How Do You Maintain Your Firearms?

[Dynasty]

How do you maintain your firearms? Do you treat them like your children or like a rented mule? Do you always make sure they are well cleaned and oiled and put in the safe or do you throw them back in the closet after usage? What is your outlook on cleaning them? After after time they are shot or once every "x number" of years?

 

[rcmodel]

Always cleaned after shooting.

Always wiped down with a Rig-Rag after handling.

rcmodel

 

[theotherwaldo]

Black powder guns get the full treatment, every time, ASAP.
Corrosive ammo guns, ditto.
Guns that were exposed to moisture, salt, woodsmoke, or misadventure, likewise.
Modern guns that have been used with modern ammo get swabbed out and then checked to see if they need more than that. If they do, they get a thorough cleaning. If not, they get wiped down and put away.

Simple, yes?

 

[esmith]

Depends what guns i am shooting.

If i shoot corrosive ammo i obviously clean it after every use.

.22s I rarely clean.

 

[FoMoGo]

Swabbed out and wiped down after shooting, and detail cleaned when they are no longer clean and pretty.


Jim

 

[MP3Mogul]

Cleaned and oiled after each use, "AND" cleaned and oiled periodically even if not shot...

 

[Dean Williams]

I checked "Cleaned and oiled after each use", but that doesn't mean I clean them as soon as I get home from the range. Sometimes takes a few days before I get around to it. For anything but 1911s, cleaning is probably my least fun gun related task. I don't hate it, but it is a bit of a chore. Far behind reloading, and shooting in the enjoyment factor, (for me).

The exception is black powder guns, of course. I start running hot water for them as soon as I walk in the door.

 

[goose2]

I completely take my guns apart to clean and oil. It has been a hobby of mine to bring the gun home in the condition the way it left. I keep all of my guns in brand spanking new condition at all times. If I get a scratch on one there is a good chance it will be replaced with a new one. Everything I own has that brand spanking new sparkle.
In case you hadn't figured it out. I am a clean freak to say the least.

 

[L_10_shooter]

I clean my guns as soon as I get home from the range. I mostly shoot competition and have to make shure they run flawless always.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

I do a bore and action cleaning after every range outing, after 150 rounds, I strip it down and clean/lube completely.

 

[Old 06]

I usually shoot in my back yard at 60 yards when I am developing a load for my rifles or just target practising. When I am done for the day, I do a real good clean job on the rifle or pistol. It's part of gun ownership and it's the right thing to do to preserve my firearms. Besides...I like my guns and I take care of them.

 

[threefeathers]

Too many years in the military have me making certain they work when needed.

 

[Sam Cade]

spray exterior with matte-color krylon, throw into truck floorboard.

Weekly removal of dog hair and accumulated grit.

 

[OOOXOOO]

They are cleaned after use, cleaned after a week of carry, cleaned/lubed every six months.

 

[franconialocal]

Lather....Rinse....Repeat

I do a basic clean to get the major stuff off (right after shooting) then a day or two later I'll do the extensive clean after the solvent(s) and oil(s) have a chance to work in and loosen stuff up a bit more. I'm sure we've all experienced this.....you "clean" something almost compulsively then go back the next day to do it again and the pads come out dirty again!!! Thus my two step process.....

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I clean them after shooting. I also do periodic cleaning even if they have not been shot.

I actually think cleaning them is fun also. Not as much as shooting, but I'll watch tv and clean the guns.

Is it bad if when watching the Presidential debates this year, I cleaned my guns. Hey, they were hours long and fairly predictable....had to have something else to do.

 

[RyanM]

"When I get around to it" is a good description, though I do a quick wipe-down after handling anything that rusts that quickly. I am slowly selling or refinishing the guns that need that treatment, though...

 

[Flash!]

I cleans em when I'm bored..... and not before..... unless it's my surplus guns where I use corrosive surplus ammo.....

 

[Walkalong]

Cleaned and oiled when needed.

You left out that option.

At least wiped down after every use. Cleaned and oiled as needed, sometimes more often.

 

[heron]

Clean and oil after use. On a few occasions, I've delayed the cleanup for a while, out of laziness, so I just make myself do it as soon as I get done shooting.

Also, at random intervals, I'll check each gun to make sure it's ready to go, and add a squirt of oil if it seems sticky or sluggish.

 

[dakotasin]

well, this thread guilted me into starting... the 7 rum is soaking in some barnes right now. before that i don't think i can remember the last time they've been cleaned... i guess the ar's get cleaned on occasion, and i think i remember cleaning the beretta 92, but the rest...? who knows...

 

[Hoplophile]

Meticulously. I literally take a Q-tip to every single surface of the inside of the receiver, even on my AK. I find cleaning guns to be calming.

 

[2RCO]

I'm going to get flack for this....I think many shooters clean their guns too often and thereby damage them. ---Yeah I said it! Cleaning rods(with the exception of the better coated ones) damage barrels and rifling when used in excess.

 

[mljdeckard]

Carry gun, absolutely. It's part of the range ritual, I just do it there so that I won't make the house smell.

Hunting rifles, Um mostly the same, but it can wait until next week. I'm not hanging my life on them.

SKS or 870? I hose them with gunscrubber a couple of times a year and call it good.

And I absolutely agree about the overcleaning. Most units in the army are more worried about finding a speck of black than they are about stripping so often and brushing so hard that they start knocking loose hammers, roller-pins, disconnects, etc.

 

[WardenWolf]

Basic cleaning every time I use it. Deep cleaning when it needs it.