With all metal handguns after how many rounds is it recommended that the magazines be cleaned? When you clean a magazine do you disassemble the magazine or just soak them in a solution or pour boiling water (soap)over them?

Magazines should be cleaned every so often. There isn't really a "one size fits all" schedule. A lot depends on how you use them. They aren't really subject to the powder residue that gets the gun dirty. If you've been at a match or realistic practice at a range and you dropped them in the dirt, of course you should clean them after you get home.

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With all metal handguns after how many rounds is it recommended that the magazines be cleaned?

I don't see how what the gun is made from makes any difference.

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When you clean a magazine do you disassemble the magazine or just soak them in a solution or pour boiling water (soap)over them?

You have to disassemble them. Contaminants on the outside can simply be wiped off. For debris on the inside, if you try to just wash it out, it has no place to exit other than the cartridge counter holes. Most modern magazines are fairly easy to take down, and there are specially shaped brushes available to clean out the inside of the tube. No lubrication is needed, as the typical plastic follower is slick enough.

I bought the magazine cleaning brushes and they work well. I wipe down the follower and mag body after every shoot. A full disassembly and clean yearly.

I just disassemble and wipe down when visibly cruddy.

I take them apart and clean them when they get visibly dirty. After most range sessions, they just get a quick wipe down.

I buy used magazines at times, or older ones may come with a gun. I most often take them apart & clean them up with an unknown history.

I know there are schools of thought on lube, but if excessively dry I use a lightly oiled cloth on the guts. Mine don’t end up in the dust or dirt just about never.

As needed, but a minimum of once per year.
I don’t get too fussy. Pop it apart, run a brush through them, wipe down pieces, blow off with compressed air, and done.
About 1 minute per mag.

In normal use (not dropping in dirt), magazines just don't get that dirty. Perhaps a time schedule, like once a year, or twice a year at, for example, the DST time changes.

I was once given a P220 magazine along with the pistol for semiannual servicing, and after I removed the rounds I noticed it rattled when I shook it. When I disassembled it I found a small pebble inside that had obviously gotten introduced during the officer’s last range session that involved dropping the mags on the ground during reload exercises. Regardless of whether the rock could have caused any malfunctions, it indicated that the user was very lax in his concerns about weapon maintenance and reliability.

I point out to officers that magazines are part of the gun and they should be inspected and cleaned whenever the rest of the gun is inspected and cleaned—that is, after every range session and as a minimum at other regular times. Part of that’s important because their handguns are carried in open holsters and stuff accumulates on and in the guns and mags even if they’re not used. Inspection and cleaning after range sessions is important because if a problem is going to develop, it’s almost certainly going to be when the gun is used.

How important all that is of course dependent on various factors. Virtually all of my practice and training with handguns involves reloads and dropping magazines onto sand and gravel, so they get exposed to things that shooters at an indoor range don’t subject their mags to.
But I also have separate range magazines and I’m not a competitor who might lose a match if a magazine malfunctions, so I don’t worry much about cleaning them despite my general philosophy and guidance.

And cleaning magazines is not difficult if it’s performed reasonably often: unload, disassemble, brush off the dust and debris from the innards and floor plate (an armorer’s brush is handy for the purpose), wipe down the tube and run a paper towel or rag through the inside, and that’s all that’s required. If a mag has been dropped in a tar pit or latrine then it will obviously require somewhat more than that, but otherwise nothing more should be necessary for most magazines.

If a magazine cannot be disassembled and it’s dropped in a mud hole or something similar, then thoroughly flushing it out with boiling water and then drying it with a hair dryer or heat gun to remove all the moisture might be necessary, but hopefully no one depends on such magazines for serious purposes in this day and age. (Metal GI-type AR mags are of course difficult to disassemble, and that’s why I prefer Magpul magazines for training and have separate metal mags that are used for only that purpose.)

What they said. As needed but I wipe the mag bodies and followers religiously after every range trip.

After a lot of rounds you might start seeing some unburnt powder or other gunk in side of when you push the follows down. I will give a tear down then.

Now if your training/fun/competition involves you slinging mags out of the gun onto various surfaces or into various contaminants I would break them down every time.

If I took apart magazines and cleaned them regularly, it might be a full time job. I am drowning in magazines. I'm a big believer in keeping at least ten per firearm, and I try to keep more. In some cases, a lot more, and in a few cases tubs of them.

Magazines should be kept clean. I try to clean firearms after each use, though my time is often limited, and I'll admit, they dont' get torn down and cleaned and re-greased as often as I used to. Time budgeting demands choices.

In the case of magazines, it really depends on their exposure. Has that magazine been in a firearm on a hip, or has it been sitting for six months or a year? Probably not in need of dismantling, and cleaning. Has that magazine been dropped in the gravel, running between stages at a steel match? Probably needs cleaned frequently, and is full of dust and grit.

Does the follower move smoothly, no sign of binding or friction? Is the follower dirty? Does the mag rattle? Is the mag dusty? I'm more about cleaning mags on condition and based on exposure, than in the habit of setting a cleaning schedule, for them.

Unless it is really really dirty I don’t take mags apart. In truth I can’t say I’ve ever actually gotten a mag dirty enough that besides a simple wipe down it could cause a malfunction. This includes mags used in matches dropped onto whatever surface I was on. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea but it also doesn’t sound all that necessary.

Not for you guys but for the average shooter I also think it increases the chance of reassembly error. Many mags can be reassembled with the spring backwards or the floor plate seemingly tight but not really. Not that this would happen to you guys but I don’t necessarily think it’s good advice for everyone. They could literally make a problem where none existed before.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:
I take them apart and clean them when they get visibly dirty. After most range sessions, they just get a quick wipe down.

Pretty much this right here is what I do too.

Ever since I moved down south, light corrosion from the humidity is an additional concern. Two methods to clean a magazine: 1) simply brush and/or wipe the exterior and 2) disassemble and clean. I always use normal gun cleaning products, ( I am not a fan of hosing steel gun/magazine parts down with water - only in extreme cases. )

A silicon gun wipe or silicone impregnated cloth for the interior. Or, lightly lubed with a general purpose gun oil, ( one without a penetrating feature, ) and wipe thoroughly.

When I carried them for a living, I'd clean them after each work week (4days) so that they'd be clean for the start of my next week. Being out in the elements exposed them to dirt, dust, and food particles regularly.

When practicing for competition, I'd normally clean every 1k rounds and always before a big match. Cleaning entailed disassembling them and cleaning out the tube, follower and spring.

When I worked a match where Mike Seeklander was competing, I noticed that he cleaned his Beretta 92 magazines, used on that stage, after each stage...disassembling each and running a brush through them.

Only when an inspection reveals they need it, which isn't often.

Thanks for all the insight, the Sig Forum is a great
source of information.

As stated, certainly no one size fits all answer and their use dictates. With my home range being all sand, some match mags would get cleaned after one or two stages. (so less than one or two mags full) I have other guns I've owned for decades and have never clean the inside.

I like a mag brush and a mag "mop" and some oil.

No set interval really.

I do have a Ruger LCP that I pocket carry most of the week in a very dusty enviroment, and every now and then I unload the mag to blow out lint and dust.

When I was a cop, I cleaned the mags when I cleaned the gun. Fired, exposed to rain, dirt, sand etc

When I shoot uspsa, I clean the mags (just disassemble and run a mag brush thru them) after they are dropped in the sand

Nowadays, Whenever I clean a gun, I clean the magazine.

I clean my EDC about once a month if I think about it...mag gets torn apart and wiped down...but it’s a g19 and will function clean or dirty.

I have cleaned a magazine only a few times in my life. Then again I don't abuse my guns so never needed to. Hell I don't even remember the last time I actually cleaned any guns that I regularly shoot!