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twa
Posts: 2,245 Senior Member
Carrying / Cleaning
twa
Posts: 2,245 Senior Member
Just curious as to how often do you inspect / clean your carry weapons? I find myself pocket carrying a bodyguard .380 Smith a majority of the time these days. The dust bunnies catch up quick, it has become habit to grab the can of air here at work a couple times a week and blow it out, including the spare mag I keep in my other pocket. It seems to have worked fine by the range sessions I have had with gun as of late. Just wondering how often others inspect or clean their carry guns to ensure function ability.
Replies
I know at least two people who clean their guns after each use. This includes .22 rifles (not a carry weapon, but there it is.) I'm astounded by this, especially since .22s seem to shoot better with use. When I was shooting PPC, back on the Old Days, a barrel would lead from shooting lead wadcutters, and we used a Lewis Lead Remover.
But a jacketed bullet doesn't leave anything harmful that I can tell. Too much oil acts as a dust magnet. If the action is dry, I oil it on an automatic, but a revolver? You have to take off the side plate, and I don't do it.
Works once, but if you do this say once a month, you wind up with 60 drops of oil in your revolver at the end of the year. Instead of going away, oil ages and forms a scale. Kinda like a minor version of grease. I don't see the problem of not over-oiling in a revolver. It's not like you're going to shoot it like an automatic that requires and is easier to lube.
If I take it to the range and it works flawlessly, stripping it down to clean it afterwards opens up the possibility that something didn't go back together "just right", and if it just goes snap with the next trigger pull, I'm probably gonna be in deep dookey.
I blow out dust bunnies with compressed air every couple months, but for the most part, that's about it. Unless I know I'm going to the range the next day. Then, I'll do a deep clean.
Mike
N454casull
I also put a drop on the star plunger and the cylinder stop nub/button and exercise it with my finger and then wipe off any excess oil. Especially wipe off any the gets near the charge holes.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Read it in an article by Bob Milek.
Unlike Big Chief I don't lube the ejector plunger. Too afraid the oil might attract powder fouling and cause issues.
This....I hit my carry guns with the compressor a heck of a lot more often than I do any other cleaning chores...
I never did much else but clean the dirty parts, cylinder & gap etc, never took off a sideplate unless something broke which is almost never on S&W revolvers, even old Victory models, wear and sputting lead from the cylinder gap was a common enough problem in my experience more than broken parts.
The only time I detail strip a gun is if I know that I'm going to be heading to the range the next day. And even just a field strip and quick wipe down/re-lubing happens once I'm at the range, before I start shooting. The only time I ever clean a gun AFTER shooting, is when I fire corrosive ammo.
As far as how often....I generally clean my guns after every couple thousand rounds or so, whether they need it or not. Speaking of which....my carry gun has almost 3k through it since the last time I cleaned it......welp, guess I need to head to the range in the next few days. :tooth: