Reminder to clean your striker

[SWShootinDave]

Just a friendly reminder to clean your striker and striker channel. If you never have, or haven't in a while, you will be shocked at the amount of primer shavings and firing debris that gets stored there. This **** can and will cause light strikes, and no one wants a good guy's gun to fail at a crucial moment of defending himself or his family. Get ready now.

My procedure is simple: after removing the slide end cap and pulling the striker out of its channel, I clean the striker with M-Pro 7 (great stuff) and then use Q-tips with M-Pro 7 and clean out the striker channel until no more **** remains on the Q-tip. I very lightly lube the striker and its guide with synthetic oil; really makes the striker slick. Then reinsert in channel and reassemble. Good to go. I would clean after every 200-300 rounds. If you've had light strikes, a dirty striker and channel is a leading cause.

 

[OKFC05]

I clean but never oil. Most competitors leave the striker dry in its hard plastic sleeve.
Oil causes the quick buildup of the firing reside in a paste.

 

[Steve912]

Check the bore of the safety plunger too. Same stuff works it's
way in there.

 

[SWShootinDave]

I clean but never oil. Most competitors leave the striker dry in its hard plastic sleeve.
Oil causes the quick buildup of the firing reside in a paste.

I've never had that happen; I very lightly oil and clean often. But whatever works best for you.

 

[familyman357oh]

I've never had that happen; I very lightly oil and clean often. But whatever works best for you.

You might not have to clean so often if you don't oil the striker. Glock (and let's face it, the Sigmas / SDs are mechanically near-ripoffs of the Glock design) specifically advises to not lubricate the striker or striker channel. It's good advice.

 

[SWShootinDave]

You might not have to clean so often if you don't oil the striker. Glock (and let's face it, the Sigmas / SDs are mechanically near-ripoffs of the Glock design) specifically advises to not lubricate the striker or striker channel. It's good advice.

The only cause I've ever seen of striker light strikes is by build up of primer shavings. I've never experienced firing-residue paste. But whatever works best for you.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Hickok 45's How to Clean a Glock video is a pretty good one... He's BIG into Balistol, BTW!

CHEERS!

 

[NevadaBob]

Try not to use Q tips as they can leave behind fuzzies. I use 6" wooden cotton tip dental applicators. The 6" allows for a long reach into grimmy areas. They're sold usually by a pack of 100 on ebay.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

​

Try not to use Q tips as they can leave behind fuzzies. I use 6" wooden cotton tip dental applicators. The 6" allows for a long reach into grimmy areas. They're sold usually by a pack of 100 on ebay.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear: Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzsy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

NevadaBob: do you still shoot your Sigma mutch?

 

[RGVshooter]

Many semi auto pistols have a firing pin channel "clean out hole" on the bottom of the slide. I have on occasion stuck that little red tube on a can of Birchwood casey gun scrubber and flush it out. Much quicker than taking the slide apart. The only pistol I owned that had to be disassembled was my Glock 23 gen 4. It had a LOT of brass shavings in there that could not be flushed out. My M&P pistols and a couple Kahr pistols were a piece of cake to flush out.

 

[ggibson511960]

Compressed Air

I'm a big fan of blasting nooks an crannies with compressed air. However easy it is to take a pistol apart beyond field stripping, it takes a toll in rounded off surfaces and pried edges that loosen up fits and mar the gun's appearance. Not saying you can't do it but there are some things you should not do repeatedly. I had a Sigma once upon a time and managed to booger up the plastic end cap