Do you clean your guns? How often / how long does it take?

[Nathan]

Pistols and AR’s - every 200-600 rounds. Probably overkill. Maybe annually clean to spotless.

Bolt rifles- I wipe the outsides every time. I clean out the action before any season. I clean the bore, but generally after 100’s of shots. These are generally good barrels that stay clean and accurate without cleaning. Cleaning creates initial shots, and other wasted shots down the bore. I have a borescope. I look!

[hdbiker]

I generally clean after every firing that same day, but ALWAYS wipe off all exposed metal surfaces after any handling. hdbiker

[Onward Allusion]

I used to clean after each range session. Then I read someone say that after you clean it, how do you know you put it back together right? Now, I clean before each range session. Range time confirms functionality.

That's kinda what I do with my carry guns. I clean 'em at the range and fire off a couple of mags right after.

[Carl the Floor Walker]

After each and every use. Every 10 shooting sessions, it gets a UltraSonic clean and lube.

[badge851]

I clean my guns after every time I shoot them. It doesn't matter if I fired 1 round, 100, or a thousand. I take good care of my firearms and learned to do so at my later father's knee. Dad was a soldier, a WWII vet; I was, I am, and I will always be a soldier. My guns are ALWAYS CLEAN.

[Ignition Override]

After using approx. 150-200 rds. in a handgun, or approx. 100-200 rds. in a rifle (the VZ-58 or any of three AKMs), the receiver, and bolts plus bolt carriers and all tracks are cleaned:
Ballistol on patches plus Q-Tips in grooves, then a few drops of Mobil One grease (reddish/pink) in lug tacks and rails.

Rifle time for internals plus exterior wipe: about 20 min.
Handgun time " " " " ": about 10 min. This time can increase if any good classic rock/jazz fusion (i.e. "Deep Purple"/ "Jeff Beck" ) is on music channels of Direct TV.

Any Single club visit means a good bit less ammo is used, therefore I simply wipe (i.e. 5 min.) all external metal with Ballistol within 1-4 days, to be quite frank.

* It looks proper to say that all external areas are wiped down the same night, but sometimes that would not be honest---in my case.

[jimbob86]

and if i can still see a wet coat or lube, it's ready to fire

I thought it was not a good thing to fire with excess lube in the bore?

[Moonglum]

There was a guy on THR YEARS ago who refused to carry a gun that had been cleaned until he'd fired a few rounds through it to verify function.

The guy's user name was SM and there was some code of silence amongst the THR Cognicenti as to who he was but he was apparently Jason Bourne Jr. The mods used to edit anything that could possibly be identifying information out of his posts.

Apparently he used to post here to but he hasn't for the last 5 years

[stinkeypete]

In general I feel most people clean their guns too much.

.22's get a good cleaning every brick and a detail strip and clean and lubricate every couple of years. But that depends on how much they are being shot.

At one time my skeet shotgun cost about as much as the rest of my entire collection and I kept that thing mirror bright, running patches every couple rounds of skeet while at the range while the barrels were warm. So much crud just wipes out a warm barrel that stiffens up when the barrels cool.

When I was shooting competition pistol I was shooting at least 100 rounds three times a week and my .45 got wiped down and a quick brush about once a week but a detail strip and clean every couple of months. It was dirty a lot of the time but still shot great.

Hunting shotgun... cleaned about every half box which is sometimes months.. or more often if game is plenty and I am missing a lot. Or when it gets rained or snowed on.

So.. when you guys are fussing with brushing out your barrels, are you also getting in there and cleaning your firing pins and extractor springs and trigger assemblies often too?

[Ignition Override]

Either five or fifteen minutes duration.

Wiping the handgun/rifle exteriors within about three days after use (five min.).
Cleaning the receiver, rails etc after about 40-100 rds (fifteen min.). Note: these guns never get very dirty.
I use a soft toothbrush with Ballistol when wiping/cleaning the interior areas. Perfect for bolt carriers and bolts on my VZ-58 and AKMs, and the recessed areas in the handgun slides and frames.

!! If you clean your chambers a bit, residue will never have a chance of accumulating in chambers Around the rigid steel cases of Russian-made ammo. Imagine that! Zero issues with the "dreaded" steel-cased ammo (3,000 rds. of this used in one of my AKMs).

>> Your extractor is Not weak (made of higher-grade steel than ammo cases)...but they are designed to pull cases from fairly Clean chambers <<

[TBM900]

My carry guns all have at least one identical "range twin"
I break in the carry, clean & lube, then rarely ever touch them again
The range twin will get shot until it stops working

My K9 range twin has now logged over 10k
My current 380EZ range twin is up around 5k IIRC
My current L9A1 range twin is over double the Kahr's round count
Zero cleaning EVER and only a couple drops of MPro7 every few sessions

When something does need cleaning it gets tossed in an ultra sonic cleaner for a few minutes

Doing it this way saves time
It also saves money on cleaning supplies
And it gives me an idea of the reliability and durability

TIP:
Tear off ammo box ends and toss them in case with pistol
That way you can keep track of both round counts and type
Every once in a while Ill just count up the box ends and then jot down the new total on one then put it back in case
Stupid easy and takes just seconds.

[Scorch]

I hardly shoot my own guns any more, but I clean other peoples guns A LOT! For a full disassembly, cleaning, lube, reassembly it takes about half hour to an hour for most guns.

[ejb69]

It depends on the gun. I tend to just pull a bore snake though the barrel and wipe the outside down with an oily rag after a day of hunting in nice weather. After the seasons over i will do a full disassembly and cleaning. I will do a good cleaning after a hunt in foul weather or i notice the action dosnt feel or act right.

[Bart B.]

Originally Posted by stinkeypete

In general I feel most people clean their guns too much.

So master class competitiors cleaning their 22 rimfire rifles after each 40 or 60 shot match are doing it too much?

[stinkeypete]

No, Bart. Those guys know what they are doing, they are not posting here, asking.

My mentor was a High Master pistol shooter, and for .22 pistols it’s clean once a brick or when your accuracy degrades.

Most fellas that don’t shoot competitively don’t have match grade barrels, won’t pay for match grade ammo, and a bucket of bulk ammo will never notice if you don’t bother to clean but at the end of the season.

For every master class competitor in America I bet we can find at least 100 guys that dinged a muzzle or did other damage by bubba cleaning with rubbish tools.

[TBM900]

Originally Posted by Bart B.

So master class competitiors cleaning their 22 rimfire rifles after each 40 or 60 shot match are doing it too much?

Apples & Oranges
Correction... Apples & Brussel Sprouts

Rimfire aside, I would bet that < 1% of shooters use plain lead bullets
The vast majority of modern jacketed/coated ammunition is immaculately clean compared to rimfire
I would be willing to bet that a majority of shooters do more harm than good by “over cleaning”
Or at the very least improperly cleaning

[TBM900]

Originally Posted by Scorch

I hardly shoot my own guns any more, but I clean other peoples guns A LOT! For a full disassembly, cleaning, lube, reassembly it takes about half hour to an hour for most guns.

You seriously should invest in an ultrasonic cleaner
I can go from thrashed to like new in just minutes of hands on
All with almost no effort and likely at a fraction of what you spend on supplies

[Bart B.]

Originally Posted by stinkeypete

My mentor was a High Master pistol shooter, and for .22 pistols it’s clean once a brick or when your accuracy degrades.

What discipline? Some don't need MOA at worst 50 meters down range

Probably not international free pistol.

[Scorch]

You seriously should invest in an ultrasonic cleaner

I am a gunsmith. I own a Lyman Turbo 1500 ultrasonic cleaner (the BIG one). When I clean a gun, it comes completely apart (and I do mean completely), run it in the ultrasonic for 20-25 minutes hour, scrub any areas that need special attention, lube it, then put it back together. If I had to do it with brushes and solvent, I would have quit a long time ago. Anyone who says "just a few minutes" either can't read a clock or is fooling themselves. It takes 5-10 minutes to disassemble most guns, and 10-15 minutes to reassemble. Add it up, it's 40-60 minutes.

[Bart B.]

Originally Posted by stinkeypete

No, Bart. Those guys know what they are doing, they are not posting here, asking.

I'm one of them.

[tangolima]

Originally Posted by Scorch

I am a gunsmith. I own a Lyman Turbo 1500 ultrasonic cleaner (the BIG one). When I clean a gun, it comes completely apart (and I do mean completely), run it in the ultrasonic for 20-25 minutes hour, scrub any areas that need special attention, lube it, then put it back together. If I had to do it with brushes and solvent, I would have quit a long time ago. Anyone who says "just a few minutes" either can't read a clock or is fooling themselves. It takes 5-10 minutes to disassemble most guns, and 10-15 minutes to reassemble. Add it up, it's 40-60 minutes.

Some don't disassemble and just dunk the whole thing into the tank. They may blow dry afterwards, which is not adequate. Water may still be trapped in tight spots. I don't want to invest on ultrasonic cleaner, as it doesn't really help that much.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[buddyd157]

i clean and lube after every range visit.

[Shadow9mm]

So I replier earlier but have cleaned my guns since and been thinking about it.

Generally after each range trip. Or every 6 months if they are sitting.

How long. Generally 10min per firearm.

I use bore tech eliminator, does a good job on carbon and copper
4 patches
10-15 brush strokes
4 patches
let it sit 5min (2-5 recommended, but no ammonia so you can leave it overnight if you feel like it)
then dry patches until clean
lightly oiled patch to protect

During the 5min while it is sitting is when I clean the rest of the gun, bolt, slide, etc.

From what my buddy told me, his drill instructions mottos was "a clean gun is a happy gun, and happy guns save lives!" Makes sense to me.

[Scorch]

Some don't disassemble and just dunk the whole thing into the tank

That doesn't work well. The various nooks and crannies don't get cleaned out, pins and screws don't get clean, breach block doesn't get clean, etc. You have to completely disassemble the gun if you want it completely clean. If it doesn't matter to you, do it any way you want, but I've done it both ways and am not satisfied with the results if the guns are not completely disassembled. And since I do this for a living, I don't want my customers telling me their gun isn't clean.

[jag1954]

Field strip and clean after range use.