REMINDER! Check & lube your carry gun.

Hillbilly77, excellent post to remind all of us.

One way to prevent that:

Have your wife do all the work which may make you sweat.;)
 
A silicone cloth is cheap. I purchased several and keep them around the house and car to wipe down my Model 38 fairly often. I run a dry patch down the barrel and wipe out the "hump" weekly.
 
it is a knowledge we soon experence, lint/ dirt on the trigger, in the barrel, somehow inside the slide. last summer i was at a friends, sitting outside he showed me how he carried, a expandble belt worn around his chest. a glock/40 and a glock 45 under the each arm.pit, but no round in the chamber. when he put them on the table unloaded/ locked open, i took a look at the sub compacts. they had so much lint/ dirt in the barrels, triggers , slides, that i was laughing so hard i could have fell off the seat. suggested when he fires the glocks the lint might burn his hands. felt bad i laughed so hard, i've know him 46+ years. plus he was embarresed!. hope i did,t stray from the thread to much. the weapons that are used for CC daily, get some grime from the enviroment. HillBilly 77, thumbs up on your thread. thank you.
 
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Even stainless steel firearms will corrode. They are usually made from 400 series stainless that is heat treatable, and magnetic. Most stainless that is used in a corrosive application is made from 300 series and is non magnetic and very corrosion resistant.
 
Chris642 said:
I guess that might depend on the gun, the climate and/or your chosen profession, but I think that's a bit excessive, unnecessary and unrealistic for most average civilians to clean their CCW's daily.

I use compressed air to blow out any lint or dust in my 642, then wipe it down with a silicone treated cloth at least once every other week and it looks and performs flawlessly. When I do add any lube it is usually done after shooting practice, which may only be once or twice a month. I dry fire practice and handle it enough in between to know if there are any issues it may be having.
Click to expand...

I think you misread my post. I did not recommend daily cleaning. I recommended a daily wipe-down when putting the piece aside at the end of the day. Takes about one minute to visually check the piece and wipe it down.

I got into the habit of daily inspection and wipe-down while in Vietnam. Followed through for 24 years in law enforcement. The habit stuck and I'm still following the same routine 46 years later.

Weekly I break my pistol down and do a light cleaning. After a shooting session it takes me about 10 minutes to thoroughly clean the piece.

I don't find any of these chores excessive or time-consuming. When I was building houses I took care of all of my tools at the end of every day, much the same way. I try to walk around my truck every day, look at the tires and other equipment, and I check the oil and other fluids every time I fill the gas tank.

If I am relying on a piece of equipment it makes sense to take care of it.

Best regards.
 
Good reminder. Last year I decided to shoot my S&W CS9 that I had been carrying for quite a while. It had never failed on me. But this time it did. It "jammed" after every shot, with the slide not going all the way forward. It didn't look too dirty, but had enough there to impair the function. Definitely a wake up call for me. I alternate between my S&W CS9 and my S&W 5906, but I now make sure to clean and lube every couple of months or so. Lubed up the 5906 this weekend .... after some plinking. :)
 
LoboGunLeather said:
I agree with the premise that a carry pistol requires daily attention.

On the other hand, there are many people who use far too much oil in and on their pistols. Oil collects dust, lint, powder residue, and other crud that can build up and cause function problems.

A light wipe-down with a rag dampened with oil is usually all that is needed on a daily basis. Leave the piece out of the holster when not in use, and leave the holster somewhere with air flow to permit evaporation of the moisture it has absorbed.

Weekly field stripping, cleaning out the internals and oiling them very lightly will keep everything working properly. Something many people never do is to drop the floorplates of their magazines and clean out the internals periodically (I like to shoot up my carry ammo every 6 months, clean the mags and load with fresh ammo).

Final note: Choose your lubricants with care. Some oils will penetrate, and oil residue in the pistol can penetrate primer pockets in your ammo and kill the primers. WD-40 is noted for this, but some general purpose oils (3-in-1 type, sewing machine oils, etc) are nearly as bad. I like the military grade lubricants, which are probably the most thoroughly researched and highly developed products around. I bought a couple of quart cans of LSA (Lubricant Small Arms, which we used in the Army for everything from rifles & pistols to the M60 and M2 machineguns) for a couple of bucks at a gun show about 25 years ago, and I'm still using that.

One pound tubes of pure white lithium grease can be found at the auto supply stores for a dollar or two, and that is some of the finest lubricant available.

A light coating of Vaseline works great on a pistol's internals and costs next to nothing.

Johnsons Paste Wax works great on all external surfaces, providing excellent protection against moisture, and a single can will last for decades for this purpose.

Bearing surfaces in the pistol (slide and frame rails) can be rubbed with the "lead" (actually graphite) of a #2 pencil, and this provides excellent lubrication without any tendency to collect dust, lint, or other crud. Last time I bought pencils at the office supply store they were about a dollar per dozen.

If nothing else was available I wouldn't hesitate to use a drop or two of good motor oil. It is formulated to provide good lubrication under pressures and temperatures far in excess of anything a firearm is likely to duplicate.

It is not necessary to purchase the high-priced firearm-specific products. There are plenty of good alternatives, many of which you probably already have in your house.
Click to expand...

LSA is wonderful stuff. SAWs, M240s, and M60s magically became unreliable when the military went away from using it due to cancer-causing reasons.

Not sure I can second your recommendation for Vaseline, especially for striker-fired guns. Gum up your striker channel with Vaseline and you're asking for trouble.

My old man was an engineer for Boeing. When he passed I found several pen or syringe type lube applicators with some Japanese company listed on the side of the clear tube (clearly trade show schwag). Despite being 30 years old they work fantastic. I've seen this type of applicator for the "Gun Butter" brand for almost $10.
 
Anyone else use and like kydex holsters? Have one for each of my carry guns, really like them. Thin, light, inexpensive, great retention. You still need to be wary of where you're carrying and how much sweat ends up there, but I've yet to have a gun rust by any appreciable amount in a kydex. I'd say due in part mostly to my cleaning habits, I do inspect/wipe down gun and magazine daily.
 
Especially if you carry IWB. It doesn't take long for crud to build up. Once a week at least, check it out. Pull the slide, clean and relube. Run a snake thru the bore, relube it too. Check your spare mag as well, particularly if you carry it in your pocket.
 
Good advice...I have found its not just a Summer problem. Some us sweat in the Winter and one should check and clean the gun and ammo frequently...I do it daily when I'm with it done for the day. In my LEO days, I knew officers who never removed their duty gun from the holster except for yearly qualification. One detective carried a two inch M10 that was found to have its barrel completely blocked with a combination of lint and oil. Another guy found the action completely frozen from rust when he tried to open the cylinder to clear it before going to the range for qualification...So, even people who carry professionally can be slovenly with weapon maintenance.
 
think you misread my post. I did not recommend daily cleaning. I recommended a daily wipe-down when putting the piece aside at the end of the day. Takes about one minute to visually check the piece and wipe it down.

I got into the habit of daily inspection and wipe-down while in Vietnam. Followed through for 24 years in law enforcement. The habit stuck and I'm still following the same routine 46 years later.

Weekly I break my pistol down and do a light cleaning. After a shooting session it takes me about 10 minutes to thoroughly clean the piece.

I don't find any of these chores excessive or time-consuming. When I was building houses I took care of all of my tools at the end of every day, much the same way. I try to walk around my truck every day, look at the tires and other equipment, and I check the oil and other fluids every time I fill the gas tank.

If I am relying on a piece of equipment it makes sense to take care of it.

Yep , That old Military Training is hard to break. I know , Been there done that .Thanks for your service Lobo.
 
If you shoot your carry like you should be it would require cleaning once or twice monthly at least !!

If it does not need cleaning that often your not practicing enough !!
 
Yup. That rusting mag release happened to me when I first got my Shield a few years ago.

It was my EDC in an Alienwear Cloaktuck IWB. Saw it's share of moisture in South Carolina. It was never stored in the holster, shot monthly, and meticulously cleaned every time it was used yet still managed to almost seize tight.

Emery cloth knocked down the rust and white grease prevented a repeat.
 
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