Your Gun Cleaning Routines

One of the items that seems to help cleaning barrels, after shooting AT the range, spray carb cleaner down the WARM barrel. Helps with not having to spend as much time and effort when you do get around to cleaning.
 
Brubz said:
I'm curious about how you guys approach gun cleaning. do you think of it as a chore? is it work? or do you make it something enjoyable?
For me, I try to clean the evening after I've been to the range. I put on some music, have a glass of red wine and take my time.
I find it reminds me of why I like guns and helps me appreciate the nice ones I have.
I went to the range today. Tonight I plan on cleaning with some Stevie Ray Vaughan on the stereo!:)
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I like cleaning. I don't add drinking because I'm absentminded enough as it is.
 
Ed's Red less the acetone and lanolin in an ultrasonic cleaner while being ever mindful of the temperature. Flashpoint concerns and such. Amazing how much crud comes out of supposedly clean guns!! Still gotta brush and patch the bores but the whole process is much easier with an ultrasonic. For me, the fun is in disassembly and assembly. Cleaning is scut work but goes with the sport.
 
Only time I consider cleaning a gun work is when it truly needs a cleaning in order to function. Case in point, cleaning an older friend's AK while I was in junior high because the friend thought Vaseline slabbed all over the inside was a good rust inhibitor. Yeah it is but it also locks up an action as robust as an AK.

But cleaning up range crud and carbon? A breeze and enjoyable.
 
I see it as chore that needs doing like washing your clothes or dishes. Not exactly fun but necessary. I do it when needed. If it's a gun that I shoot regularly it gets an outside wipe down with Pledge after shooting to prevent rust and that's it until it's dirty. If it is something that will be put up for sometime it get cleaned inside and out, oiled, and Johnson's paste wax on the outer surfaces.
 
I find cleaning my guns to be a relaxing activity. I generally don't clean them at the range I wait to get home so I can take my time and give them a good bit of attention and get in all the nooks and crannies.

2 exceptions are my carry gun which gets at least a basic cleaning at the range depending on how much I shoot because it need to be in good reliable condition during the period of time between the range and the house.

And the 2nd exception is my Ruger SR22 which is absolutely no fun to clean and I consider a chore! The fixed barrel makes it hard to clean from the breach, plus the hammer and other internals get in the way, this means I need to insert the cleaning rod from the mussel end which I do not like to do!
If I do clean it from the breach if I am not super duper storm trooper careful the cleaning rod will rub against sensitive internal parts. There are a millions little crevasses that get filed with carbon and crud. It is a nightmare and it ruins an otherwise fun relaxing cleaning session!
 
I thoroughly enjoy cleaning my pistols after a trip to the range, and I go to the range a lot. For me, there is an appreciation of these wondrous mechanical devices I get from taking them apart and cleaning them.
 
botofogo said:
I thoroughly enjoy cleaning my pistols after a trip to the range, and I go to the range a lot. For me, there is an appreciation of these wondrous mechanical devices I get from taking them apart and cleaning them.
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My thoughts exactly
 
I place the barrel in the sonic cleaner but will not place the entire 9mm S & W in it for fear of rusting in the small holes and crevices.

And how do you handle the RCBS sonic cleaner?
 
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I always clean a gun after I shoot it. This was impressed on me just last week when I was doing a routine gun inspection and I noticed my AK looked dirty. Somehow I neglected to clean it after a range trip. Talk about caked up gunpowder! Luckily it wasn't corrosive but it could have been. I had to soak the bore and let it set for a couple of hours and then go through patch, bore brush, and repeat about 15 times. If that had been corrosive I would have ruined the barrel.
 
Everyone has their own opinions on gun cleaning. Here is what Bill Wilson does on his personal 1911s.

 
It's the sole reason I don't shoot more often. It's a chore for me.

I'd give them up for Star Trek phasers if I had the choice. It's probably why I shoot my air/pellet guns a lot these days.
 
Double rifle, combi, and shotguns cleaned after every hunting day. Krupps barrel steel rusts if you look at it wrong. The Mauser M03 gets cleaned when I get round to it unless I've been hunting in the rain. The .22 only gets a wipe over with the oily rag.
 
I shoot a good bit of BP. They get cleaned immediately. Especially my flintlock. It gets a good scrubbing and is allowed to dry overnight or even 24hrs. Cleaned again and oiled. Maybe two consecutive days.
My old Hawken rifle will likely get a fouling shot just before season, get loaded and stand loaded (except for the cap) until the three or four day season closes. Then a thorough cleaning.
 
I clean mine after every range trip and enjoy it as long as it's only one or two guns at a time. After two it starts to be a chore. I enjoy the whole experience of gun ownship(mostly revolvers) including shooting, cleaning and reloading but I'm retired and have the time.
 
Armored farmer said:
I shoot a good bit of BP. They get cleaned immediately. Especially my flintlock.
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I shoot flintlocks a good bit as well and they have to be cleaned after every range trip. I always clean them as soon as I get home as it seems the crud gets harder the longer they sit after shooting. It gets to be a bit of a chore since they need cleaned no matter how few shots are fired. I usually only take one at a time on a range trip anymore for that reason.

I don't clean my modern guns every time I shoot them. I go to the pistol range once a week and take 3-4 pistols so the round count per pistol isn't real high. They get cleaned maybe once every 6 weeks and aren't ever real dirty. The modern rifles don't get shot as often and get cleaned after several range trips. I don't mind cleaning them but don't consider it fun either.
 
I usually clean mine the day after going to the range. The last trip to the range I shot 4 guns and it took 2 days to get them cleaned.
Two times a year I have WD day. I pull all guns out, remove wood so I can get to all the metal and wipe everything down with a light coat of WD40.
Been doing that since about 1975.
 
tws3b2 said:
I usually clean mine the day after going to the range. The last trip to the range I shot 4 guns and it took 2 days to get them cleaned.
Two times a year I have WD day. I pull all guns out, remove wood so I can get to all the metal and wipe everything down with a light coat of WD40.
Been doing that since about 1975.
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I have had a few mechanics tell me that they do not use WD 40 much since it contains some water. So, I stay away from it.
 
A small home, lacking adequate ventilation, necessitates doing the cleaning in my carport. That also means doing it in warmer weather with little or no wind.
That's OK as I do very little shooting in the winter.
 
WD-40 is really good for what it's designed to be, which is a water displacement. It's not a cleaner or lubricant. If I get a firearm wet because I've been hunting in the rain I'll spray it down with WD-40 as soon as I'm back in the truck. Then I'll clean and lube it when I get home.

Kerosene is a major component of WD-40. Yes, it's petroleum based, but it's not an oil. It tends to wash away oil.
 
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