Pistol Cleaning Question?

[Jailkeeper]

I searched & have been reading the firearm cleaning tips on this site.

My question may already have been addressed (probably was), but...

How often do you gentlemen clean your pistols?

My father & I went to the range this afternoon. I fired 30 rounds through my Wilson, 60 rounds through my Ruger .22 and 10 rounds through my LCP. They were all 3 cleaned after the last time I shot them.

I'm fairly anal about my firearms and in the past would have spent this evening cleaning & oiling each of them.

I have read over & over in owner's manuals NOT to clean pistols too often because more problems are caused by stripping them down for cleaning than by shooting them.

So my question is what would you gentlemen do? Would you clean them now, knowing that it may be a couple months before those particular pistols are fired again. Or would you put them back in the safe and forget it?

Thanks, and I do apologize if my question was asked previously.

[LittleRedToyota]

How often do you gentlemen clean your pistols?

i clean mine (glocks) every 2,000 or 3,000 rounds or so or 2 or 3 times a year. (i don't really have a schedule...just every now and then i think "maybe it's about time to clean those guns that never actually need to be cleaned" .)

So my question is what would you gentlemen do? Would you clean them now, knowing that it may be a couple months before those particular pistols are fired again. Or would you put them back in the safe and forget it?

if they were guns that might rust, i would lightly clean (i.e., wipe down and run a patch, but no brush, through the barrel) and oil them before sticking them in a safe for a couple months.

[markheck1]

I haven't cleaned my Glock in 6 or 7 months.....it really doesn't get that dirty....
now a .22 semi...they seem to jam when they get dirty....so it all depends on what ya got

[CoyoteJack]

Heck I strip my down and clean them even if I haven't shot them since the last time. I'm not aware of any reason why field stripping would be damaging to a psitol unless you didn't know what you were doing. Keep in mind the manuals are overly cautious in most cases. They are written with a serious lean toward COCA (cover our corporate asses).

[Brick]

The only way I can put it is to say, I clean mine when I start feeling guilty or start having malfunctions. 1000 rounds is only a couple three weeks of shooting. Plus you have to remember it takes 30 to 50 rounds for the pistol to settle back in again

[unloved]

I clean mine every time I shoot. I also clean(lint and crud) and re-lubricate weekly even if I haven't fired since the last cleaning. Does that make me a neat freak?

[apython]

I was curious about this as well, so I guess no harm in skipping the cleaning here and there. I have been cleaning after every time I went shooting but free time is getting hard to come by.

[Dredly]

When I get bored or get that crazy need to smell Hoppes

I doubt you are but make sure if you are using old surplus ammo that you clean it when done firing... a lot of that stuff was corrosive

[headcase]

Maybe it's the military, gas tube, make that bolt carrier shine, mindset in me, but I clean my pistol as soon as I get home from the range, everytime. If it was out in the damp weather, wet or not, it gets cleaned. I actually never thought about cleaning too much being harmful to the pistol..... is there a definitive answer to this?

[synergy]

I think it depends on the nature of the weapon in question.

The Glock I carry will go 1k+ without any additional cleaning or lube...so I don't clean it each and every time I shoot it.

In general, if I'm going to be putting a gun away for more than 2 weeks, I clean it very well, and wipe it down last with an oily rag.

If I plan to shoot it soon, it'll get lubed up appropriately...and I'll clean it afterwards.

My carry gun gets shot every other day or so, so I just make sure it stays wet. Most guns will run dirty and wet, better than clean and dry.

That said, my semi auto shotgun is a royal pain in the ass, and can hardly go 200 rounds w/o jamming (god I hate this damn thing!) so that gets keep next to spotless.

If I had less guns and more time, I'd clean them after each use...and lube them before I went to use them.

As long as you keep your weapon functioning...do what you want, is my opinion. A few of my guns are beat-up on the outside, but their actions are well kept. That's just my approach.

Your goals have to dictate what's right for you. Do you care it the finish rusts? Does it HAVE to go bang the first time? Can that nickel finish wait another week before it gets wiped down...etc.