cleaning your Weapon

[Doc Holliday 1950]

Always wanted to ask this question. How often should you clean your weapon?
Every time you shoot or once in awhile?
Doc

[gyvel]

Admittedly, I am a little compulsive, but I clean mine after every outing. It's not that big of a deal, however, as I have one of those cheap Harbor Freight mineral spirit tanks. I just let the gun parts soak in the spirits while I clean the barrel, then take the frame, slide, etc. out of the tank and use a GI cleaning "toothbrush" to get rid of the smut and soot. Once the parts are clean, I usually spray them down with Walmart (cheapo) carb cleaner, let dry, lube and reassemble.

[Skeets]

I feel and run better clean believe my guns do too!

[KyJim]

Depends. If I only have 50 or 60 rounds through a revolver and am going to be taking it back out in a few days, I may wait to clean. Otherwise, I clean it when I get home. I usually don't clean aggressively, however.

[CajunBass]

Whenever I feel like it. That's usually every time I shoot, but I don't worry about it if I don't get to it. They don't really care.

[Wishoot]

Semi's are so easy to field strip there's no reason to leave them dirty after a session at the range. Take's all of 5 minutes to strip, clean and reassemble.

For me, handgun cleaning and sanitation is kind of relaxing.

Revolvers are cleaned less frequently. Maybe once a year depending on usage.

[4runnerman]

Sun dont set on a dirty firearm.

[Nathan]

Keep them lubed, keep the exterior clean and preserved.....the innards can wait until you get 300 rounds or so down range or switch bullet types.

[Pond, James Pond]

I don't know about "should", only about "do"!

I clean my revolvers every time I shoot. Be it 6 rounds or 60.

I don't see any harm in it, but could imagine myself getting complacent if I didn't do it every time.

[Slimjim9]

More often than I do. Am I the only honest person here?

[kraigwy]

More guns are destroyed by over cleaning then under cleaning.

On my revolvers I clean the cylinders fairly often, makes extraction of empties easier as crude gets imbedded in cases as they expand.

As to the barrel, I hardly touch them unless I see signs of leading. Which if the right lube (cast bullets) are used, leading isn't a problem.

Copper/brass in the barrel isn't a problem as I seldom use jacketed bullets in my revolvers (or other pistols).

If the cylinder spends freely I leave it along, if it gets sluggish I'll clean and oil it so its spends freely. I like to load one round in an empty chamber, with open cylinder if it rotates do to the weight of the one bullet and gravity, its good to go.

I never run a cleaning rod down the muzzle of my revolvers.

I do wipe down the out side of the revolver with an greasy rag every now and then.

I know this is the revolver form, but on rifles I clean the bore when the group starts opening up.

[4runnerman]

kraigwy- More guns are destroyed by over cleaning then by under cleaning. I keep hearing that and yet no one has been able to tell me how you overclean a gun. If one cleans a gun right there is no harm that is ever done to the gun. Now if you mean by taking a bolt in and out a million times it becomes loose, that I can grant you. To those that damage their guns cleaning them, they need to learn how to do it right. They need to use the right equipment to do the job.
I clean my barrels as soon as I get home from the range, before I pack up at the range I run a patch with Bore Tech down barrel. Finish cleaning when I get home. Be it 5 rounds or 100 rounds they get cleaned. Never have ruined one yet. Also- I have never owned revolver so if they are a different story then autos or rifles, then I apologize to you. Granted everyone has their own way of doing things and when to do it ( which is great), but this ruining a gun from over cleaning it is such a myth. It should be over cleaning your gun the wrong way or with the wrong equipment will ruin your barrel.

[ChiefTJS]

It's kind of the same thing as a dremel tool in the hands of the wrong person, a cleaning rod can be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

For the record, I clean them when I get around to it. Dirty guns don't do house or concealed carry duty though.

[wogpotter]

After every session.
I've been doing this since the 1970's & have yet to "wear out" or "damage" anything by cleaning.
I have, however rescued several "shot out guns" because they were just so fouled up internally by the previous owner failing to clean it.

[skizzums]

for revolvers, i use a boresnake, about ten wipes or so after shooting. i also use a .40cal boresnake on the cylinders. if the cylinders are getting sticky, i use a brass .40 brush and scrub, then oil with case lube spray to get a nice dry lubricant film. i will admit that i generally clean my guns after every out, usually just the barrel and cylinders though. be sure not to use any heavy oil in your cylinders, it'll just make things worse, if you don't have a dry-film type spray you could use a thin teflon coating or even nothing at all, but thick gun oils will just attract more build up, make your brass extraction more difficult. i am sur you know not to leave coating of oil in your arrel, i will run an oiled patch in the barrel, but then make sure to wipe until any visual trace of it is gone. extensive cleaning comes wheneer i fell it needs it, maybe 500 rounds or so, and that will include spraying the internals with a solvent type spray, like powder-blast or the like, and re-oiling(very lightly) with a oil that doesn't attract(thin) like rem-oil. I remove the extractor, clean it with a solvent and the inside where the extractor sits, and oil with something ecent like hoppes elite or mPro, and put i little drop at bottom of crane since you getting alot of metal on metal contact there.

but for general cleaning, i think everyon should have a couple boresnakes. i think have collected every caliber size snake, even for caliber i don't own they have their uses, like cylinders for instance, or dies, gas-systems etc. they are an awesome tool and clean well and so muh easier than scrubbing and wiping. Scubbing and wiping is only needed when you have obvious fouling or lead build-up, and i know the OP doesn't have lead build-up.

sorry for typo's, using a very glitchy tablet with no spell/check and a jacked up keyboard.

[WIL TERRY]

WHEN IT QUITS WORKING and not a damned second before that !
ARE we to assume all you cleaning freaks change the oil in your truck after everytime you drive it ??

And so it goes...

[Pond, James Pond]

More guns are destroyed by over cleaning then under cleaning.

Fairly broad statement, that!

I think we ought to define over-cleaning: do you mean Hoppe's Elite gel down the bore and chambers for 10 mins, then copper brushing them 6 times down each then patch until the patch is cleanish (as I do) or the other extreme of stuffing a wire brush down the bore and sticking it in the chuck of a 1000w hammer drill?

If what I am doing is bad for my gun, I'd like to know but I don't want to worry over nothing.

[skizzums]

i have bought some mil surps that were so rusty they HAD to have a wire brush chucked into a cordless drill. although in anything but extreme cases of rustiness i wouldnt roccomend doing that to a barrel, it can be helpful when paired with abrasive compound to smooth out a cylinder chamber.

[4runnerman]

WIL TERRY- I sure hope that the-(When it quits working) is not when you need it the most.

[Snyper]

Quote:
More guns are destroyed by over cleaning than under cleaning.

Fairly broad statement, that!

I think we ought to define over-cleaning: do you mean Hoppe's Elite gel down the bore and chambers for 10 mins, then copper brushing them 6 times down each then patch until the patch is cleanish (as I do) or the other extreme of stuffing a wire brush down the bore and sticking it in the chuck of a 1000w hammer drill?

If what I am doing is bad for my gun, I'd like to know but I don't want to worry over nothing.

Rifles or revolvers often have damaged crowns due to folks letting the rods drag too much.

Stocks and grips can be damaged from solvents going where they shouldn't.

With handguns, it's often the disassembly/reassembly that causes parts to be damaged.

Guns don't generally need a "scrubbing" of the barrels until a few hundred rounds have been fired, and often just a wipe with an oily cloth will suffice.

With spray solvents, lubes and air, disassembly isn't really needed at all for lots of guns.

There's no ONE answer for all the variables, but I agree more guns are damaged by too much unnecessary cleaning than from neglect when using non corrosive powders.

[wogpotter]

Reading the previous posts it strikes me that "More guns have been damaged by poor technique when cleaning" would be more the actual events than the frequency of cleaning.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I clean every time after I shoot it. If you want to trust your guns 100% then you need to maintain them.

I don't go crazy on it though. After three swabs through the barrel I call it clean, even if the patches still show some residue. A little seasoning left in the barrel won't hurt it.

[rclark]

Not every time after being at the range. It all depends on how dirty it is. Most of my guns don't lead up, so I don't worry about it until I feel they need it. Doesn't hurt a thing and if you shoot a lot, you know when it's 'time'. Oh course if it is being 'retired' to the safe for a long period, it will get cleaned. But the working guns? Just when they need it. Of course if shooting black powder, then yes ... that same evening the guns(s) are getting a good cleaning and oiling.

[745SW]

Generally clean the auto after each 200 rnd session. Revolver after each session, rnd count usually less than 200.

[Nick_C_S]

As my father would say: "You shoot a gun; you clean a gun."

I clean my guns after every shoot. How thorough depends on how many rounds.