1911Forum banner

How long do you spend cleaning your 1911?

  • 15 min.

    Votes: 36 15.9%
  • 30 min.

    Votes: 92 40.7%
  • 45 min.

    Votes: 36 15.9%
  • 1 hour

    Votes: 31 13.7%
  • over 1 hr.- I'm nuts too!

    Votes: 31 13.7%

average cleaning time

3K views 33 replies 33 participants last post by  kingofyo1 
#1 ·
I must be a lunatic. Does it take anyone else almost two hours to clean their 1911? My wife thinks I'm crazy; and for once I think she may be right! I can't help it though; I can't have one speck of dirt on my pistol or it will irritate me. I'm not like this with anything else, but my TLE gets an A+ treatment after every range session. Oh well, maybe that's why I've never had any failures with her. :)
 
#4 ·
Clean by running a bore brush soaked in solvent followed by running through until patches are completely clean [come out looking the same as they did going in], then I run lightly oiled patches down through untill clean [come out looking the same as they did going in]. Then I run through with dry until one goes through and comes out white [come out looking the same as they did going in]. Then I spray Brake cleaner down teh bore, to chemically degrease and dry teh bore. Then a final oiled patch. The next day I repeat all but the solvent. I go through a lot of patches, at least 100 per rifle. after 5 outings, I add a further stage of solvet for copper to remove copper fouling, Hoppe's makes a great copper remover. If your rifle isn;t clean after this, you're going to have to use a stainless steel brush. Stainless steel brushes, as it is as hard or harder than the steel of your barrel, will scratch the barell and riflings, so please avoid using them unless it is still not clan after this;

A way I have found to clean stubbornly dirty bores, [and surplus corrosive ammo] is to pour BOILING HOT soapy water down the bore, and IMMEDIATLY begin scrubing witth an oversized brush, for 30 caliber I find an .38 pistol brush cheap and works well. This will work itself into teh grroves well. be sure to go from breech to muzzles, the oversized brushh will require more effort to push through. if you do it from teh muzzle end, you'll scratch up your crown with the extra effort required, and then your accuracy will suffer. Immeditely afer this, clean the entire rifle again and oil it, that way there is no possibility of rust.

this method is extremely detailed and takes some time and patience, but you'll be rewarded with a squeky clean bore. Yes... I'm nuts too! HTH~
 
#5 · (Edited)
Not nuts

Tirador said:
I must be a lunatic. Does it take anyone else almost two hours to clean their 1911? My wife thinks I'm crazy; and for once I think she may be right! I can't help it though; I can't have one speck of dirt on my pistol or it will irritate me. I'm not like this with anything else, but my TLE gets an A+ treatment after every range session. Oh well, maybe that's why I've never had any failures with her. :)
I enjoying cleaning my 1911's. I turn on a talk show radio station, kick back and take my time, maybe and hour and 45 mins. I must have it as clean as the day it was make....am I sick? My guns are cleaner then I am! :scratch: You talk about a speck of dust? How about a fingerprint? I even wax the wood grips from time to time. It's so clean I could bring it into an operating room if need be. No your not crazy, there are many of "us" out there. ;)
 
#6 ·
I take 15min or so to clean the frame but I will play with the barrel for another 1/2 hr getting the lead or copper out. I tend to use solvents (Butches, Shooters Choice copper cutter, ect) only and stay away from brushes since the cleaners I use attack copper and work on the brush as well as copper in the barrel.
Lately in my rifles I`ve been useing Wipe Out. It`s a foaming cleaner you spray in the bore and let set, I leave it overnight, and patch out later. I find it takes ~5 minutes total "working" time to totally clean a coppered up barrel. I just haven`t tried it in a 5" barrel to see if I can fill it with out spraying the far wall of the room. It can be messy, but there is nothing easier or that seems to work as well with as little effort!
 
#7 ·
It depends. I take them apart about every 300-500 rounds and clean them good - that takes more than an hour, less than 2 hours. Between these take down cleaning sessions, I run a patch or two thru the barrel, clean the gunk off the ramp and I'm done, takes about 5 mins.
 
#10 ·
depends...

I have a regular field strip/cleaning that I do with MPro-7 and FP-10 after a few hundred rounds, it takes about 45 minutes, but if I have been shooting cast bullets it will go a bit over an hour. I do a "quick" clean sometimes after short range sessions, takes maybe 15 minutes, using only FP-10. I suspect that a strip to the frame would take a lot longer for me...or at least longer to get back together!
 
#12 ·
My Springfield Loaded gets the 30min cleanup after each range session (100 bullets or 10 bullets, doesn't matter), and after every 200-300 rounds, it's detail strip that takes about an hour and a half. It's always sparkling clean, unlike any of my other guns.

Alex.
 
#14 ·
Me Thinks

Well according to the poll a 2 hour cleaning is ONLY 1.5 hours above the "average" 1911 cleaning time :biglaugh:
Some of you guys are doing a bit more "preening" than cleaning.
But, that's OK & perfectly normal (almost) -
There are things that I really enjoy doing & I tend to "stretch out" those things - cleaning gunky guns is not one of those things for me though.
So...I'm right about 30 to 40 minutes max.
It's whatever floats your boat. ;)
 
#19 ·
Depends if the coffee is fresh, or the beer is cold. If cleaning in a group with the friends I shoot with, I can usually drag it out all afternoon. So long as the conversation is worthy. Usually 1/2 hour gets my 1911's ready for storage til range day... :p
 
#20 ·
It depends on what kind of cleaning.
1. field strip 10 minutes
2. complete disassemble up to 1 hour
 
#24 ·
I detail strip and clean about every 2K rounds.

Takes me about 30 min.

2 hours and up = Gun fondling

If you find the last part of your gun cleaning involves soft music, dim lights, wine or liquor and lube.....you may have an issue.

:biglaugh:
 
#26 ·
Lots of ways to do this right. Some folks really enjoy cleaning as almost a ritual.

I enjoy that sometimes, but I'm more interested in shooting them than cleaning them. A good cleaning also allows me to see what, if anything needs maintaining.

I break it down, clean, inspect, lube and have it back together in about 20 minutes. Includes firing pin bore and magwell. Can do an AR in just about the same time including the bolt assembly. Shotguns in ten minutes flat.
 
#27 ·
System

I have a system when cleaning my guns. After every range trip, I clean my 1911 first and go over each part individually to make sure I get everything. The 1911 gets cleaned after every range trip, because it gets shot the most, duh. I do clean the step-kids when need be (Beretta 96 .40 and S&W 686 .357).

Wait...is it wrong to refer to a .357 as a 'stepchild'? :biglaugh:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top