Detail Stripping: Poll

How many of your guns have you DETAIL stripped?

  • None

    Votes: 26 19.5%

  • Some, but fewer than half

    Votes: 46 34.6%

  • More than half but not all of them

    Votes: 35 26.3%

  • All of them

    Votes: 26 19.5%
  • Total voters
    133
  • Poll closed .
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1

19-3Ben

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1911Tuner's thread about detail stripping got me to wondering just how many of us have actually ever detail stripped our pistols.

My answer, is that I have never detail stripped one of mine. Sure I field strip them all the time for routing cleaning, but have never seen a need to break it down to the "the bits."

For those of you who do detail strip, why do you?
If you are stripping older guns and newer designs what do you see as the biggest differences between them?
 
I detail strip all new to me guns after I get them home whether factory new or used. I've had older revolvers with congealed oil than needed to be scrubbed at to properly clean and new guns with grit from the manufacturing processes that wouldn't be removed otherwise (Kahr).
 
all guns

All the time...A clean gun no matter what, is more reliable. Its just percentage of probability. It also allows me to verify operation of everything.

what if you overlook something on the firing pin, the extractor, the safety plunger, the hammer, etc. High probability ? No...but I do it also because I enjoy it...
 
On the other hand, what if you take it a part and don't put it back together correctly or leave a part out?...
 
I've torn down a few to replace or modify parts and in a couple of cases simply because I wanted to know where the parts were and what they did. I have never detail stripped a gun just to clean it.
 
I've detail stripped all except my P226 and P228, mostly because the SIG-Sauers have roll pins that must be replaced when removed, they can't be reused.
 
What he said.

1911's and all Colt & S&W revolvers I own have been apart for detail cleaning as soon I got home with them.
I have detail stripped enough 1911's in the Army to do it blind folded with one hand to this day.

You might find someone's lunch box inside a new gun.
Let alone all the steel cuttings & chips they don't bother to clean out.

DA/SA autos, (SIG, S&W, etc) not so much as you can do more harm then good dinking with them.

But they get hosed out real good with WD--40, then blown out with a 120 PSI air compressor and re-oiled with gun oil.

rc
 
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I only detail strip a gun if it has problems that need fixing or I am "upgrading" something in it. Otherwise, a field strip is as far as I go.

I'm one of those guys that doesn't find pleasure in taking stuff apart for the sake of taking stuff apart. I have plenty of repairs and projects to take care of without adding to my work pile. :)
 
All of my fighting pistols and carbines. Except I haven't figured out my Kahr yet, but I don't trust my Kahr yet. (less than 1000 rounds) So that can wait.

Generally I detail strip and clean the slides on my Glock's and 1911's every time I clean them. It's easy and harmless. Maybe I'll detail strip the frame 2 times a year, because you can only drive those pins in and out so many times. And the frame has less critical issues with dirt, I can just hose it down with CLP.

It's important to know exactly how your weapon works so you can properly maintain it instead of listening to internet nonsense like "you don't have to clean Glock's". And then, it's fair to try to improve them towards your needs.
 
I have. With my 1911s its more for inspection than cleaning, otherwise I generally don't unless the outside world ends up inside my firearm.

edit: I haven't detail stripped my K9 (yet), but I haven't had it long.
 
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On the other hand, what if you take it a part and don't put it back together correctly or leave a part out?...
Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect my car to run properly if I did that, so I wouldn't expect my gun to either.
 
If I can take it apart

I can put it back together.

I usually avoid doing the trigger area, hammer, sear, etc. because they tend not to get fouled and easy to access...but firing pin, safety plunger, etc. for sure.

All of this stuff including the trigger assembly is VERY easy on a Glock. Not so much on my CZ's which require knocking out pins and such..
 
I was always told that carry guns should be "armored" (detail stripped, inspected, cleaned, oiled / greased, & test fired to confirm function & zero) annually. I also like to have mine ultrasonically cleaned at least twice a year.
 
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I'm one of the "all of them." Why? for various reasons, but the most common one is because mostly what I have comes or came to me used through trade or purchase in the used market, and I want to be sure of their condition by making a complete inspection and through cleaning.

New guns sometime come with abrasives and metal chips still hiding inside, and these days few are fully inspected at the factory and therefore may contain defective parts or workmanship from git-go. If that's the case I'd rather find out sooner then later, and it's also one of the reasons I prefer guns made during an earlier era.
 
All my pistols, none of my revolvers.
All my shotguns.
All my semi-auto and bolt action rifles, not the lever action.
 
When it's been a heavy shooting year, they get detail stripped in January (usually the end of my season for a few months). This past year, however, wasn't a lot of shooting. A few thousand rounds, but spaced out over months and regular cleanings between range sessions. So no detail strips this year.

Unless I get incredibly bored this February.
 
My 1911 just to learn how it works. AR's to replace / upgrade parts and thoroughly clean after shooting SBR'd and suppressed, Glock to replace trigger spring and then entirely to learn it better. AK pistol to remove guts for engraving and SBRing, M&P pistol to change out parts. Ruger 10/22 replacing trigger, Mossberg 930 because I had to.

Never touched my revolvers (yet) P22, Kahr CM9, Kel Tecs (any of them), Rem 870, drawing a blank on what else.
 
I answered only more than half. Some are new in the box and others are too old to risk damaging. Sooner or later almost all the "shooters" get a detailed strip. I do not like detail stripping little Kel-tec P-32s and PF-9s. I hate roll pins, and even though I have roll pin punches, I see no need to remove them unless absolutely necessary.

I really appreciate AR-15s, Glocks, 1911s, S&W/Ruger/Webley revolvers, and a few others for the ease of detailed stripping.
 
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Very interesting poll results. I didn't expect as many people to have detail stripped so many of their guns. I expected it would be very heavily weighted in favor of no guns or fewer than half.
 
To those of you who do detail strip, do feel it has had a measurable influence on the reliability of your pistols?

Old Fuff touched on part of my OP, by talking about the crud, and defective parts that are symptomatic of the poor QC in modern guns. Have you guys noticed any differences in the ease of disassembly with modern pistols?
Intuitively, it seems like with more CNC and less hand fitting, there ought to be simpler parts in the modern guns, but not having detail stripped my guns, i can't speak to it from personal experience.
 
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