How often do you clean your revolver?

[C J]

Just for the record I don't think cleaning a gun is bad for the gun unless you do what I've seen too many people do which is flood the action with WD-40. Another bad idea is sticking a steel brush on a cleaning rod and attaching it to a drill. It will sure make a bore nice and shiny. I wonder if it also wears the grooves down too. I don't know but I won't be doing it.

The main reason I go a long time between cleanings is I have seen accuracy drop when guns get cleaned. Not always but sometimes. If I have a gun shooting really accurate I just don't want to take the chance that it won't shoot that way after cleaning. I have one pistol that shot great until I finally took it apart and gave it a good cleaning. Now it won't shoot accurate at all and it's been at least 15 years since that happened. I gave up on it in fact. It wasn't exactly a high quality gun. I bought a Raven when I was a broke college kid. It actually shot great until I cleaned it good. It took me forever to figure out how to take the thing apart and when I did finally get it broke down it just never shot right again. Before I could shoot a 12" group at 50 yards with that thing which is amazing considering what a piece of junk it is. I never saw another one shoot like that and doubt I ever will. My dad was laughing at me for shooting quick rounds at his pond behind his house a good 60 yards away. I was aiming at a leaf and hitting close to it every shot but dad didn't see that. That's when I told him, "Watch this." I sank that leaf I was shooting at with the next shot. That pistol was amazing for a paper weight with a firing pin. Was is the word.

I've seen lots of .22's shoot worse after cleaning. I know the top guys clean very often. But they are using barrels that are tighter than the off the shelf stuff most of us use. I have two .22 rifles that shoot very well. Both lose accuracy if I clean them. I let them go about 2000 rounds between cleaning usually because accuracy starts to drop at that point.

I have guns that have only been cleaned good once in 25 years and they still work perfect and still shoot accurate. I have some guns I clean a lot. Shotguns especially need it IMO. The powder used in the shells is dirty. I have semi-auto .22's that just won't feed unless they are cleaned fairly regular. But my 629 has never given me the slightest problem. I don't really shoot it a lot but I sure don't clean it every time I shoot it. I guess I do that for my shotguns. I was taught that by my DI. We called him dad.

I started shooting when I was 7. That was 54 years ago. I've shot a lot since then. I'm not new to this. I was taught how to clean a gun before I ever shot one. I have just learned some things over the years and one thing is not every gun needs to be cleaned often. In fact it can hurt their accuracy. Until I have a problem with most guns I won't clean them. Again shotguns are the exception. And most semi-auto pistols.

 

[Tadeus67]

I clean my guns after every range trip, both revolvers and semi autos. If a gun is not in regular use I clean and oil it every 6 months.

Hate to see a gun dirty

 

[slipnotz]

Usually cleaned them up after each shooting with bore brush and wipe down. If I know I'm going to shoot it again soon, I might just wipe it off. But I always wipe them down after handling.

 

[Groo01]

Groo here
Depends on the gun.
Most of mine are SS or non rusting, the blued ones get oiled.
There is cleaning and there is CLEANING......
In most cases the outside is wiped if needed, then packed away.
The CCW guns are wiped then allowed to "air out".
The only time to CLEAN is when the gun is "sticky or starts to hang up.
More than one smith has told me that with modern primers,powder
and lubes, you can clean too much..

 

[revolver686]

My .44 magnum get 50 to 100 rounds through it every range visit, my .357 gets 150 to 200 rounds per visit. Both are cleaned, lubed and polished after every range session.
I realize that I'm a little OCD about this but I find cleaning my guns to be very satisfying.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[CH4]

As soon as practical I return from the range. A dirty gun drives me bananas.

 

[Benchrest1]

I always clean my guns after shooting them. I never put a dirty gun back in the safe.

 

[rwsmith]

I LIKE shooting......

I LIKE shooting a dirty gun, bet when the shooting is over I like LOOKING at a clean gun.

 

[Mark IV]

......Just remember that you must protect the bore. Shooting leaves a perfectly dry bore, and so moisture can attack. Even if you don't do a full cleaning, an oily patch or "oil mop" down the bore and each charge hole will help protect those surfaces from moisture and rust......

This is a good point. Even on guns I don't clean quickly, I'll almost always at least run a lubed patch down the bore, especially non-chromed ones.

 

[Mark IV]

There is cleaning and there is CLEANING......
In most cases the outside is wiped if needed, then packed away......
....More than one smith has told me that with modern primers,powder
and lubes, you can clean too much..

Another good point. It took me YEARS to rid myself of that Marine Corps brainwashing about weapons cleaning. I used to HAVE to clean every weapon, right after shooting, like it was going to be inspected prior to being released for liberty !! My best old shooting bud used to laugh and shake his head at it.
The Corps used to have us clean weapons to an absurd level, and I've been told that the powers-that-be finally figured out they were over-cleaning their weapons (to the point that ZERO carbon could be seen on a Q-Tip, from any part of the rifle, which was simply ridiculous).
But, I carried over that obsessive degree of cleaning years into civilian life (and to this day, I'm still bizarrely compelled to give extra attention to AR's, versus other stuff, LOL!)
So, as groo said above, there's "cleaning", and then there's cleaning, and believe me, there is a difference!

 

[jcoers]

I do a wipe down with Ballistol every range trip. Bore and Cylinder when needed - about once a month or so. Once a year I totally strip them down and clean/lube.

 

[balin]

Bore snake and a wipe down oiling every trip. A real cleaning along Jerry Miculeks time table, when they loose accuracy.

 

[Teep]

For you guys that run a lot of .38 Specials through your .357 Magnums: How often do you scrub the cylinder to get rid of the carbon ring caused by the short case?

 

[cmj8591]

I've been shooting revolvers for 50+ years. I've never in all that time, as a LEO, a competitive shooter and as a firearms instructor for 18 years, seen a revolver (or semi auto for that matter) damaged by cleaning. Never!

I'm sorry but that idea sounds like an excuse to not bother properly maintaining a firearm. I would guess those saying cleaning damages guns never met that guy some of us knew well, named "Drill Instructor".

Dave

I've spent about that amount of time doing the same things and I can tell you that most of the repairs I have had to do to police guns was because of improper cleaning and maintenance techniques. It really came to light when we were using revolvers and they had to be cleaned from the muzzle. I've seen barrel cylinder gaps shot because of over zealous cleaning with lead remover cloths and who knows what else. I won't even get into the damage I've seen from stainless steel bore brushes. I've seen military weapons that had never been fired taken off line because they had been taken apart and put back together so many times that none of the parts were within tolerance any more. Next time you are at the range, watch some of the shooters who are cleaning their weapons after shooting and tell me they are not doing damage. I am not saying that you shouldn't clean you gun ever but I am saying that over zealous cleaning, and most of it is, will wear out your gun.

 

[Frequent Flyer]

If I shoot 'em, I clean 'em. That's just the way I like to do it.

 

[oysterer]

cylinder

For you guys that run a lot of .38 Specials through your .357 Magnums: How often do you scrub the cylinder to get rid of the carbon ring caused by the short case?

After every range trip: I dip a bronze bore brush into hopes and make a few brush strokes through every cylinder hole, same with the barrel, let it soak in a bit and run a few soaked patches through it. Dip a regular shaped bronze brush into hopes, quick brush along cylinder faces. Dry all the hopes off, spray some ballistol, dry off and gun it squeaky clean. Takes not more than 10 minutes. No built up whatsoever. When lead built up, I use chore boy on a dry barrel, few passes and done. After shooting metal jacket ammo, I let the hopes soak in longer. After an hour or so I run a patch and remove the blue copper. I use a heavy nylon coated rod by J Dewey and make sure her anything touches the barrel crown. My guns do not show any wear from these procedures whatsoever and look close to new as when I got them.

I do think as dirt and leading builds up, cleaning will be harder and more straining to the gun.

 

[C J]

I'm still bizarrely compelled to give extra attention to AR's, versus other stuff

From what I have read AR's do need more cleaning than other rifles. I've read that a lot. I clean my AR's. But I have an SKS that I've had since 1992 and shot so many thousands of rounds through it I couldn't begin to guess how many. It's been cleaned really well ONCE and it has had about 2 dozen failures during that 25 year period that were all attributed to bad ammo or a modification I made that was fixed as soon as I went back to the OEM setup. They were not made to be cleaned. I didn't take the gas tube cover off for at least 15 years after I bought that rifle. I've seen other SKS's get so clogged up with gunk they wouldn't even chamber a round. I blamed that on someone using way too much WD-40 - the worst thing you can put on a gun.

I've never cleaned my CZ .22. I had another SKS that was never cleaned. I had an AK that was never cleaned. It never seemed to hurt any of them. But I have other .22's that will fail to cycle if I go through 500 rounds without cleaning but they're semi-autos.

A lot of what makes a gun need cleaning is the ammo used. I have a single shot .22 that I had about 30 years before I cleaned it. I shot half a brick of Remington Golden Bullets through it and I couldn't get the bolt to work. Again it's the ammo used most of the time. That's why I clean shotguns a lot. Shotgun ammo is often dirty ammo.

 

[SuperGoat]

I clean mine every time I go shooting. I don't think they all need it but that is just the kind of person I am.

 

[justBrian]

I do pretty much like you do. But I always wonder "why am I cleaning them so often?"

For me, it's kind of a Zen thing. I get home, make a cocktail, get the cleaning kit out, put on some jazz, and just kind of zone out. I take my time--I like the way it smells, the feel of everything--it's just a comforting, centering thing. At least for me...;-)