Gun Cleaning: Field vs Detail Stripping

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eric.cartman

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Do you field strip or detail strip your guns when cleaning them?

I ask because I shot 100 rounds through my Kahr PM9 two days ago, and I field stripped it and cleaned it to the best of my abilities.
What is frustrating however, is that I can not reach all the little places. I can see dirt on the firing pin when I pull it back, as well as on parts of the extractor. Otherwise the gun is very clean.

How much should I worry about that?
I usually detail strip my Glocks because they are so easy to take apart, but God forbid I detail strip my 1911 or other guns, that would just take hours to clean.

What say you?
 
I've run over 5k flawless rounds through my 229 and have never detail stripped it or any of my guns. I get most of the gunk out with a qtip but I don't even get that detailed but maybe twice a year. I'm not worried about it.
 
depends on the gun and how dirty the ammo i am running through it. My glocks only shoot jacketed ammo, so maybe 1-2 a year i detail strip the slide.

My XD sees nothing but lead, so maybe every 10-15 cleanings i strip it.
 
Agree with The-Fly. With my saiga and my XD I usually field strip with a detail every 15-20 cleanings.

With my M&P, I detail strip more often just because I'm paranoid.

My 10-22, I detail strip every 500 rounds because that bulk crap ammo gets it dirty quick!
 
I have shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 rounds through my Kahr PM9 and have never done any more than a very thorough field strip cleaning.
 
For the vast majority of guns, I think field stripping is all that's ever necessary for cleaning and all the manufacturer is likely to recommend. Products like gun scrubber are good for reaching crud in all the hard to reach nooks and crannies.

Some pistols and revolvers seem so full of tiny pins screws and springs, I'd hesitate to let a watchmaker or camera repairman detail strip them.

1570zP9S45.jpg
 
I usually just field strip and clean after i shoot my guns. I only detail strip every once in a while.

I own a pm9 also, and to tell you the truth, ive only detail stripped it once in the 3 years ive owned it. However, i only have shot about 700 rounds out of it. I clean after every range outing. Only 2 other pistols i own are a kahr E9 and a glock 30. I have only detail stripped each of those once too. The E9 ive had for 5 years, and the glock for 1. I did my first detail strip on my E9 just to learn so i wouldn't mess up my pm9. Then after i learned how easy it is on these auto loaders i did it to my glock as well (quite similar).

One trick i do to get the gunk off of the extractor on my pm9 is to fold a paper towel in half and run the ridge of it in between the extractor and breech face. That seems to get a lot of the crap off. Otherwise, a detail strip will enable you to get in and get it all.


EDIT: when i mentioned detail stripping, i should have mentioned i only detail stripped the slide. I dont bother with the frame because i have had no need.
 
catfish101 said:
It depends on the gun like was mentioned. I shoot allot of BP. You have to detail clean those guns.
Click to expand...

When I clean my Uberti 1858 Remington, I just remove the grips and the cylinder and wash the whole thing in hot soapy water, and re-oil.
 
I just field strip 'em.
I agree with JesseL, that's all you need most of the time.
 
Any time I get a new-to-me old military surplus rifle, the first thing I do is detail strip it and clean every spec of dirt I can find. However, with new guns, that's usually not necessary.

For general cleaning, though, I almost never detail strip.
 
I always detail strip my guns. However I don't own any guns that are difficult to strip down. The most time consuming detail strip for me would be my old Mossberg 500 and she hardly ever gets dirty since I bought a Benelli M2. I forgot to mention I will not detail my S&W 442 or my S&W Model 19 because I tried that once and ended up taking a bag of parts to my smith.:eek:
 
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I don't think it will take hours to detail strip a 1911. With practive (5 times) it should take you 30-45 minutes.

I only detail strip my guns if they have been shot in the rain, otherwise a field strip works for me. I tend to clen my guns more often because I have seen guns that were not cleaned and preserved, a real shame.
 
I field strip after the range, and detail strip annually.

The only pair I ever sort of dread detailing are my Sigs. It's not an impossible task, but it certainly is tedious.
 
I prefer to detail strip after purchase so that the thing is cleaned and lubed properly when I take it out the first time. After that, every six months or so. Field stripping is for regular cleaning.
 
Tantric detailing?

Save the detail stripping for when you've got lots of time ... a nice quiet space with soft music playing ... a little bit of oil and incense :eek:

I'll perodically detail strip mine because I enjoy taking them apart and putting them back together. It also helps to see if there's anything unusual that needs further attention (rust spots or odd wear patterns).

I don't understanding owning a firearm without learning how to pop it into pieces and put it back together. On the other hand, I can understand KNOWING how to, but CHOOSING not to!
 
None of my guns get detail stripped. Just likes it's not needed to tear my car apart and rebuild it to properly maintain it, it's not needed to completely tear down and rebuild my guns.

My guns get a field strip, occasionally the nooks and crannies will get a cleaning with a spray cleaner and lube like CLP and compressed air to blow out excess.
 
I tend to only detail strip after the first one or two trips [ to make sure everything is proper ], and then after every 1K rounds or so [ to check wear, etc ].

It's more to evaluate how the parts are wearing, than to "clean" them all.
 
Forget It

Unless your a trained gunsmith, you're just gonna screw it up and end up sending "parts" back to the factory. Owning a gun and having OCD is not really a good thing.
 
I've never detail stripped a handgun. Filed strip and clean after every shooting, once a week on carry pistols regardless of shooting or not (re-oil, get out lint and fuzz from clothing, etc.)

But I've been known to hose the frame and slide out with degreaser, then give it a good oil bath, shake it dry.
 
Oh, and JesseL, what kind of HK handgun is that? Looks like some kind of fixed-barrel blowback. I don't see a squeeze cocker... I'm clueless. I recall reading once about an HK fixed barrel pstol that was great to put a suppressor on, but it was discontinued... is that it?
 
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