I am very erratic. I am anal about cleaning and once I clean a weapon, unless I shoot it, may not clean it again for 6 months. I do use very high quality cleaners and lube (mill Spec synthetic oil and grease). I also am weird about the ammo I carry. I rotate perhaps every year, use the old ammo for final practice/sighting after training with cheaper ammo.
Just an aside, probably weird to many… after I clean my weapon to perfection (in my mind) I will blow the whole thing out with an air compressor to “smooth out” any oils/grease, put in a magazine, rack and fire one round before putting it back inthe holster (I do replace that fired round). I figure it is the ultimate functional test, and seems sometimes the first round fired is a bit off base. So this “blasts” out any extra oils etc the compressor didnt get. Never had an issue.
Do you have any special cleaning habits? Suggestions?
I clean the gun after every range trip. Lately I haven’t been going to the range due to the ammo shortage, so I’ll clean my carry every couple of months (just wipe off the lube and reapply basically lube basically).
I don’t worry much about cycling. I’ll probably shoot my carry ammo once a year (though I may just put it in storage and throw some fresh rounds in).
Wild Bill was said to empty his gun in the morning and clean it then reload it everyday. Back then the last thing a gunfighter would want is a misfire dew to moisture. Get the pun, Dew? As for now a days, if you are going to store the gun away for a bit of time you would want to strip your weapon down and clean it to clean. Then I would put a heavier oil on it and even grease on some other parts. This will prevent it from rusting while being stored. It does not take much moisture to create rust. As for a EDC weapon, I will wipe it down weekly and do an expedient clean after shooting at the range if I shoot under 200 rounds. If I shoot more than that I break mine down and sonic clean then lubricate for operational use. I like your idea of changing the ammo yearly, nothing wrong with that! But, it is known that ammo properly stored will last at least 10 years. As long as there is no deuteriation to the brass casing.
I reload for the range and I mimic the rounds that I carry for my EDC, so, nothing changes and I remain accurate and consistent.
Even when I don’t shoot my firearms I field strip, clean and rotate the ammo every 3 months. Right now with ammo being hard to come by I can’t rotate them like I should.
My EDC is cleaned on the first of every month religiously and after returning from range. Every month, breakdown, wipe down, oiled, function checked, cleared and placed in condition one. Deep cleaned on a yearly basis. You would be surprised as to how much dust gets in, that includes the holster.
Usually ammo is rotated only when visiting the range.
That’s not to say that the FIFO (First in First out) rule does not apply every time I receive an order. Unlike loading a magazine (LIFO: last in, first out.)
I only order in bulk and that order goes to the bottom everything else shifts to the top.
On a “normal” basis 50% of my magazines are loaded with SD ammo those are not rotated. Since war was declared, all magazines for all firearms are loaded with SD ammo and on standby. As long as ammo is kept dry it can last for maybe 10 years. Rotation will now depend upon the stupid people!
I reapply oil to the slide after a few sessions of dry fire practice.
I only rotate defensive rounds that have been chambered. Frequent chambering and unloading of the same cartridge causes the bullet to become seated deeper into the casing and can cause a dangerous over pressure situation inside the chamber.
i had a 30-30 that looked almost as bad., Sister n law threw it in the back of my brothers boat. The barrel was never the same. Major rust pits inside the barrel. So, when I say I lost my guns in a boating incident, I was serious!
I field strip after every range run, sadly about 1/month right now, and at least one time during the month to keep in practice. Not that it’s complicated, but the APX takedown lever has a button on the left side to press, and it’s a serious button indeed, friends. I was watching a review on one channel, and kind of liked the presentation, and was about to subscribe, when he actually had to use a block and press the gun down on it! Sheesh! What a wimp. I have neuropathy in my hands and I can push the damn button.
No, I didn’t subscribe.
As for the ammo, it’s not old enough yet to be concerned with that, and the only place I can run HPs is over 80 miles from my home. Yeah, maybe see how it’s going after the first of Jan. Things are a bit too weird right now.
I do, however, have 4 mags full of HPs and I swap the current one out weekly, does that count?
Thanks for the links PDA3. I do think a lot of people overclean AND overclean their weapon. When I was a new shooter I cleaned after every session. UNLESS SHOOTING CORROSIVE AMMO like the 7.62x56, some .303 British and maybe certain brands of 7.62x39, I will clean a couple times a year with s=exceptions being shooting in rain or running courses where you are having to drop your mags to the ground or perhaps set your gun on the ground where oils might pick up debris.
I have a friend who is a new shooter who just isnt done for the day until we clean his guns. I would rather be getting that ice cold beer. I have another friend who is an experienced shooter who just runs a bore snake through his Les Baer 1911 one time after each session. After a couple years I asked if he ever field striped his gun and he said what? So I try and compromise. When I DO clean my gun I am very thorough which is one reason I dont mind waiting 6 months between cleaning.
Just an aside, the friend with the Les Baer 1911 did have the thing totally and completely jam up on him during a tactical class we were taking. He and an instructor had to leave the firing line and didnt come back for 30 minutes trying to get the stuck round (unfired) out of the chamber.Ultimately took a wooden dowell and hammer to get it unstuck. We field stripped the gun when we got home and cleaned it.
Ammo properly stored last a LONG time a short while back I had the pleasure of shooting 6 rounds of WW1 vintage 45ACP out of a 1918 moon clip colt revolver. My edc gets shot quite often typically to demo something in a class so I always have some extra hardball or defensive in the range bag after a mag or 2, boresnake reload and back in the holster, couple times a month while home unload, wipe down with a silicone gun cloth then a rag reload and good to go.
I agree. I was speaking specifically of ammo used in your daily carry. It is exposed to temperature, humidity , bumps and bangs etc stored ammo dosent endure.
I have shot THOUSANDS of old stored military ammo… probably in bunkers that got hot and cold but not exposed to humidity since in sealed containers and likely not jostled about and have never had an issue with it. 80 year old ammo shot great.
I have had issues with inherited shotgun shells, old paper type shell, stored in a box in Louisiana. Not jostled, but exposed to the humidity and heat/cold and had maybe a 20% failure rate. The ammo when I acquired it was about 45 years old.
I thoroughly clean the safe queens annually and field strip after every use. The EDC firearms are field stripped monthly, and after any exposure to harsh elements or a trip to the range.
I have at least twice as many mags as I carry at any given time and rotate mags monthly.
Duty ammo? I try to make sure it doesn’t sit around for more than 2 years in mags, but long-term storage stuff is just that. I store in milspec, sealed ammo cans, climate controlled, with corrosion inhibitors and desiccants.
Agree. What I have tried to do in the past, once I have decided which firearm I believe I will be carrying most of the time, is buy a 500 round box of my choice of defense ammo so it is all of the same mfg. lot number. I take out what I plan to use, maybe 100 rounds, then vacuum seal the rest and store it in a nice cool location where it will sit unbothered until needed again the following year. At the end of the year I will use the ammo have carried for a year in my carry magazines for practice then reload the magazines with another 100 rounds out of the same batch/box. Probably negligible differences, but at least I have a good idea of how what I am carrying is going to perform.
I totally agree about the lubrication… go easy on it. Without going into much detail I use the mil-comm product so have a pretty dry setup.
When I first bought my gun, I cleaned it. Then after I took my first shot, I ran a bore brush through it then a patch and repeat. After the range I break it all down and clean every part, not just to clean but inspect all the parts. I look for wearing spots and anything unusual. This familiarizes me with the gun and its function.
