Detailed cleaning of CCW Glock

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I have one of the first G-21's in the US with an XL serial number bought in the early 1990's. I shot it in USPSA competetion as a Hi-Cap over my 8+1 1911. I was shooting 4-5K of bullets a year (My reloads of 200GR SWC Lead which is supposed to be a NO-NO but it was not dirty ammo) in practice and competetion and NO leading. Every couple of years I would detail strip it and cleaned it with Simple Green and warm water. Let it dry off and 6 drops of oil as specified. I was also a Glock Armorer in the mid 1990's trained at Glock because the Gun Store I worked for Part time was selling more Glocks than almost anybody else in the Southeast. We had a rental G-17 that was shot more than 40K per year and after 250K rounds, Glock wanted it back for close inspection. It was shot with reloaded FMJ ammo. NO issues were found and we were given another New G-17. It will take almost anything you will feed it and not even blink. The smaller the caliber the more issues seem to crop up, with what I am seeing is really bad reloads for the new 380 Glock. Was at an Alumni Gunfighting Class a couple of weeks ago and saw a G-42 that would have issues with every 4-5 rounds of reloaded ammo. Factory fresh worked fine. Every gun has it's issues if you can find them.
 
It's a Glock. It hardly needs to be cleaned at all unless you really mistreat it. For a frequent carry gun, the only things you really need to worry about are rust (if you sweat on it) and lint build up. For the latter, a few puffs of compressed air should blow out the cobwebs. You really only have to worry about cleaning out the striker channel every several thousand rounds to get any built up brass bits out.
 
It hardly needs to be cleaned at all unless you really mistreat it.
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Some of us consider "not" cleaning it, mistreating it. ;)

As far as the channel, and especially the extractor, a few blasts of Gun Scrubber while doing routine cleaning doesnt hurt. You'd be amazed at the junk you'll flush out of the extractor area. I often wonder if accumulated crap in that area, isnt a cause of many of the extraction/BTF complaints.
 
I clean and oil my Glock just like i would a 1911.

I detail strip and clean the slide parts completely because it's bone dead easy. I only detail strip the Glock lower frame yearly. Usually I just hose it out with CLP and let it dry, then relube. The frame doesn't get too dirty usually. All the key parts to clean are in the slide. Good thing it's easy. Extractor, FP safety, and FP are key.

It's only a 3/32" punch to completely tear down a Glock. Youtube has plenty of tutorial vids. The slide stop llever spring is the only trick. On Gen4's with beaver tail attachments, the trigger pin can be a pain.

I'll pop my slide off and check inside for dirt or lint regularly. And clean and relube as needed. There's no excuse for a dirty CCW. Glock or not.
 
Worse advice could not be given....

AK103K.....As far as the channel, and especially the extractor, a few blasts of Gun Scrubber while doing routine cleaning doesnt hurt.......
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NO! NO! NO!
Never ever squirt ANYTHING into the firing pin channel.....and most certainly not GunScrubber. Attend an armorers class and Glock will tell you the same thing.

In my Glock Armorers class, the instructor told us two stories of FP channel liners that were destroyed by GunScrubber.



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A: Gun Scrubber may harm some plastics, painted surfaces, synthetic stocks, camouflage finishes and wood finishes. Do not allow product to pool on, in or under firearm, or components to reduce the possibility of damage. Test an area before using. - See more at: https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Clea...er®-Firearm-Cleaner.aspx#sthash.BST1SlFX.dpuf
Click to expand...
 
I will field strip every 500 rounds and clean the lower with a dry toothbrush just to get the loose carbon out of the slide stop follower, ejector, and mag well areas.

Once a year I will detail strip the upper and lower, and clean out the trigger housing assembly of excessive lube. (One drop on the disconnector after each field strip per Glock instructions adds up to an excess of lube eventually.)

Glocks are so easy to detail strip, you don't need an Armor's course, fancy manual, or any tools beyond a Glock tool or 3/32" punch and a YouTube search for the keyword "Glock Detail Strip."
 
In my Glock Armorers class, the instructor told us two stories of FP channel liners that were destroyed by GunScrubber.
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News to me. Ive been doing it pretty much weekly for years now. I do use the " Synthetic Safe" version.

don't need an Armor's course, fancy manual, or any tools beyond a Glock tool or 3/32" punch and a YouTube search for the keyword "Glock Detail Strip."
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I would suggest you watch the video all the way through, and watch more than one, before you start taking things apart. YouTube is a great resource, and I use it all the time, but you do have to be careful. Best to use the ones from places like Brownells, and other professional sites, than some of the amateur ones.
 
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AK103K said:
I would suggest you watch the video all the way through, and watch more than one, before you start taking things apart. YouTube is a great resource, and I use it all the time, but you do have to be careful. Best to use the ones from places like Brownells, and other professional sites, than some of the amateur ones.
Click to expand...

Very true. Anybody can claim to be an EXPERT (or imply it by posting their own YouTube DIY video), but viewr has to know a bit to avoid being led astray. Looking at a number of different "known, reputable" sources is a good idea.
 
"Detail stripping" of a firearm for routine cleaning is overrated. I can see it if you drop it in a mud puddle or something. While this doesn't really apply to Glocks, some guns can actually be harmed by complete disassembly.
 
The Lone Haranguer said:
"Detail stripping" of a firearm for routine cleaning is overrated. I can see it if you drop it in a mud puddle or something. While this doesn't really apply to Glocks, some guns can actually be harmed by complete disassembly.
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Like I said earlier, detail stripping the slide of a Glock is so easy and harmless, I see no good reason not to. Crud builds up under and around the extractor fairly quickly, and having a clean, dry striker channel is never a bad thing.
 
Blue Thunder said:
I have one of the first G-21's in the US with an XL serial number bought in the early 1990's. I shot it in USPSA competetion as a Hi-Cap over my 8+1 1911. I was shooting 4-5K of bullets a year (My reloads of 200GR SWC Lead which is supposed to be a NO-NO but it was not dirty ammo) in practice and competetion and NO leading. Every couple of years I would detail strip it and cleaned it with Simple Green and warm water. Let it dry off and 6 drops of oil as specified. I was also a Glock Armorer in the mid 1990's trained at Glock because the Gun Store I worked for Part time was selling more Glocks than almost anybody else in the Southeast. We had a rental G-17 that was shot more than 40K per year and after 250K rounds, Glock wanted it back for close inspection. It was shot with reloaded FMJ ammo. NO issues were found and we were given another New G-17. It will take almost anything you will feed it and not even blink. The smaller the caliber the more issues seem to crop up, with what I am seeing is really bad reloads for the new 380 Glock. Was at an Alumni Gunfighting Class a couple of weeks ago and saw a G-42 that would have issues with every 4-5 rounds of reloaded ammo. Factory fresh worked fine. Every gun has it's issues if you can find them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this info. In the armor's course do they provide a preventative maintenance schedule for things such the springs? I have seen videos online but I would like the formal training. I work in a heavily regulated industry and out of necessity I take lots of training. Other than making my wallet a bit lighter, I figure it can't hurt to get the certified Ock training.
 
The Lone Haranguer said:
"Detail stripping" of a firearm for routine cleaning is overrated. I can see it if you drop it in a mud puddle or something. While this doesn't really apply to Glocks, some guns can actually be harmed by complete disassembly.
Click to expand...

Only detailing the grip frame of a Glock, or 1911, applies any wear to the pistol. Pushing the pins in and out. Hosing down the frames of either with CLP should extend the detail stripping beyond 1000 rounds IMO.

No wear to the slide at all. It's so easy that not carrying a perfectly clean slide, with a perfectly clean extractor, is just pure laziness. It's 5 min tops.
 
Interesting points, I liked most of that video, but I disagree on one of the experts comments. He wrote:

It’s the job of the “recoil spring” to slow the slide as it recoils back so it doesn’t impact with the frame at full force. The “recoil spring” then accelerates the slide forward causing it to reload the gun and lock it in for firing.​

I'd argue that while the spring may incidentally protect the frame from full force, the main purpose of the recoil spring -- from the earliest versions of any semi-auto onward, is not to protect the frame, but to store enough energy to LOAD THE NEXT ROUND. That stored force is what makes the gun run!!

In fact, much of the force of the round is still being passed to the frame -- it's the BASE against which the spring is pressing. A different spring changes the duration of that transfer, so it feels differently, but there's not a great amount of difference in what is stored or passed into the shooter's arm. A pound or two? Perhaps a spring that is tiring does a less-good job of SPREADING that force over time, such that the frame takes a bigger hit all at once, but if that happens, that same tired spring is probably not going to have enough force to feed the next round, either.

Every gun design is arguably different, and every design responds to the forces the gun's ammo must generate. I suspect that's why the number of pins in the Glock locking block design was changed in the late '90s -- to allow the frame to better handle the forces at play. (I wonder whether the Glock 22 discussed in the videos might have been one of the older (Generation 2) 2-pin models.)
 
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You can actually feel the .40 Glocks get snappier when the recoil spring wears out. 3000 rounds.

I change mine before a 3 day class. The block pin, take down lever spring, and trigger spring are also good ideas. I have a spare striker handy because I've replaced the MIM striker with a Zevtech one.
 
I detail stripped a Glock for the first time several months ago. I had owned it for almost 10 years and carried it every day the majority of that time, without ever having it detail stripped. Having done that I can safely say it was not necessary.
 
I should have added that when I said a few drops on the rail, when I clean a gun I naturally clean and run a oily rag over the barrel. Inside and out
 
My personal Glocks are all 9mm but my issued one is a G22. That guy went approximately 5k rounds on the original recoil spring assembly before I noted malfunctions, despite it passing the RSA "test."

It wasn't until 7k rounds before I detail stripped it, and although it was dirty, it wasn't gunked up to the point it would've caused any issues.

I actually detail stripped my 19 today and nearly lost one of the firing pin spring cups. Amazed I found it and still haven't learned my lesson about being more careful with those during reassembly.

Every time I detail strip one I'm appreciate how simple Glocks are to work on.
 
dogtown tom said:
You should NEVER oil the FP channel. Ever.
The plastic liner is all the lube the FP needs.

No oil, no residue, no light strikes.
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Don't think the poster was saying to "oil" the FP channel.

I believe it was meant to say clean any oil, residue, shavings out of the channel.
 
It depends on what kind of ammo you're shooting, what kind of conditions the gun is used/carried/stored in, and how it's maintained.

I'd put a thousand rounds through it (with field strip/cleaning & maintenance performed at reasonable intervals) and then do a detail strip/clean. If it looked really cruddy inside then I'd do it sooner next time. If it was still really clean then I'd shoot more rounds through it before the next detail strip/clean.

If the gun is being stored in a safe, not carried, shot with clean ammo, and maintained pretty well then you will likely find that every 1,000 rounds is way too often to do a detail strip/clean. If it's carried daily in rough conditions, shot with whatever is the cheapest ammo available on any given day and only cleaned infrequently and hastily then it might be another story entirely.
 
I would make it a periodic inspection, every 3-6 months.

I do not know of a Glock recommendation of detail stripping (edit: the above poster said the course mentioned every 5k-6k rounds).

The process of detail stripping a Glock is VERY easy. Get yourself a cheap little Glock armorer's tool, find a good Youtube video of it with good lighting/instructions...watch it a couple of times...then go for it. Just a few pins and things just pull out, come apart, then go back together. Really easy.

I broke mine down completely a couple of times and it was not only fun, but fascinating to see how the mechanism works.

I do recommend getting a thin bottle brush (look at a grocery store, for like $1-$2) and keep it as a dry brush. Never use it with oil or anything oiled. Dry brush that thing through the assembled Glock frame every so often to get some of the carbon out of there. Mostly through the magwell, to get grime outta there and prevent hang ups or anything.
 
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