CPO SIG 229 in .40 S&W
This pistol was taken to the range about two weeks ago where I fired just shy of 200 rounds of dirty, nasty, lead truncated cone, ammunition through it. The pistol functioned flawlessly and was extremely accurate. It was then worn for CCW during my entire move (dirt, sweat, and all). In the end it was about as dirty and nasty as I’ve ever let a sidearm get.
For this entire test the only chemical used on the firearm was “Weapon Shield”.
I started by field stripping the firearm down and then swabbing the inside of the barrel with Weapon Shield CLP. I then let the barrel sit for 20 minutes while I cleaned the rest of the gun. The frame cleanup went very quickly with Weapon Shield easily removing any and all gunk from the rails and other parts. One note is that Weapon Shield greatly reduced the stiff, gritty, feel of my magazine release button.
Cleaning the slide was, of course, more involved. Weapon Shield was doing such a nice job of removing fouling and gunk that I decided to go the extra mile and actually disassemble the firing pin and extractor. Again Weapon Shield (on several Q-Tips) did a first rate job of removing all gunk from the parts and the recessed areas, especially the firing pin channel.
By now about 20 minutes had passed so I took a bronze brush and scrubbed the barrel (which had some lead fouling from the LTC ammunition). I then ran a patch through which came out BLACK with lots of lead flakes. Visual inspection of the barrel showed a little more lead but I would estimate an 85% removal on the first go. As you may imagine I was pretty impressed at that. I swabbed the barrel with Weapon Shield again and set it aside while I reassembled the slide.
About 5 minutes later I brush-scrubbed the barrel again and ran more patches through it and visual inspection showed the barrel to be clean and shiny and ready to go. I don’t know if Weapon Shield is supposed to be a lead remover, but in this case it certainly seemed to make the job easier.
Now one of the issues I have with my SIG pistols is rust in the grip screw slots (on the side that faces my body). So far I’ve had good luck with Birchwood Casey “Barricade” spray to greatly reduce this issue, but not much else has helped at all. Since this pistol was going to be a testbed I hadn’t treated the screws and sure enough there was a hint of surface rust in the slots. Weapon Shield and a Q-Tip removed the rust. Time will tell if Weapon Shield also succeeds in preventing rust in this troublesome area.
This firearm is an extremely smooth operating one so right now it’s a little difficult for me to tell by feel if Weapon Shield has had an effect on this aspect. The magazine release button was certainly smoothed out and is much easier to operate now. The barrel, guide rod, and rails all seem very slick and well lubricated. I also noted that the viscosity seemed very good. Thin enough to work into just about anyplace you put it, thick enough to avoid running all over the place. Testing and time will tell if the lube stays put or not. Odor is fine and passed the wife test as well as my own chemically sensitive nose.
Next stage will be a series of 100 round range trips with only a barrel swab-out. At 500 rounds I will report back on how Weapon Shield is holding up as well as detailing how the 500 round detail cleanup goes.
