How Often Do You Clean Your Handgun ?

How Often Do You Clean Your Handguns ?

  • I clean my guns following anytime they are fired.

    Votes: 108 74.5%

  • I clean my guns often but not always

    Votes: 27 18.6%

  • I rarely clean my guns

    Votes: 5 3.4%

  • Other, please elaborate.

    Votes: 5 3.4%
  • Total voters
    145
  • Poll closed .
J

Jimmy10mm

New member
I have always cleaned my centerfire revolvers and semi autos after firing them even once until I got my Glock 23. I have gone years between cleaning it because that butt ugly thing is like a hammer or a screwdriver to me and it has always worked. I don't clean my K22 revolver every trip either. Just curious what others habits are. I voted often but not always. :)
 
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Occasional shooters get the thorough treatment after each session. The regular shooters get the "general"/quick cleaning treatment after each session, with the "thorough" session being saved for roughly twice a year.
 
Guns shot with corrosive ammo get cleaned immediately.

Centerfire guns typically get cleaned after every range outing but often not the same day. And if I know a centerfire gun hasn't had many rounds through it since the last cleaning and it's due back to the range in short order it may not get cleaned until after the second range trip.

My .22LR guns get cleaned when they get really filthy, when function issues begin to crop up, when accuracy falls off or when I feel like it. It takes a lot of decent quality .22LR ammunition to cause function/accuracy issues so mostly they get cleaned when I decide I feel like cleaning them.
 
After 21 years in the Army, it's an ingrained habit for me to clean my weapons after every time I fire them. Yesterday I took my XDm 9mm, SA XD45 and XD SC 9mm to the range. Fired all three. I could not go to sleep until they were all cleaned up, the magazines as well, full functional checks done and the mags reloaded with my home defense ammo. My life has literally depended on it and I want NO QUESTIONS about what that weapon will do when the trigger is pulled. Thorough cleanings also help you to spot premature/imminent failure areas before it happens when the weapon is really needed. I'm just anal about cleaning my weapons. :o

I still run a white paper towel over my weapons to ensure I've cleaned them very well. Then a light dab of oil where needed and they get put in their respective places in the house. :D
 
I clean my weapons after every training session since you can discover uneven or abnormal parts wear when inspecting your firearms. Plus, my life depends on my weapons, so I feel that they should be kept well maintained.
 
A gun should always be kept clean...weather you shoot it or not.While wearing it it gets dirty...and should be inspected periodically and cleaned...If your carrying it for self defense don't you want it to work?
 
If my guns are fired, they are cleaned. If my guns aren't fired but carried, I wipe them down often especially in the summer months. The rest of my guns are wiped and oiled on a regular basis.
 
All my guns (and mags) are cleaned after each range use. When not in use for long periods (i.e. years), they get cleaned and oiled 1-2 times per year whether they need it or not.
 
I clean all of my guns after every use. No matter how many rounds, if I fire a shot, the gun gets cleaned.

Guns which I have been carrying (I have a few which I seem to rotate through) get cleaned every few weeks regardless if they were fired.

Guns which live in my safe, not getting fired, seldom get cleaned. I only ever clean them if I decide to take them out and refamiliarlize myself with them. Frankly, I have too many guns for that these days, and tend to just stick with a happy few.
 
My guns get cleaned within 24 hours at the most with the possible exception of my Buckmarks which don't get "cleaned" as such, more sort of brushed out and bore swabbed unless they are REALLY dirty.
 
I have a question for you guys.

I have an acquaintance who owns a Glock 27 and stated to me that he has never cleaned his gun and it's a Glock it does better if you don't clean it. I just kind of shook my head and told him you should clean your gun after each use etc and read the maintenance part of your manual. But, he didn't want to hear that. So I dropped it as it's not my gun.

So my question would be is this dangerous in any way to never clean your firearm? I know eventually it should lead to malfunctions etc.
 
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It depends on the gun and how much it's used. I will always at least run a
boresnake through them but that's not really cleaning them. I will do a proper field stripping on MOST of them after every session. Some guns like my .22's admittedly don't get fully cleaned like they deserve. It is a bad habit that I'm trying to break.
 
I currently carry an AMT .45 Backup. I clean & oil it about once every two weeks, whether I fire it or not.

All other guns, except the Glock, get cleaned after being shot.

The Glock has been cleaned about 5 times in the last 20 years.
 
Centerfire guns typically get cleaned after every range outing but often not the same day. And if I know a centerfire gun hasn't had many rounds through it since the last cleaning and it's due back to the range in short order it may not get cleaned until after the second range trip.

My .22LR guns get cleaned when they get really filthy, when function issues begin to crop up, when accuracy falls off or when I feel like it. It takes a lot of decent quality .22LR ammunition to cause function/accuracy issues so mostly they get cleaned when I decide I feel like cleaning them.
Click to expand...

what he said
 
Reallly clean center fire: Last day of firing -- Rimfire - every 500 rounds

Center fire - On weekends I typically plan on shooting both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday -- just as soon as I stop shooting.
* Wipe off first layer of crud from frame slide, and barrrel with alchohol (why waste hoppes on crap that would come off with any damp rag).
* Wipe same areas with Hoppes.
* Wait five minutes (recover targets, clean top of magazine, dump trash etc).
* Bore brush through barrel 10-20 times.
* Wipe barrel again with two Hoppes patches.
* Place in silcon treated gun sock.
Go Home and park weapon till Sunday AM.

Sunday morning at range -- same as Saturday.

Sunday evening (once in a while not till Monday evening):
Hoppes patch
Brush
Hoppes patch
Brush
Hoppes patch
Brush
Wipe down again with Hoppes if I expect to shoot next week;
if I'm not planning on shooting, then I wipe with a Silicon rag or a very lightly oil damped rag.
Place in Silicon treated gun sock.

4th of July and Christmass:
Along with changing smoke alarm batteries and putting some mink oil on my boots boots,
I pull all weapons and clean dust out with a 'canned air', follow with a couple hoppes patches, and then a light coat of oil.
 
If it's my carry/defense gun then I always clean it after shooting. Right now that's my HK P2000. Some people say, just as with Glocks, an HK will run fine dirty, you don't need to clean it, etc... That may be true, but if I'm going to carry a gun and possibly trust my life on it, I want to do whatever I can to make sure it's going to work if I need to use it. It's not like cleaning it is hard or takes a long time.

With my other guns, it just depends. If it's my .22 then I usually only run a boresnake through it and then strip it down for a full cleaning every few range trips. For my Sig I may go one range trip without cleaning it, but I'll usually clean it each time.

I actually enjoy stripping them down and cleaning them for the most part.
 
At any given time, I usually have one gun that's shot almost every weekend. That gun gets wiped-down after every use, field-stripped and cleaned every 1000 rounds, and detail cleaned annually. Guns that are shot but may not be shot again soon are field-stripped and cleaned after every use. Guns that aren't shot at all are still field-stripped and cleaned annually.
 
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