New Thoughts on Cleaning

[sleepyone]

I used to be the type who cleaned his weapon every time he shot it whether it was one shot or 100. However, the past year I have been shooting with a guy who has at least 200 guns and rifles of every type you can imagine. Many of them are very expensive and/or rare pieces. He has been shooting for 40 years and been in the gun manufacturing business. He rarely cleans his guns and they function just fine and are extremely accurate. He is an expert shot so that helps. He has one Dan Wesson 1911 that he has not cleaned in 10 years and it is a tack driver. His Marlin 39A was just cleaned recently after it started malfunctioning, but it had been several years and thousands of rounds since its last cleaning. He does wipe down his weapons to preserve the finish and uses Rem Oil occasionally to lubricate, but I have yet to see him actually clean a gun.

I have completely changed my way of thinking when it comes to cleaning. I think most people clean way too much and probably shorten the life of their weapons in the process. I used to dread shooting more than one gun at a time because I knew how much time it would take to clean each gun I took to the range. It is very liberating to put my guns away after a simple wipe down, and I shoot much more since I changed my cleaning philosophy. Of course, my ammo budget has taken a huge hit! What say you?

 

[sleepyone]

can one of the mods delete this? I have created one in the General Discussions category also.

 

[John Parker]

He does wipe down his weapons to preserve the finish and uses Rem Oil occasionally to lubricate, but I have yet to see him actually clean a gun.

I always clean mine after use. Probably doesn't need it, but I'd hate to have something jam at a bad time. I don't want my last thought to be "If...I'd...only....cleaned...my...gun..."

 

[Z-Michigan]

Assuming this thread stays open or gets merged with the other...

I have also changed my views on cleaning, somewhat. When I started shooting I would detail clean after each range outing. I have gradually gotten "lazier" but with no apparent ill effects, and I've read some comments like yours that have changed my view. Some thoughts:
-barrel cleaning is a necessary evil but can easily cause damage to the barrel. Unless you are using corrosive ammo, it probably makes sense to clean only when you notice accuracy decreasing or when fouling is starting to cause chambering problems. There's probably no harm in cleaning every several uses or every 6-12 months on a moderately used gun, however.
-actual cleaning of all action parts should cause no wear whatsoever if you're doing it right; BUT
-the disassembly and reassembly of the action to do detail cleaning may cause wear and tear, even if done carefully. Springfield Armory specifically advises not to disassemble an M1A any more than absolutely necessary, just for one example. Some guns, e.g. most bolt actions and Glocks, likely suffer insignificant wear from proper disassembly and reassembly, however.

So, I have personally gone from cleaning after each use to cleaning when I notice an issue, or just feel like it. It's not scientific, but it seems practical.

 

[Tim the student]

Sleepy, use the report button and ask them to delete or merge threads.

 

[Tuckerp229]

I used to be the type who cleaned his weapon every time he shot it whether it was one shot or 100. However, the past year I have been shooting with a guy who has at least 200 guns and rifles of every type you can imagine. Many of them are very expensive and/or rare pieces. He has been shooting for 40 years and been in the gun manufacturing business. He rarely cleans his guns and they function just fine and are extremely accurate. He is an expert shot so that helps. He has one Dan Wesson 1911 that he has not cleaned in 10 years and it is a tack driver. His Marlin 39A was just cleaned recently after it started malfunctioning, but it had been several years and thousands of rounds since its last cleaning. He does wipe down his weapons to preserve the finish and uses Rem Oil occasionally to lubricate, but I have yet to see him actually clean a gun.

I have completely changed my way of thinking when it comes to cleaning. I think most people clean way too much and probably shorten the life of their weapons in the process. I used to dread shooting more than one gun at a time because I knew how much time it would take to clean each gun I took to the range. It is very liberating to put my guns away after a simple wipe down, and I shoot much more since I changed my cleaning philosophy. Of course, my ammo budget has taken a huge hit! What say you?

The NRA Rifleman mag did an article on this subject some months back, (Nov.2009). They also dealt with barrel break in.Their findings were pretty similar to the original post. Barrel break in procedures were also covered in the article. The findings were also eye opening if not plain humorous. It seems that most of us are not satisfied with a "no break in procedure required" so we hound the gun and barrel companies until they relent, and give us a procedure just to get us off the phones so they can go back to work.


One consistent caution however was to clean the factory barrel grease out of a new gun prior to shooting it so as not to "ring the barrel". This stepwill not easily forget. A good friend of mine saved up and bought a nice new Winchester lever action in .22. He took it to the range and shot it without cleaning it. He now has a nice 1/8th "ring" around the barrel. It still seems to shoot fine but ugh, he is reminded of the error every time he pulls the gun out of its case.

 

[XxWINxX94]

I'm sure you would be fine without a cleaning for awhile. For me, It's a little personal, I feel like I will damage my guns if I don't clean them, or at least give the exterior metal parts some oil for storage and to get the fingerprints and dirt off.