How often do you clean your pistols/revolvers?

After every range trip. Not because it is a complete necessity, but because I like to keep my personal possessions in good, clean shape.
 
i guess it depends on the extent of the cleaning, and how many rounds per range session.

if you run a patch through the bore and wipe off the fingerprints and residue, your probably fine.

if you do a complete teardown after every 4 mags, then it's probably overkill, but it's your gun!

bare in mind that more guns have been wrecked by excessive cleaning, than by shooting dirty.
 
After every range session.

For guns not shot often, every 4 months, run clean patch down bore, reoil, also wipe oil on internals
 
Wipe the carbon off of the breach face and muzzle, run a patch down the barrel and light coat of oil on the surface after firing.

If I'm bored I'll strip it down once a year and wipe/oil everything down.
 
Jahred.F said:
bare in mind that more guns have been wrecked by excessive cleaning, than by shooting dirty.
Click to expand...

OP, just remember this quote and you will be fine. I clean mine when they get dirty enough to stop functioning properly or accuracy drops off, not before. What is the deal with this cleaning fetish so many people have, anyway? If it works fine, shoots straight and doesn't rust why would you bother?

Mark
 
You should strip and clean it every time.
New pistols are being broken in and leave metal shavings which need to be removed and re-apply gun grease/oil so there is less a risk of malfunction.
Old pistols need regular checks of their parts and lubricated as well.
99% of the time they sit in your safe trying to rust and corrode away so keep them clean and lightly oiled.
 
After each time to the range. But not right away. Im usually lazy and will do it a few days later. Also how much I shoot depends on how crazy i get with it. If I only shoot 50rds of clean reloads it doesn't get that dirty. Thats with my 9 or 45. My 22 after about 400-700rds.
 
I started off cleaning all of my guns after every range session. Once I shot 10 rounds through my P99 to see if it feeds hollowpoints and then I cleaned it even though it was barely dirty.

I have loosened up now. Though I probably still clean more than most, I do it more by round count than range session. If I just shoot 50 rounds, I'll just wipe off the outside. Field strip and clean every 200-300 rounds which is typically 1-2 range sessions. BUT it also depends when I'm shooting next. If I shoot my .40, I'll clean it regardless of how many rounds because I shoot it so rarely, I don't want to leave it covered in any gunk at all for months. Obviously my 9 gets neglected the most in terms of cleaning since it's shot at least once every 2-3 weeks.
 
Ditto!

If all you own is 2 handguns and 3 rifles, then cleaning isn't such a task. But if you're an idiot like me with 50+ toys and a propensity to bring as many of them to the range as possible at the same time, a detailed stripdown gets old damn quick.

Anything rustable (new word, I just made it up. I'm good, huh? :p) gets wiped down before going in the safe. Then it's back to the evening ritual. Once in awhile, I'll grab a handgun or rifle and disassemble it while watching tv. A wiping followed by lube and then I practice zapping bad guys with a snap cap.

Cleaning made fun 101 ;)

PS: Do NOT do this when unfamiliar with a firearm. I've scarred the wall in the living room twice with springs/doo-hickeys flying out of my newly-acquired Swiss Arms CQB and my Para LDA. Who'd a thunk...?
 
after every round. cuz i want each round that i send downrange to be PERFECTLY placed and i want it to sparkle-n-shine as it gently spins through the air at Mach 1.3 and subsequently devestate a paper-thin piece of... paper, with a generic-looking X somewhere on it. i also don't want the "bad guys" to have to deal with dirty holes from rounds that scrape old lead and burned gunpowder as they zip through that barrel. ya gotta show respect...
 
wherermykeys said:
When you guys say you only clean when it stops functioning, you still lube regularly though right?
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no.

the only time i myself cleaned "frequently" was when i was trying different powders in my reloads, just so that i could see how much gunk each type of load left on the barrel.

lube? grease and heavy oil tend not to run off that much, so no "regular" oiling is in my future.

but it depends on whether you view your firearms as gems or tools.

your guns are each worth FAR less than your car and are FAR less crucial to your daily work (unless maybe you're in active service). do you lube the various hinges and grease fittings in your vehicle religiously? or only when you remember or once a year when the oil change place does it for you?

shooting guns should be a hobby.
oiling guns shouldn't.
 
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