Category: Fieldcraft
We all know that firearms require maintenance and cleaning, but how often should you clean your firearms? Some insist that gun cleaning should occur every time one is fired, as well as every few months — whether they’ve been used or not. Others insist that it is fine to leave your rifle or pistol uncleaned, even after multiple trips to the range.
Who’s right? The answer depends on the type of firearm, what it is primarily used for, and what ammunition or elements it has been exposed to.
When Gun Cleaning Is a Good Idea
There are times when you should clean your gun immediately after use. If you are shooting corrosive ammunition, or the firearm is exposed to water, moisture or other damaging elements, you should always clean your gun as soon as possible.
Corrosive ammunition, water, salts, dust and dirt can all lead to rust, corrosion, excess wear and tear and eventually the early failure of the rifle or pistol. For example, last week I went out hunting with my trusty Remington 700 in .30-06. It’s not a fancy rifle. It has a synthetic stock and factory blued barrel topped with a Nikon 4–12x40mm scope.
The weather was cold and damp. I didn’t see the wild hogs I was hunting for, but it was rainy and drizzling. Even though I didn’t fire a shot, I cleaned my rifle when I got home.
Why? Moisture in the barrel could lead to pitting and premature barrel wear. I also made sure to run a lightly-oiled cloth between the barrel and the stock bed to clear out any trapped moisture, or dirt and oil the barrel.
You say, “I’ve got a stainless steel barrel and receiver. I don’t need to worry about moisture.” To a certain extent, that is true. Stainless steel components help slow corrosion and the effects of the elements that cause it, but such parts are more susceptible to excess wear from dirt, dust, and fouling. Stainless steel is softer than other steel used in firearms. As such, it can experience faster wear.
Different Gun Cleaning Techniques for Different Guns
If you’ve got a gun that is only used for plinking, target clays, or punching holes in paper, it’s probably OK to let a few months and 3–4 trips to the range lapse before doing an in-depth cleaning. You should note that semi-automatics and rimfire firearms may begin to show performance and reliability issues with excessive fouling.
My Walther G22, my favorite semi-automatic plinker, tends to run fine for about 500 rounds before it begins to have problems cycling dirty .22 rimfire ammunition. Because of this, I like to keep a bore snake, CLP, and a brush in my range bag to give the action a quick once-over should it start to hiccup. Even so, it sometimes makes it through a couple of bricks of Federal .22 LR before it sees a good scrubbing. You can typically find all of these items inside a cleaning kit available here or at your local gun shop.
On the other hand, if you’re shooting a match gun or a firearm that is relied upon for personal defense, you should always keep it clean, oiled, and ready to go. As mentioned above, fouling, dirt, and dust can cause reliability issues in semiautomatic firearms. Any primary defensive firearm should, in this writer’s opinion, always be kept clean and well-oiled.
Revolvers are not immune to fouling either. Carbon build up on the cylinder can make a double-action trigger nearly impossible to pull as the cylinder gap becomes clogged.
For match guns, most semiautomatics run more accurately and more reliably when clean. Bolt-action rifles, on the other hand, often require a fouling shot for the best consistency out of a cold bore. For this reason, it is sometimes easier to clean these rifles at the range where you can then fire a fouling shot (from non-corrosive ammunition), so the bore is ready to go.
Some ranges won’t allow you to clean a gun at the range and that’s fine. You can clean it at home and store it without a fouling shot; just remember that your bore will need a fouling shot to prep the bore prior to competition.
The Big Gun Cleaning Question: How Often?
Depending on how often they are used, all firearms should periodically undergo a detailed cleaning where the firearm is torn down and thoroughly cleaned, oiled and reassembled.
How often this is necessary depends on the number of rounds fired through the gun and the role it typically is used for. I like to detail strip and clean all my firearms at least once a year, regardless of whether they ever made it out of the gun safe at all.
On firearms that are just being stored in a safe, ambient moisture in the air and humidity can cause some small rust spots to show up. Desiccants and drying silica gel will help reduce the humidity in your safe and cut down on rust caused by this moisture in the air.
An annual cleaning not only makes sure that all your guns are clean and stored properly, but also gives you the chance to inspect each firearm for problems that you may not normally notice. While you’ve got the gun broken down, look for cracks, rust and corrosion, erosion or other signs that a part may need replacing.
More than once while detail stripping my firearms, I’ve found pins, springs, and other small parts that were wearing and could soon fail. By replacing them early, an unexpected failure was prevented.
Final Note
Always be sure to wear the proper safety gear when cleaning your firearms, and always clean in a well-lit and well-ventilated area. Some chemicals and solvents are dangerous and have fumes that can be unsafe to breathe. Proper eye protection, gloves and a respirator are always recommended when working with gun cleaning chemicals.
The answer to the age-old question of whether or not to top off a magazine to maximize the number of on-board rounds depends on the firearm in question. Even within the same model, individual examples can yield different conclusions.
I just picked up a previously owned SIG Sauer P320 full-size 9 mm to use as a duty gun in my capacity as a reserve police officer in my county. It came with five magazines, and at a good price. When I first shot the pistol, I was quite pleased with the sights, trigger pull and accuracy.
In the police academy, we were taught to load our duty pistols to maximum capacity—referred to as topping off—as a matter of practice and common sense. This included having the magazine full, with a round in the chamber as well.
My problem arose when I loaded my magazines to their 17-round capacity and tried to seat them into the pistol after chambering a cartridge to maximize the gun’s capacity. I had to pound each magazine’s baseplate to get them to stay in the gun, and the two newest ones would not stay locked in place much of the time even with that extra effort. With the other magazines, when they locked in place, the gun would short-cycle after the first round and fail to chamber the next round, consistently moving only partially forward.
In the law enforcement community, our guns have to work first time, every time to stay alive.
What is the problem with this gun? Can it be fixed to make it more reliable, or do I go get my money back and buy something else?
R.K. Tidioute, PA
The SIG Sauer P320 chambered in 9 mm is a solid and reliable-shooting pistol in my experience. That said, while you can get 17 rounds in many of its magazines, there is no space available after the last round has been inserted into the magazine for the ammunition stack to compress sufficiently, enabling the magazine to seat and lock into the magazine well.
The top round in a loaded magazine contacts the bottom of the slide when the slide is forward and the magazine is fully inserted into the magazine well of a semi-automatic pistol. Although there is normally friction on the bottom of the slide from contact with the top cartridge in the magazine, it has minimal effect on the movement of the slide if the ammunition stack can compress slightly back into the magazine body against the magazine spring. If there is no room for the ammunition stack to compress, the friction resistance of the top cartridge in the seated magazine is too great to allow the slide to cycle properly, which causes the phenomenon that you are experiencing with the slide failing to fully cycle.
I would first suggest that you load your magazines to their capacity of 17 rounds, and then apply pressure to the top cartridge with your thumb. The cartridge should move against the magazine spring until it is visibly clear of all contact with the feed lips at the top of the magazine. This small space is necessary for the magazine to seat properly in the magazine well, and also for the gun to cycle properly and shoot reliably.
If you download your magazines to 16 rounds, I suspect your gun will exhibit the reliability you expect from it.
This phenomenon is not only limited to pistols, but should also be considered when loading and topping off any firearm utilizing a spring-loaded, box-type magazine. For example, it is a somewhat common practice to download an AR-15-style rifle magazine (particularly military-surplus magazines) from 30 rounds to 28 rounds to enhance reliability by ensuring the magazine will seat properly in the magazine well and the top rounds in the magazine will flow through the gun without causing any restriction or stoppage.
As always, I would encourage you to voice your concerns to the folks at the SIG Sauer Customer Service department and see what they have to say about the situation you are experiencing. The true complexion of any company can be seen by the actions of its Customer Service personnel to solve a customer’s problems. The manufacturer’s staff is top notch and will undoubtedly help you get to the bottom of the problem you are experiencing.
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