Cleaning frequency

[thegerb50 0]

I'm waiting for my FID to come in but will be getting a 10/22 and a M1 shortly after it arrives. How frequently do I need to clean my guns using non corrosive ammo?

[alec.mc 180]

When it starts to malfunction.

[alec.mc 180]

on a more serious note, it really comes down to personal preference, some guys like to clean it after every range trip, other guys dont clean it until it's hard to pull the slide back cause of all the gritt.

[checko 180]

When I first got my guns I would clean it if I even looked at it wrong. Now I wait till it l can't pick it up without getting some residue on it.

 

They don't malfunction.

[Maksim 1,504]

If it is a gun I regularly shoot.... ie, match gun... I will clean it at the latest, every other match. If it is a gun I just took out to the range to play with, and will likely not shoot again for a year or so. lol, I will clean it immediately.

 

At the very least, run a boresnake and some oil to keep it from rusting. Some guns develop rust easily.

 

22lr guns, you need to clean regularly as it gets dirtier faster, especially since most 22 ammo you buy in bulk is lead.

 

For my reloads, I now use plated, or jhp, with no exposed lead base, so they really stay clean.

[Vlad G 345]

Huh, I almost never clean my 22s and the work fine. Actually I almost never clean the guns I use a lot. The once in a while guns get cleaned promptly to avoid issues, but my higher volume guns (AR, competition pistols) get cleaned like 3-4 times a year. They wiped down, and lube added as necessary, but cleaned .. Only if they need it.

[bulpup 98]

I actually like the ritual. As a new gun owner I think you might as well clean it after each trip, just to get intimate with the process. Just don't go crazy with the cleaner if you do it frequently.

 

I prefer to least disassemble and do a quick wipedown after each trip with a large patch. I put two small drops of cleaner/oil on the patch. If that makes it too wet then i go over it with another dry one. That and two runs through with a bore snake. I don't spend more than five minutes on each, if that.

 

 

I do this so that i don't just shoot and put the weapon away without an inspection, but it also makes that big cleaning go a lot quicker.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fishnut 2,358]

I have OCD when it comes to my guns i clean all my guns after every time i shoot them and i am not a new gun owner i have had guns for the last 17 years. I enjoy sitting down with a beer or two and breaking the gun down and cleaning it almost as much as shooting them. But i say again i think i have OCD when it comes to my guns LOL.

[rightisright 3]

Boresnakes are your friend. I clean all my guns w. a boresnake after each use. It only takes a few minutes. They get a detail cleaning when they need it.

 

As to .22s, I know a lot of guys who never clean them until they have a malfunction.

[Old Glock guy 1,127]

on a more serious note, it really comes down to personal preference, some guys like to clean it after every range trip, other guys dont clean it until it's hard to pull the slide back cause of all the gritt.

 

As you can see from the subsequent posts, this is dead on. Personally, I lean more toward the latter.

[JC_68Westy 1,024]

I clean most guns after each use. Mostly just a quick field strip. I never let a gun get so dirty that it fails. I want my guns ready for use at all times.

[rightisright 3]

I clean most guns after each use. Mostly just a quick field strip. I never let a gun get so dirty that it fails. I want my guns ready for use at all times.

 

Ah, yes. Any of my guns that would be potentially used for HD get cleaned after a range trip. The rest of them I'm not so picky about.

[alowerlevel 77]

Ive cleaned my AR once in the last 1.5 years, and even then all I did was run a couple patches down the bore.

[Combat Auto 174]

Best to go by round count rather than range trips...But I find that after each trip where I shoot ~150 rounds it needs to get cleaned...The feed ramp gets pretty dirty...Also depends how long you want your pistol to last - to me new oil/grease is your friend...On the rifle side, I have an M1a and just clean the bore, chamber, and action - maybe a spot of re-lube on on reachable parts when it is fully assembled - dosn't take long at all...Tear-down and gas system cleaning after 500 rounds I am told (not at that point yet)...I am probably more maticulous than I need to be on the pistols....For both I find the biggest time sink to be copper removal in the bore (lots of argument out thier weather copper removal is necessary at all though)..Hum, I kind of think that the bore was designed without copper in the rifling so it should be removed....I have found a copper romover yet that works that well.

[Combat Auto 174]

Best to go by round count rather than range trips...But I find that after each trip where I shoot ~150 rounds it needs to get cleaned...The feed ramp gets pretty dirty...Also depends how long you want your pistol to last - to me new oil/grease is your friend...On the rifle side, I have an M1a and just clean the bore, chamber, and action - maybe a spot of re-lube on on reachable parts when it is fully assembled - dosn't take long at all...Tear-down and gas system cleaning after 500 rounds I am told (not at that point yet)...I am probably more maticulous than I need to be on the pistols....For both I find the biggest time sink to be copper removal in the bore (lots of argument out thier weather copper removal is necessary at all though)..Hum, I kind of think that the bore was designed without copper in the rifling so it should be removed....I have found a copper romover yet that works that well.

Correction last line - shuld be: I have (not) found a copper remover yet that works that well.

[alec.mc 180]

I guess it depends on the gun as well, I primarily shoot a lot if Ruger rimfires and (s&w)revolvers, both just seem to run and run and run

[MikeK77 8]

How about that hand gun that you just happen to leave in the drawer....just in case?

 

Should you run some oil through it every so often?

[rightisright 3]

Correction last line - shuld be: I have (not) found a copper remover yet that works that well.

 

Cheap and smelly way? Half 10% ammonia and half dish detergent.

 

More expensive and less smelly? M Pro Copper Remover.

[DbleTrouble 8]

I usually shoot my home defense guns at the range so I clean them after every use. If you want to avoid malfunctions cleaning is key

[Tactical Turtle 11]

Depends if u rely on the gun.. hd and carry guns.. I clean and lube every few months wether or not they need it. Now my range guns... my ar has been cleaned once I the 10 months I've owned it.. my saiga doesnt know what a cleaning is... my mp 15-22every time I shoot it. So yes its upto u

[areacode201 4]

I clean after every range trip.

[jamesbod 0]

every time.

just do it while you watch TV

[Vlad G 345]

The feed ramp gets pretty dirty...Also depends how long you want your pistol to last - to me new oil/grease is your friend....

 

There is a difference between oiling and cleaning. I have handguns approaching 70k rounds that only get cleaned every 1000 rounds or so, and keeping going. They get more oil when they need it.

 

I have no issues with folks cleaning their gun after every trip, to me it is like changing the oil and washing your car after every drive to work. Mind you, I used to do the same when I started shooting, but after a while I observed that lots of high volume shooters weren't that worried and their guns work, so I rather spend my time loading more ammo then cleaning guns.

[Combat Auto 174]

There is a difference between oiling and cleaning. I have handguns approaching 70k rounds that only get cleaned every 1000 rounds or so, and keeping going. They get more oil when they need it.

 

I have no issues with folks cleaning their gun after every trip, to me it is like changing the oil and washing your car after every drive to work. Mind you, I used to do the same when I started shooting, but after a while I observed that lots of high volume shooters weren't that worried and their guns work, so I rather spend my time loading more ammo then cleaning guns.

Vlad, Thanks for sharring your many years of expierence...I guess many of us are influenced by the pistol-manufacturers recomendations, movies of marines having their rifles inspected by the drill sergant, and promos from the endless number of makers of brushes, patches, oils, etc....That aside, you have to admit - there is nothing like a clean-weopon and a shinny, shinny barrel to shine your surefire flashlight down ;-)...Seriously, I am not ready to go 1000 rounds but certainly I may try cleaning every other range visit - say about 300-400 rounds on my (Range-guns)....For my bedside gun, i am still cautiuos not to clean it after 100+ rounds or so. I shoot nothing but JHP in that and the feed ramp gets so dirty. But I am glad you shared you experience cause I thing some of us (like me) tend to get to obseced about cleaning these things - and obviously we have more flexibiity here.

[ruger9 0]

How about that hand gun that you just happen to leave in the drawer....just in case?

 

Should you run some oil through it every so often?

 

Good question. Some people (including one FFL) I know, think that even if you have a gun you don't shoot EVER, still needs to be oiled once every 6 mos?

[Urban Grunt 44]

Some guns need cleaning more frequently than others to maintain accuracy

[Combat Auto 174]

What do folks think about a middle of the road approach: Every shoot - run a bore snake through for some bulk removal...Then periodically, a full field strip and cleaning - say 500 rounds or the 1000 rounds Vlad mentioned? (has anyone used a bore snake?)

[Vlad G 345]

Boresnakes are cool, but for my money barrel cleaning is even less needed then other types of cleaning. If you are shooting high velocity rifle rounds through a match barrel, then yes cleaning bores matters. I even run a boresnake through my AR now and then but with chromed lines barrels cleaning them with a boresnake is really efficient. Pistol barrels I almost never clean unless I notice heavy deposits from molly bullets, and if I was shooting lead I'd worry about that. Jacketed ammo through pistol barrels I really don't worry about at all, for many thousands of rounds, I'll clean the rest of the gun long before the barrel. Last time I gave my M&P handgun a real cleaning I noticed that my guide rod (an aftermarket NOT captive type) had become a captive guide rod, holding the 15lb spring compressed from the hardened crud that had built up at the muzzle end of the guide rod from powder residue. I had to chip it off with a blade before it finally released the spring. Gun still worked just fine.

 

However, when I say this about my cleaning habits, I guess I should also mention that I have little tolerance for guns that don't work when dirty. I suppose if you own a gun that just doesn't work dirty, then clean it as needed, I just don't happen to own any guns that won't run dirty far longer then I can tolerate the crud that builds up on them after 1000rd or so. If the crud offends you, then by all means clean them. Unless you take brushes to the bore like a madman every time you clean your gun, you are not really going to damage it so there is nothing wrong with cleaning it all the time.

 

As an interesting anecdote, Bravo Company will often include a printout of the Filthy 14 story when you order something for them. The pdf link on their page is broke right now, and since the article was written the rifle went past 42000 rounds.

 

Here are some scans of the original article

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mind you, I don't recommend you do that, and neither is the article's author, but it is an interesting experiment in how much cleaning "finicky" guns really need.

 

So in conclusion, clean as much as you want to, but you probably don't NEED to clean more then what the gun tells you it needs. For some guns that might be more then others, let that be your guide. If you just like shinny things, then by all means clean as much as makes you happy.

[Socom 19]

I'm a slacker I clean when it looks stupid dirty.

[mattio41 0]

Call me anal, but I typically will shoot 150-200 rounds per pistol when I go. And when I come home, I field strip and clean. I prefer to put away clean. Don't know when the next time it will get used.