Am I too anal about cleaning my firearms!

Ben Jefferson

Ben Jefferson

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I hope this is not a horse that has been beat to death as I am an FNG here!

Since I am fortunate enough to stand on my rear deck and shoot safely I very often step out and empty a magazine or 2 of target ammo just because I can.

Whether I shoot 20 rounds or 200 I am compelled, no commanded, to break out the cleaning gear and make the pistol/revolver/rifle, whatever, clean as a whistle and properly lubricated to go back into service immediately.

Is it really as necessary as I make it out to be even if I just pop off 10 rounds?

Coming from the military background as I do, I have always believed, with reason, that the next time I touch that weapon my life depends on it being ready for extended high volume engagement. I would imagine those in LEO must feel the same. Maybe more so! I know it's not a bad thing, but;

How do most of you deal with this?

Am I just being OCD?
 
Zbizzle911 said:
Don’t worry about what we think lol. As long as they’re going bang and your happy who cares.


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Trust me, I am secure enough to not need peer approval!

i was curious if any harm will be done to pieces/parts if I ignore it for a while. It's apparent to me that many folks here take a very scientifically proven approach to their responses.
 
I clean them if I have issues. I have a VP9 with over 5k rds that’s has been cleansed twice. Never had a issue but decided to clean it anyway

I have a Q5 with appx 2k that has never
Been cleaned. Started shooting it right out of the box
 
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I've cleaned the Glock 2 times, well, I oiled it once when new, and cleaned it once. I've put many rounds in it since May, or whenever I bought it.
The 1911 in .45 has never been cleaned by me, bought used in June.
The 1911 in 9mm is pretty dirty. It shoots or doesn't shoot on its own schedule, and it does it clean OR dirty, so now I just clean it when the schmutz lands on my hand/arm...lol.
The p238 hasn't been cleaned since before the old extractor broke in April, but it doesn't get shot as much as it used to.
The revolver gets cleaned when I can see lead in the barrel.
I shoot the G19 and the 1911s a lot, and they don't get cleaned a lot, but they seem to be ok with it. lol.
 
My handguns I wipe down pretty regular, basically every use, I can make a Glock rust. I very rarely strip and clean unless fighting leading for some reason, otherwise when the carbon fuzz gets to be too much for me usually the 4/5k range.

Rifles when they start acting up, get really wet, or accuracy appears to be dropping off. Other than water none of it happens without progression.
 
No, I don’t believe you’re anal for cleaning your guns so frequently. So, don’t worry. ;)

What makes you anal is caring what we think. :D
 
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Ben Jefferson said:
i was curious if any harm will be done to pieces/parts if I ignore it for a while.
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Naaaa....Ive currently got two guns that havent been cleaned in the better part of a year and had ~2.5k rounds fired from each of them. Several others that havent seen a cleaning in a few months.
The most Ive done is a squirt of remoil here and there...
 
I rarely clean my guns. Oil and grease them often though. Ran 10 years with a zimmerman special in my pocket working at a bakery and pizza delivery. When j finally cleaned it lost almost 3 oz of crap. 600-700 rounds through nary a problem.


Cleaning is up to you, but lube your gun for sure
 
Yes. It’s overkill and you’re seriously defective as a result. Haha

Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with having a habit of cleaning your guns really well. I used to and then I decided to see how long I could keep shooting one of my ARs with dirty Wolf steel cased ammo before it would malfunction. I gave it nothing more than a few drops of CLP every couple hundred rounds. It went about 1,100rd before having a FTE.

From that point on, I don’t worry about cleaning any more frequently than about 500rds.
 
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Ben Jefferson said:
Trust me, I am secure enough to not need peer approval!

i was curious if any harm will be done to pieces/parts if I ignore it for a while. It's apparent to me that many folks here take a very scientifically proven approach to their responses.
Click to expand...

They’ll be fine. I’ve got a bcm ar with 3200 rounds through it of Russian steel cases ammo with nothing more than added lube.


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Your typical handgun...….. All that's really needed is to wipe it down with a lightly oiled patch/rag and I usually run lightly oiled patch through the bore..... if stainless maybe not even that is needed. Field strip and clean once every few hundred rounds.... or whenever it tells you it needs cleaning from a malfunction/accuracy drop off. The same for rifles and shotguns with the exception of .22lr and precision rifles. Most 22lr rifle tend to shoot more consistent when the bore is a little dirty. With a freshly cleaned bore I can watch my groups tighten up after about 15-20 rounds. Centerfire precision...… I run patches through the bore every 25-30 rounds with a cleaning cable as accuracy tends to fall off with a dirty barrel with centerfire.


If you might put it away and not fire it again for a long time... say a couple of years or more..... Go and ahead and clean as you wish.
 
Shoot it till it’s stops working, then clean it I always say. :p

I used to clean mine after every trip to the range. But in all honestly, nowadays it more like every 5 or 10 trips.
 
Ben Jefferson said:
... How do most of you deal with this?

Am I just being OCD?
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MSGT, just do as you see fit. I clean mine every time I shoot (except occasionally when I don't) because I enjoy cleaning it. I do make sure my EDCC piece is clean because of its purpose and its daily environment.
 
Whatever your regimen is, be consistent. If you feel in your head that your weapon shoots better spic and span clean then do that. Most of us, I think, will clean when accuracy drops off. I have one rifle that will need 35 or so rounds to settle back down after it is deep cleaned. A lot of it has to do with you barrel. A quality, hand lapped barrel will not foul as quickly as a factory barrel. I know bench-resters that clean after every string. I met a national ranked guy at Butner several years ago that said he has never clean his M1A barrel with over 20k rounds through it, this was confirmed by his shooting partner since I had a hard time believing it. Each to his own, YMMV. Be consistent.
 
Being prior military, and being sent back to the cleaning tables for a miniscule speck of carbon on the most menial piece of my M-16 and M240 over and over and over again... sometimes killing an entire day at the armory... I completely understand. Also understand my love hate relationship with Gunners Mates. @Chuckman will understand
 
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BU2scwMJL said:
Being prior military, and being sent back to the cleaning tables for a miniscule speck of carbon on the most menial piece of my M-16 and M240 over and over and over again... sometimes killing an entire day at the armory... I completely understand. Also understand my love hate relationship with Gunners Mates. @Chuckman will understand
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I, OTOH, took every opportunity to look up the duty armorer and help him clean weapons, repair weapons, and replace parts, just because I loved to handle the firearms as much as possible. Still do!
 
JT said:
I, OTOH, took every opportunity to look up the duty armorer and help him clean weapons, repair weapons, and replace parts, just because I loved to handle the firearms as much as possible. Still do!
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Well when they had us do it the day we got out of the field and you just wanted to go to sleep...
 
JT said:
I, OTOH, took every opportunity to look up the duty armorer and help him clean weapons, repair weapons, and replace parts, just because I loved to handle the firearms as much as possible. Still do!
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I did like cleaning the 240, I loved that thing, I did however think cleaning my M16 was tedious because the GMs treated us like animals plus we didnt have time to do anything extracurricular in the armory we always had classes or were in the field
 
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Get an AK or two (or 10...). Every time you feel the urge to clean one, imagine Mikhail's voice softly whispering:

3NvxI2Rh.jpg
 
I clean mine after every use, hard to break a 60+ yr habit. The ones that haven't been shot recently still get wiped down once a month or so.
 
Shot the ria commander today at the sdpl
Match and it's made it 4 matches without cleaning with no lube added for the last three matches, no malfunction for the gun more than a couple on my part though.
So much for the 1911 has to be clean an dripping with oil to function myth.
Do I do all my guns like this? No but I just got tired of hearing how unreliable 1911s are
 
IUHoosier429 said:
Get an AK or two (or 10...). Every time you feel the urge to clean one, imagine Mikhail's voice softly whispering:

3NvxI2Rh.jpg
Click to expand...

We went through a number of issues regarding cleanliness and lubrication in the Corps (Army too) so maybe that is still stuck in my head. A small bottle of Break-Free CLP or LSA (same thing I think) was also as important as a clean pair of socks.
 
I cleaned my AR last year for the first time since a nasty rainy, muddy training class in 2013. My Glocks get cleaned maybe once a year, and that's my EDC guns. I've got one Glock 19 that gets shot often, and it's not been cleaned in almost 7 years. I use to be the same, clean after every range trip, then once I started shooting more, I got tired of cleaning them all the time, lol.

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S4f said:
no malfunction for the gun more than a couple on my part though.
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My RIA also did perfectly on my last match! Any issues were caused by me, like getting my thumb under the safety, and not shoving the magazine in hard enough!
 
About the only thing I can think of that would hurt the firearms from cleaning them is if you do it in such a way that excessive wear occurs at some critical points. Using improper cleaning rods or brushes can hurt the bore or crown. It should not be a problem if proper techniques and tools are used.

I clean my match firearms before and after each match but clean my other firearms only occasionally or when it is obvious they need it.
 
I approve of your vigilance! Of course, I bought a second BCG for my AR because I like soaking them in Hoppes overnight...but I also like putting my AR back in the safe in a ready for action state.

I am a weirdo who finds cleaning my guns to be relaxing* as I like projects that have a clear “completed” stopping point.




*Does not include the Remington R51. That thing is a royal PITA to clean.
 
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