How long have you gone w/o cleaning your guns?

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10-Ring

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In term of calendar period as well as round count, how long have yo gone w/o cleaning, what gun was it, & any damage to firearm as a result?

Me, I've been lazy. I've got about 1100 rounds through my USPc 9 in the last 5 weeks w/o cleaning. Now, I'm just curious how long I can go before I exerience any probems.
 
In centerfire calibers, the most I have gone is somewhere around 500 rounds. I have found that pretty much every gun I ever fired 500 rounds though will start to malfunction. This includes revolvers. My .22 Autoloaders seem to also malfunction around that mark. One gun that I never had malfuction was the AR15. I have fired 500 rounds out of several of mine and they never missed a beat, but I cleaned them around the 500 round mark because I was done shooting for the day. The reason for the number 500 is just because that is usually the quantity of ammo I am dealing with. I might buy 500 bullets, handload them, and then take out one particular gun and shoot until the ammo is gone; it might be one range session or several; then I clean. With .22s, I buy factory ammo by the brick. Same story, I open the brick and continue to shoot that one gun until it is gone. I usually then clean the gun and not shoot it again for six months or a year. I have fired thousands of rounds out of .22 rifles and never cleaned them. I probably fired one Nylon 66 throughout most of my childhood without ever cleaning it. I dissassembled it a couple years ago, and it was a MESS. But it still ran.

As far as just time, I have gone for years and not cleaned some of my guns. I have some guns that I bought for a specific purpose, such as my .338 Win Mag. I bought it for elk hunting. I have drawn one elk tag since I owned the rifle. That is the only time I fired it or cleaned it. But, I live in the desert so humitity isn't an issue.
 
I have shot approximately 500 rounds thru the Series 80 Government Model, before it started to jam.

The Ruger Mk. II became unreliable after a brick of CCI Mini-Mags, without cleaning.
 
I've heard stories of corrosive ammo doing unspeakable things to guns, is this still true w/ modern ammo? Is the biggest threat unrealiability now or can real damage still be done if you don't clean your guns?
 
What year is this...:D




Seriously. I have taken a NIB Kimber series I , run a patch through the bbl to remove any oil and gone over 2k. I did add some oil on rails at around 1k. I ran out of ammo and the gun was fine. I did have the trigger smoothed,to crisp 4# but thats all I did to that gun.

I have since taken the same gun and run 3k rds without cleaning, oil rail and such at 1k rds, and swab chamber and fed ramp with q tip with no problems.

NIB seiris II Pro Carry, again patch bore dry and went 1050 rds before I had a FTF. I ran another 300 rds before I ran out of ammo, so I cleaned it.

22/45, 2k rds. I did again q-tip chamber and feed ramp spot of oil , rained , so thought best to clean.

Caspian frame and slide 45 ACP, honest I have no idea . I kept shooting it for a year and being range use only , I q-tipped chamber, feed ramped and oiled from time time. In a years time I don't think I ever took the slde off to look. Gunsmith used it and got wet and muddy. he cleaned it up,looked fine, but some range sessions we'd run 3-500 rds so time for springs and such (reg inspect and maint).

I have no idea when the last time an old Colt was properly cleaned. We just shoot it, if its been cleaned I don't know when or whom did it.

My KeltecP-11 ran 1k of carry ammo (testing before I cleaned it) There is another P_11 that I don't think ever has (we were trying to tear it up). I finally steped on a mag(crunch) and lost the front sight (barrier ran into it) but the gun kept running.

What year did you say it was...:p
 
I think I had somewhere between 1200-1800 rds thru my Beretta 92G without cleaning it. Musta been several months. Can't remember exactly tho as it was a year and a half ago.

No malfunctions either.
 
1750 through my Para Ordnance with nothing more than a drop off oil on the rails. Done this twice at gunschool.

I have an old Savage pump .22lr that has never been cleaned to my knowledge. Works great too.
 
I don't think that I've cleaned my Ruger MKII or Browning buckmark in 2-3 years.

My Remmy 870 Marine magnum is gotta be years since cleaning, also the SKS.

My Glock G17 might have been put away without cleaning.

I did test my Wilson Combat KZ45 on 1000 rounds without cleaning for reliability purposes, but the barrel link went out (I don't think it was related to cleanliness though) -and the actual number was more like 1700+ rounds without cleaning.

However, my H&K P7s, my Sig, regular M1911 pistols, Benelli and semi rifles do get cleaned after each use.

Generally my fun guns don't get treated as nicely because I can always perform a FTF/FTE drill since there's no urgency.

Social guns are treated better.
 
I have gove 3K in my STI without cleaning it. The lube makes a big difference though. Slide glide is the shi*
 
I couldn't tell you, I clean my pistols as soon as I get home. I thought about not cleaning my Neos on purpose to see how far it would go.

My SKS on the other hand...;)
 
About 24 hours, and that's only in infrequent cases where the shooting session lasts late into the evening and I'm too lazy to do it before going to bed.
 
Gave the Valtro 1,500 rounds during 'break in" without cleaning... no failures.

When I finally detail stripped the slide, the extractor was CAKED, but it still ran. I proved that point to myself, and now I clean the gun dutifully, because I love to take it apart, make it pretty, and put it back together again.

Did the same thing with the Glock - it got boring, so I cleaned it. .22LR guns (esp. semi-auto) seem the most particular about staying clean, to me anyhow.
 
Shot another couple hundred rounds through w/o a hiccup. Maybe I should try Skunk's port-a-pottie torture test & then shoot it! :uhoh:
 
I have a J. C. higgens

auto loader in .22 short rifle, has not been cleaned since dad gave it to me- in 1978. It has to have 100,000+ rounds through it. It has never failed to fire, never. I do lube it, every couple years I spray some oil on the action. Last time was about 8 months ago, I sprayed some WD40 on all the metal parts. She's a beater.


My 1911's get cleaned after every shoot/every week if they need it or not, I love those pistols and enjoy spending time with 'em.


Everything else gets cleaned immediately after use, and at least one time a month, even if not fired.
 
If I am not lazy I clean them after each range trip. Although they have now seen 3 trips without a cleaning.

The owner of the gun store/range that I go to says that he cleans his guns when something breaks.
 
Went shooting again w/ some friends. Shot hiccup free again, but when we got back to buddy's house, we all ended up cleaning our guns. I guess that's the end of my experiment!
 
Each Time I Shoot

I belong to the "if I don't have time to clean it, I don't have time to shoot it" school. I clean what I shoot as soon as I get home from the range and after a day or two I'll give the bore(s) another quick once-over with CLP.
 
Unfortunately for me, I spent 5 years in the Marines. Weapons maintenance has been idellibly ingrained into my genetic structure.

All my firearms get a detailed cleaning within 48 hours after leaving the range.
 
Everything gets cleaned after every trip. Degrees of cleaning has to do with how many rounds I've put through them.

If I only put 20 or 30 rounds through them (cycling mags or whatever), I may only drag a bore snake through them two or three times and wipe them down real well. I figure it's about the same difference as me cleaning my carry gun and putting a few rounds through it to "test for function" prior to re-holstering it after cleaning it.

Usually, it's a complete cleaning job.

(Third Generation Military -- I can't help it!)

Never had a problem with any of them.
 
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