New M&P Owner Looking for Gun Cleaning Help

[keakar]

handgun cleaning choices / preferences

as a first time gun owner I would like to hear from gun owners about the gun care choices they like the best.

as it applies to cleaning semiautomatic handguns:

do you use gun oil, synthetic motor oils, or silicone, or some other dry spray lube?

what bore cleaners have you come to like best?

do you use a bore snake or a brush or both?

do you prefer pipe cleaners or q-tips or both or not at all?

do you use grease or oil on your guns moving parts or both and what is your preferred choice of what to use?

do you use silicone cloth or old tee shirts / flannel shirts?


I realize there might not be much agreement on different brand choices (we all have favorites) but there might be.

im just looking for a jump start on the things you guys have learned about what works best or doesn't since obviously you guys have a lot more experience in cleaning your guns and have learned what works best.

thanks for your help

 

[DigiRebel]

handgun cleaning choices / preferences

as a first time gun owner I would like to hear from gun owners about the gun care choices they like the best.

as it applies to cleaning semiautomatic handguns:

do you use gun oil, synthetic motor oils, or silicone, or some other dry spray lube?

I use hoppe's gun oil.

what bore cleaners have you come to like best?

Old Faithful, Hoppe's No. 9

do you use a bore snake or a brush or both?

A brush, with a barrel that short the snake seems like overkill to me.

do you prefer pipe cleaners or q-tips or both or not at all?

For what? I use an old toothbrush for most of the stuff you could use those on though.

do you use grease or oil on your guns moving parts or both and what is your preferred choice of what to use?

The maintainence directions that come with it say there are 6 (or 7 I don't remember offhand) that need to be lubed. I do. Like I said in the first question, Hoppe's.

do you use silicone cloth or old tee shirts / flannel shirts?

For what?

I realize there might not be much agreement on different brand choices (we all have favorites) but there might be.

im just looking for a jump start on the things you guys have learned about what works best or doesn't since obviously you guys have a lot more experience in cleaning your guns and have learned what works best.

thanks for your help

Honestly, the M&P pistols are simplicity itself to keep clean.

1) field strip
2) take an old toothbrush or gentle wire brush to any areas that have any sort of buildup.
3) Run a wire brush through the barrel
4) Run the wire brush through again with some hoppe's on it
5) Run patches through until they come out dry. If they aren't clean, dampen a patch with solvent, and repeat until clean.
6) Put a very little bit of oil on a patch and run it through the barrel being careful to not leave more than a VERY fine layer of oil.
7) 1 small drop of oil onto each of the places that are supposed to be lubricated
8) Reassemble.

I've been told that the M&Ps can be used (and used hard) while dirty. I enjoy the process of cleaning, and so do it regularly.

 

[Arik]

All cleaners have worked pretty good for me. I used Hopes9 and/or CLP. No real reason. I bought it, it cleaned, im happy. I disassemble, run an oily patch over the parts, scrub with a copper or tooth brush depending on the part, wipe down with clean rags then oil a clean rag and run that down the parts and wipe off any excess. For the barrel i use a brush.

If at work, i run the parts through a parts cleaner (transmission fluid) then wipe off.

Total time about 5 min.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[tjpopkin]

I know many users and owners tell you to clean with a wire brush.....
That is well and good, but it is preferable to clean with a patch that is covered in cleaner like Hoppe's or (what I use) Shooters Choice. The latter contains a copper solvent that will dissolve any jacket material left in the bore. After running 1 or 2 patches with solvent, a pass with a bronze brush (back and forth a few times) will loosen most remaining material that you clean with, yet another, patch and solvent. I continue until the patch shows no black material. The inside of the frame and slide, I soak a cloth (cut-up pieces of old Tee shirts) or a gauze pad (cheap non-sterile pads at drug store)in solvent, and wipe out all remaining reside of carbon and powder. Dry with another dry cloth. To lubricate, I use a small amount of fine gun oil ("Militec") or even a high temperature "grease" on the slide rails, the frame-slide supports and the trigger bar. That's it...
See the U-tube guide for Semi-Auto cleaning.
Terry

 

[Bkreutz]

handgun cleaning choices / preferences

as a first time gun owner I would like to hear from gun owners about the gun care choices they like the best.

as it applies to cleaning semiautomatic handguns:

do you use gun oil, synthetic motor oils, or silicone, or some other dry spray lube?

what bore cleaners have you come to like best?

do you use a bore snake or a brush or both?

do you prefer pipe cleaners or q-tips or both or not at all?

do you use grease or oil on your guns moving parts or both and what is your preferred choice of what to use?

do you use silicone cloth or old tee shirts / flannel shirts?


I realize there might not be much agreement on different brand choices (we all have favorites) but there might be.

im just looking for a jump start on the things you guys have learned about what works best or doesn't since obviously you guys have a lot more experience in cleaning your guns and have learned what works best.

thanks for your help

1. Break Free CLP
2. Same as #1
3. Brush then patch for the bore, nylon brush (toothbrush) for everything else
4. I use pipe cleaners and Q tips where appropriate.
5. Break Free CLP (are you seeing a pattern here)
6. I have both, depends on what's handy (Depends might work well too)

Just what I do, I keep things simple. Too many different chemicals confuse me.

 

[keakar]

so far I gather buying a snake is overkill for a handgun then, that's kinda what I was thinking and seaking your opinions for.

another big puzzlement for me is the opinions on greasing the slide vs using oil on the slide. most of the u-tube stuff shows both versions have equal amount of favor that there choice is better but I think you guys opinions count more.

 

[shield]

Break Free CLP, brush and patches for the bore, q-tips and patches everywhere else. Final lubrication with CLP.

 

[Bkreutz]

Break Free CLP, brush and patches for the bore, q-tips and patches everywhere else. Final lubrication with CLP.

I'm a big fan of Break Free (can't you tell from my other post?) I've been using it since the early 80's. I picked up some Bread Free BCF (bore cleaning foam) a few months back but haven't found an instance where the old CLP didn't do the job.

 

[southchatham]

I would ditto the use break free. Keeps thing simple for a new gun owner and works good.

 

[bunkshaner]

i cleaned my m&p .45 for the first time this past weekend. it was really easy to break down and put back together. I have used Hoppes for 30 years....(every time I break out the Hoppes the smell reminds me of cleaning my first shotgun I got for Christmas at age 7)....You can buy an easy to use cleaning kit that has all the patches and hoppes supplies you need and use an old toothbrush to add to your kit if one isn't included and a good rag. Just make sure when you add your light coat of oil..it is truly a freaking LIGHT coat. applying to heavy will collect all kinds of dirt, grime and dust and will also leak out all over the place.

 

[bunkshaner]

also to add, especially for a new gun owner...go check out the youtube videos on cleaning your M&P. Theres quite a few that go step by step. I am sure you are a little nervous...but don't worry the more you practice the better you will get at it and the more you will enjoy it.

 

[MichiganScott]

so far I gather buying a snake is overkill for a handgun then, that's kinda what I was thinking and seaking your opinions for.

another big puzzlement for me is the opinions on greasing the slide vs using oil on the slide. most of the u-tube stuff shows both versions have equal amount of favor that there choice is better but I think you guys opinions count more.

Google "Stuck Boresnake". You may decide you don't want to use one in a rifle either.

I use a light coating of oil as per the S&W owners manual.

 

[bunkshaner]

heres the youtube video link if you didnt feel like searching for it...this guy has a ton of videos posted about m&p's. I have always done a lot of researching no matter the hobby and actually watching someone do something is always a lot easier to understand

Cleaning A Smith & Wesson M&P - YouTube

 

[xix19]

I use hoppes lubricant and elite cleaner. I scrub it down with an ap brush. I use qtips and I rip a sleeve off a tshirt to wipe it down. I keep using qtips til there is nothing on it. I also use a bore snake. Just a couple passes through and it's clean. Just make sure you get the right size. I've never had a problem with one. I think you should definitely get one.

Also you should clean it consecutive days. Whatever spots you miss the cleaner will bring up more dirt and grime. A second cleaning will help clean all that up

 

[keakar]

I am not that hesitant about the cleaning process, hell I been tearing stuff apart and rebuilding things all my life (35 years as a/c technition and I've been a backyard mechanic rebuilding every kind of motor and tranny I ever drove so i'm not afraid of assembly or takedown of things at all. hell I think its fun to take things apart and get all up into the guts of how they work.

I am already planning on doing some mods on the gun (Apex tactical striker block for sure and i'm seriously thinking about doing the AEK trigger) and haven't even given it a first cleaning yet (no ammo so no rush IMO) but I want to put a few hundred rounds thru the gun first.

the info I am mainly searching for here is the jackleg stuff to avoid, the products that just don't work as well as others or the things I might read or see on u-tube that I should ignore like the green majic soak where the guy doesn't even replace the lube to the gun so its been striped of lube in a water bath and then left to air dry after only using a can of air on it then wipes it with silicone rag???? i'm no gun expert but that gun is going to rust the way he shows to clean it.

I have been watching dozens of cleaning videos on u-tube but that's part of why I posted this thread. half of what I see on u-tube say to oil everything that moves in the gun but use grease on the slide because its better then oil for that surface and won't gunk up like oil does. I also see the other half that say DON'T use grease because it flies off or hardens and gets gunked up so listening to you guys is helping me form my opinions on who makes more sense to listen to. so the grease vs oil question has fanboys on both sides on u-tube so I wanted to get a more "educated" response from you guys.

 

[kilyung]

I was using Hoppes but switched to FrogLube CLP. Now I just need Q-tips, microfibers, old toothbrushes, grease brushes, and boresnake.

 

[Dino1]

I'm with the other poster. Why would you boresnake a 3" barrel?
Bore snakes are for rifles,and shot guns, not hand guns or pistols.

 

[swrdply400mrelay]

Froglube is all you need. Well hairdryer, brush, and bore brush.

 

[bmyers]

Yep, FrogLube. Keeps the gun clean and smells good too!

 

[GRB5111]

I used to use Hoppes #9 for initial cleaning of bore fouling and carbon. I switched to M-Pro 7 a few years back: odorless, removes carbon and lead, and is non-toxic. Works great and I'm not poisoning myself.

Everything else I do is with Break Free CLP for cleaning and lubing. Rarely do I need/use other chemicals or exotic cleaning tools.