Do you disassemble to clean every time?

30-30remchester said:
I have been a trapshooter for 30 years and have shot a Winchester model 12 trap gun built in 1951. We shoot in snow and rain as we have a small club that only shoot a couple hours a week. I bought the gun used and I finally ran a cleaning rod down the barrel last week. It doesnt look like it was ever disassemble prior to me owning it. This gun has had regular use for 58 years and have never had a malfuntion or misfire.
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There's an exception to every rule. About all I can say about your Model 12 is: They don't make 'em like that anymore. :)
 
It doesnt look like it was ever disassemble prior to me owning it. This gun has had regular use for 58 years and have never had a malfuntion or misfire.
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Maybe it wasn't shot as much as you think. Either way, it needs to be cleaned on a regular basis.
 
I just bought a new 500 and put 75 rounds threw it,and found a few things interesting.
When i bought it i completely disassembled it and found it extremely easy to do so.It was rather clean and lubed from the factory.
I run my guns wet,and after 75 rounds i found that only the barrel and the front of the breech was dirty.
I may be wrong on the word breech,i mean the part the shell is held buy that houses the firing pin.
Anyhow everything else in the receiver was clean and just got a good wiping down with Tri-Flo and then some extra oil.
I didn't even disassemble the receiver and take the trigger group out,nothing seemed to get back that far.
But i will take it all completely down after my next range trip and see if what i found is what will usually happen.
If it weren't for the pistol grip and collapsible stock this gun is the easiest thing to disassemble even more so than some pistols.
 
Thx for all of the info, folks. I finally just got the gun ... I'll soon get some pics and post a thread about it, but you guys were right. After watching the youtube vids, I easily took it apart, cleaned it, removed the wooden plug, lubed and reassembled it. It's almost 40 yrs old and it looked like it had never been taken apart before. Full of dried black oily grime, but no rust, and the bore is like new.

To the fellow who suggested cleaning the trigger assy. in gasoline, I would like to recommend using naptha (Ronsonol lighter fluid) for cleaning / soaking & cutting heavy grease, dirt etc. If you do happen to spill it on the wood finish, it will not do any damage. We use it for cleaning grime / glue off of guitar finishes, small instrument bridge parts, springs, screws etc. Works well without the lingering fumes, I use it in the house. I may do the trigger assy this weekend.... I suspect it's never been cleaned.

Josh P
 
I asked a master gunsmith (a former president of the custom gun makers guilt ) about cleaning guns. He stated as many guns were ruined each year by improper and excess cleaning as was ruined by neglect. I know a capitol sin is a jointed aluminum cleaning rod. I had a rifle at one time that had a piece of aluminum embedded into the rifling apparently from an aluminum rod. Kind of reminds me of a guy that changes the oil in his car after every trip to Walmart.
 
What exactly does this mean. Does it mean that you fill em with oil?
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Yeh,i change the oil every 100 shots and the filter every 300.

But really i mean every part is internally is wiped with oil and not wiped off and slides and rails are lightly coated in grease.
 
I used to completely field strip my 870s every time for cleaning but I got over that. They just don't get that dirty. Now I just clean the bores most of the time.
 
I have been a trapshooter for 30 years and have shot a Winchester model 12 trap gun built in 1951. We shoot in snow and rain as we have a small club that only shoot a couple hours a week. I bought the gun used and I finally ran a cleaning rod down the barrel last week. It doesnt look like it was ever disassemble prior to me owning it. This gun has had regular use for 58 years and have never had a malfuntion or misfire.
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You sound like me. I have guns that have never been disassembled and cleaned that are over 30 years old. They function and shoot as good as new ones, and better than some. My CCW gets the lint blown out of it once a week with a air hose and stripped and cleaned once a month. Thats the only one that I stake my life on, so I just shoot the others. I do spray Eezox in the works on them every 3 months and coat the outside of them to keep them from rusting.
 
I clean the barrel and gas piston every 200 rounds and do a complete field strip every 500 rounds if I'm shooting a lot. This is what mossberg recommends IIRC. If know the gun is going to not be fired again for a month or more, I will field strip it and clean it.
 
"master gunsmith (a former president of the custom gun makers guilt ) about cleaning guns. He stated as many guns were ruined each year by improper and excess cleaning as was ruined by neglect."

Improper yes, but I'm wondering how "excess" cleaning could ruin a gun.

After taking mine apart, I agree that a total tear down is not necessary every time it is shot, especially the trigger assy. I will say that I was able to get to alot of areas to clean and lube them much better when it was apart, and the barrel is much easier to clean and properly lube when it is off.

To those who never clean a gun even once in 30 years, I only wonder, WHY? It takes maybe 15 minutes. I hope you at least lubricate them, and I hope you don't own a Harley...heheh.

To me it is not only a matter of maintenance, but also some pride of ownership. I've heard lots of stories of someone owning a car for 5 yrs and never changing the oil. Just because their engine didn't lock up, doesn't mean that I'm going to skip a $15 oil change to chance it. You MAY very well get by with no problems, or you MAY not. To each his own, but my guns, or any belongings, are cleaned and properly maintained, and the little bit of money spent usually comes back in higher resale value when I sell.

Josh P
 
hell no, at least not with my ruger mini 14. hell dont even need to clean it but its cool to run a rod down the barrel every now and then :cool:
 
In response to Guitar1850 I have gunsmithed for years and worked on machinery for 5 decades now and I do believe you can over maintence certain items. Nothing irks me more than seeing an old gun that has had too many screwdrivers attack it. I am not saying I dont maintain my guns which I do regularly, I just dont disaaemble them. About twice a year on my trapgun I open the action and squirt gunscrubber in the action and blow it out with a compressor. Same can be done for a Smith revolver just remove the grips and hose it down in all exposed openings with solvent and blow dry,and re-oil. No need to get the screwdrivers out. I have well used early Smith and Wesson revolvers that has never had their sideplates removed. Yes maintence but no on total dissasembly. I actually bought a Winchester model 54 last year I believe was never cleaned since it was born in 1929. It actually had parts of a tree bracnh in the magazine well. Still functioned prorerly.
 
"master gunsmith (a former president of the custom gun makers guilt ) about cleaning guns. He stated as many guns were ruined each year by improper and excess cleaning as was ruined by neglect."


I agree with this. Since retiring from my "real" career, I've worked PT in a large gunshop. Many, if not most, of the problems we see are "user induced" and many of those are people who screw something up during disassembly/assembly. Heck, it's not atypical that a gun owner can't even seem to remove a screw without buggering the screw-head! :p. Some are so bad they have to be drilled out! Good way to make a nice gun look like crap. (Pet peeve...had to mention it.) Of course, that's relatively minor and fairly easily fixed, but damn! :( On most shotguns I would suggest removing the barrel and cleaning it and the bolt face routinely after shooting. Remove the trigger group a couple of times and year and clean that. It all depends on how much shooting you do, of course, but more than that is probably overkill. I see a lot of receiver marring on pump guns where the idiot removed the trigger group and then didn't know how to put it back in without forcing/scratching the hell out of something. Imagine something so simple and people still find a way to screw it up??? That kind of fat-finger fumbling really does more harm than good...but it's common. Oh well, it's good for business.
 
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