Cleaning an M&P

[bolewine]

I have been using brake cleaner to clean my metal guns for a long time now. Gun scrubber is a bit pricey. I think that brake cleaner is a bit to harsh for my M&P. On my M&P I am using Gun Scrubber synthetic safe firearm cleaner. What are you using and why?

 

[kris7047th]

I rarely clean. I DO LUBE OFTEN !! I use SLIP2000 products.

 

[Danno_man]

clean? i just wipe the exterior down.

 

[D Rock]

I use M-Pro 7 in a pump spray followed by a blast of air from a compressor when I want a heavy duty clean. Re-lube after that

Other than that a regular wipe down with the M-Pro 7 and re-lube for every day range cleaning.

Dave

Dave

 

[Silversmok3]

M&P? Cleaning? I thought the entire point was to make a gun which didn't need cleaning......

 

[bolewine]

M&P? Cleaning? I thought the entire point was to make a gun which didn't need cleaning......

I would think that after a while carbon build up would turn into tiny pieces of sandpaper grinding away at your slide and other moving parts. Every gun needs cleaning after a range session or match shoot if you want to maintain factory reliability.

 

[kris7047th]

I would think that after a while carbon build up would turn into tiny pieces of sandpaper grinding away at your slide and other moving parts. Every gun needs cleaning after a range session or match shoot if you want to maintain factory reliability.

Why you lube every time before you shoot and then some. There was a torture test done at a MDFI handgun class on an M&P that already had over 15,000 rnds through it .. and NEVER cleaned once. The guys lined up, kept the M&P loaded & fired it to push it to it's limits to make it fail. The gun got so hot and yet it never failed to fire. Wish I could find that vid. It was over two years ago. Never run a dry gun. You will do more damage metal against metal, than a well lubed dirty gun.

It is my understanding gun smiths have seen more damage to barrels from over cleaning, and/or doing it wrong than under cleaning.

 

[JaPes]

I have been using brake cleaner to clean my metal guns for a long time now. Gun scrubber is a bit pricey. I think that brake cleaner is a bit to harsh for my M&P. On my M&P I am using Gun Scrubber synthetic safe firearm cleaner. What are you using and why?

Good ol Hoppes No.9 for the barrel. I moisten a patch with Hoppes, and wipe out the interior of the slide. Hoppes + Q-tip for the breech face & extractor.

The lower grip frame gets a quick wipe down with a rag very lightly moistened with CLP. Then wiped down with a dry rag.

 

[Lost Lake]

Why you lube every time before you shoot and then some. There was a torture test done at a MDFI handgun class on an M&P that already had over 15,000 rnds through it .. and NEVER cleaned once. The guys lined up, kept the M&P loaded & fired it to push it to it's limits to make it fail. The gun got so hot and yet it never failed to fire. Wish I could find that vid. It was over two years ago. Never run a dry gun. You will do more damage metal against metal, than a well lubed dirty gun.

It is my understanding gun smiths have seen more damage to barrels from over cleaning, and/or doing it wrong than under cleaning.

I found this by Googling M&P torture test... pistol-training.com » Blog Archive » M&P Monday: Week Thirty-Three

It seems these guys put over 62,000 rounds through an M&P9 and had a broken trigger spring after 20,000+ rounds, then the slide lock lever broke off on one side but the gun didn't care and kept firing, then at 62,000 rounds the slide developed a crack. The gun continued to fire for the day and then was sent to S&W who examined it and said it is still fine to shoot, but some lawyers decided to end the torture test.

These guys would get the gun so hot it was hard to hold. They wouldn't clean it regularly. They really tortured it. And at 50,000 round sit still shot a 1 1/4" pattern at 25 yards.... Wow.

EDIT: Forgot to mention they had two failures to function that they determined were from over greasing the action. These were very early in the test (week 6). Once they quit greasing the action heavily the gun performed flawlessly for the next 50,000 or so rounds. No failures to extract. No replacement parts. No failures to fire.

 

[kris7047th]

I found this by Googling M&P torture test... pistol-training.com » Blog Archive » M&P Monday: Week Thirty-Three

It seems these guys put over 62,000 rounds through an M&P9 and had a broken trigger spring after 20,000+ rounds, then the slide lock lever broke off on one side but the gun didn't care and kept firing, then at 62,000 rounds the slide developed a crack. The gun continued to fire for the day and then was sent to S&W who examined it and said it is still fine to shoot, but some lawyers decided to end the torture test.

These guys would get the gun so hot it was hard to hold. They wouldn't clean it regularly. They really tortured it. And at 50,000 round sit still shot a 1 1/4" pattern at 25 yards.... Wow.

EDIT: Forgot to mention they had two failures to function that they determined were from over greasing the action. These were very early in the test (week 6). Once they quit greasing the action heavily the gun performed flawlessly for the next 50,000 or so rounds. No failures to extract. No replacement parts. No failures to fire.

Wrong group of guys whom I know that ran a test. My guys didn't use grease. They use SLIP2000 EWL (extreme weapons lubrication). It's the only lube company that BCM BravoCompanyUSA.com promotes in their catalog.

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Usually I just run a bore snake with Hoppes 9 through the barrel a couple of times, lube the recommended lube points with gun oil, wipe the exterior with a silicone cloth and call it done. When the frame gets dirty I use Gun Scrubber Synthetic Safe to clean the Trigger and Sear. About twice a year I strip the slide and clean the firing pin channel...but never use any lube there. Once a year I disassemble my mags and clean them as well.

 

[44Frank]

M&P Cleaning

Hoppes 9, Breakfree CLP and Gunslick Foaming Bore Cleaner.
Then gun oil lube (internal) and gun oil rubdown/light coating (external).

 

[Houdini1953]

I know that you might not need to clean you weapons very often but it is something I actually like to do after a range trip, not every one since I go to the range about 3 times a week and will usually shoot two or more firearms of various caliber.

All my weapons except one Glock are S&W and all but one are M&P's well not counting rifles and a shotgun. I like to break down my weapons and make sure they are lubed according to the practices as specified in the owners manual.

All my weapons fire and perform in general without any issues. Cleaning a firearm that you are familiar with does not really take that much time so why not?

As you can see from my signature I own several M&P's and on occasion one if the salesman from the store might be out of a certain rental gun and they will come to me while I am at the range and ask if one of the customers can shoot one of my guns with their own ammunition which I usually allow unless that is the next gun I am going to shoot then I might say can they wait for a minute or so!

No when I come home from the range unless I am really tired I will clean and lube all the weapons that I used that day, since my wife is dead and the kids are all grown there is nothing else to occupy my time so why not clean and lube your weapons?

 

[SubNine]

I seriously cannot stand having dirty guns. I even clean my AK even though it'll run thousands and thousands of rounds without requiring a cleaning. I've always used Break Free CLP and its worked for me just fine.

 

[OKFC05]

As others have said, I remove the barrel and clean as any other steel barrel.

For the polymer frame contents, and for disassembled magazines, I use CRC spray silicone, which has heptane (white gasoline, no smell) for the propellant and leaves a slight dry silicone residue, which is all the trigger parts need. CRC on a paper towel can be used to wipe the frame points and slide channels clean, also. CRC silicone in the red spray can at Walmart or ACE Hardware.

A drop of your favorite lube ONLY where the manual specifies, and the gun is good to go for a lot of shooting.

 

[Bigpoppa]

I have been using brake cleaner to clean my metal guns for a long time now. Gun scrubber is a bit pricey. I think that brake cleaner is a bit to harsh for my M&P. On my M&P I am using Gun Scrubber synthetic safe firearm cleaner. What are you using and why?

Same here, I also use Gun Scrubber Synthetic Safe along with Hoppe's Elite for cleaning the bore. I also like the foaming bore cleaners from Gunslick and Outers.