Pistol and Revolver Cleaning

I have a bunch of brushes from my days of buying cheap cleaning kits at walmart, so I just use whatever I have on hand. I want to say the kits were Allen brand but I'm not sure, its been a while. I have bought brushes for my rifles though, and I've bought stuff from Hoppes, Outers, and Proshot to name a few. I don't have an opinion one way or the other, they all seem very similar to me.

I did get a pretty nice pistol rod from Princess Auto a few years back, its a wee bit on the big side (15" IIRC) but its carbon fiber and was like $12.
 
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On top of the short rod and nylon bore brush that comes with most new pistols I just grab extra brass brushes at my lgs, they have a bulk box of brushes in various calibers. I have a handful of brass or aluminum 3 piece rods from Outers or Hoppes9 kits and I will use the first segment that the handle attaches to, more than adequate for pistol cleaning, as well as whatever bulk pack of patches I have at the moment. Throw in an old toothbrush and some q-tips and lint free blue shop towels and thats about it for tools, usually uses Hoppes9 or G96 or Ballistol as a solvent or lube.
 
I have a couple of the old M-16 OD green brushes laying around. Hoppes makes one, nylon brushes on both ends, usually around 5.00. A copper-brass-bronze bore brush in whatever caliber I'm using (9mm and .45 Colt for here in Canada), and some form of cleaning rod and cleaning/lubricant. Ballistol and Moose milk made of Ballistol for .45 Colt and any type of CLP for the 9mm. Break Free is my favorite, but hard to find around here so I just use the G-96 Gun Treatment or Ballistol.

Go to Fabricland in Penticton or anywhere near you and buy a square yard of cloth in the style you like (flannel, 100% cotton, etc.) and cut into cleaning patches. I like to have lots of patches. As Suther said, one's as good as the other. I have always carried a little tool kit in my gun bag that has an assortment of Allen wrenches, a 1911 bushing wrench multitool with more Allen wrenches and screwdriver bits attached, screwdrivers, a tube of loctite, needlenose pliers, small vice-grips, and a small wooden dowel with some emery cloth with other junk like an old 1858 Remington nipple wrench/screwdriver, 1911 shockbuffs and some dental picks and pin punches with a small brass hammer. I'm always amazed how many times people I meet at the range have a breakdown they cannot fix because they don't have the simplest of tools at hand.
 
You'll find most just have mix and match kits.
I got stuff from tipton, hoppes, pro shot, aliexpesss, bore snakes.

Patches I just use old t shirts and socks.

If my gun breaks at the range oh well, I only live 10mins away and I rather have my nice workbench, with all my tools. I lost a custom made reverse top hat guide for one of my custom 1911 into the berm I decided to clean it at the range.
 
ha: I used to be diligent about cleaning after every range trip...like almost compulsively cleaned and oiled. Now-a-days, I might pull a boresnake through when I'm bored ]pun intended[, and an oily rag or wax/silicone rag wipe down.
 
Leavenworth said:
Thanks very much for the detailed replies ! What do most of you use for brushes , Nylon or Brass / Bronze ?
Leavenworth
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No offense, but cleaning pistols is no different than a rifle or shotgun. You just use a shorter rod.

So you should already know what brush is for what. So it being a pistol doesnt change.
 
Leavenworth said:
Thanks very much for the detailed replies ! What do most of you use for brushes , Nylon or Brass / Bronze ?
Leavenworth
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I thought my reply was quite detailed. I even provided a round count.

When you eventually need to clean...

Rags (for wiping and patches), cotton swabs (for the difficult places), a bronze/nylon brush or boresnake of the appropriate size, a short rod (I use the plastic ones that often come with handguns), and your favourite CLP (I use G96). Tada!
 
LOL ! That was funny !
Leavenworth
4n2t0 said:
I thought my reply was quite detailed. I even provided a round count.

When you eventually need to clean...

Rags (for wiping and patches), cotton swabs (for the difficult places), a bronze/nylon brush or boresnake of the appropriate size, a short rod (I use the plastic ones that often come with handguns), and your favourite CLP (I use G96). Tada!
Click to expand...
 
Leavenworth said:
Thanks very much for the detailed replies ! What do most of you use for brushes , Nylon or Brass / Bronze ?
Leavenworth
Click to expand...

Don’t make a difference I find, they both work once the solvent does it’s job.

I only clean once it’s really dirty or I start having malfunctions, no more of that clean after a range trip noise. Lube regularly though, this goes for all my guns (long guns or handguns).
 
M&P 40 said:
You have to clean guns?
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You sure don't! Unless we're talking blackpowder, of course.

To the OP: Ask ten different guys and you'll get 15 different answers. Your cleaning regimen is going to depend on your mechanical preferences, volume of shooting, style of shooting, and the types of guns you're using.
 
I will usually run a rod with a brush thru the cylinders of my 357mag as I use 38 sp and lots of rounds can make loading 357mag difficult.
A quick brush and wipe of the top strap and around the out side of the forcing cone as that can build up and if left too long , gets hard to clean out between the topstrap and the barrel, I usually just run a cloth patch down the barrel and a wipe down to get the soot of the outside..
I use a cotton jig and a cloth patch over that.
If I start to see a build up in the lands then I use a brass brush.

Semi, a bit of lube on the slide rail, and on the barrel bushing if there is one ,1911.
If you are in the cold, or dirt, skip the lube.

Rods and jigs, make sure they are same threads, I have a couple English rods and the threads are different.
I use to use sectioned rods, cheap ones, but a good solid rod is better, a wood dowel will do the job.
Save all your old toothbrushes, they come in handy, thou I do have hard nylon and brass brushes, Princess Auto has them.

22 Target pistols need the chambers kept clean, over 1/2 the 22 pistols that had problems I seen is usually mag out of spec or lead/ crud build up in the chamber.

My wife tells me I wash my truck too often as well, but I like things clean, and someone else can do what they want.
Hear is a quick picture of the I use the most, It's a Kleen Bore brand, with a bearing in the top end.
The blk brushes are rifle but work fine in 38's, 9mm

DSC00045.jpg
 

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Great thread, lots of good info. One thing not mentioned is corrosive ammo. Most milsurp ammo from China or the old Soviet Union is corrosive and you have to clean after every trip to the range or the gun will rust, almost overnight. The milsurp section has some very good instructions on cleaning after firing corrosive ammo.
 
Butcherbill said:
Don’t make a difference I find, they both work once the solvent does it’s job.

I only clean once it’s really dirty or I start having malfunctions, no more of that clean after a range trip noise. Lube regularly though, this goes for all my guns (long guns or handguns).
Click to expand...

Nylon the best to use to scrub barrels soaked in copper remover.
 
I use copper/brass bronze brush and I buy the shotgun patches in big bags and cut them in 4's a big stack at a time I use hoppes solvents and oil when done cleaning i run a bore snake through them if not going to be used for a long time i run an oil soaked patch through the bore and wipe whole gun down with oil

I don't clean my pistols until they start to run badly
 
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