As long as everyone is confessing…

My situation is a bit different. I spend 6 months in a home “down south,” and six months in a home “up north.” I have a total of 13 handguns (all SIGs), six of which I keep down south, six of which I keep up north, and one that travels with me. So that means I have seven pistols with me at all times.

I go to the range twice each week, usually taking a different pistol during each visit, and shoot a minimum of 50 shots during each session. After shooting, I run a Bore snake dampened with Break Free CLP though the barrel twice, then put the pistol away.

Each time out, I lube the pistol before visiting the range, using Militec-1® Lubricant.

Before changing residences, each pistol is stripped and cleaned, lubed, and placed in a Bore Stores silicone-treated gun sock, where it rests for six months in the gun cabinet.

Doing the math, that means that each pistol gets approximately 400 rounds though it during one year and gets cleaned once each year. Haven’t had any rust or functional problems with any of my guns over the past five years I’ve been doing it this way. So if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

If you enjoy cleaning your guns, it means you don't own enough guns.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
If you enjoy cleaning your guns, it means you don't own enough guns.

And you don’t shoot enough!

I actually hate cleaning my guns. Especially my ARs. It's messy and time consuming. Cleaning revolvers? Awful. Especially stainless steel models. I do it, reluctantly because I eventually just have to.

I'm a little ashamed and embarrassed to admit this, but there has been a time or two that I've actually decided not to go to the range because of the prospect of cleaning the guns afterwards. I enjoy the shooting, but I don't really enjoy the cleaning anymore. Maybe I'm getting old...

Please don't dump on me too much for that...that was hard to share...

My carry gun gets cleaned sometimes without being fired because gets covered in dirt and dust when bailing hay. I think the tractor seat poofs dust up the holster opening wile bouncing around. I carry over the pants and under the belt so the end is open. Probably should run a vacuum over the seat once in a wile instead of just blowing the cab out.

I need counseling. I never go past 200 rounds without cleaning. Is there a cure?

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
IMO, this “surgical clean” shit began with the military. A weapon is never returned to the armory until the the Q-tip wipes clean.

It'a amazing how an activity used to kill(waste) time in basic training became a mantra that decades of essentially firearms illiterate NCOs and Officers jam into junior members heads as "life or death".

So now we clean guns until the rifling is worn, the crown is chipped and scratched, the protective finished is removed, rust appears as you watch, and parts get worn from the constant removal and replacement... but they're "clean".

There's a time to clean guns, but every time you fire a mags worth of ammo on an indoor range is not that. Imagine changing the oil and flushing the transmission every single time you drove to the grocery store; that's how people clean their guns.

This has been a fun thread for sure.

As far as my cleaning routine goes, I've gone from anal about cleaning my firearms to just running a bore snake through the barrel and lubing the rails and running a brush around the extractor then wipe down the exterior with a silicone rag every 200-300 rds. or so. I don't recall ever having a gun fail due to being dirty with the exception of a S&W M41 after about 1,000 shots back in the 70's.

Judging from all of the responses so far I'm either still anal or I'm going die some day if I ever get in a gun battle.

Like I said, this has been a fun thread.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by SigFan:
I'm a little ashamed and embarrassed to admit this, but there has been a time or two that I've actually decided not to go to the range because of the prospect of cleaning the guns afterwards. I enjoy the shooting, but I don't really enjoy the cleaning anymore. Maybe I'm getting old...

Please don't dump on me too much for that...that was hard to share...

Understandable out there in the desert. Even with AC or for me when I was there going to Grad School an evaporative cooler. I don’t have any of those guns from that time 30 + years ago but not due to lack of cleaning.

I was a little bored and had thought about cleaning a couple of guns when I came across this thread. Luckily, reading seven pages of comments took up the time I would have devoted to the guns, so cleaning has been postponed.

A majority of my pistols used to be stainless, but I have been eliminating them, partially because black guns don't show they are dirty as readily.

when I go to either a uspsa match,indoor or outdoor range my round count is usually over 300-400 rds so I usually shoot a bit so I clean my pistols every time out.I used to use breakfree CLP till it discolored the duuty treatment on my DW guardian and have since switched to using only Kroil on everything.

quote:

Originally posted by SigFan:
I'm a little ashamed and embarrassed to admit this, but there has been a time or two that I've actually decided not to go to the range because of the prospect of cleaning the guns afterwards. I enjoy the shooting, but I don't really enjoy the cleaning anymore. Maybe I'm getting old...

Please don't dump on me too much for that...that was hard to share...

You just need more guns, that's all. When you jam one up with gunk, time for a New York Reload. Problem solved, thank me later.

I just cleaned an already clean gun in honor of this thread!

Glock guys never clean or lube their guns--I have done multiple trigger jobs for glock owning friends and WOW dust bunnies galore and dry as a bone--just sacraligous I say lol

I will tell you what, you have to clean it if it gets rolled around in sand. Hand a glock strapped to a backpack that got rolled down a looong sand dune. Would not even go back into battery. Took it apart. Used a waterpic and it cleaned right up.

Anyway...sand is no joke

I say clean them after every shooting. Only takes a few minutes and many pistols these days are $1000 or more. My question is why wouldn't you clean your weapon after you shoot it?

Price is a factor?

Frankly, if I can't get a $1k+ gun dirty, it's not worth buying. The good news is that most expensive guns are themselves derived from combat arms, and can actually survive fouled conditions just fine. Shocking, I know.

quote:

Originally posted by yanici:
I need counseling. I never go past 200 rounds without cleaning. Is there a cure?

Shoot more often.

Shoot more than 200rds at a time.

Also there are varying degrees of 'clean'. Some hypochondriac-ish cleaners do a deep clean every single time.

Personally a quick field strip, wipe down, lube is about all a pistol will ever need for the majority of cleanings.

But again, some people prefer cleaning to shooting. I get it - cleaning guns costs a lot less than shooting them.

There are really few "musts" in firearm care. It is just plain fact that guns can take what some in this thread would call "abuse," and it's actually far from abuse.

Abuse, in reality, would boil down to one primary thing: Not changing springs. Even if you're cleaning your gun, if you are not minding the round count and changing particularly the recoil spring, you will damage the gun. Period. Namely the frame, so springs are a must.

Another must, is keeping the firearms in a stable, humidity controlled space. I might not clean my guns as often as some, but damn tootin' do I have a safe with a Goldenrod, that isn't in direct contact with the walls or floor of the basement.

It's also worth noting that a full cleaning and oil down the barrel is what I do when I know I'm "mothballing" something. With a few exceptions, like my SKS, and the K98, which have a protective and historic dirt layer.

Also, I do actually wipe down 2 guns after handling them. My remaining Python, and the 952. While I am a brute, I'm no savage, and fingerprints burned into blue simply won't do.

Ultimately, some of us are white glove museum types, and some of us are reckless savages. The rest are in between. Because of the technology and the actual robustness of firearms, there can be this wide variety.

If you haven't, you should take the journey I recommend in my OP. See how long it takes for your weapon of choice to stop working just from round count. It will be educational, and it will only build your confidence in the gun. Unless you've chosen a piece of garbage.