18 rounds: would you clean it?

Status
Not open for further replies.
If I knew I was going to shoot it again soon and it wasn't filthy, probably wouldn't clean it. If I knew I wouldn't be shooting it for a while, I'd definitely clean it.
 
Seems like maybe some of the most recent commentators didn’t read the first post:

thunderbyrd said:
when i got it home, i ran a bore brush through the barrel and each cylinder a few times. i put a touch of oil on the extractor rod.
Click to expand...
The question is, what more would need to be done assuming non-corrosive primers and smokeless powders?
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Seems like maybe some of the most recent commentators didn’t read the first post:


The question is, what more would need to be done assuming non-corrosive primers and smokeless powders?
Click to expand...
Is it "clean" after doing that? If youre going to the trouble, might as well do it right.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
What more would need to be done assuming non-corrosive primers and smokeless powders?
Click to expand...
I guess everyone has a different idea as to what "clean" is. If its clean, its clean, if its not, its not. I guess it all depends on what you call "clean" too.

I was at a Boy Scout outing where we were shooting a good bit of all sorts of stuff. Afterward, we were all sitting around cleaning what we'd shot, and one of the other dads basically cleaned his revolver as was mentioned above, a swipe or two with a brush, a wet patch, and a dry patch and he was done. He was getting on me for taking so long and using so many patches. I said it takes what it takes to get it clean. He said it doesnt take that much, and I bet him a buck that if I wet brushed his gun again, the patch would come out "dark" dirty, and would keep coming out like that for more than just a couple of patches. He lost that bet. ;)

I clean a number of different guns every week. Im not overly anal about it, but the guns are clean and freshly lubed when Im done. In other words, the patches come out closer to white than they show a lot of crap on them.

They never come out "white", like they went in, but if they keep coming out with more black on them than white, the gun isnt yet "clean". It might be cleaner than when you started, but its not clean.
 
trackskippy said:
I guess everyone has a different idea as to what "clean" is. If its clean, its clean, if its not, its not. I guess it all depends on what you call "clean" too.

I was at a Boy Scout outing where we were shooting a good bit of all sorts of stuff. Afterward, we were all sitting around cleaning what we'd shot, and one of the other dads basically cleaned his revolver as was mentioned above, a swipe or two with a brush, a wet patch, and a dry patch and he was done. He was getting on me for taking so long and using so many patches. I said it takes what it takes to get it clean. He said it doesnt take that much, and I bet him a buck that if I wet brushed his gun again, the patch would come out "dark" dirty, and would keep coming out like that for more than just a couple of patches. He lost that bet. ;)

I clean a number of different guns every week. Im not overly anal about it, but the guns are clean and freshly lubed when Im done. In other words, the patches come out closer to white than they show a lot of crap on them.

They never come out "white", like they went in, but if they keep coming out with more black on them than white, the gun isnt yet "clean". It might be cleaner than when you started, but its not clean.
Click to expand...
I replaced the buffer in my wife's H&R Model HK4 .380/.22LR last week. After 40+ years the factory orange fiber buffer finally had it and I replaced it with a "red buffer" - fantastic product, BTW. I took it to the indoor range, fired four 7-round mags loaded with my .380ACP loads through it - Hornady 100gr. FMJ over 3.2gr. W231 - just to check the action and noticed the POA-vs-POI seemed to have shifted. I took it apart at the firing line, reseated the barrel, checked the buffer, etc. and put a fifth mag through it - 35 rounds total fired up to this point. POI and POA were again aligned. Must have been me. A sixth and seventh mag - now at 50 rounds total, a "full box" - and all's good with the HK4. I swapped to the .22LR barrel - which involves flipping the breech face and shifting the FP up into the rimfire position, as well as swapping barrels - and fired three rounds - all POI=POA and functioned correctly. Done. When I got home I disassembled the HK4, wiped the feed ramp and breech face with an oily rag, and ran a brush down the .22 barrel after removing it, wiped it clean and put it back in the box. The rest of the pistol got a "complete" cleaning with Hoppes and light mineral oil.

Q: What more does anyone think should have been done to that .22 barrel? A 5-patch routine with 2xHoppe's+2xclean+1xoiled? Boiled in purified water before being descaled, cleaned with de-lead, then Hoppe's, then clean patches, then...?? Radiation therapy? Wiped with a Huggies and powdered before placing in a sterile wrap? (since some folks compare their guns to their butts, I figured that ought to be thrown out there as a possibility)

The OP: 18 rounds = 3 cylinders from a revolver. Versus a day-long shooting event, "...shooting a good bit of all sorts of stuff"? Are those two really comparable?
 
trackskippy said:
I guess everyone has a different idea as to what "clean" is. If its clean, its clean, if its not, its not. I guess it all depends on what you call "clean" too.

I was at a Boy Scout outing where we were shooting a good bit of all sorts of stuff. Afterward, we were all sitting around cleaning what we'd shot, and one of the other dads basically cleaned his revolver as was mentioned above, a swipe or two with a brush, a wet patch, and a dry patch and he was done. He was getting on me for taking so long and using so many patches. I said it takes what it takes to get it clean. He said it doesnt take that much, and I bet him a buck that if I wet brushed his gun again, the patch would come out "dark" dirty, and would keep coming out like that for more than just a couple of patches. He lost that bet. ;)

I clean a number of different guns every week. Im not overly anal about it, but the guns are clean and freshly lubed when Im done. In other words, the patches come out closer to white than they show a lot of crap on them.

They never come out "white", like they went in, but if they keep coming out with more black on them than white, the gun isnt yet "clean". It might be cleaner than when you started, but its not clean.
Click to expand...
And what is the point? Are you serving the gun's needs or your own?
 
trackskippy said:
I guess everyone has a different idea as to what "clean" is.
Click to expand...
Just a data point, but from barrel maker Schuemann Barrels

https://szbarrels.com/Portals/0/Doc...rel_Cleaning.pdf?ver=HsveiaoPD4Wz6fMSqzGVYw==

"My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets..."
 
UncleEd said:
Trackskippy,

So for a buck, a guy tricked you into
cleaning his gun. Smart fellow. :rofl:
Click to expand...
LOL. Not quite. :)

I got the buck, and he still had a dirty gun. I just proved it.

CraigC said:
And what is the point? Are you serving the gun's needs or your own?
Click to expand...
Both. My guns have always worked better clean, and didnt shoot any worse clean, so as I see it, Im always going to be ahead.

And no matter which gun I grab, its starting out fresh, and I dont have to worry about it being a problem, because this time out, was the time it decides to act up because it wasnt maintained.

JTQ said:
Just a data point, but from barrel maker Schuemann Barrels

https://szbarrels.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel_Cleaning.pdf?ver=HsveiaoPD4Wz6fMSqzGVYw==

"My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets..."
Click to expand...
Hey, if he says so. Ive been shooting a long time, and Ive never seen a barrel get cleaner all by itself.

If I were trying to shoot one holers with a $10K rifle and ammo, and not cleaning the barrel was the only way to do that, I wouldnt clean the barrel. It would bug the piss out of me, but I wouldnt clean it. :)

Ive owned and shot the snot out of a number of match type rifles over the years, and they all got cleaned every time they were shot. I never noticed a drop off in accuracy due to cleaning them. But Im sure a benchrest shooter would have considered them "inaccurate" rifles. ;)
 
When I was very young I cleaned religiously - partly just because I enjoyed monkeying around with guns, but mostly because I was part of the "That's the way I was taught, daddgummit, so that's the way I do it!" crowd. Over time, as I realized that a lot of what I was taught wasn't necessarily the gospel truth, I began experimenting a bit. I ended up damaging the finish of three blued guns. Two of them were as a result of not wiping off fingerprints - I had very corrosive fingerprints during my 20s, for some reason - and one came from putting a gun into a foam-lined case which the cat had peed in. Dunno what to do about the latter case, other than to use the gun on the cat, but the overall lesson was to wipe off the outside of my blued guns after handling.

Other experiments included never cleaning certain revolvers, including my primary competition gun which saw many thousands of rounds per month. It was based on a stainless S&W 686, and it would get so dirty that it would smudge you if you got too close. It never failed to function, it never lost accuracy, and even though it is essentially worn out now, there still is no kind of damage from lack of cleaning.

As always, folks are welcome to pursue the hobby however they like, but for me, the case is closed. I think @CraigC has it exactly right when he asks whether the Daddgummit crowd is doing it for the guns or for themselves.
 
CraigC said:
How do you know that? So your guns need to be clean and mine don't? How do they know the difference?
Click to expand...
I know that because Ive had trouble with guns not working properly because they were dirty. Mostly 22's, but a few others that had a lot of rounds through them in an outing. If they hadnt been maintained, things would have only been worse.

They seem to know the difference when they start acting up and not working properly. ;)
 
It's a funny thing. I've got 60 rimfire guns and they all go thousands of rounds without cleaning. As I've posted elsewhere, chambers get swabbed every now and then but that's about it.
 
So you do actually clean them on occasion. Whats every now and then?

Ive had 22's that gave trouble after a couple of hundred rounds, and some that will go a number of bricks. I clean them after and dont let things build into trouble.
 
If this question had been asked 20 years ago, there would have been an overwhelming majority of posters saying they meticulously clean every gun after the slightest use. I think that would have been due to the prevalence of military service, or at least being raised by someone with military service. Obsessive cleaning isn't virtuous; it's just an ingrained habit. I tend to be more practical. Whatever their use, my guns get cleaned when and to the extent they become noticeably dirty.
 
This is one of my dirtiest guns that I am proud of. I haven't cleaned it. I have just about filled in the front scope screw hole with enough carbon to where you cannot tell where it is.

At this point, I don't have a handgun or rifle that has been fired that is actually clean.

20210916_223249.jpg
 
A. When do you plan to shoot it, again?
B. Will you lose any sleep if it's not cleaned right away?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
thoughts while cleaning
2
Replies
39
Views
1K
Boattale
Boattale
T
  • Locked
Is detail cleaning absolutely necessary?
2
Replies
40
Views
2K
Joe Demko
J
D
  • Locked
How many of you would sell a handgun to an 18 year old?
2 3 4 5
Replies
104
Views
4K
QUICK_DRAW_McGRAW
Q
N
  • Locked
Cleaning Glock firing pin channel
Replies
12
Views
2K
nofishbob
N
P
  • Locked
Walmart cleaning kit?
Replies
5
Views
615
BADUNAME13
B
Back
Top