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Why such disdain for cleaning?

7K views 63 replies 46 participants last post by  LOU D 
#1 ·
Maybe I'm just a fanatic, but I like to have clean guns. Then again, I also keep my house clean as well as my car. No, I'm not crazy anal about it. Things are meant to be used and they get dirty so, I clean.

However, I've seen a lot of people talk about how they never clean their guns. They say it like this is a source of pride. More, they talk about how others are stupid to waste time cleaning.

What are your thoughts? Do you clean your guns?
 
#2 ·
Perhaps they like the extra wear from dirty lubricants.......? Why some people take pride in that I'll never understand. Bragging that your gun still runs while incredibly dirty is great, right up until it stops running.

I clean mine after every time I shoot at least 50 rnds, 1911s anyway.
 
#4 ·
The great thing is that everyone gets to treat their personal firearms any which way they want. I typically clean mine after each range session, same day. But sometimes not for a day or two after.

I only strive to keep me happy - lol
 
#5 ·
I clean my guns after every shoot and I also shower and change underwear everyday and clean my house. That is how my parents taught me and the military taught me to clean my guns.;)
 
#6 ·
Ditto for me as well. As mentioned on another thread delaing with a similar topic of cleaning frequency, I practice with what I carry so, they are cleaned immediately.

Call it military training, call it a sickness ..... but all of my pistols are carried for defense everyday. And so for me, they must be 100% clean and lubed so that they are ready to go at a moment's notice.

YMMV,

Fin
 
#12 ·
Dad taught me first thing you do when you get in from hunting is clean your gun. I don't hunt anymore but I do apply the same thought behind what I do when I get in from shooting. First thing I do is clean my gun.
I have read that you CAN over do it, that cleaning too much will put ware on the gun more then actual shooting will but I just can handle having a dirty gun laying around. The way I see it a clean gun is a happy gun and a happy gun will run when you need it to run.
 
#13 ·
I think that a lot of the difference is in what you were doing.

All my firearms get regular, monthly maintenance. (which includes cleaning)

I generally don't deep clean my carry firearm after a weekly range session. Just a wipe down, inspection and re-lube. It will get the same regular monthly cleaning as the rest.

After hunting, however, my rifles or shotguns will get a clean and oil because, generally, I was out in the elements with them - and they need it.

No disdain for cleaning here.

The only arms that I clean immediately are the black powder ones.
 
#14 ·
However, I've seen a lot of people talk about how they never clean their guns. They say it like this is a source of pride. More, they talk about how others are stupid ..
I don't think Ive ever seen anyone called stupid for cleaning. I certainly haven't but its all personal preference and I think many of us have just learned that our guns don't have to be clean to work. A lot of times it also comes down to how much you shoot. I'm at the range 4-5 times a month some months and if I'm doing load development I might be there every day. If I go on Tues and am going back on Thurs it doesn't make sense to me to clean especially range guns.

I generally clean my carry after each trip but if I just put 200 rounds through it Im pretty sure that 201 is going to work so there really is no need to rush home to clean. Cleaning certainly wont make me more confident than the 200 rounds I just put through it. I've done 3 day classes with just lube so I know my carry can go 1200 rounds with only lube.

In the end its whatever folks are comfortable with.
 
#16 ·
Every time you take a gun apart,you take a little bit out of it.Every time you turn a tight bushing out of the slide,you make it looser.Same with the extractor & firing pin stop.You also risk the infamous "idiot scratch"..Cleaners affect blueing & nickel finishes,running a brush down the barrel causes wear.When your barrel has several hundred rounds down it,it's "happy",the crud pattern matches the bullets you shoot.As long as you keep it well lubed,the crud doesn't matter.Outside,my guns are clean.I've been loading and casting for decades,I've worked up extremely clean loads for my guns,even after thousands of rounds,they not really dirty,pretty much just some buildup o the feed ramp,and on the recoil shield..I have guns with 200,000-300,000+ rounds through them,they're still as accurate as they were when I built them..
 
#22 · (Edited)
This. Add to it a novice gun owner and they can destroy a crown.

I don't think anyone called anyone stupid for cleaning. Each to his own. I can tell you that once my seasonal leagues start I do not clean. If for some reason I feel it needs cleaning, I'll run at least 2-3 mags before shooting the league again. Cleaning changes things.

My dad always taught me to clean the guns when I'm done. That was good advice, but dad also grew up with corrosive primers, they had no choice.

As for the clean houses, cars, and showering...I'll let you know about that after I finish with this month's underwear... :rofl:
 
#19 ·
If a gun I own needs to be cleaned, I clean it. I don't hate doing it, but I sure don't do it after a few rounds. I do reoil the barrel bore after every outing because residue mixed with the ambient can cause corrosion in the bore. As far as the rest of the gun, I do it when it gets relatively dirty.
 
#20 ·
I'm OCD. If I'm sitting and watching TV I will clean my gun (sometimes twice a week). After a trip to the range, I come right home and clean and lube it.
 
#24 ·
I clean the guns each time they get shot. My final inspection on a cleaned and lub'ed gun is to take a cotton patch and mop up any excess oil or lubricant on the inside of the slide and frame with a locking forceps. If there is any grey oil, any oily carbon residue on the patch, I go back and take care of it. Most of my guns on the inside look like they've never been fired except for the outer wear and tear, idiot scratches and the bluing rubbing off on many of the barrels, especially the Sig-Sauers. But the innards could pass for an unfired weapon in most cases.
 
#26 ·
The military paradigm is based on the reality of firearms and ammo of 150 years ago. It is also based on other needs and values that make sense in the military. There is a lot of folklore to it, too. I'm slow and stupid at a quick strip and wipe down of my AR, and it takes me ... 15 minutes or so. I also do it too often, maybe after 1500 rounds or so, usually after a class with Pat Rogers when I get home. It sure is not needed, and I do it only because I am too anal.

Pop out the BCG, wipe it off with a dry paper towel, a pass with a wet patch or two using SLIP 2000, a REALLY think layer of XF7, a few drops of SLIP EWL wiped on, drive on. Two passes at most with a boresnake using the SLIP 2000 cleaner, pop it all together, good to go. A decent quality well made AR should easily go 10K or more rounds with only lube, and I know of many that have gone well over 3 times that far. The only stripping needed should be for parts inspection.

Do I leave guns dirty to neglect them? No. Did I clean my 1911 more due to department inspection standards? Yup, but even then, not to white glove standards. Not productive or necessary.
 
#27 ·
Gentelman I was teaching a combat shooting class and one of the guys with a SIG 226 kept having problems with it (problems with SIG's who ever heard of that?), so I took his gun apart and it was dirty but not too dirty that it would malfunction but it was bone dry which is something SIG's don't like the same applies to 1911's that are built tight or Kahr's or many other guns.

Now if after shooting his gun a few hundred rounds before the new class he would have cleaned it and lubed it then he would not have had this malfunctions and just imagine if he had the problems in a real fire fight because this was his EDC.

I had a good friend that loved to ski, the first time we went skiing he was complaining that his skis were not turning and when they did they would not hold on hardpack, well I asked him when he tuned and waxed his skis and he said never since he bought them last year. There is your answer any mechanical device needs maintenance, cleaning, tuning to perform to perfection or they might or will fail.

Of course ammo is cleaner then what it was in my military days and equipment is more advanced but they still requiere maintenance.
 
#34 ·
Gentelman I was teaching a combat shooting class and one of the guys with a SIG 226 kept having problems with it (problems with SIG's who ever heard of that?), so I took his gun apart and it was dirty but not too dirty that it would malfunction but it was bone dry which is something SIG's don't like the same applies to 1911's that are built tight or Kahr's or many other guns.
*
Recent SIGs have had plenty of their own issues, but that's not the problem here. Neither is cleaning from your own description. It needed to be lubed. I remember a top shooter (Enos?) years ago saying any that would not work dirty had something wrong with it.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The cynical behaviorist in me thinks there isn't any significant opposition to cleaning and lubing (which is different from understanding it has to be done but not that you have to like it). I sometimes impishly think that the most conspicuous disdain for gun-cleaning is really nothing more than part of the Rugged Man's Code. Proclaiming that you never clean or lube a gun, er, I mean weapon, or go to any pains to keep it from getting all scuffed up and dented is a big part of self-image as a rugged, independent, modern-day Marlboro man. I clean my guns after every session and the seldom-used ones every three or so months. My reputation as a rugged individualist who disdains rules, rituals, and care for things that are "just tools, anyway" is a function of me swelling with pride by announcing that I never wash my jeep.
 
#29 ·
I'm a non cleaner. I run either Baers or Browns or WC's or a NHC through a rotation. A couple of times each summer I will run 1200-1300 rounds through a gun at a weekend class so yes, I know my guns will run that long with just lube. Most weeks though, I head to the range with 2 or 3 1911's and run a couple hundred through each one. When I get home, I just wipe em down cause I know I'm gonna dirtly em up again in the next 5-6 days. I just have other things I want to do rather than clean guns. I find it boring, tedious, monotonous...... I have no beef with those who clean theirs after every range trip. It's just something I don't enjoy doing.

Generally, when my guns hit 1000 rounds or so, I'll take em apart and thoroughly clean them.

Really....I am a nice guy otherwise...:D
 
#55 ·
Ditto for me. In my younger years, I was somewhat of a compulsive cleaner. I can tell no change in performance given my modified cleaning habits, as a tactical type shooter. Just add lube and keep shooting, while cleaning every 1,000 rounds or so. More time for family and golf.
 
#33 ·
I personally clean after every session. I also think my guns work better when they're clean and they get a fresh coating of lube. My 3" Kimber for instance works much better when it's soaked in oil. And besides who wants to carry a dirty gun? Not me that's for sure.
 
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