How often do you clean your Every Day Carried Guns?

[RedRover]

I treat tools that I depend my life on with the utmost care and service to ensure that they will function as flawlessly as possible when I am tasked to use them.

That means rifle bores are within the acceptable amount of copper fouling, and all actions(pistol or rifle) are white-glove cleaned and lubed after ever range session.

Am I OCD about it? Perhaps.

YMMV.

As for range toys? With revolvers, I might get a little lax when it comes to the burn rings on the front of the cylinder, or around the cone/underside of the top strap, but I'm not selling any of them any time soon. Semi-autos(pistol or rifle) will get a light cleaning, a few patches down the bore, and will only get a deep clean after heavy repeated use. I'm not really too concerned on whether the gas tube or piston head on an AKM is spotless or not.

 

[FortRock]

Canned compressed air is a wonderful thing. If it gets dusty or dirty I check it. Hit with air or run a rag through it. It is cleaned if it goes to the range, That is once/month or more anyway.

 

[orygun]

How often do I clean my carry gun? Not very often.
I also don't shoot it a ton. It may sound a little sloppy, but if you were to check my gun it's pretty clean and I guarantee you it will work and you won't want to be the target I'm shooin at, cuz that little futher mucker works. That's what's important to me.

If it makes one feel more confident, clean that sucker daily.

 

[TTSX]

I, uh.... I don't ever clean my pistol bores...... and I wipe down the rails once in a while.... but if they get soaked, they get a full wipedown inside and out. But not the bore. Because I don't wanna.

 

[ma96782]

For ME. I equate the question......

How often do you clean your Every Day Carried Guns?

With my experience, while carrying my uniform duty revolver (and later semi-automatic).

To start.....
Mind you that.....only certain brands and certain model # holsters were the "uniform" acceptable wear. Think of an open-top/breakfront with sweep snap retention made in leather for the revolver. The later semi-auto's holster was constructed of.....I think a "man-made" leather. It also had a thumb snap and an inner plastic shell to add to the rentention features.

BUT.....then add, that I was in Hawaii. So, salt air. Yup, the environment isn't all that kind to blued firearms and sweaty palms. My stainless steel......only came later, with the semi-auto.

Anyway then......add "inspections". So, you got a constant reminder to keep it all clean.

In other words.....
Clean after shooting practice.
Clean before announced inspections (and for those sneaky un-announced inspections).
Clean/Inspect/wipe down every couple of days for possible rust formation.

OK, Ok, ok.....yeah some officers were lax as compared to others. BUT FOR ME.....that all meant......at least once a week the bore and cylinder would get a lightly oiled swab. The rest of the exterior would get a lightly oiled wipe down every couple of days. In the end (after about 8 years), the backstrap of that revolver showed some/light bluing loss. I think it's because my arm would frequently end up "riding" on top of it. An armrest, LOL. But that was about it.

As for the semi-auto......most of it was not a problem. Just wipe it down with a lightly oiled cloth. And don't forget to run a lightly oiled patch through the bore every once in a while to get those "dust bunnies" and rotate the ammo. Remember, that the initial 1st round was really only meant to be extracted ONCE. And rotate your ammo. If you keep putting that first round in the chamber the rim/extractor groove gets chewed up during extraction.

As for under the "scales/grips" of the semi-auto......YES, rust would sometimes form. But, I wasn't taking those "plastic" one-piece grips off. I left that to the Dept's Armour. BTW.....the Dept's Amour would also go through the internals (of the revolver and semi-autos) at least once per year at qualification.

Yeah....only once a year for qualifications. I think that they knew that I was having too much fun at qualifications. Though for some.....it was a real PIA.

THEN......
IF, you've ever been immersed/dunked in salt or fresh water.....see the Armourer.

Aloha, Mark

 

[WillametteWill]

Once I notice lint build up.

A wise man once said, "Shooting guns gather no lint." Okay, not very wise and me a few seconds ago.

That said, I do shoot my EDC's regularly and they are always cleaned after shooting and before carry. This used to be all my guns but I'll admit if I'm working with a particular range gun on a regular basis (and not part of my EDC) then I'll wipe them down and clean after 2-3 visits...this is hard for me to do and not clean them.

For EDC's it's as much about inspecting as cleaning.

 

[orygun]

This is another thought along with this cleaning thread. I should have added it to my previous reply.

Randomly shooting

Apologies if the title is misleading, but I wasn't sure how to otherwise word it. Do any of you ever take the opportunity, when the conditions are right, to take a shot with your carry gun? I'm not talking about doing stupid bubblegum, but using a chance to test that everything is cool if you...

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[oremike]

Yes, sometimes when out shooting my other guns I'll pull out either my airweight or M&P 40 Shield and empty them into the target. I said before that I don't shoot them much but I do shoot them.

 

[po18guy]

Every time it needs a shave.

 

[Aero Denezol]

After a range trip, or:

Once I notice lint build up. But all it entails is a quick field strip. Remove debris. Lube if necessary and back into the waistband.

FWIW My EDC gun is quickly inspected every morning.

 

[Member 34319]

Yes, sometimes when out shooting my other guns I'll pull out either my airweight or M&P 40 Shield and empty them into the target. I said before that I don't shoot them much but I do shoot them.

Back when ammo was on shelves. Lol, seems like it's been awhile since that was a thing. I'd shoot my defense ammo through my carry gun once a month.

 

[Member 53328]

After a range trip, or:


FWIW My EDC gun is quickly inspected every morning.

Oh I agree 100%. Every morning my gun is removed. Mag is dropped. Chamber inspected to ensure a loaded gun. Mag reinserted. Gun back in holster. Every morning.

 

[Rkangel]

Probably less often than I should. But I figure the lake is fresh water, so that should keep it pretty clean...

 

[CRBMoA]

I just figured y'all shower strapped like I do??

 

[Rkangel]

I just figured y'all shower strapped like I do??

Only when I take a bubble bath.

 

[ma96782]

REAL MEN, shower.


Aloha, Mark

 

[CRBMoA]

REAL MEN, shower.
View attachment 1058301

Aloha, Mark

Not with a shower curtain!

 

[ma96782]

OK, Ok, ok.....I stand corrected. SOME do.....the bubble bath thing.

Aloha, Mark

 

[PNW Pineapple]

My carry gun gets cleaned every Sunday night like clock work. It's just my routine. Bore snake to get the lint out of the barrel, clean the rails and trigger area with a quick tooth brush.

 

[OldTengu]

This often