One of the other things I've also seen cause functioning problems is where someone wasn't sufficiently familiar with disassembly & cleaning of their magazines, and they reassembled them improperly, or else they weren't familiar with proper cleaning practices and did something that created problems for themselves where no problems were present before.

I like to try and prevent potential problems from occurring by some reasonable preventive maintenance now and again.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Roughly every fifth time I clean the gun. I don't do any of that kind of shooting, but if I were in a competition or training class where I was making frequent mag changes and dropping them on the ground, I would clean them before the next session.

 

[Nappers]

I clean after every shooting session. My gun is one of my tools and can't have a problem when I need it. I use those daubers soaked in hoppes and give it a quick wipe. Then I put a very super thin coat of oil.

 

[peacemaker45]

Double stacks get cleaned every time they hit the dirt. Single stacks might get cleaned if they start to bind or complain, unless they're part of the carry rotation, in which case twice a month.

.22 mags get cleaned when the waxy buildup makes them quit working.