How often should you clean your pistol?


How often should you clean your pistol?

  • Never

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Weekly whether you shoot it or not

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11

HKS

New member
I have heard different answers to the question "how often should you clean your pistol?"

What is your own view?

Where did you learn it?

Why do you think it is more important than the other choices?
 

Uncle Sam's D/I's taught us to clean it before we turned it back into the armory whether we shot it or not.

Since then I have decided that "every time you shoot it" is the right answer.

I shoot monthly therefore de facto I am cleaning mine monthly.
 
My cleaning regimen depends on the application the pistol in question is used for.

Competition target shooting .22lr is left alone until accuracy begins to degrade regardless of round count just because some .22 target pistols have to be shot after cleaning to regain consistent accuracy.

Hi Point 9mm that was bought just to see how long it would last before failing is never cleaned.

Range guns are cleaned after every use.

Open carry defensive guns regardless of caliber are cleaned after use. Pocket carry guns regardless of caliber are either cleaned after being shot or if not shot are cleaned about once a month to get pocket dust/dirt out.

Safe queens are brought out periodically to clean just to have an opportunity to admire them.
 
I really need to clean and re-oil both my Beretta and Ruger even though they haven't been shot in a couple months but because the Ruger is my primary carry pistol, it really needs a good cleaning.

But all in all, I clean mine after every time I shoot them.
 
It depends.

When a gun gets shot, it gets cleaned. Period. One shot, 500 rounds in a session, it doesn't matter. Carry guns are inspected prior to being holstered and are cleaned as needed (meaning, if it's dirty, then it gets a light cleaning) between range trips. Match guns get cleaned after every match or practice session and detail stripped and scrubbed roughly quarterly. Safe Queens get cleaned once a year. BP guns get cleaned immediately after every time they are shot. BP cartridge match guns get cleaned after every session and detailed stripped and detail cleaned once a month.

On the other hand, there's various levels of 'cleaning', too.

There's 'light cleaning'. A field strip, wipe off the powder residue and a pass or two of a dry patch down the barrel is all I see the need to do if the gun's only been shot a couple times or a carry gun that hasn't been shot recently but is getting grungy.

Then there's field stripped and scrubbed down until spotless and relubed. Every other cleaning, the stocks come off and all the nooks and crevasses get hosed out.

That's 'normal' cleaning.

There's also 'serious' cleaning.

That's full detail stripped (stocks off, action fully disassembled to it's individual components, bolts and slides fully disassembled, ... the only thing I don't routinely pull in this case is buttplates) and everything scrubbed (bronze brushes or tooth brushes, depending on what is appropriate) inside and out, degreased, relubed and reassembled.

BP guns enjoy a long soak in hot water mixed 10:1 with Ballistoil and THEN a scrubbing, drying, cooling and full relubing.

That's quarterly for hard used smokeless match guns, monthly for hard used BP match guns, as needed* or at least annually for everything else.

*'As needed' usually means after every 4th range trip or every 500 rounds, whichever comes first.
 
I don't ever do a complete breakdown. That requires special knowledge and tools that I don't have.

Whenever I clean, I field strip the pistol, carbine, or shotgun and scrub all the parts with bore cleaner, wipe them dry, oil the springs everywhere, wipe the excess oil off, then reassemble, test, and dry fire them.

When I am sure they are correctly reassembled then I load them. Only my safe-queen hunting rifle does not get loaded.

The pistol gets loaded, chambered, and the hammer is carefully let down on a live cartridge for Cooper's condition #2.

The carbine and shotgun get loaded but the chamber on both stays empty until the weapon is needed.

The pistol goes into its holster where it remains until it is again fired and then cleaned.
 
I clean them after I shoot them.

My hunting gear may not see service again for awhile.

My carry gear needs to not smell like its just been shot.
 
I have heard different answers to the question "how often should you clean your pistol?"

What is your own view?

Where did you learn it?

Why do you think it is more important than the other choices?

Lot of "it depends on (x)" with this question.
I carry a 1911, so it's cleaned after any amount of shooting, and since it's not polymer, it's wiped with oil 2-3 times/week.

When it's "cleaned" for me that means field stripped, barrel brushed, all accessible parts cleaned with solvent, then lightly oiled before reassembly. After reassembly, all exposed metal gets a light coat of oil.

IMO IMO IMO - I carry the thing for self defense, so I want it as close to perfect condition as possible. Cleaning frequently isn't a problem for my situation....


Sent from my iPhone using Link Removed
 

New Threads

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
49,542
Messages
611,255
Members
74,961
Latest member
Shodan
Back
Top