Survey: How Much Time Do You Guys Spend On Cleaning Your Guns and Rifles?

[TheAzn]

How many minutes or hours do you spend on rifle cleaning?
And do you disassemble and clean every parts?

 

[taliv]

less than an hour/year/gun

 

[DCoke]

Maybe 15 min/gun per shooting session....more with the Mosin Nagant...pistols go even faster though

 

[Josh45]

Bout 20 min. Give or take. I don't disassemble every single part but I usually get what needs to be gotten.

 

[Sobel]

When I get bored I usually inspect my cz and my M/N if I see that they have gathered dust I clean em up. I usually take a few hours to make sure every single part is clean then put it all back together wiping off all the parts I touch.

 

[Odd Job]

I clean my two .22 rifles after every three or four range visits.
In the case of the R55 Benchmark, I take it down to barrel + receiver, trigger assembly and bolt (remove 6 screws in total). All that gets cleaned carefully. The magazines get stripped and the insides cleaned, even the springs.
The suppressor can be dismantled and all the baffles removed. That gets cleaned also.

For the SIG522 I do pretty much the same but I don't strip the mags (not yet anyway).

 

[wally]

My answer was left off:

As little as possible!

I wipe 'em down and return 'em to the safe. If I know I'll not be using it again in the near future, I'll run a patch of Break-Free followed by a BoreSnake before the wipe down.

I pretty much don't take things apart unless they are not working right.

 

[Robert]

I clean mine about once a year depending on which on it is. But when I do I strip it down to its many parts and detail clean it.

 

[oldpapps]

Too broad of question.

Some weapons may not get touched for a week or more (I shoot something most every day). Others get a full break down and scrubbing after each use. Yet other don't get broken down at all if I can help it but wiped down and chamber/boar cleaned after use.

So, it all depends upon the weapon and that weapons intended use. I didn't vote.

 

[GCBurner]

I only clean them after I use them. Only basic field stripping, unless I notice they've picked up a lot of grime.

 

[briansmithwins]

Everything gets a basic field strip every time it's fired. Every thousand rounds or 6 months or so most things get a detail strip. If guns get soaking wet or near salt water they get detail stripped.

I run a oily brush though the bore at the range to soften carbon fouling. A couple tight patches when I get home and I'm generally done. Every 3 months or so I do a barrel clean with Break Free bore cleaning foam to keep the copper fouling knocked down and get rid of all the carbon.

Probably about 30 minutes for a standard field strip and clean and roughly double that for a detailed strip.

BSW

 

[caribou]

I clean my rifles small parts while I have some tea water strted, pour the unused boiling water into the barrel, scrub, rinse with remainder, allow to dry, brush again, but with solvents, wipe with patches, then oil, reassemble, oil other parts, wipe and put it away for useing it tomarrow , as I run corrosive in the Mosin, and skip the water with other rifles / shotguns I clean.

Shoot it, clean it, have tea when done..........pretty routine.

 

[holdencm9]

I voted with the majority on this one, but agree it depends. Usually after a couple trips to the range I give a rudimentary cleaning. Then every few months or so I choose one to clean really really well, and maybe spend an hour on it whilst watching TV or something. Sometimes I just get bored, or motivated to do it, and will spend an afternoon doing a real thorough job on several. To me it is fun and relaxing to take them apart and get them all nice and squeaky clean. Some other individuals in the house (won't name any names) do not appreciate it, though!

 

[ball3006]

I clean everytime I shoot. Surplus ammo makes me......chris3

 

[RevGeo]

I clean the bore after every shooting session. I break down and clean the whole gun after hunting season.

George

 

[ATLDave]

My desire to clean only sporadically and quickly lead me to buy a piston-driven system when I got into a 5.56 rifle. I just refuse to spend an hour scraping carbon fouling off of stuff every time I shoot.

 

[AethelstanAegen]

I clean my rifles/pistols after every use, in part because I don't mind doing so but also I don't see any reason to them abuse them. Firearms in which I've fired corrosive, surplus ammo get cleaned within a few hours of shooting, others sometimes wait a day or two (especially if I plan to be shooting over a few days).

In terms of time per firearm, highly variable depending on the design of the firearm. The longest is probably my Garand as I'm careful to clean out the gas system, etc given the corrosive ammo (plus it often goes right back into safe storage post shooting, so I want it well protected). AKs are a little quicker as they're a bit easier to disassemble but there's still the gas piston and they tend to get wicked fouled. Bolts take the next longest, followed by pistols which always seem to go quickly. The fastest to clean is single-shot break action 12ga/.22lr. Come to think of it black powder guns are in a class of their own and I often take my time with those given the nasty nature of BP and the slightly less easy to disassemble bits (ie no pulling through the barrel on the 1853 Enfield).

 

[SniperJon]

I like to keep my investments in brand new condition so I clean them meticulously every time. I know it's overkill but I enjoy it and it's rewarding when they're done. I always wear latex gloves to keep my grimey fingerprints off the metal parts also.

 

[jhnrckr]

After a heavy range session clean the action and clean barrel with a copper cutting solvent. run an oiled patch thru to simulate a fouling shot so there is no flier next time I go hunt or to the range.
If i shoot a few rounds hunting I may spray barrel out with brake cleaner and leave it til the next time I go to the range.
I have an inherited gun that sat fouled for 35 years, when I got it it cleaned up like new and changed my stance on obsessively cleaning my guns.

 

[Hardtarget]

For four years my sons restored Olds Cutlass "S" has been in my basement. I had nowhere to clean and wifey hates the smell of gun cleaning in the house. I always do most major cleaning in the winter. Now I can get the guns out and go through the whole bunch.

Mark

 

[hang fire]

For smokeless pieces, not much time. On the black powder cartridge and front stuffer ones, quite a bit of time is spent cleaning them.

 

[maskedman504]

Corrosive ammo- clean the barrel, chamber, gas sytem everything.

Factory ammo- I normally steal disassemble and clean everything.

Anal retentive.

Once you have done it enough, you can have must apart, cleaned and reassembled in under 15 minutes.