How do yall clean your handguns?

[KAK]

Someone told me I clean my handguns weird. He uses hoppes 9 and that is is.

He laughed at this process:

Field stripping out the whole pistol

Wetting every piece in Mpro7 gun cleaner

Squirt some Mpro7 bore gel into the barrel

Brush it with a BRASS brush.

Scrub off all of the dirty areas of the rest of the gun with a toothbrush looking thing with stiffer bristles.

Blast away all of the Mpro7 and lifted carbon with break cleaner

Blast it down the bore as well to remove all of that crap

Inspect the parts and repeat until im satisfied.

Then I oil it with whatever I feel like. Usually 75% 5w30 and 25% ATF. Sometimes gun oil when I don't want to smell it. I am still looking for something I like better than this mixture.

Grease the areas that will have the most friction. Like rails on a sig or a bolt carrier on an AR.


So Ive got it down pretty good to something efficient and something that works well. I think its pretty good.

What do yall do? and Do yall oil your bores?

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

strip down and dunk in kero for a few hours then use small stiff paint brush to work it over and brass brush in the bore.
I shoot cast slug 'plinking/target' rounds so sometimes another squirt of kero in the bore is needed.
blow dry with compressed air put together and a squirt of lube here and there. does good.

 

[The Real Wyatt]

I do something similar to what you describe ... twice per year.

Normally I just hit the bore five or six strokes with a brass brush that's been dipped in Hoppes #9, then run patches thru the bore till they come out clean. Then I'll run an oiled patch down the bore followed by a cuppla dry patches.

I'll use some Hoppes to scrub out the inside using various brushes and wipe it down with clean patches paying particular attention to the feed ramp, chamber mouth and the bolt face. I may spray some RemOil on some friction areas.

I use a toothbrush dipped in Hoppes to clean the outside, then wipe with patches.

Pretty much the same procedure for a revolver except I'll use a brass brush dipped in Hoppes to scrub the rings off the front of the cylinder.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I usually just blast the crud out with WD-40 or brake cleaner. I use compressed air to remove any excess cleaner then oil with Rem-oil and more compressed air to remove excess oil. I wipe all surfaces with an oil cloth(usually with WD-40). For heavier cleaning I totally dissassemble the arm and clean in very hot soapy water,dry with compressed air,flush with WD-40 then more compressed air followed by the aforementioned lube and wipe down.

 

[GLShooter]

On a 1911 I just take the upper off., Take out the barrel/bushing. Use Shooters Choice on a patch and brass brush for the barrel. Scrub the nooks and crannies with a bristle brush and patches to get the bolt face and slide lugs clean. Clean the rails and relube and assemble everything with FP 10. FCG parts come out about once a year.

Revolvers is cleaning the cylinder and yoke with SC. The barrel with batches and brush. Inside the frame with solvent and a brass brush. Relube with FP 10. Side plates come off about every year or so.

Greg

 

[mgmorden]

KAK: Just how often are you going through that routine? If it's every trip it might be a bit obsessive .

For my autos, I typically will remove the slide and then the barrel\recoil spring from it. I take a cloth cleaning patch and wipe off all the areas of the frame that like to acquire grit and residue. I then do the same with the inside of the slide. I then take a brass bore brush and a few dabs of bore cleaner and clean out the barrel. After that an oily patch (I use 3 in 1 - I'm cheap ) down the barrel and a quick wipe over of the while gun with another oily patch. Put it back together and back in the safe.

My revolvers receive less fanfare. I swing out the cylinder, wipe it down really good, then clean the barrel and each cylinder hole with a brass brush then patch. Oil it up and put it back .

I typically spend no more than 5 minutes on any particular gun, and I'll admit that sometimes I'll put off this routine for a few range trips.

My only exception, for obvious reasons, is my 1858 Remington clone blackpowder revolver. It gets almost completely stripped down and cleaned with soap and water before being reassembled and going through a similar procedure as the other guns.

 

[GLShooter]

I shoot 150 rounds each out of my revolver and my auto at a PPC match each month. The auto would run for many many matches but much over 300 rounds of 38 Special PPC stuff will flat mess up a good trigger pull in a good gun.

Greg

 

[NMGonzo]

Not much.

 

[ZeBool]

I clean mine every few hundred rounds or so. Standard procedure, field strip it, swab the barrel, light coat of clp on all metal surfaces. Lube rails with fp10 and throw it back together.

 

[K0ZZZ]

CLP and a boresnake. I know, heresy. But after the first few applications with CLP, cleaning gets easier and easier. My wife has a .22 revolver that used to get so darn dirty after each range trip, including lead lining the barrel, and now it cleans in about 2 minutes. I'll run through a brass brush and few white patches after cleaning occasionally, and get no additional crud out of anything.

 

[Ken451]

Ed's Red. I rarely use anything else. No more than 10 minutes.

 

[CoastieShep]

Every gun I own, or have cleaned in the last 20 years.
Hoppes with a brass brush down the barrel (except shotgun obviously) Coupled oiled patches with whatever oil I have (gun oil cause I like the smell or 3 in 1 oil) untill it comes out clean. Then a toothbrush and some oil on the little parts. Then a lightly oiled rag wipes down all the metal. Haven't had any problems yet, and every one of them is clean and rust free. Even after 6 years in Alaska, and almost 9 years in Florida.

 

[kk0g]

I'm supposed to actually clean my handguns!?

 

[JTQ]

I use a variety of CLP products, but I never use any kind of degreaser.

I spend some amount of time and money putting lube on my pistol, I can't think of a reason to take it all off with a degreaser.

 

[Toforo]

I like to clean mine with background music

 

[smallbore]

Machine wash warm. Tumble dry on low.

 

[Damon555]

I keep the crud wiped off the outside and only clean the inside about every 500-1000 rounds. A well maintained pistol will go for a long time in-between cleanings.

I like to shoot much more than I like to clean.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

A well maintained pistol will go for a long time in-between cleanings.

Outside of cleaning and re-lubing, what is maintenance?

 

[yhtomit]

For most autopistols:

- Strip into major components (my autopistols are all pretty simple -- no fancy bits to chase down)
- Give a good spray on all metal / moving parts with RemOil; wait a while
- brass brush, from the breech end. Religious preference? I remember hearing about the possibility of damaging the crown if I were to clean from the muzzle end. Always seemed a bit silly, but I suppose no harm done.
- patches soaked with solvent through the barrel until they come out clean
- more patches until they come out dry
- other surfaces (slide, frame) I rub w/ old toothbrush, then with flannel or similar soft rags until they seem free of anything that my poor eyes can make out, and then spritz once more w/ the RemOil.

With revolver (singular):
- spray with RemOil
- brass brush in barrel, all chambers
- scrub cylinder face, and all bits I can reach
- wet patches until clean, dry patches until dry and clean
- spritz with RemOil

With Ruger 22/45:
- Look at it with a mix of fear and good humor. Clean? Disassemble? No. Assume the munchkins do that.

timothy

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Nothing special. Field strip, brush out bore and chamber with solvent, clean other areas with Gun Scrubber or similar solvent (use old toothbrush on the slide breech face and other areas of stubborn gunk as needed), lubricate contact points in the slide, barrel and trigger linkage. I don't detail strip.

 

[LightningMan]

Field strip, put in dishwasher, remove & soak in oil, remove excess oil, done. If you believe that, I got some land in Florida I'd like to sell you. Truthfully I don't spend a lot of time cleaning my pistols. Usually cleaning the bore & cylinder chambers of revolvers with Hoppe's & brushes, then wipe of excess crud with a patch. Wipe down pistol with ballistol and grease rails/cylinder pins, also oil moving parts. LM

 

[trickyasafox]

field strip, light hoppes on crud affected areas, let stand for five minutes- wipe down. Don't clean the barrels that often- but its hoppes when I do. I ruined a barrel when I was 14 from over cleaning. Never again. I find most of mine shoot better with a few down the pipe anyway. especially the handguns.

 

[leadchucker]

For a major cleaning, I disassemble as far as needed, and clean the components in a makeshift parts washer with mineral spirits paint thinner and a stiff bristle brush. A little Hoppes #9 helps on the stubborn areas and on the bore, along with a bore brush. Then I use compressed air to blow the parts dry as needed. Fresh lubriplate oil and grease on all moving parts during assembly, maybe a tad of oil to coat everything, and I'm good to go.

 

[sohcgt2]

The Glocks go in the dishwasher, all others are cleaned pretty much as the OP described.

 

[yhtomit]

"I ruined a barrel when I was 14 from over cleaning. Never again."

How, exactly? Sounds like something I'd like to avoid ... hard for me to believe that anything done in the course of cleaning could be more harmful than a lot of bullets shooting down its length

So, please explain what cleaning habits I should carefully avoid!

(Seriously.)

timothy