Any reasons NOT to clean a 1911?

J

JJ45

New member
Box stock pistol with little or no special fitting, etc. Lets say after 50-100 rounds, do you field strip your 1911 pistol and clean it?

I know it needs regular lube at the correct points, or at least that's the consensus.

Then how many rounds? I have always cleaned any firearm, no matter how many shots fired, but I am not sure it is necessary.
 
Not necessary. However, I used to clean after every firing of 50 rounds or more but that got old. Now, I clean after about every 250 rounds. But I do wipe the gun off thoroughly
after every time I handle it.
 
I clean when I think proper function may be in jeopardy. A few boxes of ammo shouldn't affect anything.

On the other hand, it certainly isn't a bad thing to clean it if you want to.
 
I’m a big fan of pulling a boresnake and cleaning any crud from under the ejector with a q-tip and a spritz of One-Shot. Wipe the chamber with a bit of old T-Shirt, wipe the finger marks. Less than 30 seconds.

I feel that you can overclean as well as underclean.
 
My Colt Mark IV locked back on me, had to disassemble it almost completely to clean out accumulated residue in the trigger area. Works fine now.
 
I personally see no reason to not clean my firearms after use. I can't stand knowing I have a dirty firearm whether it being stored in my vault or on my person.

Now, I believe that isn't answering your question. If you're asking if I clean it after so many rounds during the same session, then the answer is no. If I'm attending a course that demands several hundred rounds at a time, I still don't. For one thing, (and the reason why I mentioned in the first paragraph my cleaning habits), my firearm is always ready to use at it's peak condition. Any firearm that I consider using for training are ones I tested to function reliably without cleaning for the entire day. However, I spend time that night thoroughly cleaning it for the next day's training session.

To disclose, my .22lr firearms have a different cleaning schedule. I'm only talking about my centerfire guns.
 
If it's a carry gun, I clean it thoroughly after use because I don't want GSR on my hands and clothes.

If it's a range gun, I clean it when it needs it or when I get bored. Centerfire autopistols will usually make two or three normal trips to the range before they really need any attention. Revolvers get a lot dirtier a lot faster so I wipe the exterior down pretty well after a range trip just to try to keep the fouling that accumulates on the outside from getting all over the place.

The short answer is that there's no reason not to clean a gun as long as the whole process is done right. As with any process it can be overdone or done wrong, but cleaning a gun isn't really complicated enough to mess up if a person doesn't go off script.
 
I've been carrying them in peace & a cpl tours in SE Asia...50 years all told. I clean after each firing session. The 1911 is easy to field strip so no reason not to keep it clean and ready. Rod
 
Some don't clean because they believe it causes premature wear on parts and eventually change tolerances.

But also some say a 1911 runs more reliably "loose"

...I can't see how this can happen unless one is using steel on steel, or very abrasive tools, solvents, etc.
 
if its a defensive gun, every time you shoot it
competition gun, every time you shoot it
range gun, shoot it till it stops working, then clean it at 1/2 of that interval.
 
I will clean as much crud out of the action and wipe down the exterior after every use. I lubricate VERY sparingly as needed. In other words I'll do what I can to clean it without disassembly. I don't like bore snakes. They can, and sometimes do get stuck in barrels and can cause all sorts of issues.

Beyond that this is pretty close.

I clean mine every 5,000 rounds whether it needs it or not.
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I'll break down the guns and give them a very thorough cleaning once or twice a year depending on how much I shoot each gun. I have several handguns and some get shot a lot less than others, but when I get all the cleaning supplies out I tend to clean them all even though some may have been shot very little.

But once I've thoroughly cleaned a gun won't carry it again until I've actually function tested it with at least a mag full of ammo. Lots of guys find out they have incorrectly assembled their guns only when they try to fire it and it doesn't work. Getting a spring installed incorrectly or some other minor error can happen.
 
I have two pistols, with a combined 70k rounds; wipe down what can be reached after each range session, field strip and clean every thousand rounds, detail strip and clean annually.
 
But once I've thoroughly cleaned a gun won't carry it again until I've actually function tested it with at least a mag full of ammo.
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At the very least, a set of function tests (not necessarily requiring live fire) should be performed on the gun.
I have two pistols, with a combined 70k rounds; wipe down what can be reached after each range session, field strip and clean every thousand rounds, detail strip and clean annually.
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That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach.
 
With a 1911 and shooting cast lead bullets with some lubes (NRA 50-50 Alox is one of the worse), they can become very dirty very fast. The areas of most concern are the extractor and its tunnel and the firing pin and its tunnel. They can quickly become fouled with Black, gummy debris and can inhibit function.
 
Some don't clean because they believe it causes premature wear on parts and eventually change tolerances.
.....
...I can't see how this can happen unless one is using steel on steel, or very abrasive tools, solvents, etc.
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there are guns like that. Most sporting arms of the previous couple centuries are like that, meaning that they were not designed for constant disassembly.

Constantly taking apart and putting back together a gun not deigned for that can cause wear and damage. Especially if you are a five thumbed ape, and /or use the wrong tools and use them poorly.

Browning's 1911 design took into account that the gun would be taken apart and put back together by un or undertrained people thousands on thousands of time. In fact the gun is designed to be detail stripped using the parts of the gun as tools. The only tool needed that is not part of the gun is something to push in the firing pin. A rifle cartridge, pen, toothpick, twig, belt buckle, even the stiff end of your bootlace will do.

I only clean mine when I think its needed, but I do wipe them down, (inside and out) after shooting or handling.
 
Arguments pro and con, but for me, I learned from an early age - never put a dirty weapon away. From age 14 to Army service that was the mantra.
 
For a range toy, I would not clean until reliability starts suffering. For a protection weapon, it's cleaned after it has been through a couple of magazines. If it's a revolver & used for SD, after a hundred rounds or so, but YMMV.
 
Understand that the habit of cleaning after use is rather ingrained due to literally hundreds of years of it being a virtual necessity.

Black powder residue absorbs moisture from the air and traps it against the gun steel promoting rust. All the early priming compounds left a residue that also rusted metal. Some ammo is still made outside the US that uses corrosive priming to this day.

Cleaning to prevent rust is still always a good idea, but its no longer the necessity it once was. Without the chemical rust attractants in modern ammo, clean is more matter of controlling the crud build up to ensure positive reliable function, rather than to preserve the gun from damage.

Some guns are very sensitive to fouling, others much less so. A tightly fitted accurized 1911 pattern gun is more sensitive than one made to GI specs.
 
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