Gun Cleaning

Just continuing a thought that started in another thread on gun cleaning.

My 870 has been cleaned twice since the early 90's. Once when I bought it and once after a really wet weekend of turkey hunting. This gun has many many many 1000's of rounds through it as I was heavily into clays back when I bought it. This gun is still in use as my HD gun today.

My 930 has been cleaned once to get the packing grease out of it after a very unsuccessful trip to the range upon pulling it out of the box. (Lesson learned about cleaning new Mossbergs)

My 500 has never been cleaned (bought it used)

My Glock is going on several thousand rounds without a thorough cleaning.

For the most part I never break my guns down and clean them out. I do wipe them down to remove any external residue that could get on me or my clothes and I do keep them lubed.

I do have two exceptions:

1. My one exception is the muzzle loader for obvious reasons. If you've ever shot one you know why.

2. My .22's esp the handguns seem to get esp gummy and experience FTF's if not cleaned every few trips to the range (this varies a LOT based on the ammo used) But even these go longer than most people would let them go.

I've never had anyone look at my guns and tell me that they looked awful and that I need to clean them nor do I have any failures to speak of.

I guess I've always taken the approach that if they needed to be in pristine shape to function then they were useless to me in most real world situations. My friends tear their guns apart and detail them after every trip to the field/range and I just don't understand it. I don't abuse my guns but I use them and there are no safe queens in my collection.

What does everyone else do? How often you you break down and clean your guns? Have you ever had any problems from over/under cleaning? Do you have any tips you want to share?

My 590a1 was cleaned and oiled when purchased last spring but not since. It has a few hundred rounds through it and looks fine. I have wiped down the outside once.

The Mini 14 is stainless and probably gets cleaned every 500 to 1000 rounds though it probably doesn't need it that often. I have never had any problems and it's not to bad inside.

I clean the Browning Hi Power after each time using it for no reason other than I feel like it.

The Winshester .22 lever and Ruger 10-22 get cleaned at 500-750 rounds. The 10-22 particulary get a lot of crap built up.

I use to clean after every use but that was before we had kids. Nothing scientific but it works for me.

When I first bought my M500 it was my Baby! I cleaned it every time I shot it and sometimes I cleaned it just because I was bored. But than I came to the same conclusion as you, Mike. No longer a Safe Queen! That bugger is dirty

Unknown number of shots but it still functions like it were new (and removed of that nasty stuff they pack it with)!!!

I just bought my first shotguns a couple of months ago. I took my Mossberg 500 out of the box and straight to the range (without cleaning :shock: ) and shot 75 rounds of 00. Then I cleaned out the barrel with Otis O85 Ultra bore solvent. I also wiped down the externals with a little of the solvent. One of these days I plan on doing a field strip to get the much maligned factory gunk out that everyone talks about.

I have a some questions... :?: Can I get away with using my Otis O85 for everything or do I need special lubricants for the inner workings? If anyone knows of a good video link for cleaning I could certainly use it. I'm not the most mechanically inclined and once I get something apart I usually can't put it back together again.

I plan on cleaning the barrel after every outing and wiping down the gun when finished. Is that sufficient for just firing range use? (It is a home defense shotgun as opposed to a hunting gun.)

Re: RE: Gun Cleaning

Took out the trigger assembly on my 835 for the first time in 15 yrs because of slide release problem. Good lord there was so much crap back there so I decided I'm gonna make it annual thing. Plus you have access to the safety and you can put a drop of oil on it whole you're in there.

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Blame it on boot camp, but I clean 'em after done shooting for the day. I guess because I still expect a DI to call a snap inspection (50 years later! ), and a weapon that isn't spotless means you sleep with it disassembled, among other painful consequences. :shock:

Had problems with undercleaning with my KelTec PF9 pistol. After about 40 rounds it gums up bad and has all sorts of feed and ejection problems. But its not a range gun, its a self-defense gun. Its actually my car gun that sits in a pommel bag over the consol. When I do take it to the range only run a couple mags through it then clean it well. Also, sent it off to Galloway Precision for a full list of the tweaks and upgrades they do to cut down the horrendous recoil out of the box. But still, have to keep it clean for it to work right.