How often do you clean your firearms?

[gm652]

I wipe down the bolts, punch the bores, and lightly re-oil friction areas...

 

[Bunnykid68]

Every 10-15 years whether they need it or not. Went over 20 years without cleaning my 10/22

 

[30calmachinegunner]

When they stop working, not just once or twice but once or twice every mag.. If the gun doesn't have a mag then ???

 

[N8RV]

I actually enjoy cleaning my guns (please note the gerund.) I didn't use to enjoy it, and dreaded the task because I thought that I HAD to clean after every use.

Once I discovered that some people clean their guns only occasionally and they seem to go bang just the same, I relaxed a little bit. Then I started actually shooting my guns more often, and even learned how to properly clean them. That made a world of difference!

Now, I look forward to stripping them down and cleaning them after shooting. Some just get wiped down, some get the whole shebang. I tried just wiping down my Glocks, but it's so simple to tear them down completely and do it right that I usually do that now. Plus, having shooting residue on the pistols makes dirty marks on my shirts.

 

[chezuki]

When they stop working, not just once or twice but once or twice every mag..

Lol, sell the Taurus!

 

[Lebowski]

Usually after every use... If I don't come home from the range and start cleaning them within the first couple hours, I certainly clean them before using them the next time.

 

[Cemetery-man]

I got in the practice of cleaning after use when I was shooting black powder. Not because I wanted to but because I knew what would happen if I didn't. A creature of habit I guess because ever since then, I just feel compelled to tear my guns down and give then a good clean/lube when I get home.

 

[Morgan88]

Typically after every use and or on Sunday morning before anyone is up. Turn on the blues music drink strong coffee and clean away.

 

[Street Howitzer]

Anything that shoots corrosive ammo gets cleaned as soon as I get home. Pistol gets cleaned every couple weeks unless I sweat all over it or shoot it a bunch. My AK, well I just shoot that LOL

 

[Sam7157]

I clean mine every time we shoot. Too much invested to not take a couple minutes to clean before putting back into the safe.

 

[flashpuppy]

My EDC and one or two rifles never really make it into the safe. Other than that, three or four pistols, a couple rifles and a few shotguns get cycled in and out of the safe about monthly. When the current toys out in the play area become boring, they get cleaned and then put to bed for a while.

 

[LionWeight]

After every use, or if they get wet. Only way to maintain them.

 

[M67]

Ahh...was looking forward to be the one making this thread

So I guess the question is....define "periodically"

Anymore, semi auto rifles, I don't clean them unless it starts jamming, starts having FTE/FTF, or something breaks (and things on a clean rifle can and will break too).

Semi auto pistols, the same. I have around 550 through my Sig P290, carry gun, since the last time I cleaned it or lubed it. Hi Power has 400-460 through it since I cleaned it. The Kimber has around 600-700 since the last time I bothered to clean it. Now that I think about it, I probably shot some corrosive ammo through it. Looks fine but I have 400 to burn on a sunny day (including old surplus corrosive) that I'll clean afterwards.

Revolvers are the only thing I clean after every use just because a leaded barrel sucks if it sits and since I don't have any mercury laying around, I'll do it when it's soft.

I grew up learning to clean after every use. But dad's idea of cleaning was to clean the bore and wipe it down because he was always afraid of tearing a gun apart. I liked the mechanics of it, and as I got older I learned quite well that a dirty firearm works just fine and with modern ammo it won't rust away. Lead should be removed from the bore and so should plastic, everything else, forget about it.

I started using Slip2000 lube 5-6 years ago and was amazed at how smooth a filthy firearm can be and still be 100% reliable. So it was mostly a personal test to see how far I could push my expensive pieces of machinery until they became unreliable. So far, I've only found the unreliable threshold on one firearm, my Buckmark.

The test lasted a little under a year and a half. 15,000 rounds, no lube, no cleaning (besides shooting in the rain and getting dropped in the snow a couple times), and about 3,000 of those rounds were ran suppressed. At that point, the pistol had so much crud in it that the sear locked up and it would double occasionally and I'd have a lot of failure to fires.

I couldn't stop smiling, I finally knew what a gun was capable of when treated like the piece of machinery it is. I completely took it apart, cleaned it, and everything looked fine inside (big shocker I know).

People often claim how the AK is SO tough, you never have to clean it. I had a part in me that wanted to prove that other firearms are just as reliable (AR), so far, mine has been just as reliable as both my AKs. The only issues I've had out of ARs or AKs were magazine related.

I love firearms, they're huge investments and they are special. People build bonds with firearms and they carry sentimental value and something every gun owner takes pride in owning.

But, they're tools, pieces of machinery, and they should be treated like so, owners should know what their gun can actually do. 3 gunners and comp shooters beat the **** out of their firearms, they throw them around, they get dropped, scuffed, etc. And people don't think twice about not criticizing them for beating their guns up because they're competition guns. But it seems like if a little crud is allowed to accumulate then the dam just broke and all hell is pouring loose. I don't get it.

 

[PKendall317]

I clean my AR periodically. I didn't give it its first bath till it had close to 1k rounds in it and I didn't give it a second bath for another few hundred arounds. Now my EDC I tend to clean more often because it's my EDC. I don't clean it after every single range trip, more like every two trips to the range.

 

[chezuki]

I just don't get this "clean after every use" theory. How many rounds are you running through it in one sitting that it needs cleaned already?

I clean my M&P's religiously once every 5,000 to 10,000 rounds. Cleaning consists of field stripping, scrubbing with a Hoppe's soaked toothbrush, blasting out with brake cleaner, and applying Froglube. Then it's GTG for another 5-10k.

 

[ConcealedCarryCutie]

I clean mine every time i use it. I wipe it down with rem oil about every other day to avoid rust issues on my safety and magazine release because of how i carry it

 

[Mosin-Me-Nagant]

The first page and a half of this thread made me feel like my guns were going to be taken away by GPS because I didn't clean them every 8 hours. Then, it seems, the more sane people stepped in. I don't wipe down and oil my hammer after hitting one nail or lubricate my screwdriver after every turn. My guns are tools and get cleaned/lubed as maintenance. My car goes 3,000 miles and my guns go longer hehe. There was a strange satisfaction cleaning my first gun, Mosin, but that was because I had to or the barrel would rust out overnight. Maybe my habits will change when I spend more than $400 on a gun hehe.

 

[30calmachinegunner]

Didn't change for me and the most I ever spent for one was $25,000

 

[indygamerguy]

Lately it's been every time I shoot. I kind of prefer it to be like that, built a 5.45x39 AR and I don't quite think I feel like rusting my stuff any time soon

 

[Cemetery-man]

Gun owners are like car owners. Some simply regard cars as necessities, don't care what they look like and don't worry about them until they break. Then there are the car owners that take extra time to keep their cars looking like new and take care of what they own.