Newbie handgun cleaning

Hi Everyone,

I just bought my first handgun, a .22 Buckmark. I've heard the following options for cleaning semi-automatic handguns and was wondering what people thought: (1) Don't clean it unless it loses accuracy. (2) Clean it with a bore snake after each trip to the range and taking it apart for a thorough cleaning once per year. (3) Take it apart (field strip) to clean thoroughly after each trip to the range (or every few hundred rounds). (4) clean using a rod and patch from the muzzle end using a bore guide.

Number (1) seems lazy, plus if you don't clean it the rifling will clog and accuracy will presumably suffer. For number (2) I've heard that a bore snake only cleans about 80% so presumably that will not be enough. For Number (3), is field stripping that often really necessary; it sounds like a lot of work? And for Number (4) it seems strange to clean a gun from the muzzle end; presumably the dirty patches then come out the ejection port?

Like I said, I'm a newbie, so any thoughts are welcome. Please don't limit your thoughts to rimfire, as I'd like to get a 9mm in future.

1) It won't be an 'if' thing. Eventually it will get less accurate. However, you do need to field strip and clean it when it's brand new out of the box, but you don't need to clean 'em after every trip to the club. Takes a lot to crud up a .22. Even a target rifle only needs an annual bath. (Did that in the CF when I ran an Army Cadet Corps years ago with my C1A1's, No. 7's and No. 4's.) Actually makes a .22 less accurate if they're cleaned too often. As daft as that sounds. .22 ammo is really pretty clean stuff and most firearms shoot a bit better when they're 'fouled' a wee bit.
Field stripping is not a great deal of work by any stretch of one's imagination. Field stripping does not involve taking out the firing pin or any of that kind of stuff.
A 9mm doesn't need cleaning every time you shoot it either.

More guns are hurt by cleaning them than by shooting them. That being said I like to keep my glocks maintained, but not spotless. Just don't let it "grunge" up. If it's your first handgun it may be hard to tell when the accuracy falls off.

I usually strip and clean mine everytime, I just don't over scrub the barrel. Keep all the inner workings shining though!

Yeah, I try not to over clean. Every few range trips for me, I do a basic strip on the semi autos and wipe/scrub most of the carbon out, then push a few patches through the barrel, one with solvent, a couple clean ones and then one with a few drops of oil at the end. Then a little lube on the rails and any other contact points and slide it back together.

As for boresnakes, I keep a few around for field cleaning, mostly on days I might have got a little moisture in the barrel. I find the .22 ones scary tight and have pretty much quit using them after hearing tales of them snapping off in the barrel and being damn near impossible to remove without destroying the rifling. A one decent piece pistol rod will be a better friend to you than a snake.....

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Originally Posted by aharwood

...I've heard the following options for cleaning semi-automatic handguns and was wondering what people thought: (1) Don't clean it unless it loses accuracy. (2) Clean it with a bore snake after each trip to the range and taking it apart for a thorough cleaning once per year. (3) Take it apart (field strip) to clean thoroughly after each trip to the range (or every few hundred rounds). (4) clean using a rod and patch from the muzzle end using a bore guide. Number (1) seems lazy, plus if you don't clean it the rifling will clog and accuracy will presumably suffer. For number (2) I've heard that a bore snake only cleans about 80% so presumably that will not be enough. For Number (3), is field stripping that often really necessary; it sounds like a lot of work? And for Number (4) it seems strange to clean a gun from the muzzle end; presumably the dirty patches then come out the ejection port?

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Step 1: Read the manual.
Step 2: Decide for yourself.

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Originally Posted by kennymo

As for boresnakes, ... I find the .22 ones scary tight and have pretty much quit using them

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Yep.
Same observation here "scary tight". As in I had serious doubts if it was ever coming out of the rifle, and it took everything I had to pull it through a little bit at a time, constantly worried about the tensile strength. I tried it again once, and that was it for me -- no more boresnakes with 22s.
I suppose I could weld a steel frame to hold the gun back at the muzzle, and then have a comealong to pull the boresnake through -- but a patch kit is so much easier.

I'm a big fan of the Otis system, makes cleaning easy. http://selectshootingsupplies.com/pr...leaning-system

Clean them:
1) When first acquired
2) when they get noticeably dirty or inaccurate or start to jam or suffer various 'failure to....' conditions
3) when they're getting put away for the season, with some extra rust preventative
4) when they're coming back out for the season, to get off the extra rust preventative
5) every once in a while, just because

Note that you should maintain the outside more often, unless you like rust.

Also, note that 'field strip' basically means 'get it disassembled to the point of being able to run a rod through the barrel.' This can range from 'remove the bolt' in a bolt action to 'remove the recoil spring, barrel bushing, barrel pin, slide, then finally the barrel' from a 1911.

The next 'holy war' to incite: How much oil on frication points? I've heard opinions from 'barely any' to 'dunk that sumbitch in a barrel, shake it out.'

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Originally Posted by TheCenturion

The next 'holy war' to incite: How much oil on frication points? I've heard opinions from 'barely any' to 'dunk that sumbitch in a barrel, shake it out.'

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I am a big believer in more oil, rather than less, for a range gun. I can go through 400 rounds doing drills, meaning every contact point does its shuffle 800 times.

For a duty gun, lightly oiled.

And the other fire starter...I just use motor oil. Valvoline 10 30 FTW.

For a .22

Wipe with an oily rag every outing, unless you have magic hands that won't rust whatever you touch.

Shoot until it starts jamming

take enough bits off that you can clean the dirt away from the moving bits, the chamber, the bolt face

wipe moving bits down with oily rag - spare the oil on blow back guns, or they gum up faster.

I only clean a .22 barrel if it has lead in it, which is next to never (except for the AR, but that barrel is gone now). Oily patch if it's going into storage, or whenever I remember to.

Twice this lifetime I've had the barrel and grips off the MK-II and hosed out the powder-caked innards with brake cleaner. It was just for giggles, since no amount of crud affects function in that thing. Of course afterwards you have to dunk the thing in Eds Red or light oil to get some protection back into the pores of the metal. I did this once after about 20 years. The second time much sooner, because the oil attracted more dirt :P

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Originally Posted by graz

And the other fire starter...I just use motor oil. Valvoline 10 30 FTW.

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Me too! Mobil 1 0-30 synthetic. I have all kinds of gun oils, frog-lube, etc. They just sit there, the Mobil1 makes 'em smooth like butter.

For the OP, get a roll of shop towels and cut up t-shirt, it will save you a lot of patches. Every 300-500 rounds through my pistols I break 'em down, give a quick wipe to get the crud off and a few drops of oil on the wear/contact points. I use a precision oiler ($4 amazon) and spread with my clean fingers and small artist's paintbrush.

While they're apart, I check the crown of the muzzle for buildup, as well as the breach/chamber and inspect with a bore light. If I am getting some fouling, I break out the solvent, bronze brush, etc. and swab/scrub the barrel.

I am getting close to 3000 rounds on one of the pistols and it's starting to get pretty nasty in the trigger group, so I will look at removing it and giving it a bath.

Basically, don't be too anal about it. Like IJ22 said, check out the OTIS breach-to-muzzle system, You can get the multi-caliber kit for less than $70, but you will need to purchase the .223 brush separately. It packs nicely in your range bag.

For a Glock you should also remove the firing pin and use a pipe cleaners (3) (dry, oiled,dry) to remove the microscopic particles of primer brass from the firing pin channel every 3,000 rounds or so.
I don't know if other striker fired pistols also collect primer brass in the firing pin channel.

^^^^

A little off the original topic but high pressure (major power factor) loads will have a bit of primer flow that is sheared off as the barrel drops. This shows up as a fuzz in the firing pin chamber.

Reading the manual for the manufacturer's advice is a good reminder. Something we often forget.

in the early 80's I bought my first NIB handgun, a high standard victor, the instructions said before firing remove the grips and soak the gun in clean diesel fuel or kerosene over night then hang it to drip dry. Do that once a year then aprx every 100 rnds put a drop of light machine oil on the rails, and pass a bronze brush through the bore. There should be no other cleaning required. So far so good, it is still flawless.
For a center fire I use the same rules no problems, there is only 1 exception, if you are using lead bullets a lewis style lead remover should be run through the bore every 50 to 100 rnds, depending on the amount that the bullets you are using foul the bore.
Like stated above too much oil will attract dirt and dirt is not your friend in any firearm