Maintaining a 1911 CCW

[Minator]

what points do I need to focus on cleaning etc to make sure it funtions reliably every time

[Dwight55]

Minator, . . .

Go to

http://forums.1911forum.com/

Use their search function, . . . or just pose the question there, . . . guaranteed some good info.

I personally was always taught in the military to field strip it and quit there. Not having my own personal armorer to finish what I started, I go ahead and pull out the extractor, firing pin, spring, etc, . . . as well as the field strip. I pay close attention to the whole top end, . . . cleaning it thoroughly with solvent & a wire brush, . . . I then oil the whole thing up to where it is well oiled, . . . put it back together and wipe it down.

Sounds silly, . . . but the perfect answer to the question: "Did I put it back together right?" is very quickly answered by going back outside and putting a magazine through it, . . . coming back in and wiping it down, . . . reloading it, . . . and putting it away.

I've been known to do just that.:D

May God bless,
Dwight

[garrettwc]

Same thing you do to maintain it any other time only more often.

Seriously, full takedown(field strip) and cleaning a least once a month. More like once a week if you sweat a lot or live in a humid (rust prone) climate. Check it regularly to see if the gun has gotten dry. Especially in the rails. Gravity tends to make the oil drain off.

Take it out of the holster every night and wipe it down with an oily rag or one of those gun cloths.

[shield20]

I also recommend a more detailed stripping more often then not. Alot of powder residue etc gets in where the extractor and firing pin are located too. It is easy enough to add these locations to a normal cleaning.

[TBT]

I've never done anything other than a basic field strip for mine. It works perfectly but I hope I'm not missing something here.

I field strip and clean the gun and mags every week, sometimes every other week. I wipe it down when I think of it between cleanings too. So far that has been enough.

Not being a gunsmith or overly useful with tools I've been thinking of taking it to a smith just to have it cleaned inside and out and checked over.

[Jack Malloy]

Everytime I fire a gun I clean and oil it.
Supposedly the 1911 is more finicky than most.
In reality, I once used a 1911 for a daily carry gun for two years and in that time the only thing I ever did was lock the slide back and clean the barrell and put a little oil on the slide rails and yet, it never jammed, in thousands of rounds of ammo. It was an older model Randall.

[XavierBreath]

Here's my recipe:
1. No shock buff on a carry gun.
2. Wilson Combat 47D magazine.
3. Light gun grease on the rails. Grease will not run out.
4. Light gun oil such as CLP on all pivot points and trigger stirrup.
5. Clean it when used.
6. Check the firing pin area for lint/stuff before holstering. I also do a quick visual check of the thumb safety area. I make sure the grip safety moves. I do a press check. If I need to load the weapon, I do a function check first. I am loathe to constantly chamber and unchamber a round every day for this due to the risk of setting back the bullet in the cartridge.

Some will argue with grease on the rails, but it has worked for me for years.

[TBT]

What kind of grease do you use?

[Ben Swenson]

I check it every month or so by field stripping it and blowing off any major lint build-ups. If I haven't shot it, I won't clean or regrease the rails, but I will wipe down all external surfaces with CLP. For the grease, I use a 16 ounce can of white lithium grease I bought at Menards. If I've shot it a lot, I'll take the top end down and clean everything up.

A properly built 1911 doesn't take as much work as most people think. I would be entirely comfortable in carrying my 1911 if I hadn't cleaned it for a year.

For those of you who haven't ever completely disassembled your 1911 - you really should try it. It isn't difficult and there are a number of good walkthroughs online if you don't have someone that can help you with it.

[XavierBreath]

What kind of grease do you use?Tetra or Slide Glide.