Cleaning revo vs auto.....am I nuts??

[TonyB]

Ok I think cleaning my auto is WAY easier than my revolver....My buddies who shoot mostly revolvers think I'm nuts.Here's what I think:
Revo: 6 or 7 "holes" to clean
Auto: 1 hole
Revo: a PIA to take apart.
Auto: like 2 seconds(Taurus PT99)
Mostly I'm obsessed w/ cleaning the cylinders......can't seem to get them clean enough.Am I over cleaning?Even though there is lots of nooks and crannies in the auto,they clean up easy w/ a tooth brush.....but those darn cylinders!!!And the cylinder face!!
It makes want to NOT shoot my revo alot.And it's my CCW so I NEED to shoot it often and do ,but it's a pain to clean.
Maybe I should just get some of that "dunk it" stuff and let it set over night......(can you tell I spent an hour cleaning my revo last night??)What do you think???

 

[Tamara]

Revo: a PIA to take apart.

Take apart?

 

[TonyB]

Take the cylinder housing off and trigger group out...Not an everyday thing I know but like I said,Am I nuts???

 

[ChristopherG]

Dude, what are you stressing about? It doesn't have to look like a mirror to work perfectly, and I mean perfectly, well. Shining the cylinder face? Only time I do that is if I'm gonna sell it. Anything you need to come off will come off with a quick scrub of a toothbrush and some CLP. Cylinders too; a few brush passes will knock out any big stuff, a couple patches, and you're good to go.

And if you're taking a revolver apart to clean it (as Tam's surpise indicates), you're doing something that doesn't need doing.

It's your carry piece; it's a tool, not a museum display. Take it easy on yourself and you'll enjoy your gun a lot more.

One practical tip; to really save some time, use gunscrubber.

cg

 

[TonyB]

So I AM nuts.....ok I won't clean like a mental patient w/ OCD.Mabe that will make it a little less anoying.....where's my medication????

 

[MikeJ]

Hi Tony,
Yea, you're nuts. Just kidding, but as mentioned you really don't need to go to such extremes. I've been shooting for 20 years and have always felt that revolvers were a lot easier to clean than autos. Go get some help, ok bud. Mike

 

[Mike Irwin]

Clean?????

 

[DonGlock26]

I think Autos are much easier to clean, and Glocks shoot cleanest for some reason. Revolvers are a PIA to clean.

 

[10-Ring]

Cleaning revo's will take a little more time & effort, but enough to make a difference in your mental health

 

[makdaddy03]

I think autos are easier to clean. I clean my revolvers maybe twice a year.lol!
Cant you dunk revovlers too?

 

[Penforhire]

My 686 revo cleans faster than my P99 auto and much faster than my 1911. I echo the others, "take apart" my revo?

 

[Brian Williams]

Open the Cylinder run a bronze brush thru each cylinder with Hoppes pull cleaning rag thru each cylinder, run bronze brush thru bore 2 or 3 times wipe outside of gun with rag, put in holster or storage (wrapped in old hospital scrub rags.)

Cleaning rag consists of old t shirt ripped in 2" wide strips about 7 to 10" long

 

[longeyes]

Glock vs. revo, si. 1911 vs. revo, no. But then cleaning a 1911 isn't an act of maintenance, it's a religious ritual. Use a boresnake, that will help with all those holes on the revolver.

 

[22luvr]

It's not WHAT you clean; it's HOW you clean!

Hi tony:
I derive great pleasure in cleaning all my guns - be they revolvers or autoloaders. I wait until the house is vacated, then I put a good classical piano concerto on the Bose and begin. Perhaps a glass of fine wine or a good imported beer on the side and keep it liesurely. Makes all the difference in the world. Atmosphere my boy.....atmosphere.

 

[sm]

Clean ???

oh...ok...I better leave now...I'm already in trouble in 'shotguns'...the chalk dust is getting to me...Dave...my hand is cramping, can I stop now??

 

[VictorLouis]

I love my revos.

No, I don't think you're crazy. I agree with you. I leave the carbon stains alone on the face of the cylinder. That said, getting all of the lead and other staining and debris off of the gun is about equal, IMO. It's what you pointed out about all of the extra 'holes'! That's where the extra time comes in.

 

[Blueduck]

Not nuts..

Takes a lot longer to get 6 chambers clean than one, just math Chambers being clean is more imprtant than barrell clean in many peoples opinion of defensive firearms.

' Course for the anal rententive folks who clean their guns to what they *think* is a perfectly clean after every outing try this:

After making getting your bbl perfectly clean (I mean perfect like the patches are coming out whiter than they went in) let the gun sit for 48 hours, then run a patch with solvent down the bbl and let it sit 5 minutes. Now see what comes out with the next dry patch

 

[Phil in Seattle]

Hmmmmmmm revolver cleaning. One patch for the barrel, then another. One for all the charge holes. One more for the barrel and then use that to clean the cylinder face and frame.
Blued steel cleans easily.

Ok cleaning a glock is quicker I'll admit. A patch down the barrel, whip the breach face, a squirt of oil and it's done.

 

[Ala Dan]

Greeting's Everyone-

I think the self-loader's are much easier to clean; at
least for me. I don't have to worry about getting the
burn mark's off the cylinder face!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[CB900F]

Yeah, I'd rather clean the semi's than a revolver any day of the week. Boresnake?! That's not cleaning, that's just Dr. Feelgood in another incarnation.

My son came home from his hitch in the Army with a boresnake & said 'here, try this'. So I did. It was so easy that cynical old me became highly suspicious. The next day I did pretty much what another poster recommended, put a wet patch down the bore, let it sit for a coupla minutes & then ran a dry patch through. I made my case & got a clean conviction on the fraud charge against the 'snake'.
900F

 

[MikeK]

I agree - it's the cylinder. Tho things I've found that ease the process are:

Lead free cleaning cloths for stainless guns. A little scrubbing and the cylinder face is spotless.

If you do take the gun apart soak the cylinder in a jar of Hoppes (or whatever your favorite cleaner is) overnight. I had a cylinder for a single six that I thought was clean, but started having trouble getting cartridges into. One treatment and the problem went away.

 

[kalibear45]

I'm the opposite... I find revolvers easier to clean than semi-autos because there is less "removeable" parts to mess with. No I don't take apart a revolver just for a routine cleaning . Just spray some FP-10 in the bore and cylinders, run a bore brush through, and wipe away with some cleaning patches. Its as easy as 1-2-3

 

[Dave T]

"Taking apart" a revolver (talking S&W here) means removing the cylinder and crane so you can clean the gas ring. That's routine for me when shooting lead alloy ammo. And as stated by some, cleaning 6 chambers is 6 times the work of cleaning 1 chamber.

Maybe some of you don't shoot much, or you just don't understand the word clean, but running a brush, then a patch, through the chambers of a revolver after an extended shooting session just loosens up the surface stuff. Those chamber mouths are still filthy.

Oh well - I have met Glock shooters who only fire factory ammo and think they don't have to clean their guns at all. Think of it as evolution in action!

 

[JCM298]

Cleaning

Dave T & I are from the old school: Clean it completely. You never know when you'll need it.

Autos, in general, do clean easier than revolvers,
John

 

[Majic]

Cleaning the pistol will be quicker than the revolver because 1 chamber will be cleaned quicker than 5 to 9 chambers. But when you talk about completely stripping a revolver you can't talk about just taking the top half off a pistol. It also have to be completely disassembled and that will take more than 2 seconds. Also don't forget to disassemble the mags for the pistol and clean them. If you have used several mags at the range that day all of them should be cleaned too.