How often do you clean your magazines?

[Shrinkmd]

I am thinking primarily for a carry or home defense autoloader. So how often do you do it? Also, what solvent/cleaners are people's favorite? A dunk in CLP, or more aggressive stuff?

 

[wally]

45 HiCap mags (Para & Kimber BP) I sometimes have to take apart and run a rag thru while at the range to regain function -- its why I don't recommend double stack 1911s for defense because of this sensitivity to dirt/fouling and their relatively short spring life.

For every other gun I shoot, wiping the outside and the feed lips at the end of a range session seems to generally be all that is required with only a few exceptions. Meaning if a mag starts giving feed problems and other mags prove its not the gun or ammo, I take it apart and clean it. If it still doesn't work after this I'll try a spring replacement and then junk it if it still doesn't work. Most all my junked mags have been the ProMags I've tried. My wife's Beretta 86 has need its mags cleaned a couple of times, I did it before her CHL qualifier just to be safe. Other than that and the near constant futzing with double stack 1911 mags, I can't remember last time I took a mag apart for cleaning that wasn't a new gun -- some come with oil oozing out, or a surplus mag filled with cosmolene.

For cleaning I use brake parts cleaner, and a coating of Birchwood Casey "Sheath" on the inside and springs. You generally don't want an oil or grease that can trasfer to the rounds inside the magazine as this can cause extraction failures -- don't think "lubrication", think "suction cup" sealing. Graphite (like used on locks) sometimes helps with the .45 double stack 1911 mags.

--wally.

 

[Chris Rhines]

More often than I clean the gun, as a matter of fact. I usually disassemble the mags, spray them with Simple Green inside and out, scrub, rinse, dry with a shop rag. Mag springs get a VERY light coat of whatever CLP I have handy - I dampen a rag with CLP, wipe down the spring, then wipe it off with a clean rag. Just to keep things rust free.

Glock magazines, by the by.

- Chris

 

[M2 Carbine]

As a general rule I only clean them if they get dropped in the dirt.

Mags that get really crudy, like 22 mags, get cleaned when they look bad.

 

[Tom Servo]

Magazines are part of the gun. Without magazines, the gun won't function. That said, I clean them every time I shoot the gun. Overkill? Maybe, but you'll find that most malfunctions are failures of the magazine and not the weapon itself.

 

[Zach S]

I clean my magazines when I clean my pistols (almost never).

 

[Fatelvis]

I clean them after about +/-500 rounds.

 

[gunfighter45]

I disassemble and wipe down my followers and springs with a dry cloth and run a dry mag brush and mop through my mag bodies every time I shoot.

 

[The_Shootist]

Cleaning Mags

In the 10 years I've been shooting autos I can cheerfully count the number of times I've done a full strip clean job on a mag on the fingers of one hand (maybe half a hand ) and honestly can't say its ever impeded ANY autos performance - be it my 1911/Glock 19/ Colt Defender/P-32/Mak or my late and unlamented Bersa Thunder.

I DO wipe the outsides and the lips and feeder areas with a silicone cloth after every range session, though.

 

[fedlaw]

I used to carry SIG's. They had a little quirk that taught me to keep my mag's clean: when a magazine got really dirty, say 1500 rds. or so, the follower wouldn't come all of the way up. This would keep the slide from locking back after the last shot. Since then I keep 'em clean.
Steve

 

[nyresq]

for a carry gun, I clean the mags I carry when the follower "looks" dirty. they get pulled apart and hit with gun scrubber inside and out then wiped down with a silicone cloth. range mags or non carry gun mags get cleaned when the gun starts to malfunction. then I go on a mag cleaning frenzy and do them all.
that normally happens twice a year, but my carry mags maybe after every two or three times to the range.

the only exception is if I go to an outdoor range and drop a mag in sand. then it gets yanked right away cause I have seen what grains of sand inside a pistol can do.

 

[Matthew748]

I clean the exterior and feed lips whenever they look dirty. I only take them apart and clean the internals if I have a reason to. That does not come up very often.