The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

larryf1952 · March 6, 2013, 08:20 PM

I've taken every handgun that I own down to its component pieces during a full detail strip at one time or another, whether they be semiautos or revolvers, Colts included. Nothing but parts, springs and roll pins kept in various small containers, waiting for reassembly. I just fully detail stripped both the slide and frame of my Beretta 92FS and S&W 1911. I do it at about 500 rounds. It's amazing how much soot, crud and unburned powder collects in and around the tiniest pieces. I don't clean every time that I shoot, but when I clean a gun, I REALLY clean the gun. I couldn't sleep at night if I knew that there was some goo still in there, lurking somewhere...

I've had no formal training in gunsmithing, but I am very technically inclined. I've made my career in television engineering, and I used to routinely tear apart videotape machines and studio cameras, so small, precision mechanical assemblies don't necessarily scare me. If it's unfamiliar to me, I will spend 1/2 hour studying the pieces and their orientations, and I'll even draw a diagram of how everything fits together before I start to disassemble it.

So far, everything has worked and I haven't ended up with an assortment of spare parts after I'm done...

March 6, 2013, 08:20 PM	#84
larryf1952 Senior Member Join Date: July 17, 2004 Location: KCMO Posts: 615	I've taken every handgun that I own down to its component pieces during a full detail strip at one time or another, whether they be semiautos or revolvers, Colts included. Nothing but parts, springs and roll pins kept in various small containers, waiting for reassembly. I just fully detail stripped both the slide and frame of my Beretta 92FS and S&W 1911. I do it at about 500 rounds. It's amazing how much soot, crud and unburned powder collects in and around the tiniest pieces. I don't clean every time that I shoot, but when I clean a gun, I REALLY clean the gun. I couldn't sleep at night if I knew that there was some goo still in there, lurking somewhere... I've had no formal training in gunsmithing, but I am very technically inclined. I've made my career in television engineering, and I used to routinely tear apart videotape machines and studio cameras, so small, precision mechanical assemblies don't necessarily scare me. If it's unfamiliar to me, I will spend 1/2 hour studying the pieces and their orientations, and I'll even draw a diagram of how everything fits together before I start to disassemble it. So far, everything has worked and I haven't ended up with an assortment of spare parts after I'm done...