Just curious as to what the general membership does?

I've been told that I'm "Over The Top", when it comes to cleaning my guns, in that I will spend hours (2,3 or more) cleaning one gun. For me I find this effort extremely therapeutic and enjoyable, not to mention the peace of mind of knowing that my EDC guns are well cared for.

My cleaning kit includes everything from solvents to dental tools, magnifying glasses to nail polish or everything I need to care for my guns.

I know folks who will spend 10 or 15 minutes on a gun and call it a day! I find that scary and can't imagine spending so little time on cleaning a gun! For me, I will continue to clean that gun until that patch comes out white, without a spec of dirt on it!

So, how much time do you spend cleaning your guns? Is it hours or minutes?

I clean after every range session, whether it's 20 rounds or 150 rounds.

I average 45 minutes to an hour, but it's not always uninterrupted time. I tend to work on it a few minutes, do something else a few minutes. Eventually it gets done.

I don't run patches through the bore until they are spotless either. One patch to soak the bore with a cleaner, a few strokes of a brass brush, and then 3 or 4 patches until the patch is only slightly dirty.

I spend time making sure the chamber is clean and free of carbon. To me, that's more important than an immaculate barrel bore. On pistols, I use a pipe cleaner to get behind the extractor. Can't believe how much carbon builds up there. I use a brass brush to clean any built up carbon off the bolt face. Yes, pipe cleaners and Q-tips are an important part of my cleaning kit.

I keep all mine clean but not to that extent. I keep my cleaning kit in a Altoids tin, lol. Jags, brushes, patches and brass rod. I do clean the barrel and charge holes until the patches are whitish. Finish up with a light coat of oil then wipe off the excess.
I edc revolvers most of the time and those are cleaned more often. Now my M&p’s and glocks not so much, they get pretty messy before I have at it.

If you enjoy it have at it. There’s a wide spectrum I think you will find, from not cleaning for 1000’s of rounds to using white gloves.


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Wow. I spend a bit less time. A half hour each seems excessive.

I clean after each range session. but only a field strip and exam for any apparent issues or problems I might have had at the range. Having arthritis, I rarely detail strip for fear of not getting them put back together again.

I will say that I have a lot more cleaning gear than most, but very little of it ever gets used.

The worst to deal with are the stainless revolvers, as I don't like powder burn on the cylinders.

After use I give a general cleaning , bore brush , bore mop and general wipe down.
A spray with Rem-Oil on moving parts...30 to 45 minutes.

Once a year do a better detail clean and oil...check for any build up , gum etc. Make sure all the nooks and crannies are clean...
Time depends on how easy the gun is to tear down and reassemble.

Mamma always told me that "cleanliness was next to Godliness " I'm not sure exactly what that means , but she thought it important , so keep your guns as clean as you like....my mom would be proud !!
Gary

All firearms cleaned after each use. Typical is a 3 gun range session using 300-450 rounds. Clean all three in about an hour, but since I don't have a dedicated space, just a duffel bag, it takes ten minutes to setup and ten minutes to clear up the gear.


Nothing wrong with cleanliness, it's next to Godliness. My ex brother-in-law used to clean his Harley motorcycle for 2 hours after a thirty minute ride. To each their own.

What is this cleaning you talk of??? I don't remember anything in the book about cleaning.

I love my stainless revolvers---when they quit functioning properly I simply break them down and run them through the dishwasher. Quick lube job and they are ready to go another year or so.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

Damn !!!

I'm one of the 10-15 minute crowd.
I'm not eating off of or eating with them.

If whatever traces are left behind after that level of cleaning made them susceptible to malfunction, I wouldn't want them.

Naturally we all know that they are specifically designed to tolerate a certain amount of dirt and grit.
At the fundamental level - they are tools meant for combat and/or hunting, and neither of those take place in clean-room conditions.

I try really hard NOT to be obsessive about much of anything - cleaning guns included.

Pistol cleaning time depends on whether the gun is a safe queen or hasn't been fired in a year. Those in this category get a 15 TLC once-over and back in their silicone sacks and back into the safe.

Others, the range/carry pistols, get about 20-30 minutes cleaning after the range and a follow-up a few days later to pick up any additional copper from the bore. Then, they are safely stored in silicone socks too.

No way to prove it and skeptics can certainly remain so, I will offer no proof (but visit a gun show and see...) that more guns are worn and damaged from over-zealous cleaning than they are by not cleaning after shooting.

Neglect is definitely no good, but over-zealous cleaning, using improper tools and especially trying to "clean" places that are a bad idea to clean with such vigor (muzzle end of the cylinder easily comes to mind) are simply bad for guns. With a special shout-out to the crowd that just loves to shoot aerosol stuff inside hidden areas of guns, including but not limited to the firing pin channel of semiauto pistols and especially inside the lockwork of a S&W revolver. (such as REMOIL)

To answer the question:

If I didn't shoot lead bullets or powder coated lead bullets through my handguns, I literally don't touch the bore but once a year. If it's a revolver, I get all of the powder fouling and filth off the revolver with just a touch of Hoppes#9 and a soft cloth and that's it unless I have enough dirt in chambers to impede the movement of cartridges.

With semi-auto pistols, they get a field strip and full lube on slide rails and barrel bushing the night BEFORE a range day and upon return they get a field strip and a similar wipe-down removing all powder and filth, they get a very light lube on slide rails and exterior wipe down.

I doubt I spend more than 10-15 minutes on any single handgun.

If I've used lead bullets then it's time to get out a rod and clean the bore and chambers.

For me, unlike reloading, cleaning is a chore. I usually spend about 15- 20 minutes per handgun, depending on the amount of fouling, once I get around to it.

In another cleaning thread a while back, one of our members said something I liked and planned to use myself later:

If I was wealthy, my servants would clean all my firearms.

Revolvers take maybe a half hour. Semis a lot less. Remove slide and barrel, clean barrel and wipe down slide. That's it, especially if
It's a Glock. Colts 1911 take a little more care.

When I spend too much time cleaning and need to organize all my cleaning stuff, then this is what happens...

Used to like cleaning, usually don't like it now. I'd certainly rather clean a slabside than a wheel gun, and far more likely to detail disassemble it. Regardless, I do what I feel is needed for reliable function and preservation of finish.

I find it a lot more pleasant to clean a slabside with a toothbrush than a six-gun with a bore brush. One barrel rather than seven?

Nothing wrong with spending two or three hours and enjoying it, but it can be done perfectly in somewhat less time.

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Formerly Model520Fan

I used to be fastidious with my gun cleaning, but not as much in recent years. I have only one nickel plated firearm and that does see a lot less in the way of solvents, but the others get a good cleaning with Hoppes No. 9. I usually run a patch soaked with No. 9 through the bore, then wipe down everything else with No. 9. Then a bronze bore brush through the bore several times, then 2 patches soaked in No. 9. Then clean the dirty No. 9 from everything else, dry patches through the bore, then an application of Corrosion X.

I will use a copper Chore Boy or Lewis lead remover if there is lead in the bore.

That's about it, total time is about an hour as I tend to let that first application of No. 9 sit for a while.

[QUOTE=Model520Fan;

Nothing wrong with spending two or three hours and enjoying it, but it can be done perfectly in somewhat less time.[/QUOTE]

As I said in my original post, for me it's therapeutic and something I enjoy doing! I love taking my gun apart, examining all the parts & then cleaning them. After a good cleaning & lube job, putting the parts back together again with a good wipe down to a fully functional gun provides me with a sense of satisfaction as well as peace of mind.

While I don't fault anyone who can & does clean their guns in less time, for me however it's just not enough!

I suppose over the course of 30 years, the military & Police work I've come to enjoy this necessary evil!

I mostly just squirt some oil on it and put it away.

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Do it outdoors

When I buy anything used I learn how to take it ALL the way down and give it a thorough cleaning ( usually an hour or two depending on the gun ). After that I clean after every range session (brush,jag and patch a few times until clean ). The guns that don't get shot often get cleaned as they are shot, but I don't tear them down. The ones that are regular shooters get more attention.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

All depends on my mood.

Gotta get me some of that detergent! Kmart?

Sometimes I am satisfied with just a wipe down dependent on number of rounds fired. They are never dirty, but not really clean.

Minutes, and the older I get, the less often.
Jacketed factory ammo is by and large, very clean stuff. Can go many hundreds of rounds between cleanings. Cast bullets are another story. 22 LR? I have my junior markmanship booklet from the 1960s. It basically says never clean a 22 rifle...

In all fairness, I should add that my cleaning efforts are not a continuous process, in that I will stop periodically just to give myself a break & go do something else, then come back to the grind!

I clean mostly after each use unless I know I shoot during the same few days again.

I try to not bring more than 2-3 guns to practise as I do not like to spend ages cleaning.

I shoot frequently and my routine is efficient and quick. 10 min each gun and done, no grit left behind and very clean.

I dont do the whole Ren Wax spa thing very often but sometimes when more 'me and my guns' time is needed.

Very seldom I do a copper deep clean to the barrels but hardly since I went mostly to 'blue bullets'.

Most of the time, I only do a partial cleaning.
If I have fired more than 3 or 4 dozen rounds, I will clean the chambers in a revolver pretty good, especially any slight lead deposits in the cylinder throats and forcing conesince I only shoot cast bullets in them. I like to clean the cylinder cut-out on the frame pretty well too. Every few hundred rounds I will do a more thorough clean-up, but even then it rarely takes more than 30 minutes. Cleaning an automatic takes me about the same amount of time or less.
I see little point in taking more than 45 minutes to clean any gun, even black powder revolvers and flintlock rifles and smoothbores which I shoot year around.
But unto each his own.

When the trigger pull increases, cylinder gunked up with bullet lube, inside the slide, barrel, breach fouled with powder and bullet lube, lead streaks in barrel; then it is time to clean an individual gun.

I've shot dirty guns and I've shot clean guns, didn't make much difference in group size. Varmint rifles get cleaned after 200 rounds on a week long shoot. 22 LR rimfires get cleaned when the action looks filthy. I don't care about a powder burn on the cylinder face or a less than shiny, pristine feed ramp. Functionality is what is important. When clean burning powder is developed, I'll have pristine, white glove inspection guns. This will not happen with today's powder and cast lead bullets with conventional bullet lube.

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S&WHF 366

I'm a bit picky myself when cleaning my pistols and rifles and pretty much clean them no matter how little they have actually been shot. My auto pistols generally take me around 15-30 minutes to get pretty clean, but it usually takes me an hour or more with my revolvers. On my revolvers, I remove the yoke and cylinder from the frame so that it's easier to clean them. I cannot stand having carbon buildup on the sides of the cylinder or on the yoke and across the top strap of the frame and separating the yoke and cylinder from the frame makes both much easier for me to remove the carbon. The front face of the cylinder I don't worry too much about though; just make sure I get any loose carbon off. And I thoroughly clean under the extractor star too.

Hah! Cleaning guns ain't my favorite activity. I clean them when they need it. There. I said it. I don't clean after every use. I do keep things protected from rust, but that's it for routine attention.

"I love my stainless revolvers---when they quit functioning properly I simply break them down and run them through the dishwasher. Quick lube job and they are ready to go another year or so. "

My old room mate did this with his Glocks all the time.

. . . nail polish? . . .

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I’m glad I’m not the only one confused by this. How the heck do you use nail polish to clean a gun? Maybe the OP meant acetone (nail polish remover), but I’m not sure that’s a better solvent for gun cleaning.

On to my response to the OP’s question. If spending three hours cleaning your guns is therapeutic, then by all means go for it. For me, I can find other things to do that are more enjoyable for three hours than cleaning my guns. I clean after a couple of hundred rounds fired (and have gone upwards of 500). I usually visit the range once a week, and shoot a 50-round box each through my 1911 and 327, so it works out to once a month.

If a gun can’t function after firing 200 rounds through it without cleaning, it’s too finicky in my book and not worth keeping.

But that’s me.

The "nail polish" are a couple of maintenance items that I use from time to time. I use the clear nail polish on my holster tension screws to keep them in place. Yeah I know all about "LocTite", but this is an old technique that was around long before locTite and works just as good!

The white polish I use to mark my settings on my tension screws, as well as my sights every once in a while. Yes I know there's other stuff just for sight dots, but nail polish works just as good!

The red polish I use for my safety dots that I apply every once in a while. I also use the red to mark my mags.

Never said that I use "Nail Polish" to clean my guns, you assumed that Sir! I said that it's in my gun cleaning kit!

Why would it be in your cleaning kit if you don’t use it for cleaning your guns? Still confused.

Well, I used to follow that line of thought... but finally got around to cleaning my 1948 Remington 121 22LR Pump, AFTER ~65yr.
I do have to say that it was very well worth the effort!

BTW, my father and I used to target shoot with this in our basement "range" back in the 1950s. No deck of playing cards were safe!

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Grinner, So as not to repeat myself again, please read up, my post #34 Sir. In that post you will find why I keep "Nail Polish" in my gun cleaning kit!

That's all mine get.. I'm always taking mine out to shoot..

After a few times out the revolvers get a BoreSnake through all holes. The auto's get the top end taken off and rail wiped and relubed..

Once in a Blue Moon I take them completely apart and do a complete clean and lube..

Bet that tastes good. "What's that black residue in the dishwasher?"

I usually use CLP on my Shield but today used old school Hoppes9 and Rem oil, mags felt a little gritty so cleaned them also