What's your semiauto cleaning routine like?

[Squiggy]

I'm wondering what different peoples cleaning routines are like.

How often do you do a simple routine cleaning and how do you clean the action during a routine cleaning?

More importantly, how often do you do a "major cleaning" (detail strip) if at all?

How successful has your routine been? What's the highest lifetime round count you've got out of a semiauto handgun using your cleaning routine?

 

[Clipper]

Unless you experience a stopage...

...Now that the part of the original post I was responding to has been edited out, I will simply say that I thoroughly clean any gun (at home & never in the field or at the range) any time I shoot it, and will periodically clean unused guns just to stay aware of their overall condition.

 

[possum]

I clean every gun after each range session like my life depends on it. I strip it all the way down to my knowledge level, Then

1. put clp on all the parts with the general purpose brush
2. let it set for 5 to 10 minutes
3. Run a patch of copper solvent through the barrel
4. let it set for a few minutes
5. wipe down all the area with a rag
6. detail clean the hard to reach areas with q-tips
7. run a brush down the barrel 3 to 5 times
8. run the patches down the barrel until they are clean
9. spray a light coat of G-96 all all the parts
10. clean out the magazine well with a brush with out clp
11. re-assemble the weapon
12. function check and return to place of duty.

I have been doing this for all my weapons for a long time, my handguns i have not had long because i am just over 21 but i have over 2000rds through my xd .40 service model. 600rds through my Ruger kp95dc. and 400rds through my kahr k40. it works for me. I always say i am gonna torture test them but then i feel bad and have to clean um!

 

[Crosscut]

I feild strip and use Hoppe's bore gel on the Barrel, slide, and reachable portions of the trigger mech, Then the grip areas I can't reach I blow out with a compressor. Wipe the rest off, bore snake, light oil in and on barrel, moly on the slide, re-assemble, and wipe the entire pistol with a reel cloth.

I follow this proceedure every time I shoot my guns, like you said I don't want my gun to fail when I really need it, just because I was lazy and didn't take the half hour to clean it.

 

[heypete]

Depends on the amount of firing.

Light Cleaning:
Sometimes I bring a bunch of guns to the range, and end up shooting my Glock 19 only 20-30 times. When I get home, I just do a very quick cleaning -- run wet/dry patches through the bore until it's clean, wipe the slide rail grooves dry, then lightly oil as instructed in the manual.

Minor Cleaning:
If at the time I stop shooting for the day I've shot more than 50 rounds since the last minor cleaning session I'll field-strip the Glock, clean it, oil it, etc. as perscribed in the manual. (Minor cleaning.)

Major Cleaning:
If at the time I stop shooting for the day I've shot more than 500 rounds since the last major cleaning I'll perform the Minor Cleaning, and then detail-strip (driving out all the pins, removing the fire-control bits, firing pin, extractor pin/spring, etc.) the pistol, cleaning everywhere until it's spotless, lightly oiling (and wiping dry) all the steel, non-moving parts, and oiling (and leaving a thin film of oil) on all moving parts. Basically what a Glock armorer would do.

As for solvents, I use either Break-Free CLP or homemade Ed's Red (fantastic cleaning substance!). For oil/rust prevention, I use Break-Free CLP applied with q-tips.

For the Big Guns (the Browning M1919, for example, which loves to run wet), I'll use Ed's Red oil (50/50 ATF/kero mix), as it works really well, is cheap in bulk, and I'll use a lot of it. For the pistols and bolt-action rifles, I'll generally stick with CLP, as it goes on in small quantities.

 

[MCgunner]

Strip and clean after every range session and lube the slide/frame as necessary.

Have no idea of a lifetime round count, don't bother with such things. But, I can say, I've never had a malfunction caused by grit/grime, not cleaning the gun. Cleaning the gun afterward is just part of shooting like doing the dishes is part of eating.

If you think pistols are a PITA, get into black powder. LOL! You don't clean a cap and ball after a range session, you'll find a pile of rust in short order.

 

[BozemanMT]

"honey, it's your turn to clean the guns"

She always forgets and I almost never have to clean. I think she's catching on though, last time I had to clean the rifles and she cleaned the pistols.

Strip it, CLP, bore snake, clean, tetra grease on the slide points, FP-10 on others, done

 

[BevrFevr]

I don't go shooting without my bore snakes in the bag. It is just too easy to do before and after shooting to get the major crud out of the bore and chamber. I More of less do that every time I shoot.

They do not deep clean the bore so when the gun gets pretty dirty(subjective) I do a basic field strip and drench most parts in something like hoppes or my new fav is shooters choice. let soak. scrub with a nylon brush, cleaning patches, wrags, scrubby pads, whatever is appropriate and handy. Repeat if neccesary till clean.

for the bore I soak in solvent. Scrub with bronze brush and a shooters choice stainless rod. Run patches through with jag. If it ain't got that factory mirror finish on the lands and grooves, I repeat the whole process over and over till those patches come out clean.

Lightly oil all parts, wipe some down and not others and reassemble after blowing the thing clean with compressed air.

 

[atblis]

Well

Shoot it till it quits working
Go to Walmart and buy some brake cleaner
Hose gun down with brake cleaner
Hose gun down with breakfree
repeat.

 

[Car Knocker]

Field strip. Remove grips. Drop in a can of Ed's Red for a couple of hours or overnight. Hit lightly with a toothbrush and a patch through the bore. Blow out with compressed air. Lube lightly and reassemble.

 

[choochboost]

I usually shoot once a week (150 - 300 rounds) and I clean it every Saturday night using M-Pro7 (solvent) and Break Free CLP (lube).
1. Field strip
2. Clean the frame with soaked patches and q-tips
3. Clean the slide with soaked patches and q-tips
4. Clean the feed ramp and soak the barrel with wet patch
5. Run a bore brush through the barrel about 10 times
6. Run a jag through barrel
7. Run a patch or two through barrel
8. Wipe down and lube exterior of barrel
9. Wipe down and lube recoil rod and spring
10. Lube rails and detent plate, contact points, etc.
11. Reassemble

 

[evan price]

After every range session:
Remove slide, barrel & spring/guide, mag follower & spring, left with grips/trigger group intact... Clean with nylon or soft brass bristle brush & some Break Free. Barrel gets Hoppes #9 nitro solvent and a stainless steel coil brush and then run patches thru till they come out clean. Lube all parts with Slick-50 One Lube with Teflon. My Glocks I use a little Copper Nevr-Seize in the places the factory used GlockGrease. Works on all semis really.
Whole gun gets wiped down with a silicone impregnated cloth before storage.
I also wipe down my Home Defense ammo with silicone cloth before reloading magazines.

 

[btw-nc]

Field strip. Place parts in some diluted Simple Green, scrub with toothbrush. Rinse with hot water, blow dry with compressed air. Use some solvent and a brass brush for the bore. Give everything a light coating of Eezox and put a drop of oil on the high wear areas. I described this process of cleaning my XD-9 here.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much gunk the Simple Green removes. Basically there is no firing residue left except inside the bore. When I used Gunscrubber I'd always find some deposits as I wiped with Eezox.

 

[XDKingslayer]

It gets detail stripped and cleaned after each outing, no matter how few rounds are put through it. It gets cleaned completely, inspection ready, and in 10 times better condition than Springfield sent it to me in.

Just the former Marine coming out in me I guess. I love the smell of CLP in the evening...

 

[nutball]

I generally buy ammo by the case esp. for the 9s. I shoot alot. How many rounds is anybodys guess but I've got about a hundred guns. The only thing I use is hoppes oil applied with a wet patch to all pts. It doesn't get every micron of dirt but the parts are always lubed and the fouling gets hung in the oil film making it a snap to clean. The bore will get hoppes solvent or even shooters choice if there is alot of copper fouling but thats it. I have considered using some of the slide greases but never have as most of my guns are still like new the oil keeps the finish even on the higher wear areas. My sigs have all the finish even on the top of the bbl where the slide contacts. Most of the showroom guns have more finish off than mine. And yes I clean them every time they are fired unless I'll be shooting the same gun within days.The sigs especially like the juice.

 

[Top_Notch]

Detail stripped after every outing.

 

['Card]

After every range session.

1. Field strip.
2. Blue Wonder in the bore, feed ramp, and anywhere else that looks funky.
3. Let sit for 10 minutes, wipe it off, rod it out, etc.
4. Apply CLP to anything metal, rub it off.
5. Coat of RemOil to slide rails and moving parts. Wipe most of it off.
6. Blow all the innards out with a can of compressed air to get any accumulated junk down in there.

About once every three months or so I'll do a complete disassembly, and apply the above procedure to all of it.

 

[Mad Magyar]

The replies given is why I spend more time reading & posting on this forum....Better educated, informed, and the use of common sense. Even though this is a familiar theme in many forums, I just got tired of the "why clean?" A gun-geek reads & responds about these rigged, all too familiar "torture tests" on many thousands rds being fired w/o a drop of lube/cleaning. It was driving me "MAD!":banghead:
BTW, like many of you, & yes the military had a lot to do with this: meticulous after each range session....

 

['Card]

I'm under no illusion that my guns need cleaned completely after every range trip. A wipe-down would probably do just fine, but like most of the rest of you, I think it's probably a military thing. I just can't seem to put the gun away that evening without seeing Sergeant Thayer, standing there with that damned Q-tip he used to always inspect my M60 with, looking very disappointed in me.

Besides, in all seriousness, I really enjoy cleaning my guns. It's a lot like smoking my pipe. A comfortable routine and some quiet time.

 

[gandog56]

I usually shoot large amounts of ammo every time I go to the range. So I field strip and clean them every trip.

 

[caz223]

(Before I went shooting.)
Make solution for ultrasonic, turn heater on.
(After shooting.)
Field strip.
Remove grips.
Flitz bore, if dirty.
Place in ultrasonic cleaner.
Let it run for 10 minutes, take it out rinse, if it's clean then let it dry in front of a fan.
If it's parkerized it doesn't go in, or it will come out nice and clean, with no finish.
Field strip another gun, put it in ultrasonic cleaner while the other one is drying.
When all guns are clean and dry, drain a bit of solution out of cleaner, then place lube tray with lube and first gun in it. Let it run a few minutes. Pull it out, let it sit on drain basket for 10 minutes. Wipe down with clean cloth, blow out firing pin channel and slide with compressed air, reassemble.
Fortunately, I'm not bored the time the cleaner is running, I can walk 5 feet to my trusty 550, and crank out some rounds for next trip to the range.
After they have been cleaned a few times, they really don't need deep cleaning anymore, a good wipedown is all they need unless I put mega rounds through it in a day.
You'd be surprised at the CRAP that comes out of them the first time they go through the cleaner.
The next trip to the range they shoot better and smoother, the triggers seem like you just did a trigger job, etc.

 

[Bix]

I've found that the amount I clean is inversely proportional to the amount I shoot - my guns are usually a little dirty

For auto pistols (Glocks in my case), standard cleaning is field stripping and wiping down slide/frame; [sometimes] spritzing bore with solvent and running boresnake or brush depending on how fouled; and lubricating per the manual. This usually occurs once between trips to the range - although, sometimes not.

Detail strip (taking the gun all the way down and scrubbing the small parts) occurs once every ~5000 rounds, or prior to attending a class, if the gun is really dirty. I typically replace the recoil assembly and trigger spring during the detail strip (~$7.50 in parts).

I've got one gun at 15,000 rounds and one at 6,000 rounds using the above routine.

 

[sturmruger]

Most of my guns I only clean occasionaly. My two competition XDs I give a light cleaning after every trip to the range. Then about every 1K roudns I comepletely strip them down and wash them in hot soapy water with a tooth brush. I then apply tetra grease, and rem oil.

 

[waterhouse]

Field strip. Remove grips. Drop in a can of Ed's Red for a couple of hours or overnight. Hit lightly with a toothbrush and a patch through the bore. Blow out with compressed air. Lube lightly and reassemble.

I do pretty much the same, except that I usually just spray the frame with a little Ed's instead of removing the grips and dunking it.

 

[bsantelli]

Bore Snake and Mop

I'd like to add another question to this thread..........what is the Mop used for? Cleaning? oiling? do people use the Mop? it came with my kit, but I haven't really used it. Also, I see people talking about a bore snake, and although I've seen them, again what are they used for? cleaning? and does that take the place of a patch and jag?

Thanks,
Brian