Is detail cleaning absolutely necessary?

[TheProf]

Ok...give me the truth... is detail cleaning absolutely necessary...

I have an M9 pistol that has had about 3,000 rounds through it. And plan on shooting 1000 rounds through it per year.

A Rem. 870 shotgun that has less than 100 rounds through it. And will not fire more than 100 rounds per year through it.

Since I field strip and clean my firearms every time I use it..... (I use Hoppes #9, brush it out, wipe it clean, and then use Rem Oil)....

Do I still need to do a detail clean?

Both guns seem to run great...no malfunctions...

 

[David E]

I'd do a detail strip every 3000 rds or so, whether it needs it or not.

Neither of those guns is too hard to detail strip, altho the Beretta needs an unusually thin bladed screwdriver to remove the grips.

That said, if you spray out the innards sufficiently with Gun Scrubber then re-lube it, you should be fine......but I'd still detail strip clean it every 3K rds myself.

.

 

[wvshooter]

Rem oil is not the best product for corrosion protection. To keep the rust off try Gunzilla or Weapon Shield. These two products also excel at keeping crud from attaching itself to the gun during shooting or while in storage.

 

[GRIZ22]

That said, if you spray out the innards sufficiently with Gun Scrubber then re-lube it, you should be fine

This is what I do and the only time there is a need to take a firearm down completely is when it's broken. I have guns I've had for over 20 years with over 20,000 rds thru them that have never been apart more than fieldstripping.

More guns are damaged by periodic detail stripping by people who think they know what they're doing than are worn out.

 

[mljdeckard]

I agree. I think it's easy to do more harm than good with detail stripping. I also think that the army (particularly training units) does damage a lot of weapons by over-stripping and cleaning them. Many guns run perfectly well for a REALLY long time without detail-stripping.

 

[sohcgt2]

Cleanliness is next to godliness. I've never heard of someones car breaking down because they overmaintained it, have you?

 

[remingtondude58]

I usually always clean mine, but I don't think it is necessary, maybe once or twice a year.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

i do it on any firearm that goes in for long term storage

 

[musick]

Cleanliness is next to godliness. I've never heard of someones car breaking down because they overmaintained it, have you?

Agreed. Thats like asking is flossing your teeth necessary. Quit being a lazy b@stard (...j/k ) and detail clean at least every 3K rounds. Your firearm will thank you for it.

 

[GRIZ22]

Cleanliness is next to godliness. I've never heard of someones car breaking down because they overmaintained it, have you?

Maintaining it is one thing. How many people take their car apart periodically? I've got a Mustang since new with almost 200,000 miles. Only engine part replaced is the water pump and spark plugs. Will it last another 200,000 miles if I take the engine apart and clean it?

 

[Oro]

More guns are damaged by periodic detail stripping by people who think they know what they're doing than are worn out.

This is what I've observed, by far, even if it's only unsightly cosmetic damage.

If you aren't carrying it daily or leaving it on a boat, I don't think Rem Oil is a bad treatment. I'd only add that a thicker grease for clinging to slide rails and other shearing surfaces is a good idea. Nothing fancy, a cheap tub of white lithium grease from NAPA is great, and will probably last a lifetime.

 

[TheProf]

That said, if you spray out the innards sufficiently with Gun Scrubber then re-lube it, you should be fine

When you say, "re-lube" it... do you just spray the area with a spray on oil? Or do you use the "drop by drop" method? I currently use Rem-Oil...(which I may switch to other brands based on the replies above)...but I do like the spray on feature. It allows the oil to spread out to all areas of the gun. Is this good? Or bad?

 

[Joe Demko]

Take it apart if it's broken. Otherwise, field stripping is enough. I think you have to separate wanting to take the gun apart from needing to take the gun apart.

 

[Landpimp]

I dont, frankly I really dont clean mine much, and I WILL NOT carry a gun after a magor cleaning(or major tear down) untill I fire it, so I carry a dirty gun that I know goes bang.

I use an ultrasonic when need a deep clean, really dont have to take it down very far, or in the case of a revolver, just open cylinder, prop open the extracter, take grips off, hammer back and drop it in

 

[Joe Demko]

Unless you are shooting blackpowder or corrosive primers, it is a fallacy that guns must be torn apart and scrubbed completely clean every time they are fired anyway.

Car maintenance was mentioned upthread. My grandfather, professional automobile mechanic, built and raced sprint cars on the side. My dad and one of his chums used to pick up extra cash by buying used cars, fixing them up and reselling them. My best friend is into street racing and has heavily modded his car. My neighbor is into restoring old cars. You know what? None of those guys tore their cars down just as part of routine maintenance. The sprint cars and the ricers got a fair amount of tinkering, of course, in an effort to improve performance, but that isn't the same thing. Their passenger cars get oil changes, filter changes, etc. on a schedule. Tires, brake pads, and such get replaced as they wear out. Pumps and the like get replaced when they break. Cars have an awful lot more moving parts, and get used a lot more and a lot harder, than most guns ever do. Yet they don't seem to require the babying that many gun owners believe a necessity for their pet firearm.

I attribute it all to the military. They required the white glove cleaning at one time because it was necessary. They've retained it just because it gives them one more thing to scream at recruits over and keep them occupied with.

 

[mdugan]

I attribute it all to the military. They required the white glove cleaning at one time because it was necessary. They've retained it just because it gives them one more thing to scream at recruits over and keep them occupied with.

along with buffing the floors.

 

[easyrider604]

Is detail cleaning absolutely necessary?

Used to completely strip my 1911s after about a thousand rounds. They may not have needed the detail clean, but it was good to know that they were clean and will fire reliably next time they needed to.

I think properly designed and manufactured weapons, like the 1911, can be completely dismantled and assembled unlimited number of times without wearing it out. I didn't mean removing the riveted in parts like the front sight, ejector or plunger housing, or drifting out the rear sight.

And every time my 1911s were re-assembled, they never failed to fire next time the trigger was pulled on a loaded chamber.

Now my L-frames are a different story. I've never removed a sideplate for detail stripping. Every few thousand rounds, I'd remove the grips and dunk them in a deep container of Ed's Red for a day or two. Brush and wipe all powder residue from all mating parts i can reach and external surfaces as well. Just sprayed G96 into the innards through all the holes, gaps and spaces.

My SKSs are fully stripped after every range session due to use of corrosive ammo. Trigger assembly is just dunked in Ed' Red, brushed and given G96 spray.

 

[Thomas Garrett]

I hated buffing floors!

 

[rscalzo]

Yes, at some point. We had a Glock used as a back up malfunction when it had an out of battery detonation. The cause was a build up of gunk in the firing pin channel due to cleanings with a ultrasonic cleaner. Does a great job but the gunk has no where to go. While the entire disassembly isn't required all that often, every so often doesn't hurt.

While I'm not totally disassembling my Sig's because I will wind up with a box of parts, the Glocks are easy enough. (Thankfully I can almost walk the Sig over to the factory and let them do it.)

 

[Brian Williams]

Nope.

 

[kmbrman]

If you have a weapon that you may have to depend on to save you or your families life , you need to periodically detail strip and clean the gun, especially on striker pistols which can have weak primer hits due to gunk in the striker channel. The firing striker can and will stick ,and no firing takes place.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I see little need for it unless the gun has been submerged in mud, sand or the like.

 

[GRIZ22]

The cause was a build up of gunk in the firing pin channel due to cleanings with a ultrasonic cleaner.

I've seen this happen twice with Glocks on the range before I retired. We wound up taking all the slides apart to clean it out. We found that those who used Gunscrubber or an immersion in solvent on a regular basis had little or no crap in the firing pin channel.

 

[inSight-NEO]

Im guessing it may depend on how often you fire the weapon, what ammo you are using, what climate(s)/conditions the gun is exposed to and how it is stored.

Having said this, I cant say if its "absolutely necessary," but I still prefer to do it at least once a year...twice if I fire a weapon enough. For those weapons I use for HD, absolutely. Of course, this "detail" stripping is within reason, from a practical standpoint.

Now, should you be obsessed about it? Probably not. Im sure this forum is full of guys/gals who have had weapons function just fine after many, many years of nothing more than "general" cleaning sessions. But, if you spent the money on the thing, why not do all that you can to take care of it? Plus, a good "detail" stripping helps in familiarizing yourself with the "guts" of the gun. Nothing wrong with that, IMHO.

Think about it this way: Ive seen those who seldom wax their cars, neglect routine maintenance and so forth, and those who wax them 2 to 5 times a year and keep up with all maintenance schedules. Guess which vehicles look and run the best?

 

[Fumbler]

Absolutely necessary?
No.

Good idea?
Yes.

The great majority of guns have enough room inside the actions to allow crud to move out of the way of the moving parts. Occasional wipe downs during field strips can get enough of the gunk out of most of the gun.
For range guns, that's good enough for me.

I borrowed a Taurus M85 from my boss. As a return for the favor I detail stripped and cleaned the gun. He has never detail stripped a gun and he's had no problems with this M85, few problems with other guns.
The M85 had probably 2-3000 rounds through it and is his daily carry gun.
The action was completely filled with pocket lint mixed with dried Hoppes.
It was amazing how much stuff was in there. He said he normally scrubs everything with Hoppes and doesn't lube it.
So the lesson to me was you don't have to detail strip every gun. His gun worked just fine.

But...this was his carry gun. Who feels comfortable with a carry gun being filled with gunk?
Sure, it may work now, but what if some of the gunk breaks free and falls into a crevice that jams the action?

So...the answer is no, you don't need to detail strip most guns, but it'd be a good idea to do it at least occasionally to the ones you bet your life on.

With my own guns I detail strip them at least once, and that's when I first get them.
They get detail stripped more often depending on the particular gun or the gun's purpose.