[Mr. Mojo]

Bang!

...and Clean!

[ex 98C MI Dude]

Hoppes No. 9... the best substance known to the shooting world! (Short of gunpowder, that is!)

[Euro-American Scum]

Hoppe's Bench Rest bump.

[Servant of the 9]

How often to clean? A .22 rimfire can go 100 shots without cleaning. The exceptions are the .22 magnum and the .17 calibers, which should be cleaned after every 30 to 40 shots because they leave copper deposits in the bore. For center-fires, I like to clean after 20 shots. Shotgun bores should be cleaned after each use.

Fail to clean these guns and - sooner or later - they will fail you, especially the semi-automatics which need lots of TLC.

I agree with you about rifles and pistols, but I have had a number of shotguns that fired over 100,000 rounds in competition without ever being cleaned.
I have never had a shotgun fail to fire or fail to cycle with factory ammo.

So9

[baltodog]

When I was way younger, I asked my father if I could shoot his Browning-Belgium .380.

"Sure" he said.

We went out to our woods and he loaded one single round, which he allowed me to shoot.

He then took me home and proceeded to teach me how to break it down, clean it and put it back together. I could not discharge that weapon again until I was able to do it myself.

God help us if there was ever an unclean weapon on the racks.

[tet68]

Ed's Red
and you make it yourself by the gallon.
Works great, and you can tailor the formula
to be a cleaner, a lube or a preservative.

Ed's Red is made with a quart each of,
Kerosene,
mineral spirits,
automatic transmission fluid.

For a solvent cleaner add a quart of acetone.

For a preservative add anhydrous Lanolin.

Many older gun oils and cleaners used Sperm Whale oil as it
was then the finest available.
During WW II. a substitute had to be found and ATF was invented, it makes a very good lubricant all by itself.

It's Ed's, it's Red, and it smells good too
especially if you add a tiny bottle of Oil of Clove, which by the way should be in every medicine cabinet for toothache!
Works wonders on a cotton swab and it tastes good too.

[Living Stone]

If you are shooting benchrest, you should clean (centerfire rifles) at least as often as is suggested above. Other than that, after every time a weapon is shot it should be field stripped and cleaned. Weapons should be detail stripped and thoroughly cleaned at least every 500-1000 rounds.

Sweet's 7.62 copper solvent is a must have. That and Hoppes are the mainstays of cleaning firearms.

[rabidralph]

I always clean my pistol after going to the range but if I don't get back to the range for several months, should I clean the gun anyway? Is there a standard interval for cleaning?

[Larry Lucido]

Viking Kitty inspects all of my guns for cleanliness.

[Jeff Gordon]

The scent of Hoppes No. 9 - - it is good to know that I am not alone in loving the smell of that stuff.

[humblegunner]

Ping for your mil-spec sample link.

[Alas Babylon!]

The Lifer Follies, from the Original Saturday Night Live, a sketch about death row inmates trying out for an off-Broadway show:

Lorraine Newman: What are you in here for?
John Belushi: I shot someone while cleaning my gun.
Garret Morris: You killed 47 people!
John Belushi: Hey, it was really, really dirty!

[KarlInOhio]

I was taught that my weapon (we never called them guns; there was a punishment for that slip of the tongue) was my best friend.

They tried to teach you that, but you still knew that on the friendship scale it was gun first, then weapon. :-)

[Billthedrill]

I like to clean my firearms every five years or so whether they need it or not. You clean any more often than that and bad things happen. Like last time I cleaned my .45 I found these little spirally lines inside the barrel. Took me three days with a rat-tail file to get 'em out.

But I guess I was too late - dang thing don't shoot worth spit now. Anybody wanna .45?

Gunny, relax - I'm just a-kiddin'...

[MarkL]

It really depends on the design of the weapon... For instance, I've got a Ruger Mk-II .22 pistol, and it would jam right after cleaning... Once I got about 100 rounds through it, it would function beautifully. I would typically clean it about once every 7,000-10,000 rounds, which at the time, was about every 4 months back then. On the other hand, I'd do a light cleaning of my .45 1911 and revolvers everytime I shot them (a few wet patch/copper brush passes), and then cleaning the front of the cylinder, and a field-strip cleaning of the 1911. About every 2500 rounds (about once a month), I'd strip the 1911 down to the pins and give it a really good cleaning. The revolvers? Well, let me put it this way... I promised a very good gunsmith friend of mine that I would never remove the sideplate from a S&W revolver again! lol I could never get the damn thing back on so that the revolver would function!

There is one other thing... Cylinder & Slide up in Nebraska, had this really wonderful cleaning solvent that they sold by the bucket. It was great with my revolvers. Take off the grips, and drop it in the bucket (OK, gently lower the revolver into the bucket, but you get the idea). Leave it submerged for a while, then while still submerged, cycle the revolver 20 or 30 times. Remove it and let it drain, then blow out the excess with compressed air. The solvent also acted as a light duty lube. I had wonderful luck with it, but I don't know if they still sell it.

Mark

[Boiling point]

Never use WD 40 on a gun. A cop relative of mine told me the story of an officer found dead with gun drawn. Upon examination of his weapon it was found that all six rounds had firing pin dimples in them and that the cause of the misfires was the contamination of the primers of WD 40. In extreme cold climates, the best lube is kerosene. It maintains its viscosity to very low temperatures. You should only apply enough lube to see your fingerprint on the part without runs or drips.

[yarddog]

I would bet more guns are damaged by cleaning than any other single cause.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Gun Scrubber is identical to the Brakecleen (get the TCE version) found at auto parts stores for 1/3 the price.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Some M-16s did malfunction, and cost some young men their lives.

---

M16s (and AR15s, and M4s) are nest-foulers in that they "sh** where they eat. They get dirty fast.

[jsraggmann]

Forget all of this fancy $hit and buy an "ugly old AK47". The commie rifle is plenty accurate out to 200m and is fun to shoot. The mags(30rnd) are cheap, readily available and will last forever. Ammo is still less than 15cts per round. These rifles DO NOT JAM! They will not let you down.