Why is it that my M&P's seem to clean up SO easy?
A little solvent, a few passes with the brush, a wet patch, a dry patch and it is glistening!
I once even run just a wet patch (Hoppe's #9) through it after about 250 rounds and it looked sparkling clean.
Is it the metallurgy? Is it the type of machining? The way the lands and grooves are cut?
What ever it is that S&W has done....I LIKE it! I have also noticed this on my Springfield XD's.
Randy
Actually I am using lead projectiles as well as jacketed. It just seems like the crud simply pushes out and you are done. I have a whole herd of firearms and most don't tidy up this easy...that's why I was asking.
Randy
Now that you mention it, they do clean up rather easily. I purchased a FS M&P 40 around the beginning of the year. I try to shoot it every weekend, if possible, since I have my own range. I do not put a lot of rounds through it between cleanings (still in the honeymoon stage) but it only takes about 30 seconds to get it super clean. Ammo has improved over the years, which I am sure helps to keep modern guns clean, but I hear what you're saying. No soaking, no scrubbing, just a wet patch, about 5 passes with a bush, then a few dry patches. Gotta love that.
I have found that they are even easier to clean if you use Mil-Tec for the lube. You just have to use a dry cloth most of the time and everything comes right out.
I surmise that the final finish has a lot to do with it. A highly finished surface will not collect crud as easily as a rough, soft surface will.
A lot of variables could affect cleanabilty.
When I get a new pistol I clean out the old oil preserative and relube it with Tufoil, a teflon base lubricant, and after firing I just give it a quick pass with the same lubricant and it's clean.
There's really no need to even use a brush on an M&P barrel. Doing so will actually make it rougher over time and less likely to clean up so easily. Wet patch with solvent, let it wit while you clean the slide and frame and then dry patches until clean are all that's required.
A lot of this is because of the finish. Glock barrels are the same way for the same reason. Tenifer style finishes are pretty darned hard and can be made smooth enough that bullet fouling simply doesn't accumulate quickly. Obviously with Glock barrels lead is a bad idea, but it's not the finish...just the shape of the rifling that causes that. R,