Don’t expect dignified conversations here… We are not Facebook…
I am a new shooter and yes, I cleaned my revolver for the first time. I watched videos and read the manual and laid out a kitchen towel with my brand new solvents and lube and tools and such. Yes, its a Ruger LCR revolver and easy to clean. It was relaxing and oddly calming! But since then I bought a semi and have not yet taken it apart. Yikes! I’ll let you know how that turns out…
Semi-auto is way easier to clean. It has only ONE chamber.
But I’m not very mechanical. My fear is I won’t get it back together properly!! I’ll take pictures before, during, after. Lol
Great idea with pictures… however what you need is YouTube video - "Handgun Cleaning 101 "
- disassemble 1 piece into 4 pieces
- reassemble 4 pieces into 1 piece
Thank God for YouTube!!!
This is not legal advice. Just what I do and recommend to others
Clean your barrel after every shooting session. That’s not for barrel protection, but for your protection. “Reasonable Doubt.”
Imagine you’re driving along, police stop you, say you and your car match description of armed robber of convenience store with shots fired 5 minutes earlier. Witness on scene or later wrongly identifies you as the robber. It happens all the time. Police take your gun. Gun has clean barrel. Hasn’t been fired.
Keep your finger prints off of your ammo, even off of the boxes the ammo comes in. “Reasonable Doubt.”
Imagine someone has broken into your home or cabin or vehicle, steals your gun and/or ammo. Maybe they just steal a box or two of ammo, and you don’t miss it, don’t know it’s gone. Six months later armed robbery, shots fired, shell casings found at scene. No fingerprints, little chance the casings can be linked to you. But if they do bear your prints, same prints that were taken when you filed your concealed carry application, or your state license application or whatever, you are automatic suspect.
Gun store clerk once told me, “Glocks are so good, you don’t even have to clean them very often.” I keep mine clean all the time. “Reasonable Doubt.”
There is an excellent video there on step-by-step deep clean a Glock. Or at least it used to be there. I haven’t looked at it in over about two years.
Right now you can find “how to clean” YT video for every common firearm.
Do not forget,… If it is not going together do not force it, Your doing it wrong. The use of a hammer is not required to disassemble or assemble your handgun.
good point, @Todd30 .
The worst what can happen - you reassemble one handgun and get two after the procedure.
Just remember- it’s not a miracle…something went wrong.
It’s also a great time to inspect parts for wear or cracks, etc. I clean mine after every trip to the range (anywhere from 100-200 rounds). In addition to being therapeutic, with the music going and the smell of the charcoal heating up in the BBQ, it’s an opportunity to inspect everything and make sure I don’t have any unexpected wear 'n tear. I think this is especially important with a new firearm or after changing out any parts. Get to know how your firearm works, what each part does, and which parts are taking some abuse each time you pull the trigger vs which parts aren’t exposed to as much abuse (e.g. mag release). Wear on parts that receive a lot of abuse/force will be a bigger issue than wear on parts that don’t. And of course springs are a factor. Some springs just get parts to move back and forth while others help dampen the amount of abuse a part takes. It’s important to make sure recoil springs, for example, are replaced on a regular schedule to avoid damage to the frame or other parts. And then there’s parts that need to be cleaned less frequently, but can really get gunked up and stop working as expected. Extractors are a good example of this, especially the ones on the outside of the slide. When the extractor on my Beretta 92 gets dirty, I can expect to start seeing a lot of failure to extract issues. While I don’t clean it every trip to the range, I know that it will need cleaning after multiple trips to the range. How often depends on the ammo and how dirty the powder in the cartridge burns. I had some Speer Lawman ammo once that would emit a visible flash out the muzzle, but was super, super clean ammo. Even the inside of the brass cases were shiny & bright after being fired. But use each cleaning as an opportunity to learn more about how your firearm works and to inspect the internal parts for unexpected wear or damage.
I would add to that, watch as many videos on your firearm of interest as you can. Anybody can upload a video and I’ve seen a LOT of really bad advice on YouTube. But if you keep searching, you will usually come across one or more that criticize the bad videos and explain why. I’d also add that people should probably ignore about 99% of the videos instructing people how to perform a “trigger job” on their firearm. They can sometimes provide good info on how a particular firearm works. But a 4-5lb trigger pull is not a problem that needs to be “fixed”. IMHO, that’s a recipe for accidental discharges, and sometimes failure to fire due to light primer strikes (i.e. some recommend replacing the mainspring to one with a lighter force).
I agree!
There are many very good bad examples out there.
I watched multiple youtube videos before cleaning either of my guns. I wanted to know what I was doing prior to even starting. I did not read the manual. I am not a reader, I need to see it to understand it. Youtube has become the go-to channel in my house. I legit have only watched videos on guns, all different types and on both of mine. Youtube also helped me decide what my next pistol is going to be and I already know how to clean it…lol.
Here is an excellent, detailed YouTube video on Glock Detail Strip And Reassemble.
The video is 10 years old, but likely still very applicable.
I hate cleaning my guns but I do it ECERY time after I shoot. If you are unsure of how to properly clean a model, youtube it & watch several videos