Do you guys clean after one mag through?

[aaaaa]

I lube mine as needed, clean every 500-1000 rounds .... Never had a problem.

A lot of people won't shoot often enough because they don't want to spend the time cleaning their weapon. I shoot every chance I get.

And you should not have to clean a gun every time you shoot it, only if you are going to put it away for a longer period of time, or if it really gets filthy. If you are taking three range trips on one month, I would not clean it until after the third trip.

What I really want to know (and the answer is probably as elusive as the question of whether they carried a SA with one chambered under the hammer in the olden days) is how often and in what manner did they clean their guns back in the 1800s. When I find that out, I will consider doing the same for my revolver collection.

 

[JohnKSa]

Carry guns get thoroughly cleaned after shooting any amount since I don't want shooting residue getting on my clothes/carry holster. Other guns get cleaned as necessary--which depends on the gun and ammo. I have a rimfire bolt rifle that seems to never need cleaning with the ammo I use in it. I have some other guns that get absolutely filthy with only a few boxes of the ammo I use in them.

 

[CajunBass]

I just clean them when I feel like it. Might be right after shooting...might be anytime after.

 

[Remington1911]

That's no where near as common as it once was, much as it's no longer common to see 115 octane at the airport (it's mostly 105 now).
The (few) folks still flying radials will be using additives to sustain their valves.

Also, he is responding from Italy, and it's my understanding the aviation fuels are all lead free over there in Europe (but could be wrong--I only know a couple people in European General Aviation, and they don't generally fly to Italy).

Now, in the US, some marine gasoline can be found, but often under restricted sale.

I did not know he was in Italy. Here my local airport still has 110LL

 

[chicharrones]

What I really want to know (and the answer is probably as elusive as the question of whether they carried a SA with one chambered under the hammer in the olden days) is how often and in what manner did they clean their guns back in the 1800s. When I find that out, I will consider doing the same for my revolver collection.

Blackpowder revolvers vs. modern cartridge revolvers is a whole different ballgame. If my Pietta 1860 is any example, it gets fouled up to the point that the cylinder won't turn after 4 to 6 cylinders worth of firing.

If you haven't started a thread in the Blackpowder Forum to query those guys, it might be worth your time to start one. Or if you really want to go all in, buy a repro black powder revolver that doesn't use metal cartridges and you find out for sure.

http://www.pietta.us/products/Muzzleloadinguns/index.html

https://www.uberti-usa.com/black-powder-revolvers

 

[5-SHOTS]

I would NEVER spray anything onto the breechface while the striker was still installed. I might apply a degreaser to a Q-Tip and then clean the breechface with the Q-Tip, carefully avoiding the firing pin hole, and then apply a very thin layer of synthetic grease. Thinking about this, I should probably find a plastic rod that I can jam into the firing pin hole to seal it while I clean it. I mostly use synthetic grease in my pistol, which is less likely to migrate into the striker channel. If it is difficult to access the firing pin and/or striker to remove it to clean it, I would say that is one reason to NOT chose that gun.

Getting a bit of lube into the firing pin/striker channel is probably not a big problem if you clean the striker channel often. I think people are mostly worried about the lube collecting gunpowder residue and clogging up. One of these days I am going to actually LUBE the striker channel with synthetic grease and see if will still fire an empty shell case with a live primer. I'm betting that it will still fire.



With a removable barrel you can hose it down with brake cleaner, bore cleaner, etc., and then lubricate it and wipe off the excess lube, no problem. It doesn't need to be degreased. You mainly want a very thin layer of lubricant left in the barrel to protect against corrosion. But even if you only use oil the clean the bore, it will remove the vast majority of the contaminants. Oil and wipe the inside of the barrel a few times and it will clean a lightly used barrel. But with a heavily soiled barrel I'd still want to use bore cleaner first.

Some areas, like the pivoting extractor, I will disassemble, clean, and relubricate with synthetic grease on a schedule, but NOT add lubrication between cleanings. Adding lubricant or using a degreaser can introduce contaminants inside the bearing areas of the extractor. If for some reason it was obvious that the extractor needed cleaning and I did not have the time or my tools to disassemble it, I would flood it with synthetic oil and work the extractor until no crud appeared to come out and then wipe off the excess. Then later at my convenience, I would disassemble the extractor, degrease, relube, and install a NEW coiled spring pin.

Some necessary clarifications. When I spray Sonax MoS2Oil to dissolve gunpowder residues I don't use this:


nor this:


but I use this:



This means that, especially with regard to the breech face, the oil is sprayed precisely, trying to avoid letting it enter directly into the firing pin channel. After the oil has acted to dissolve the gunpowder residues, the dirty oil is removed as much as possible with clothes and used toothbrushes which during the process are rinsed in Avio petrol to keep them clean between one pass and the other. Despite this, some dirt could get into the firing pin channel (and in any case the shot residues have already entered in abundance during the live firing...). That's why I finally use the brake cleaner. The brake cleaner, or at least the brake cleaner that I use (i.e. the Forch R510), is made to remove dirt from the recesses that are not directly accessible and that is exactly what it does. It is made to degrease things that are not immediately removable by taking out oil, grease and various dirt particles and that is exactly what it does. But then I don't need to convince anyone. Just try. If you briefly spray some of the brake cleaner that I use (and which is absolutely safe for gun plastic) for example inside inacessible zones of one of your pistols, you will see dirt and other junk come out that you never even imagined could be in there. It seems to me that those who speak out against the brake cleaner have never actually used it.

As for the barrel: I spray the Sonax MoS2Oil oil inside, let it act, use the bronze brush, rinsing the bronze in Avio petrol between one pass and the other. When I check that the bronze brush is practically no longer dirty, then I degrease the inside of the barrel with the brake cleaner and dry with the cotton brush (if the cotton brush is still dirty, it is rinsed in Avio petrol and passed again until it comes out clean). After that, if I have to store the pistol for a long time, a film of Sonax MoS2Oil is deposited inside the barrel which behaves similarly to the Ballistol. In any case, before shooting the range, this preservative oil must be removed and the inside of the barrel must be degreased. Too much work? Not for me.

As for the firing pin or the extractor I do not see the need to disassemble them since the brake cleaner I use is able to clean them perfectly without disassembly them and, if necessary, the oil I use is so penetrating that if I need to lubricate them I can do it without taking them apart. I don't see why I should give up on buying a pistol like the P226 or the CZ 75B just because the firing pin is not easily removable nor is the extractor.

 

[aaaaa]

Blackpowder revolvers vs. modern cartridge revolvers is a whole different ballgame. If my Pietta 1860 is any example, it gets fouled up to the point that the cylinder won't turn after 4 to 6 cylinders worth of firing.

If you haven't started a thread in the Blackpowder Forum to query those guys, it might be worth your time to start one. Or if you really want to go all in, buy a repro black powder revolver that doesn't use metal cartridges and you find out for sure.

http://www.pietta.us/products/Muzzleloadinguns/index.html

https://www.uberti-usa.com/black-powder-revolvers

My goof. I should have remembered. I would be more interested in early integrated-cartridge-era gun cleaning practices, but I suppose even then the earlier technology was not as clean as modern technology.

 

[Mizar]

My goof. I should have remembered. I would be more interested in early integrated-cartridge-era gun cleaning practices, but I suppose even then the earlier technology was not as clean as modern technology.

Actually, black powder guns were cleaned rather well and thoroughly after every shooting because of necessity - black powder residue is hygroscopic and contains salts, that are highly corrosive when they draw moisture from the air. Typical cleaning procedure required hot water, soap and tow for scrubbing barrel & chambers and with cartridge guns or percussion revolvers, usually disassembly of the mechanisms, because BP residue will get there. Clean, dry everything and apply olive oil or tallow as lubricant. Skip a cleaning after shooting and very soon, after only a day or two in some cases, you will find yourself with pretty well rusted and almost useless gun.

 

[Homerboy]

Whenever I see a post from somebody using brake cleaner on their guns, I always think of "putting the cast iron skillet in the dish washer". Sure, you can do it, but why? It just makes your life more difficult.

I use non chlorinated break cleaner on my slides and metal frames. I use Polymer Safe aerosol cleaner on my plastic frames. Gets into the nooks and crannies of the guns. Follow it up with compressed air and then lube where needed. Been doing it for 30 years. No issues.

I also attach a cleaning brush to a rod and chuck it to my drill and use it on low to clean the cylinders of my revolvers. Cleans them 100%.

 

[Shipwreck]

My old Marlin lever looks like it was carried a great deal, you can see where the old guy carried the rifle. Personally I like that. It got used like a gun should be used.

Rest of the cleaning just clean when needed.....ever see those rimfire guys talk about season a barrel....a little like tossing an iron skillet in the dish washer.

That video is very funny. Thanks for the post!

 

[James Collins]

E. Clean as needed, as thoroughly as is necessary. I can get some carry guns thoroughly dirty, without firing them. This was especially true during my police patrol career, but remains true with field guns and street carry guns. It is more true of guns that are lubed with oils and/or grease that tends to accumulate dust, which eventually makes mud. A gun carried into both hot and cold environments, especially when the humidity is high, will experience condensation, inside and out. This condensation can cause lint and dust to stick to the weapon.

A gun carried in an ankle holster requires its own special level of attention.

A gun worn close to a heavily-perspiring body requires its own special level of attention. Salt is the enemy of most metals.

Have fur-people, at home? Yep, another special level of attention is needed.

I will tend to run a bore snake through the barrel, after every range or plinking session, no matter how few rounds fired, if I do not plan to break the weapon down, further, for cleaning, in the immediate future.

Breaking the weapon down, for lubrication, is done, as necessary. This is independent of cleaning.

Lots of attention is required to ensure your gun fires the way it’s intended

 

[Shipwreck]

I clean for even one round. If the gun is fired, I clean it after.

 

[Walkalong]

Y’all clean too much………..

 

[Mizar]

Some years ago a friend of mine, not much into cleaning, got himself a nice used Hammerli 214. Only after he got the owner's manual for it he found out, much to his surprise, that there was a set screw for the trigger bellow all that gunk...

 

[Ignition Override]

You might shoot 40 rds. of .308 in a clean PTR-91 rifle,. It gets pretty filthy on the inside surfaces from just 40. Internal cleaning might require over 30 minutes. None of my ammo has corrosive primers.

Ok, the gun is clean, and you want to shoot it-- Again-- about 5-8 days later. Well...Leave the gun at home because you don't want to use multiple paper towels and patches on the inside when you return? That's silly.

Quite frankly, it will be cleaned after every two trips to the club. Whether this fits the "virtue" image of cleaning in the Army, USMC, it makes no difference to me.

Days ago I read that a guy who trained a bit with the German Bundeswehr claimed that even the German soldiers did only quick, minimal cleaning of their HK G3 rifles after a range session, because fresh beer was waiting for them in a pub ! They asked the American soldiers whether they wanted to join them.

 

[Remington1911]

We all are going to do what we all are going to do, and really if you enjoy the taking apart and putting together more power to ya.

Me I have other things to do.

 

[BushMaster-15]

Some of us have been traumatized by having to clean them the USGI way. It actually does take long and is a habit I'd rather do quarterly. However wiping down, that's a great habit. I prefer wiping down and putting away. My sanity thanks me for it.

The GI cleaning was two fold ,personnel occupied , personnel familiarity with said weapons . I remember vividly how often weapons got cleaned in combat ,when they ceased to function or when inside a safe compound and with diesel fuel and hydraulic oil ; IF YOU were lucky enough to get some !. Mattel's grubbied up failed miserably . A Really BAD decision IMO ,is when the Gubament decided to go CHEAPER and NOT chrome-plate the chamber ,bore and BCG . I carried an 870 and can assure anyone IT SAVED MY LIFE more than a couple of times . Absolutely the WORST decision made was M193 ammo fiasco ,powder switcheroo !!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who didn't serve or know about the M16A1 ,they were TRASH . I'd have gladly accepted an M14 hands down !.

FYI : No M16A1 service rifle was issued with a cleaning kit and I'd say half of the numbnutz's I served with , wouldn't have known how to clean one if they were !. Ammo fouled the DI OS ,as originally it was spec'd for IMR4475 a extruded stick powder which burned cleanly . Yet our illustrious Dip Chits in DC on the d aisle decided Olin aka Winchester WC 846 could do as well ,seeing as Dupont couldn't supply all the required powder for Gov. ammo . Result catastrophic fouling in the direct impingement gas system or operating system . K's of OUR Soldiers DIED as a direct result of those STUPID GREEDY decisions !.

Make NO mistake about it LBJ and his pathetic little d minions were DIRECTLY responsible . Look up which Senators had FINANCIAL Ties or plant production State employment interest with Olin !. Congressional records CAN'T lie !.

Although a change of powder in the M193 ammo to WC844 did help some ,with regards to fouling . The Better solution came When the M16A2 was issued ,those horrible decisions were FINALLY rectified by changing powder to IMR 8208 . Only to be changed back again to WC844 aka H335 . WC846 aka BL-C2 . Which is all Now under General Dynamics specification I believe but could be wrong about that .

 

[The_Quartermaster]

The GI cleaning was two fold ,personnel occupied , personnel familiarity with said weapons . I remember vividly how often weapons got cleaned in combat ,when they ceased to function or when inside a safe compound and with diesel fuel and hydraulic oil ; IF YOU were lucky enough to get some !. Mattel's grubbied up failed miserably . A Really BAD decision IMO ,is when the Gubament decided to go CHEAPER and NOT chrome-plate the chamber ,bore and BCG . I carried an 870 and can assure anyone IT SAVED MY LIFE more than a couple of times . Absolutely the WORST decision made was M193 ammo fiasco ,powder switcheroo !!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who didn't serve or know about the M16A1 ,they were TRASH . I'd have gladly accepted an M14 hands down !.

FYI : No M16A1 service rifle was issued with a cleaning kit and I'd say half of the numbnutz's I served with , wouldn't have known how to clean one if they were !. Ammo fouled the DI OS ,as originally it was spec'd for IMR4475 a extruded stick powder which burned cleanly . Yet our illustrious Dip Chits in DC on the d aisle decided Olin aka Winchester WC 846 could do as well ,seeing as Dupont couldn't supply all the required powder for Gov. ammo . Result catastrophic fouling in the direct impingement gas system or operating system . K's of OUR Soldiers DIED as a direct result of those STUPID GREEDY decisions !.

Make NO mistake about it LBJ and his pathetic little d minions were DIRECTLY responsible . Look up which Senators had FINANCIAL Ties or plant production State employment interest with Olin !. Congressional records CAN'T lie !.

Although a change of powder in the M193 ammo to WC844 did help some ,with regards to fouling . The Better solution came When the M16A2 was issued ,those horrible decisions were FINALLY rectified by changing powder to IMR 8208 . Only to be changed back again to WC844 aka H335 . WC846 aka BL-C2 . Which is all Now under General Dynamics specification I believe but could be wrong about that .

Um...your time in that era and my time in, was two very different things and no correlation other than branch of service to be honest.

Drafted men didn't get the training and know how like we do now. They don't even qualify with irons at boot anymore just to give you an idea of just how much has changed. And scraping it clean taking off finish just so the armorer won't get yelled at during a CIP inspection because the one doing the inspecting cried about getting soiled being a beta in an alpha's profession, has zero to do with "familiarization" at all and that's a fact. So when I say traumatized because of just how stupid that was, I meant it.

 

[JTQ]

Since this thread is still going, and were now talking about rifles in the "Handguns: Autoloaders" sub-forum, I throw this one into the heap...

https://bravocompanyusa.com/content/Filthy 14 bravo_swat_10.pdf

 

[BushMaster-15]

No Iron qualification ? Optic only ,what's the world coming too

 

[trackskippy]

I thought the same thing when they said you didnt have to light the match anymore.

 

[Smaug]

If I just shot one mag, I'd probably just run a bore snake through it. I don't consider that "cleaning", though.

If it was really dirty ammo, I might consider it.

I think the OP is referring to shooting a mag of carry ammo, which makes sense. The stuff is expensive!

 

[The_Quartermaster]

Even with one mag of carry ammo, no matter how expensive, doesn't justify a detailed cleaning afterwards, IMO of course. A wipe down externally, definitely. But OCD? Nah, lol.

 

[hawg]

What I really want to know (and the answer is probably as elusive as the question of whether they carried a SA with one chambered under the hammer in the olden days)

Carrying with an empty chamber under the hammer is a modern thing. People back in the day would have probably laughed at the idea of carrying with an empty chamber.

 

[Smaug]

I have been cleaning guns after each range trip, (and dreading it) but after reading this thread, I'm going to re-evaluate.

I can't bear to leave a gun dirty, but I can certainly reduce cleaning a bit. General wipe-down and a couple of bore snake runs maybe?

Bush-Master15 how do you think bore-scrubbing your 22 rimfire ruined its accuracy?

I shot my wife's S&W 22 Compact for the first time a couple days ago. I got home, went to clean it (too much oil from the factory, and that attracted all the soot and stuff.) To my surprise, I kept getting lead and copper out of the barrel, just with Hoppe's #9 powder solvent. It was relatively good ammo too, CCI from the 300-round bulk box. I guess the copper plating was scraping off, maybe when it was being chambered?

Re. military-style cleaning, when we were cleaning our M16s in Army basic, it was done dry. We were to scrub and pick all the nooks and crannies and as a last step, just a TINY bit of CLR on the outside of the bolt. It was quite labor-intensive, as we shot blanks a lot. Cleaning after an actual range trip was much easier.