Dipping your M & P Shield in Soapy Water?

[1GunLover61]

I have recently purchased a Shield 9 and love it a lot. Have been out of shooting and guns for many decades and can't remember all the steps I used to go through in cleaning our hunting guns when we were kids. I am sure that some things have changed with respects to the new polymer guns like the shield so I did a Youtube search on cleaning. The first one I watched a guy showed how to field strip the Shield then he went through the solvent (Hoppes #9) to clean the parts. Then he ran a pan of soapy water (ie, dawn dish detergent) and submerged all parts of the gun saying that it would remove all the debris and gunk that the solvent helped to break down. Then he went to the garage and blew air through the gun removing the water and finally lubed it and put it back together.

I know that the Owner's Manual for the Shield does not mention submerging in soapy water, but it seemed like a good idea on one hand and not so good on the other.

What are your thoughts on this?

*For the record: I have not submerged my gun in water

Here's the link just incase you want to watch this:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aQQjfnJlvU[/ame]

 

[HarryD]

I know everybody's entitled to do it the way they want, but I know I am not going to do mine that way.

 

[Yorkie Man]

I have used hot soapy water after shooting black powder loads in an old shotgun before which I followed up by drying it off and wiping it down with an oily rag.

 

[arjay]

It works,but you have to make the effort to get every last drop of water out of the gun.

 

[Arik]

It won't damage anything as long as you get all the water out. Guns are not fragile. It's a good and fast way to clean after shooting corrosive ammo. Absolutely nothing will happen unless you leave water, then you can get rust.

 

[Pef]

Seems like overkill and a bit OCD. Also, I don't want to disassemble the striker every single time I clean the gun. Left over water in the striker channel could cause major problems. The striker should be dry, not lubed, and definitely not wet nor rusty.

Here's what I do, and this is what I've done all of my semi-autos

1) clean with hoppes' No. 9. I don't submerge, just clean the surface and the barrel.

2) Wipe down and run dry patch through barrel to remove hoppes.

3) lightly oil moving parts. Slide grease for some guns (not the shield, just some gun oil).

That's it. No rust, no jams, nothing. Been doing this since I was a lad in the early 80's and it's worked well.

EDIT: Arik is correct re corrosive ammo, but chances are you will not be buying that stuff in 9mm for your shield.

 

[ATF]

For a deep clean without stripping the gun down I use Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber. It's a high pressure solvent in an aerosol and safe for polymer guns. It'll clean out everything and evaporate then you can use their Barricade and/or any gun oil to oil as necessary any moving parts and finish off with a lightly oiled cloth. Then wipe dry and use a silicone cloth for a high polish. I only do this every 1000-2000 rounds but smaller guns get dirtier quicker. Normally I just clean the inside and outside of the barrel with CLP and oil the outside of the barrel and just wipedown the inside of the gun with oil.

 

[chief38]

Soapy water is an old standby (from the black powder guns) and while it will work, it is simply too much trouble to insure 100% water removal IMHO. I suppose if you do own a gun that you shoot tens of thousands of rounds through and want to strip the gun entirely and give it a super duper cleaning it's not a bad way, but for routine cleaning I'd pass.

 

[H Richard]

In my opinion, if you don't have a compressor to enable you to blow all the water out of your gun "COMPLETELY" I wouldn't try it. The entire trigger assembly in the shield is metal, and subject to rust. Watch a different video.

 

[jack the toad]

I've heard of guys cleaning their polymer guns (frame only) in Simple Green, Dawn, etc.
And even knew a guy that said he ran his Glock through his dishwasher once, with no adverse consequences. I think more to prove something than anything else.
Not that I wouldn't use water but my guns just don't get that dirty enough to need it. Pretty much some Hoppes on a rag.
I will say that for corrosive powder/primer cleaning, hot soapy water works about the best IMO.

 

[Mcwsky09]

I think I would only consider that if I was going to follow it up with some sort of dehumidification - either as a step before putting it back in the safe - or if the safe had active full time dehumidify.

In many modern polymer frame guns there may be very little bare metal in the frame/receiver - with parts which are not polymer coated in one way or another. Still, any exposed metal resulting from wear becomes a potential rust spot.

 

[chief38]

In my opinion, if you don't have a compressor to enable you to blow all the water out of your gun "COMPLETELY" I wouldn't try it. The entire trigger assembly in the shield is metal, and subject to rust. Watch a different video.

I do have an air compressor but just want to post a general statement about air compressors......... Unless one has a fairly extensive air drying filter system there is PLENTY of moisture in the compressed air. I have two separate dryers on my compressor and once in a while (depending on usage amount) still get a minor amount of moisture in the line. When I routinely open the drain petcock it's simply amazing how much water comes out!

Therefore don't think that compressor supplied air is really dry unless you have a REAL electrically operated air drying system. Just saying.........

 

[tbgunner88]

That's completely unnecessary and has the potential to cause harm if all of the water isn't removed. A simple spray down and wipe off with clp and a bore brush through the barrel is all that is required under normal conditions. Everyone has their own way of cleaning a firearm and prefer different brands of gun cleaner and oil, and most all of them will do the job. I would recommend looking at some other youtube videos for more detailed instructions. I think hickok 45 has some videos on how he cleans his glocks, check those out.

 

[gwpercle]

I never submerge a gun in water intentionally, water and guns just don't go together in my mind. Too many crevices for H20 to get into. The best thing I have found is a can of spray gun scrubber or a bucket of kerosene .
The things people do on U-Tube are insane! I saw a guy overload a case with the wrong powder, blow up gun at the range then blame the gun!!!
No U-Tube for me.
Gary

 

[DWalt]

Many have an unreasonable fear of washing guns in water or soap and water. But it will cause no damage if you dry all of the water thoroughly. I always give my black powder guns a bath in hot soapy water after use, as it is simply the best cleaner for BP residue. During WWII, water was very commonly used as a bore cleaner by the troops if nothing else was available. Even the regulation GI bore cleaner of that time was about half water. It dissolved the corrosive primer residue completely from the bore.

I remember an incident in which my boss and I took his new .45 Auto out to shoot. I had a large quantity of the old WWII steel-cased GI .45 ACP ammo which used corrosive primers. I told him most emphatically at the range that when he got home, to immediately remove the barrel and wash it thoroughly in hot soapy water, along with the slide. Of course he didn't, and as a result it ruined his new barrel. When I found out and asked him why he didn't do as I suggested, he said something really dumb like "I always heard that guns and water don't mix." That's called learning the hard way.

 

[ironhead7544]

If you do use soap and water, use hot water as it will dry better with the metal hot. A squirt of WD40 will also remove the water. That is what it was designed for. If you are worried about the WD40, then hit it with Gun Scrubber after the WD40 treatment. Then re-oil. Dont put WD40 over other oil. That can cause problems.

CLP is also supposed to displace water also, but I cant confirm that.

Back in the 70ties, I got the bright idea to shoot black powder loads in my 4 inch blued M29. It fired all 50 rounds without jamming up. I detailed stripped it and gave it a hot water and soap bath. Relubed with WD40 and had no rust problems.

I was also using the cap and ball revolvers in those days. Detail strip and wash with hot soapy water was standard for those.

Back around that time, I was buying WWI dated boxes of 45 ACP milsurp for $2.00 a box. I used the soap and water method for cleaning the cylinder and bore of my M1917. Relubed with WD40 and never had rust.