So I was at the range today and shot my Sig 239 which I carry fairly frequent. I took it out of the holster and placed it on the bench and noticed it had quite the lint build up on it from being carried IWB. Made me realize that I hadn't shot it in a while while I had been shooting other things. First shot downrange and there's literally a cloud of black lint hanging in the air. Ooops. I had to set my pistol down I was laughing too hard.

I think I need to make a regular wipe down of carry guns part of my routine.

Pocket carry can be even worse. Probably a good idear regardless of how you carry to clean your gun on a regular basis. Particularly if it needs lubrication which can dry out or run off.

I clean my carry guns weekly.

I've started carrying my 60 in an ankle holster and have found that to collect stuff the quickest......

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- The Federalist #46 -

It's also a good idea to clean any spare magazines that you carry, lint or pocket debris can cause a magazine to jam.

BTW, my carry choice is a 40 caliber P239, so I fully endorse your choice. IMO the P239 is probably the finest Combat pistol on the market, mine has been 100% reliable with 2K rounds downrange, the accuracy is simply stunning, it's very easy to conceal, and the weight isn't at all a burden.

I also keep my spare magazine in a front pocket and occasionally do a bit of machining when things get backed up on the machine shop. One weekend after a range trip I decided to clean up my spare magazine that I'd probably been carrying for a month or more. Stripped the top two rounds with no problem but at that point the magazine jammed up completely. Had to pull in apart to unload it, not something I normally do with a compressed spring in a loaded magazine. It was pretty darned nasty, lots of lint plus some shavings from a mill and some metal fines from using a file. Lesson learned, now that spare gets cleaned once a week.

One other bit of advice concerns the barrel. It is NOT stainless steel, which I found out the "hard way". I had been carrying in for at least a full month without doing any shooting. In the summer I tend to back off on shooting because in Michigan summer is about the only time we get really nice weather. So, I had been carrying it IWB in August and apparently it got a drop of sweat in the barrel. Decided to clean it up prior to a range outing and with greated with a nice fresh patch of rust in the barrel. Fortunately, I did catch it early enough that the pitting is more of a stain than actual pits, however another lesson learned. Now I run a lightly greased patch in the barrel from muzzle to just shy of the chamber so no more rust will surprize me. Yeah, that grease is a lint magnet but the first shot will take care of that, far better a puff of lint than a rusted barrel.

Bottomline, any gun you carry and rely on to protect yourself with needs some basic maintenance at a regular interval. Mine gets field stripped and looked at once a week without fail, whether it's been shot or not.

I carried a Charter Bulldog .44 Special a while back in the 80's, usually IWB. I took it out to dry fire it once and was amazed at the white puff that came off of it. Deodorant residue; at least I wasn't going to offend......

I also carried a Glock 27 in an ankle holster for several years as backup for my issue G22. It was amazing how much dirt that picked up that close to the ground.

I have only handled one Sig 239, and it seemed to me that it would be just about ideal in all respects for use as a carry gun. Just the right size, features, power, all of it. (Those $40+ mags seem like kind of a pinch, but you get what you pay for.)

Anything that is carried on you for extended periods of time is going to pick up a certain amount of funky stuff. Daily inspection and a little attention when called for goes a long way.

I quickly found out many years ago that no matter what gun you carry, and no matter what method or holster you use, the "dust devils" do get in somehow. It is a good idea to go over the gun every once and a while even if it was not fired.

Actually, the best method is to practice with you carry gun often, clean it and inspect it, and you will never have a dirty or gummed up gun. The practice can't hurt either.

chief38