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Originally Posted by Jeffersonwasright
OK, thanks. Last time I cleaned it - which was also the first time - I removed the slide and took out the recoil spring and barrel. I cleaned the barrel and slide really well, but the spring can't be cleaned with just a brush or cloth. Should I soak this part in solvent? What about the handle? It has a number of parts that can't be directly accessed without disassembly. Should it be soaked in something?
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The spring and recoil rod are NOT a set of parts that operate with fine tolerances or cannot stand a little wear from rubbing together. A little powder residue will always get in there, but won't cause any meaningful harm. You can blow it out with canned air, or use a little extra oil and let it drain, but it is not worth a lot of time! The guide rod and captured recoil spring should be replaced every 3000-5000 rounds anyway -- and the old one thrown away (see other threads on where to get replacement springs/rods, e.g., from S&W, Galloway, or use a Glock G19 spring/rod).
And I would not recommend soaking the frame (with all of the internal parts) in oil or solvent. Clean what you can reach with a tip of a rag, Q tips, or pipe cleaners -- but I would not recommend immersing the frame in oil, solvent, or water (or ultra sonic cleaning fluid). All of that will just leave fluid/solvent/oil in places where it will attract dirt or powder, which will turn into gunk. In addition, you may notice there is a piece of white cotton in the trigger return spring -- it is there to dampen high-speed vibrations that can lead to a broken spring during firing -- and that piece of cotton should be kept dry.
To reinforce the advice in virtually every post or video on cleaning -- the bore needs to be cleaned periodically, and key points where metal slides against metal (like the slide rails, the outside front of the barrel, the barrel hood) need to be cleaned and
lightly oiled periodically.
Some folks advocate using grease instead of oil -- I used Mobil 28 aircraft grease -- but that is another topic.
There are probably 25 or 30 major types of lubricant you can use; virtually all of them work fine. The only advice I offer there is just don't spend too much for some super-duper special stuff that costs $30 for an eyedropper's worth, and don't use WD-40 (its really a water displacer, and contains very little actual lubricant in it).