I was in a gun shop that I frequent, just swapping tales when the subject of cleaning your weapon after shooting came up. I always clean mine thoroughly regardless if I put one round through it or two hundred. One of the people there said he wipes down the outside to get rid of sweat and finger prints and only clean the inside every five hundred rounds or so. What do you people here have to say on this subject.

If it gets shot, it gets cleaned.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Most of mine are blue not into s/s. I clean thourghly after ever shooting

I shoot thoroughly after each cleaning, and then some.

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NRA Life Member

Even one round=full cleaning. I don't really like cleaning guns after a trip to the range, but I can't relax until it is done. What's funny is that on the other hand, one of my favorite things to do is to take an old, hasn't been cleaned in years, new to me gun and spend hours ever so carefully cleaning it.

my wife makes fun of me for cleaning my guns so impulsively. she says it is the only reason I go to the range, so I can get it nice and dirty and make it like new again.

same as work in a garden or working on a car, it is a meditative thing for me. A little "pride of ownership" would go a long way in cleaning up our country.

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I mean, you feel me....

Sometimes I have to admit that I don't get right to cleaning my gun after a range trip. If I don't clean after shooting, I certainly do before I shoot it again. I wouldn't go shooting and only shoot one round, but even a short range trip would get the gun cleaned. I wouldn't grab a dirty gun and take it to the range.

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18-4, 15-4

We been through this on a number of threads in the past. I am the lone ranger here and the odd man out on the subject. I also will usualy just wipe it down and set it away. But I live in a arrid climate, and dont have piss in my system. By that, I mean I have seen some people that a gun will rust wherever they touch it!
Now if it rains, or snows while I am out, sure, I will clean it. Now if that seems sacereligious to anyone, I will show you guns I have shot and used for 50 years, and you wont find any rust on them from me!

I also live in a dry climate and my pistols usually just get wiped down if only shot a few times, less than a box. I generally like to wait until I have a few to clean then make an enjoyable project out of it. No rust here.

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Kevin in Oregon

Sir, you're not alone. I gave up the cleaning obsession several years ago. A lot more guns have been "cleaned to death" than shot to death.

My match rifles get thoroughly cleaned once a year whether they need it or not, but otherwise things just get a quick wipe-down, fresh lube, and maybe the bore cleaned every couple hundred rounds or so. Neither accuracy nor function has suffered in my guns, including my match-grade Garands.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

In addition to the rust issue one of my main concerns and reason for the complete cleaning is I shoot lead swc. I am concerned about fouling in the barrel and every few months the 1911 is not just field stripped, but rather every pin and part comes out just so I don't forget how.

When your life may depend on it, you clean it.

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My Mother likes me.

Over the course of many years I have tried both doctrines, with both SS and blued. I could never detect any real difference with any of the guns in both appearance and function. I have settled on a bit of a compromise, light cleaning regularly with a thorough cleaning at resonable intervals. One note though, in trying to obtain accuracy with one of my rifles, I was shooting pretty regularly and found that I was wasting ammo "dirtying" the barrrel between sesssions. It wouldn't sttle down with just a few shots, it took 8 to 10 and was a waste of ammo. In that time span that gun got cleaned at the end of the load development and wiped down at each days end.

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Lost in Penn's Woods

Count me in with the "wipe down" crowd. I shoot the same 6-8 handguns weekly. I guess I put 50 or so down each barrel- most of them are revolvers and I clean them after two to three range sessions. I have cleaned and maintained many, many, many individual guns and have seen crown damage on revolvers and lever action rifles. I have pulled a few wadded-up patc/jag combos from barrels and found everything including small farm animals in the actions of guns. Broken parts from cleaning is an issue with the plastic guns and the great plastic meltdown from the wrong cleaner always makes money for me. I believe the proper cleaning methods shoud be added to the "cleaning" dicussion, Thank god for the Bore Snake and the Otis type cleaners as-well-as chemical cleaners. As for "When your life may depend on it, you clean it." I would agree to a point with that but here is one situation that happened to a customer of mine years ago. A 1911 came in to me after a "happening" (can't say anymore). The pistol failed to discharge. I inspected it and found the round in the chamber had a primmer strike and everything else seemed fine with the exception of the (what I believe) was a tons of a popular penetrating oil on the market today was dripping out of the every orife of the gun. I pulled the bullet and found a conaniated primer. A long story short, overoiling with a non-gun cleaner/protectant (in my humble opinion) led to a problem with reliability to a normaly reliable firearm. Shooting a firearm with quality ammuntion and a sense to wipe them down is my theory but is not for everyone out there. If you clean it properly, then cleaning it after every shot would not be a problem.

I am with you two, I give em a thorough wiping down and put them up. Cleaning guns is only second to reloading in gun related chores I hate.

My benchrest guns get cleaned at the range every 10-20rds to keep the accuracy up to par, but I dont shoot them much anymore. Obviously, my muzzleloaders and BPCR's get a thorough cleaning after being shot as I am old fashioned and still use real BP.

I NEVER run anything other than a treated patch in any rimfire as it takes too long for the gun to settle back in. FWIW cleaning an Anshutz with a brush (or shooting copper gilded ammo) used to void the warranty.

Cleaning guns? Why, for goodness sake?

Wipe 'em down so they don't rust and get 'em out to shoot the next day or next week.

Guns used in my CCW classes-I'll clean them when and if they malfunction. Glock 19 and S&W Model 64. Think I'll need to clean them anytime soon?

My relatively expensive Perazzi shotgun has been shot thousands and thousands of rounds. I wipe it off and shoot some more. If it gets wet, however, then it gets the full cleaning.

My milsurps-wipe 'em down, clean when switching between jacketed and cast bullets because of accuracy concerns.

My self-defense guns-EVERY SINGLE TIME they are fired, I clean them thoroughly.

The difference? I don't bet my life on the others. I do on the J-frame in my pocket.

Bob

I am from the 'never let the sun set on a dirty gun" school. I will admit to pulling a patch of bore cleaner through and leaving it till next day. Makes for a guilty feeling, though.

Just got done cleaning two Ruger Old Armies, which is WORK. Somehow I doubt Wild Bill fired, cleaned, and reloaded two percussion revolvers every day as the stories have it...

Seems to be considerable agreement amongst us "older gentlemen".

Any of my defensive artillery that gets fired, gets cleaned forthwith and VERY thoroughly.

The others? I'm also a resident of a low-humidity area, and the rest of the guns get cleaned when they start choking, or acting like they might. A rare condition, to be sure.

Since I'm an ardent cast-bullet shooter, I also prefer to not disturb the "conditioning" of the bore of guns fired with such 'boolits'. My M1a and Garand have gone well-over 600 rounds each of cast-bullet loads without cleaning, and with perfect reliability.

Blackpowder guns get cleaned the same day as they're fired, of course.

Works fine for me.

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BruceB

I must admit that I am not educated on this "conditioning of the bore" that you make reference to when shooting cast bullets. Please explain why it is better to have a lead build up in the bore as opposed to the lands and grooves being clean and crisp.

It's a theory that some cast boolit shooters embrace.

Just as we "condition" the bore on a black powder muzzle loader, the theory is that leaving the bore alone to "condition" rifle bores by shooting cast bullets makes it more accurate.

The cast boolits are not shot at a velocity such as to cause any serious leading of the bore. Mine are often at 1300-1700 fps and I have no leading problem at all.

I haven't checked lately, but there was a thread detailing this on the castboolits.gunboards.com forum.

To tell the truth, I can't tell the difference in shooting a "conditioned bore" and a clean one with cast. There is, for sure, a difference if you use jacketed bullets, then switch to cast without a very thorough cleaning.

Bob

I guess I spent to much time in the Army. I can't relax and watch TV, sleep, or anything else until I clean it. Or at least soak it good with solvent and finish in the morning.

Depends on which firearm. I once didn't clean my AK until I finished my first case of 1000 Wolf FMJ. Really no reason to be anal about cleaning my shotgun bore, either. I always clean my handguns thoroughly and my .22 Winchester 190. Corrosive ammo (Yugo 7.62x39, 7.62x54r), I clean immediately after a shooting session. A dirty AKM is a happy AKM.

Pull a bore snake thru the barrel and cylinder and wipe down at the range. Clean when I get home. M1's are cleaned before leaving the range. But then I'm one of them old guys. Maybe it's because we had it beat into us in boot camp.

I always clean my firearms after I shoot them.

I shoot nothing but lead. I clean my guns between uses.

Would you want to buy a gun from this guy (assuming you knew his habits)??? As someone noted above; from boot camp/basic training on, it was shoot it/clean it. When I see what the first couple of patches look like after a couple of hundred rounds at the range it always makes me glad I am taking the time to clean them up right. This goes double for the guns I utilize for CCW.

+1

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

+1 On spending hours on cleaning and everything
that 'Kleinkaliber' has mentioned.
586L-Frame

I'll give it a wipe down... only if I can't clean it right away. All my guns get a full cleaning after being shot before I go to bed that night.

I can never return a gun to the "armory" dirty.

If one has been sitting for a month, I'll give it a quick clean also.

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- The Federalist #46 -

Like my first .22's.

Agreed. Even my match guns don't get full tear-downs unless it's been a LONG time since they had one or I get bored over the winter.

A BoreSnake after a match and lube/wipedown; maybe pull the top end off an auto to clean inside the slide, etc.

Good lube, properly applied, and I'm done.

If, repeat: IF, there was a "lead build-up" in my barrels, that condition would most certainly lead to a stringent cleaning session.

However, contrary to the beliefs of legions of shooters who don't shoot cast bullets, it is perfectly possible to shoot cast-bullet loads which do not "lead the barrel". If a cast load DOES lead the barrel, there's something wrong which must be addressed.

I referred to firing both my M1 and M1A rifles over 600 consecutive rounds each without problems. That also extended to the accuracy, as the groups were essentially consistent throughout the exercise. Note too, that there was NO, zero, nada, no "leading" in either gas system afterward. This is another myth about cast loads, and it's not difficult to create workable cast loads for the autoloaders.

My own experience has demonstrated the desirability of not cleaning the bores of rifles which are shooting well with cast loads.
If they are cleaned, it often takes quite a few rounds to return them to the previous performance level.

What it all boils down to is the simple fact that cast bullets are DIFFERENT, and many of the 'accepted truths' of jacketed-bullet shooting simply do not apply.

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BruceB

Bruce, you are so right!

I came late to shooting cast bullets in my rifles and wish I had known about them long before I stumbled on them.

I foolishly believed (1) they were less accurate than most jacketed bullets. (2) they would require more cleaning because the lead projectile would leave lead streaks or residue in the bore and (3) that there must be some mystery or voodoo involved if the claims of cast shooters about the accuracy of boolits was to be believed.

I keep my velocities low, use gas-checks if I want a bit more speed, and find they (boolits) are the best thing for me to shoot.

I have several '03s and have shot many thousands of rounds through them with virtually no wearing of the bore.

OTOH, I had one of those fast varmint rigs that needed a barrel after only a couple of years of shooting super-fast jacketed slugs through it.

I can honestly say that "cast boolits changed my shooting life."

Cleaning them is as easy as cleaning any rifle, perhaps easier as there is no copper fouling to deal with. My bottle of Sweets 7.62 sits unused in my cleaning supplies and almost any solvent will do the job.

I still can't tell the difference in accuracy between rifles that I have cleaned after shooting and those that I shoot time after time when using cast boolits.

So, since I can't tell the difference, why clean them?

A silicone rag is all I use.

Bob

I always do a cleaning after every shoot. I reserve the deep cleaning for football season.