Here's how I clean my P7M8 in approx. 35 minutes:
1)Disassemble pistol and remove grip panels
2)Flood lower frame assembly with Hoppes #9 and let soak for 10 minutes or so. You can either 1)use a small container, fill with Hoppes #9 and use a hanger to keep pistol submerged, but off the bottom (where the gunk settles out) or use a spray bottle to drench the frame.
2A) clean slide during 10 minute soak of frame.
3)Get out the garden hose and hose off the frame assembly. Keep pressure reasonable to prevent damage to small parts.
4)Use an air compressor with air drier/filter in place to blow dry frame assembly
5)Flood frame assembly with Rem Oil and repeat air compressor treatment to remove excess oil. Result is a light sheen of RemOil on all parts.
6)Clean barrel, gas cylinder, mags in traditional way.
This method takes me less than 45 minutes and works great. Remember, these pistols are designed for SEVERE duty. A garden hose is not cruel and unusual punishment if you blow dry the pistol and immediately apply oil.
Also, for those who complain about heat build-up at the range, take a 1-gallon plastic jug of water with you. If pistol gets too hot, soak an old towel with water, and wrap the pistol up in it. Add water to towel (with pistol still wrapped in it) as needed. Cools off in no time. Wipe outside dry, shake pistol a few times to remove excess water and recommence firing. These pistols are TOUGH and are designed for abuse beyond your wildest dreams. A water cooling won't hurt it.
For those lacking a desire to try the "tough love" approach above and still not happy cleaning for 2 hours, just swab out the barrel and gas cylinder, oil the external surfaces and call it done. About every 1500 rounds, pull the panels and clean as above. Worried about reliability? Recall the test performed by Massad Ayoob in his excellent book "The Semiautomatic Pistol in Police Service and Self-Defense". Ayoob took HK P7 #51136 and decided to see how many rounds were needed to render the gas system inoperable. He allowed only oiling of external surfaces to avoid rust, but no cleaning or disassembly. The results:
"At around the two thousandth shot, the slide operation became noticeably rough. Nonetheless, the pistol would still feed and fire without a hitch. Shortly before the 4,500th cartridge was fired without cleaning, we observed two failures of the slide to lock open on an empty magazine. Knowing that this was the first warning of a gas port sufficiently clogged to impair functioning, we called off the test at that time......"
The book then shows a picture of the disassembled P7 pistol (boy, talk about a 'dirty' picture.....) with the following caption:
"This is the interior of the author's test HK P7 after it fired more than 4,000 factory rounds including hollow point without a single malfunction, without being stripped or cleaned. Author considers the P7 the most reliable police handgun ever made, finds performance of test gun typical of the great many he has seen and monitored in police service."
The body of the text continues:
"Unburned burned flakes of powder were noted throughout the parts. Carbon buildup resembled an engine that needed a valve job. Yet there had never been a single failure of the pistol to fire, eject the shell, rechamber, and fire again!
This level of reliability is phenomenal. I can think of no revolver I would expect to still be firing after 4,500 rounds without cleaning. In a recent test by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center using mixed .38 Special +P, +P+, and .357 ammo, all specimens of medium frame .357 revolver submitted for testing by the leading manufacturer were jamming or indeed had broken down by the time that number of rounds had been fired. It should be noted that no breakages occurred in the HK. Furthermore, operating pressures for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge it fired were around 32,000 Copper Units of Pressure, about the same as .357 Magnum and considerably more than the hottest .38 Special loads. In my opinion, the P7 has set a new standard for handgun reliability , revolver or autoloader."
And that is why the P7M8 costs $1,000 and is worth every single penny. In a world of compromise, some don't.
Quotes from "The Semiautomatic Pistol in Police Service and Self-Defense" by Massad Ayoob, pp 44-45. Go here
http://www.ayoob.com/cat2.html to order this or other excellent books by Ayoob.
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TRAVELLER, SHOULD YOUR ROAD LEAD YOU TO SPARTA, TELL THEM THAT YOU SAW US LYING HERE AS THE LAWS WILLED IT.
-Inscription on a Greek monument to Leonidas and his soldiers
