Post cleaning routine

[Kiowa Scout]

Most of the time, I do not disassemble my pistol after range practices. I will just take either a boresnake or my OTIS kit and clean the barrel. I then use either carb cleaner or even compressed air to clean any loose debris out, then us CLP to lubricate key areas. I learned this technique from a good friend of mine whose is a competitive shooter. He only disassembles his pistol 2-3 times per year, but he shoots 5k rounds per month or more.

[terryg]

Clean the firearm properly and perform a functionality test as often as you can. If you have any doubts about your ability to do either of these tasks for that particular firearm, I personally wouldn’t carry it; nor reach for in a situation. There are too many other factors involved while in a situation to worry about hardware failures.

This was more a thinking exercise in contemplating the the irony of not being able to perform a fully functional test like you normally would any other critical system undergoing preventative maintenance.

[terryg]

I don't clean my guns everytime I go to the range. I clean them every 300-400 rounds or so, except my wife's Glock. That one I clean 2-3 times a year. When do I clean them? Just before I go to the range. When I am going to a match, I clean the gun, go to the range and run a few mags through it and I am good to go.

Wow! I expected a range of answers and was not surprised to hear some people pop a few rounds off after cleaning. But I didn't expect anyone to put a few full magazines though. So thats probably 20-30 rounds? That sure seems like a lot of carbon to sit in the weapon 99% of the time. I'm not criticizing and I appreciate your answer - I'm just surprised.

I clean after every range trip, reassemble, and dry fire (after making TRIPLE certain the gun is still unloaded) to make sure everything went together as it should.

Frequent cleaning gives me a chance to perform closely spaced inspections to detect any visible signs of problems before they become critical, and maintains weapon familiarity. Doing it often also decreases the chances that I might forget something as could happen if I only did it a couple of times a year.

In over 35 years of carrying, I haven't had any disappointing clicks when I expected bangs, so it works for me.

I'm much more like Excaliber - clean frequently, get to know your weapons internals intimately. I guess I get that from the old USMC "This is my rifle creed".

[KD5NRH]

Thanks! Thats fun. I've been shootin pencils around the garage ever since I read this.

Luckily, my wife never asked why there were pencil marks on the ceiling over where I installed the new spring kit in the 1911.

[Pawpaw]

As long as everyone is enjoying the pencil trick, that's all that matters.

BTW, lest anyone get the idea I'm smart (I'm not), it didn't come from me. I read about it the other day on forum.m1911.org

[Beiruty]

OP,

You are worrying too much. A good quality pistol, that is not failing at the range after being cleaned and ready for fire and then stowed away in the safe or carried daily should function 99.9% of the time.

1) Get a good quality Pistol, you know the drill HK, Beretta, Sig, kimber, glock,,etc.
2) Get a good quality HP rds.
3) Test the combo on range
4) Clean it after the range visit
5) Ready it.
6) Carry it.

[03Lightningrocks]

I don't do a thorough cleaning of my guns every time I fire them. I do wipe them down and I also shoot a shot or two of gun blaster through them, but that is about it. Oh yeah... a drop or two of oil here and there. Thorough cleanings happen every five hundred rounds or so.

[terryg]

OP,

You are worrying too much. A good quality pistol, that is not failing at the range after being cleaned and ready for fire and then stowed away in the safe or carried daily should function 99.9% of the time.

1) Get a good quality Pistol, you know the drill HK, Beretta, Sig, kimber, glock,,etc.
2) Get a good quality HP rds.
3) Test the combo on range
4) Clean it after the range visit
5) Ready it.
6) Carry it.

Thanks for the tips Beiruty. Again, just to be clear, I'm not really worried. I clean after every range trip. I was primarily attempting to see if anybody else had appreciated the irony.

[Beiruty]

To be more specific. After my pistol is cleaned and assembled, I do rack it and dry fire couple times. This might not prove 100% functionality. However, it makes sure that at least racking is smooth and trigger is doing it's jobs. What I do as a test is instinctively and not that of major concern.

[texjames]

I don't worry about it. I have been taking apart, cleaning an reassembling my weapons since the 1970's and
never ever has one not worked the next time i used it.Ya need to get familiar with them so you have confidence
in your abilites.Also all my guns get cleaned every time i come home from a shoot.

[Salty1]

All my semi's are Sigs, they come apart and re-assemble very easily and go bang every single time. I am a maintenance finatic so everytime I shhoot I do a complete cleaning and put Slide Glide on the rails. I have never experienced a failure, IMO maintenance is key, keep them clean, greased and oiled and they will perform for you. The round I carry in the chamber is the first one I shoot before transistioning to target ammo for practice. Practice malfunction clearance drills, if the first round does not go bang you have practiced the required skillsets to get back into the battle.... snap caps are our friend......

[gigag04]

So anyway, after cleaning and reassembly, what 'tests' do you run through?

Each firearm has a function check appropriate for each particular make and model.

If you are not familiar with the function check for your particular firearm, you can more than likely find it on-line.

A function check is all that is required to ensure your firearm is serviceable after cleaning. Performing a simple function check has worked for me and countless others in service with individual and crew served weapons, and it will work for citizens with their individual firearm of choice as well.

This.

For me it is a more or less standard function check
- check for clear
- rack/cock weapon
- squeeze trigger and listen for hammering pin/striker click
- leave trigger depressed and rack slide
- slowly allow trigger back out until you get trigger reset
- repeat 3-5 twice more for a total of three simulated shots

Then:
- rack empty weapon
- activate any safeties (for a trigger safety, ie glock, just pull the trigger from the outside edges)
- attempt to press trigger
- firing pin/striker should not drop

Lastly:
-Load weapon
-Press check by checking mag and/or chamber
-check that slide closes and weapon fully goes back into battery

And done.

For duty weapons - which are the ones I deal with on a daily basis, I clean about bi-weekly. During this time I will unload and reload any mags in service to inspect the rounds, primers, mag lips, and follower function.

[The Annoyed Man]

Most of the time, I do not disassemble my pistol after range practices. I will just take either a boresnake or my OTIS kit and clean the barrel. I then use either carb cleaner or even compressed air to clean any loose debris out, then us CLP to lubricate key areas. I learned this technique from a good friend of mine whose is a competitive shooter. He only disassembles his pistol 2-3 times per year, but he shoots 5k rounds per month or more.

I used to be fanatical about firearms cleanliness. I guess I wouldn't survive in the Marines today. The DI would have me for lunch.

I used to strip and thoroughly clean my guns after every range trip. Not so much anymore. Nowadays, I will field strip and examine the gun, and unless it is truly grody, I will just take a rag to the mating surfaces to wipe off the worst of the mung, run a wet patch or two down the barrel to get out the loose carbon, lube everything that needs lubing, and reassemble the gun. If it was only fired 10 or so times at the range, I might not even do that. But every now and then, maybe 3 or 4 times a year, I will give a pistol a really thorough cleaning. I'm really more concerned about how well the gun functions than how clean it is, and function is more a matter of mechanical reliability than it is a matter of spotlessness. My guns are not filthy dirty, but they are not spotless museum pieces either. But even during a cursory cleaning, I will make sure the feed ramp is clean and shiny, and stuff like that.

Lately, I've been reevaluating how I treat my rifles too, based on talking to some experienced bench-rest shooters. In rifle shooting, a spotlessly clean barrel bore may be next to godliness, but it can also hurt accuracy.

[Beiruty]

Talking about cleaning your firearms, I guess I am very obsessed with the cleanses of my pistol barrels, I would not stop using a patch until the barrel is shinny like the day it came from factory, no dark spot in those grove
I do not know why is that, but this is what I do, shinny barrels.