Newbie handgun cleaning

[aharwood]

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.

[Justice]

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.

[TLSpeed]

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!

[kennymo]

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.....

[Wendell]

...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?

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

[RangeBob]

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

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.

[IJ22]

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

[TheCenturion]

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.'

[graz]

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.'

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.

[Mark-II]

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