cleaning new 1911

bullet44

New member
Ok,all you old timers, please tell me how
often i should disassemble my SA,after each
shooting.??I have owned other auto's not the
1911. I had been told years ago that each time an automatic is disassembled it will
lose some accuracy,(crazy???)Anyways give
me some guidelines for the care of my new
gun.


------------------
 
How often you clean it is going to be up to you.

I like to clean mine after every match / practice session. However, your gun should be reliable to shoot 1000 rounds without cleaning, if you have the load dialed in to the gun and everything.

Maybe someone else will contradict me, but I don't believe dissasembly/assembly is going to hurt the accuracy or have a detrimental effect on the life of the gun, if done properly.
 
After some 50 years of "messin'" with 1911s, I gotta go along with Triggerjerk.

The main reason for cleaning after only a little shooting is to avoid moisture condensing in the powder residue--which makes rust. Ugh. ("Hygroscopic" means "absorbs moisture".) And to keep residue off your clothes, of course...

Contrary to "everybody knows", after a bunch of shooting I slopped my 1911 thoroughly with WD 40 and ran a patch through the bore and a shop-rag through the mag well. Wiped off the breech face. Wiped down the pistol. Put it back under the mattress...And in fifteen years it never, ever malfunctioned. I "periodically" took it all apart and did the toothbrush thing and all that. I mostly shot old EC 43, WW II GI ammo, back then; I'd inherited some 10,000 rounds of the stuff.

FWIW, Art
 
I prefer to field strip and clean my 1911s after every range session. I know that some people try to go 500 or 1000 rounds before doing so, but I am a neatnik about it. Besides, I find cleaning firearms a form of relaxation. My guns are cleaner than anything else I own, including my car.

There is no risk in losing accuracy by cleaning a firearm properly. Good maintenance keeps the pistol reliable.

As for cleaning products, I like the ones that say "gun" on the label. As long as you are using quality stuff, there should be no problem. For general cleaning, Break-Free and G96 are my favorites. For the bore, I am currently using Shooter's Choice bore cleaner, but others will suffice. To lubricate the rails, I use Shooter's Choice grease if I am going to be shooting a lot (especially on a hot day). Otherwise, for routine lubrication, I opt for Break-free or Militec. I am always trying something new when it comes to lubricants. If it says "gun" on it, I try it.
 
As far as cleaning goes if you are going to use the gun for defense I would clean it after you shoot it if at all possible. Not that you're gun wouldn't necessarily be reliable but that you should eliminate any variables.

As long as it is disassembled/reassembled properly you shouldn't have a problem with accuracy. It gets more abuse from firing with everything moving around, why would disassembly hurt it?

One caveat I would mention is if you don't clean it after each shooting session be sure to maintain it properly as far as lubrication goes. Lot's of people have functioning problems with semiauto's simply because they shoot the gun "dry" or don't have it lubed properly.....
 
Back
Top