MODEL 41 DEEP CLEANING

[DireWolf53]

My new to me model 41 (circa 77) is approaching the time for a take down and cleaning. I grew up the son of a marine and have experience cleaning a variety of firearms. All the instructions and info on line are very clear as to how about how to do so. My question here is would it do any harm to clean/polish the breech and slide faces with Flitz (or an equivalent) while I have the pistol apart?

Thanks in advance for any info you all may pass along.

Paul

 

[gmborkovic]

Paul, is the 41 functioning correctly now?

 

[PALADIN85020]

Paul, probably no harm would be done. But recognize that the headspace on these guns is very precise and Flitz polish actually removes a miniscule amount of metal from the surface to get that polish.

Personally, I'd use a brass bristle brush and a suitable solvent on both surfaces. Then just clean with a very lightly-oiled rag. Polishing is not necessary.

John

 

[H Richard]

If the gun has been strictly used with "Target" ammo I seldom see the need for a brass brush. Good solvent on a "Pull Through" cleaning device several times until you get clean patches then the visible action with a nylon brush and solvent of your choice. Lightly oil where needed.

 

[gmborkovic]

John, I dont know why people cant grasp the fact that polishing metal removes metal. Leave the polish for your Creager wheels on the Mustang.

 

[DireWolf53]

Paul, is the 41 functioning correctly now?

I picked it up a few months ago and after giving nylon brushing the breech and bolt faces as well as using Qtips to clean the chamber (it passes the plop test easily) it has run like a Swiss train until last week when I has several (3) failures to feed over the course of 200 rounds. I've probably run ~1000 (all CCI green tag or STD V) rounds since purchasing it.

 

[DireWolf53]

Paul, probably no harm would be done. But recognize that the headspace on these guns is very precise and Flitz polish actually removes a miniscule amount of metal from the surface to get that polish.

Personally, I'd use a brass bristle brush and a suitable solvent on both surfaces. Then just clean with a very lightly-oiled rag. Polishing is not necessary.

John

John, That is what the voice in the back of my head said and that is why I threw this out to the group. The breech& bolt surfaces look good and the feed ramp looks as if it was polished at some point or lets just say it looks way better than some of the late model ones I seen.

 

[Larks]

I picked it up a few months ago and after giving nylon brushing the breech and bolt faces as well as using Qtips to clean the chamber (it passes the plop test easily) it has run like a Swiss train until last week when I has several (3) failures to feed over the course of 200 rounds. I've probably run ~1000 (all CCI green tag or STD V) rounds since purchasing it.

As others have said - definitely do not polish the slide, but do strip the gun down and clean it after each shoot if you want continues reliable operation. I strongly recommend that you follow the S&W Mod41 instructions for cleaning and oiling

There are two (2) lubrication points where a single drop of firearms lubricant should be applied. This will assure proper lubrication of your pistol. Care should be taken not to over lubricate. Excess lubricant can collect large quantities of unburned powder and carbon residue, which could interfere with proper functioning of the pistol (FIGURE 22).

 

[H Richard]

If you ran 1000 without cleaning, you are over due. brass brush in the chamber only, and make sure the magazines are as clean as the gun. I normally clean mu semi auto's after each use. Or, 250 to 350 rounds at most.

 

[chief38]

Paul,
my very first Target gun is my M41 that I purchased new in 1979. The pistol has seen tens and tens of thousands of rounds (mostly CCI std. vel. over the past 20 years but some Federal std. vel. too after much disappointment with Remington target ammo). I am also pretty OCD about cleaning and do not hesitate to fully disassemble most firearms when warranted. The M41 (unless grossly neglected or abused with crummy dirty ammo) never gets all that dirty to warrant a full and complete take-down. For a real good cleaning at the end of the year I use Hoppes #9 and a soft toothbrush. After the scrub I use an air compressor to blow it dry making sure to blow the debris out of the gun and not deeper inside. If necessary, this process can be repeated a second time. After the gun has been dried off, I then lightly lubricate it and have never had any issues with it al all.

I have taken the firing pin out a few times to clean that and have replaced the original Extractor with a Volquartsen. I have removed the safety to smooth burrs out once and maybe a few other parts. I did adjust the trigger pull once or twice over the years but don't recall every doing a complete 100% tear down of this particular model as I don't believe it has ever been necessary.

The M41 is a bit tricky and some of the springs are easily lost in "outer spring world". lol! Unless there is a real reason to completely tear it down, I'd follow the minimally invasive procedure mentioned above and I think you will be quite happy.

Again, I am not shy about a compete tear down of any firearm IF IT IS warranted, however I have mostly found that original owners that have sold their M41's actually took pretty good care of them (although I'm sure there are a few exceptions).

ADDED: Just wanted to add that ALL my firearms including my M41 get a regular cleaning after each and every Range session so they never get all that dirty. The thorough cleaning with Hopes at years end just gets anything possibly left that the less aggressive CLP I normally could have missed. I did not want it mistakenly taken I only clean my M41 only at the end of the year!