Gun Cleaning

[nwilliams]

Just curious to find out if I'm the only one who is obsessive compulsive when it comes to gun cleaning

I'll kick things off by saying I'm one of those types that can't have a dirty gun in my collection at anytime. As soon as I'm back from the range I clean my guns, thats just the way I am

My question is this....

Is it bad to leave guns dirty for long periods of time? I know you want to clean right away when you shoot corrosive ammo, but what about standard ammo?

I'm sure this topic has come up before but I thought I'd ask anyway....

 

[Pappy John]

I'm pretty much the same way. I am trying to break myself of cleaning my .22 target rifle so much though. It seems to shoot better after it gets dirty. When it's squeaky clean it can take 30 or so rounds before it settles down and acts right.

Everything else gets cleaned as soon as I come home from the range, unless I have urgent business elsewhere.

 

[bensdad]

Rifles:
Corrosive ammo - right away.
Anything else - when I get around to it.
All .22 LR guns - when they start to fail.

Shotguns:
Everybody gets a good, complete cleaning at the end of hunting season. They get put away with a good coat of rem.oil. Other than that, the shotguns get cleaned after I've used one of them a couple of times for trap or clays during the off-season.

Handguns:
I clean each one after it's been to the range a couple or a few times. Sometimes I'll let the cheap ones go a long time.

However, I ALWAYS clean a gun that has been exposed to foul weather. Any rain, snow, frozen gun going inside, really muggy day, etc. means a session on the gun bench.

 

[Ala Dan]

I'm really anal 'bout keeping my firearms clean; something I learned in the
U.S. Army at the very tender age of 18- and I haven't forgotten it~!

If you were to work for me within a police department, you would see
how anal I really can be~! In my way of think'in, a clean weapon is a
part of the uniform.

On a related subject, any officer carrying a semi-auto MUST KNOW
how to field strip it completely; before leaving the squad room~!

 

[scout26]

Handguns, Rifles, Semi-Automatic Shotguns and the HD shotgun. youbetcha. CLP down the bores and other areas before leaving the range really breaks down the crud and makes cleaning easier/faster. It takes about an 30 minutes to get home and another 30-45 minutes to get family situated, the car unpacked, and everything out and organized before I can then start cleaning. Good through cleaning upon arrival at home. Restoked with ammo and put away in the safe ready to defend home and hearth.



The target shotguns (except the semi's) on the other hand.........I use Duster wads (almost zero plastic build up in the bores compared to other wads) and clean/lub using Ed's Red with lanolin, so they may go three or twelve trips to range before getting cleaned.

 

[sm]

I'm in the Inspect and Maintain Camp here.

I concern myself with chambers, extraction and magazines.

I do not have a cleaning kit at home, and I might have half a eye drop bottle of some gun lube, might, not sure...

My CCW was last cleaned after running ~2500 rds in a ~8 days time, no cleaning , just add lube.
NO malfunctions of gun, or ammunition.

Inspect and maintain means - lube, pipe clean extractor, and chamber best can with a pipe cleaner.
Need to remember to check to see if I have something to lube my gun - I inspect and maintain about once a week...been about 10 days since I last did.

After the 2500 rds -
Cleaned, including magazines, then shot ~ 200 rds, and this is how I have been CCW-ing the gun.
I carry a dirty gun.

-
Guns off site, I keep forgetting to check on them. Getting near 2 years since they were cleaned, and tossed back in the Safe.

-
In May, we will clean a Bone stock shotgun, bought new, in May of 2006 and been shot all this time. Just added lube, and make sure the choke tube is snug, and has RIG+P on threads, wipe off exterior.
One anniversary if you will - to bust some myths, and round count is ~ 25K rds.
Gun has NOT missed a beat, except when dummy rounds were used as part of training.

-
We have some other guns, "busting myths" and May will be the six month anniversary of what these guns have been "through".

FWIW, when I cleaned my CCW, this is first time in a year I have cleaned the barrel/bore.
Only patches with solvent.

Like I said, chambers, extraction, magazines are what I concern myself with ...

More guns are worn out and abused from improper cleaning, than actual shooting. -

 

[cheygriz]

I am very anal about clean guns. For over 20 years, my life depended on my gun. I am obsessive about it.

OTOH, a gun fired with modern, non-corrossive ammo will suffer no harm if you don't clean it for a while. (Other than in very moist areas, where the lack of protective lube or preservative may allow it to rust.)

But if it's not squeaky clean, properly lubed, and loaded with fresh ammo, will you trust your life to it? I won't!

 

[possum]

I am very anal about alot of things and clean weapons is one of them, i clean mine after ever range trip. there are some guns that i let go on occasion but those are the guns that are for range use only. but for the most part that is rare and i normally clean all the guns and equipment within a few hours of returning from the range.

 

[heypete]

I clean guns that (a) had corrosive ammo fired through that day and (b) is my primary defensive gun [carry pistol] after each range session.

My carry pistol gets cleaned and dusted every month or so even if I haven't shot it (busy schedule, and I do a lot of dryfiring to keep in practice).

I've upped the schedule for cleaning my silenced guns from "when they stop working" to "every other range session at max", as the backpressure from the silencer blows a ton of crap back into the action. Really, really dirty crap. Makes my 10/22 bolt almost uniformly black after a mere 200 rounds. Without the can, it gets the face gray after a brick or so, and the rest is pretty clean...but with the can, the whole action's coated in crud. I dislike having guns go down on me due to lack of cleaning, particularly when they're fun suppressed guns, so I clean them a bit more than my normal range guns.

Otherwise, guns get cleaned twice a year whether they need it or not.

 

[WolfMansDad]

Three experiences of my youth conditioned me to be anal about cleaning.

1. My first firearm was a cap and ball revolver. With black powder, you must clean as soon as possible after you are done shooting. Just got in the habit early on.

2. My first hunting rifle was a flintlock, and I often hunted in the rain. It is possible to make a flintlock reliable when it rains, but you must be EXTREMELY anal.

3. When I was a kid, many of the grownups in our community were Vietnam vets, and they had horror stories about dirty rifles jamming and Americans getting killed as a result.

I know modern firearms don't need this level of care, but I can't seem to break that early conditioning. I just can't sleep well if I know I have a dirty gun.

 

[Run&Shoot]

No, not cleaning them right away or even after every range session will not harm them. Even crudded up .22 can get going with a little lubricant in the extractor.

However, although I am not obsessive about it, I do like to clean my guns after each range session and every few months even if i have not shot them.

* I like to! It is a pleasure to handle each of them, remember a good load I worked up for it, or a time it came through for me. Gets me reacquainted. I also detail strip at least once a year so i remember how to do it for each one.

* Cleaning is a good time to inspect, plan purchase of any spare, replacement, upgrade or accessory parts.

* I just like things clean, especially if I may need to depend on it for more than punching paper.

* Cleaning periodically also helps ensure the firearms are kept moisture free and get a coat of ploymer lube protectant.

Don't you LIKE to clean your guns? To me shooting is just one aspect of enjoying firearms. Cleaning, "fixing" and reloading are other aspects I enjoy almost as much.

 

[sm]

I will reply publicly what I was asked/questioned/ fussed at, in private communications about my earlier post.

-No, I have not been in the Military, or Law Enforcement.
Many of my Mentors and Elders had served / were in the Military, including Gunny's, Rangers, Special Forces. Law Enforcement folks included Beat Cops to SWAT.
I also had those that shot for the Military, LEO, and others that shot all sorts of disciplines including - hustlers.
Yep, men and women that went out, and shot for money. These folks varied from low profile, to high dollar. I've seen folks shoot for the title of a car, deed to property, even livestock.
Folks working for $75 a week back then, and I've seen $10,000 in cold hard cash in a pot, and the men/women in a old truck, puffing smoke , leave with the pot.
Seen the gent in a Chauffeur driven Caddy , leave with it too...

I was born in the mid Fifties, and as I grew up, I cleaned guns for these Mentors & Elders. Just how raised, what you do. Part of "passing forward" if you will.

Instilled were things such as proper technique, using the tools one had, properly, not taking something down, further than need be, too often.

Never compete with a clean gun, good idea to not carry a clean one as well.

I've seen too many folks show up to shoot skeet for instance, and drop birds on station 1, that put them out of the whole tournament.
Nervous, excited, worried, and they took apart a shotgun,repeatedly, the night before, and goofed up.
Might be the gas system in backwards, forgetting a "O" ring, fiddling with insides of a O/U, with wood off the metal and the gun would not reset upon recoil, and now a "O/U single shot".

Why in the hell take apart a trigger group on a pump gun right before the special pump gun event?
Oh well...these two folks got all flustered, could not even shoot their gun with a borrowed trigger group, and the other one could not shoot another gun exactly like his own.
No. I/we did not feel one bit guilty about finding them tools to do this.
There was a $2,000 special pot and my partner and I wanted it.
We got it too...


If a person was fidgeting , worried about his shotgun the morning of the shoot, well if I did not have a cleaning kit, I darn sure knew someone that did.
I showed up to win, one less person to beat if they mess with a gun just an hour before the shooting started.
Simple, one shot a straight, then shot against others that did the same in the shoot-offs. Shoot-offs was where the Real Game was played.
99/100 put you out of the running for the money often, 98/100 and you can forget it all together.

-
Gun gotta run, and one is wise to know for sure.
1911 for instance, if cleaned, always was function tested, and fired with carry magazines.

Satisfied, after shooting the magazines more than once, shoot until one round left in chamber, drop mag, insert fresh, cocked and locked and carry the gun.
Dirty some say. *shrug* Reliable and Ready is what it is.

Seen too many folks show up, draw from holster to shoot the gun they have been carrying, and *click* , or some other malfunction.
All this time carrying a gun, that would not run.

Assisting at a private range, we saw this a LOT.
Especially from folks always cleaning a clean gun, trying every new lube and solvent - "Wonder Lube of the Week Syndrome" , and those bolting on and bolting off curb feelers and fuzzy dice. "Gadget of the Week" folks if you will.

At a outdoor cookout, I heard 3 guns, two were CCW and one was a shotgun go "click* when a pack of rabid dogs showed up.

Mine worked, so did the 1911 that rode on the hip of the property owner , last wiped down with a oily rag from a John Deere tractor, with JD tractor oil.
1100 in 20 ga, skeet gun worked and his wife said she figured she had shot about 10 rounds of skeet since last cleaned, she was making head shots with slugs btw, on moving targets.

Gunny, SWAT, Ranger, Special Forces, ...always carried a dirty gun.
It might be 2am when a Cop got in finally from his shift, wet gun, working accidents with the weather, and once cleaned, he stepped out back in his rural area, and fired his duty gun.
He , like other cops had back up guns ready to go, still it was common for these ladies and gents, to go out back, downstairs to the basement where they had a safe set up, and test fired...even revolvers. Others had some way of testing a gun...

This is where I got the routine I use.
Not saying I'm right, that others should do what I do, just how raised, and what I do.

Big difference in having a gun that runs and being able to end up in a shoot off for the money and prizes and having a gun that will not run and finding yourself in a shoot out.

Just me you understand...

 

[dfaugh]

I used to be really fanatical about it...Not so now.

If its just a range trip, it might be a bit before I get to it (up to a few days). The ones I shoot the most

A) have chrome lined bores
or
B) my Marlin 60, which like to be a little dirty before it groups its best. So that one only gets cleaned every few hundred rounds.

So, it might be up to a few days before I clean, although it'll usually be less (a day of so).

UNLESS the gun has gotten wet, been out in the field. Then I'll clean it pretty much right away, to prevent any possible rust, etc.