Cleaning your semi-auto...

K

kalibear45

New member
I'm not too meticulous when it comes to cleaning my handguns. I usually clean after 300 rounds or so. I field strip it, use an ammonia-type solvent for the bore, run it through with a bore brush and several patches. The rest just gets wiped down with Hoppes No. 9 dabbed on a patch and on a cue-tip for those hard to reach areas. I then spray some Birchwood Casey Sheath rust preventive on the exterior of the gun.

Then a friend told me about disassembling the slide and cleaning the firing pin. He even suggested "dunking" the stripped down slide on solvent. The reason for this was gun powder residue and other gunk can build up and can cause a malfunction.

So my question is what is the easiest way to clean the firing pin channel and how often should you do this?
 
My answer depends on the gun, but for the most part, I disassemble the gun as much as is resonable every time I clean. On most of my pistols, I remove the firing pin every time I clean the gun. I then run a pipe cleaner soaked in solvent down the firing pin channel followed by drying with another pipe cleaner. I have also used spray solvents to shoot down the firing pin channel (hold the slide away from your face, the solvent will blow back at you). You can also use spray solvents to clean the firing pin area without taking the pin out. Watch out when you remove the firing pin. On most pistols the firing pin is spring loaded. I have parted my hair more than once. Safety glasses are a real good idea.
I maintain my guns pretty much like you do. I will take one out of the safe and shoot it for a week or so without cleaning it. I usually fire around 500 rounds in that time. I never put them away for an extended period of time without cleaning.
 
I have a regimen that goes something like this:

Every week, whether I've fired my hardware or not, I pull all of it out and check for rust and the like. Stuff that's carried gets wiped clean and replaced, while stuff that's stored gets a light coat of CLP/Break Free on it and is returned to the safe.

After firing, I field-strip the firearm in question, and shoot the major sub-assemblies with B/C Gun Scrubber. Let dry, then use CLP to clean and what not. Another shot of B/C, then dry, then the aforementioned light coat for storage.

Every 300-500 rounds, I will strip a firearm down to small, easy-to-lose parts, and perform the above ritual. I also use this as a chance to check for deformation or wear on parts, just in case replacement would be a good move.

All pieces of the firearm need some kind of lubricity EXCEPT THE SEAR AND HAMMER ENGAGEMENT SURFACES. Keep that in mind when you formulate a regimen that works best for your habits.
 
cleaning your handgun

I just got a Sig Sauer P226 about a month ago, I've put about 1000 rounds through it - having it sonically cleaned at the range for $10.

I've now picked up a cleaning kit (one of those generic ones, I forget the name).

Anyhow.. i see mention of field stripping the gun.. what exactly does this entail?

I know how to remove the slide, take the spring and barrel out for cleaning, but thats it... what else needs to be removed for cleaning? and oiling?

thanks,
 
I suppose it depends on the type of ammo you shoot as well. When I was in the service, there were times where I'd put about 600-700 rds through my own personal .45 over the course of a week without cleaning, but I was firing military FMJ's. When shooting for recreation, I use my old reloads which are usually 200 SWTC or 230 RNL cast lead. I normally clean the gun the very same day after firing this ammo.
 
I field strip and give it a good cleaning about every 300-500 rounds. It gets detail stripped and cleaned once a year (about every 5,000-6,000 rounds). So far no problems with malfunctions; but both of the pistols I shoot that frequently (Glock and Hi-Power) are pretty reliable to begin with.

(Edited to add: Actually, the Hi-Power has been having some malfunctions lately; but they seem to be ammo related (old batch of PMC 124gr lot 9G-611)
 
I clean after a trip to the range (within a couple of days) or every six months, whichever comes first.

(Any guesses as to which tends to come first?)
 
I clean my guns after every trip to the range. How detailed of a cleaning they get depends on how many rounds were fired. If I only fired 20-50 rounds then a quick field strip and a good barrel cleaning is usually what they get. The more rounds fired the more detailed the cleaning. If I only fire 1-20 rounds then I just clean the barrel and wipe off what can be reached without striping the gun. If a gun is not used for more the 1 to 1 1/2 months
then it gets a field striped and lubed.


Tony
 
Edamon2K wrote:
Anyhow.. i see mention of field stripping the gun.. what exactly does this entail?
Click to expand...
I know how to remove the slide, take the spring and barrel out for cleaning, but thats it...
Click to expand...
That's field stripping. The reason it's called that is because that's the level of stripping you'd do "in the field". Anything beyond that is usually done in the shop and often involves the use of tools that you wouldn't be carrying "in the field".
 
thanks, thats what I thought it was, just sounded from this thread like it might involve more (field stripping).

-d
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top