Your personal cleaning schedule?

[bananaman]

I found the lube made a HUGE difference after switching to Royal Purple (synthetic motor oil) - cleanup is much easier. Only use CLP for the outside now.

1. 2 drops in the vent holes, wet up the rails on the BCG before shooting.

2. Wipe down everything inside (with the same now oil-impregnated rag) after shooting. Bore snake down the pipe. I actually do it at the range - takes all of 5 minutes.

3. Into the safe she goes.

4. Once yearly (in the winter when there’s nothing better to do), break everything down (bolt, extractor, etc) and do a “detail clean”. More for inspection and fun than anything else as someone else before said.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[warlord260]

I was suppose to clean it? Shit!
If i run it hard i run a boresnake down the tube, quick wipe, and relube.

[Backstop]

What’s your personal schedule, factors involved in that schedule, etc.

I clean it when it needs it; there’s no set schedule.

I’ll clean it when:

1. BCG starts moving slow and more lube won’t speed things up.

2. BCG looks seriously dirty.

3. BCG sounds like sandpaper.

4. Gun gets full of sand, dirt, etc.

5. Gun got wet from the rain.

Otherwise I do a detailed cleaning the day before a class, and every night of the class.

For a while at carbine matches, I was known as the “guy with the dirty AR.”

My version is more accurate: “the guy with the dirty AR that always runs.”

Meanwhile, the experts were trying to figure out why flames shot out the ejection port of their dry, non-running ARs.

Got into lube a bit - sorry.

[jonconsiglio]

I’m surprised at the number of people in this thread that have “cleaning parties”… I’ve never considered it a social event, and I definitely don’t invite my friends to clean rifles over crumpets and tea.

[jet66]

@jonconsiglio

I’m surprised at the number of people in this thread that have “cleaning parties”… I’ve never considered it a social event, and I definitely don’t invite my friends to clean rifles over crumpets and tea.

:lol:

I don’t invite them over to clean rifles, it’s usually (in the case of friends) that they went shooting as guests. And family? You helped dirty it, you can help clean it.

Although there might be something to be said for ‘Tom Sawyering’ people to clean them in the future… Thanks for the suggestion!

[Pork_Chop]

@jonconsiglio

I’m surprised at the number of people in this thread that have “cleaning parties”… I’ve never considered it a social event, and I definitely don’t invite my friends to clean rifles over crumpets and tea.

Not so much “party” per se. Think of it as…post range debriefing.

And we never have tea & crumpets. Twinkies & beer, maybe?

[Magic_Salad0892]

@a0cake

Somewhere along the line it became popular to say “I haven’t cleaned my AR in XXXX amount of rounds.” Apparently, the higher the number, the cooler you are.

This happened, I believe, because more people now understand the importance of running an AR wet than ever before. Even in military circles, where the mantra of “a very light coat of CLP” used to reign supreme, I am seeing old dogs learning new tricks and heavily lubricating their AR’s.

Certainly, heavy lubrication will keep an AR running fine, even after a lot of rounds.

However, I still choose to wipe down the internals with Break Free CLP on a rag after every shooting session. It takes less than 5 minutes, and it serves a dual purpose. First, it allows me to put eyes on common failure points and to identify anything that needs attention. Second, it allows me to get any foreign objects / debris such as sand, dirt, dust etc. out.

If carbon buildup was the only thing getting into my upper receiver after thousands of rounds, I might get on the “don’t clean just lube” bus. But that’s not how I shoot. I don’t sit at an indoor range and shoot from a bench. Even if there is only a small amount of sand or grit on my BCG, I’m going to get it out when I’m done shooting. There is no harm in that.

I’m not advocating scraping anything or doing a white glove cleaning after every time you shoot. I’m simply saying that a quick wipe down with a rag and CLP can do nothing but help.

I’ll take the ability to visually inspect my components and to remove even small amounts of foreign objects / debris any day over the cool factor of saying “I haven’t wiped down my AR in 8,000 rounds.”

PS. As for cleaning the bore…I do that when I notice a degradation in accuracy. I make it a point to confirm zero (100M with the carbines) before I do any type of training, and when doing so, also make it a point to try to print the smallest groups possible. That allows me to get even a small amount of training value on precision shooting every time I shoot, and also serves as an indicator of when I need to rod the bore.

I’m with this more or less.

[OldState]

I thoroughly clean most of my guns at around 500 rounds (shotguns 200) accept my carry pistol which always gets cleaned after the range. I inspect and will wipe down the BCG and re-lube if it looks too grimy; thought I usually drop some oil in the bolt after every session.

I’m glad to see that so many people are admitting to cleaning there gun regularly. This “I never clean my gun and I’m cool” stuff has started to worry me; especially with the amount of people who are depending on the gun to protect them.

If I needed my rifle for work it would be cleaned every time I shot it.

[Belmont31R]

@jonconsiglio

I’m surprised at the number of people in this thread that have “cleaning parties”… I’ve never considered it a social event, and I definitely don’t invite my friends to clean rifles over crumpets and tea.

You’ve never considered how refreshing some Earl Grey is while wiping down a BCG? Man you are missing out…

[markdh720]

My rifle is a work tool.

I check it every few days and lube is as I see necessary.

I clean it well when I the the ejection port cover spring collects dust or debris.

I clean it very well after a class if the round count is significant.

[polydeuces]

Pilsner Urquell with a side of Makers Mark. Not only when cleaning. Which i try to avoid at all cost, brings back traumatic memories of "clean your room…"whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…:shout:

[warlord260]

@polydeuces

Pilsner Urquell with a side of Makers Mark. Not only when cleaning. Which i try to avoid at all cost, brings back traumatic memories of "clean your room…"whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…:shout:

+1 Kind of like mowing the lawn, Sucks!

[jonconsiglio]

@Belmont31R

You’ve never considered how refreshing some Earl Grey is while wiping down a BCG? Man you are missing out…

I haven’t, though I’m pretty much game for anything exciting and new! BUT, I prefer my parties to have ♫♫ bubblebath and camoMILE… Straight up! then I give it to their Mom’s d - d- d - d- d - d - doggystyle! ♫♫

Lyrics from Motherlover, not trying to insult anyone or their Moms… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DeIqJm4vM

Ok, twinkies and beer while I watch my friend’s clean my weapons is a different story and I’m down with that type of party too!

[P2000]

I usually clean some day after every other shooting session, but I always add some lube before going out. When I do clean, I get everything spotless. I usually but the rifle away dirty, and clean it later when I feel like it.

I used to clean after every trip, but after reading about the filthy 14, my ocd calmed down a bit.

[seb5]

It appears that I’m really behind the curve on this one. My precision Noveske gets it about every 200 rounds. The others get lubed and shot. Every December I give them a complete 10-15 minute cleaning and inspection. My 3rd. generation Glocks are about the same. Those account for 99% of my shooting. Realistically that’s about every 2000 rounds or so. Obviously if I have a malfunction of some sort that is not obvious in the cause the weapon gets cleaned so I can properly inspect it and correct it. Nowadays that’s very rare. I suppose I’m one that got too much attention from the Gunners Mates in years past.

[gun71530]

I generally give it a quick wipe down and relube after I shoot. I only go more in depth than, that when it’s necessary.

[Hmac]

wipedown with an oily microfiber cloth, bore snake, lotsa lube. Every thousand rounds or so I strip down the BCG and scrub it up with some No. 9, then re-oil, then scrub out the chamber and run a bunch of patches through.

[elnino31]

If I’m shooting an AR, i’m definately shooting pistols. My HD pistol makes every trip to the range, but it’s never the only pistol. I try to keep them all in the rotation, so it’s hard telling how often i’ll shoot anything. For that reason, i’m cleaning at the end of the day. That’s probably part of the reason that I give a quick cleaning to any AR… because everything is already out.

I really don’t understand why you wouldn’t take good care of your guns. Definately use, but don’t abuse. They’re investments and one day you may want to trade or sell. Just my thoughts.

[jonconsiglio]

@elnino31

I really don’t understand why you wouldn’t take good care of your guns. Definately use, but don’t abuse. They’re investments and one day you may want to trade or sell. Just my thoughts.

Mine aren’t investments and rarely do I trade or sell a rifle. I usually shoot it until something needs replaced or gets close to needing replaced. My remaining SR15 for example… I might actually sell the lower stripped, but I’m running the upper until I notice a decline in accuracy, then the barrel and bolt are getting replaced with something else.

The only investment I’ve had was my MP5 and I recently sold that one. Now, not one single rifle or handgun that I actually use is an investment.

Hell, even the MP5 saw a ton of rounds and little attention, but they’ll go for a very long time.

[hghlndr85]

i usually do a quick clean and wipe down and relube after everytime i have it out, and a detail clean every 500 rounds