After a day at the range honing your handgun skills it’s obvious that your new pistol isn’t as jiffy clean as it was a few hours before.
It’s a given: Guns get dirty after use. Keeping them clean is a lot more about smooth, reliable function than a gleaming gun.
To better understand the cleaning process, let’s look at what makes gun dirty. Once the trigger is pulled it releases the firing pin that strikes the primer, which causes a chemical reaction. This impact-sensitive primer ignites which in turn shoots a flame toward the powder charge. This burning powder creates gas that follows the path of least resistance. The steel of the barrel surrounding the cartridge is stronger than the pressure created by the expanding gas. The open bore is the path of least resistance, so the escaping gas pushes against the base of the bullet propelling it down the barrel until it is free of the bore.
This chain reaction leaves carbon, copper and lead deposits in and around the chamber, bore and action of the gun. Each subsequent shot deposits more crud. The more it’s used, the dirtier it gets. A short shooting session may just require a quick wipe-down with an oily cloth to remove any exterior grime. After time and use enough internal fouling will accumulate to necessitate a thorough cleaning to assure that the gun gets so gummed up that it fails to function reliably.
Well before your handgun reaches a state of marginal functionality, you need to learn how to remove that performance-robbing grunge by giving it a proper cleaning.
What you’ll need
Copper, lead and carbon deposits require different solutions to remove them from you handgun, so you’ll need solvents that work to break down each elemental form. Some chemicals work on both carbon and lead, whereas copper removers typically clean only their intended deposits.
Next, you’ll need a cleaning rod that extends beyond the length of the barrel, and an assortment of cleaning jags. These cleaning rod tips will be slotted or just smaller than the bore to force a cloth patch down the bore. Bore brushes slightly larger than bore size connect to the cleaning rod to apply solvents and scrub away what doesn’t belong. Special care should be taken when picking bore brushes. This writer isn’t a fan of bore brushes that have any steel in their construction, as they can scratch barrel steel if not used carefully. Instead, pick bore brushes with bronze wire construction. The bristles can be either stiff Nylon, brass or bronze.
Appropriately sized cotton cleaning patches are the standard, but synthetic-material patches will suffice. Gun oil is the final required solution to clean a gun thoroughly. After cleaning the weapon, a light oil coating applied to metal parts will help prevent rust and lubricate the metal-on-metal friction-wear areas. A final rub down with a cloth on the exterior metal surfaces will help with excess.
Basics first
The number one rule of cleaning a firearm is to be sure it is unloaded… twice. With a double-action revolver, swing out the cylinder and visually check for rounds. A single-action revolver required that the loading gate be opened, and maybe the hammer cocked back one notch to release the cylinder so it rotates freely. Check each chamber of the cylinder to be sure it’s empty. (Some experienced shooters might raise an eyebrow to the inclusion of a single-action revolver in this article, but this writer just has to think back to his own wife’s handgun carry permit class where she qualified with a 100 percent score with a single-action Ruger revolver.)
If you are about to clean a semi-auto, depress the magazine release button and drop the magazine. Next, pull the slide to the rear and eject any round in the chamber and visually inspect it again to be sure a round isn’t in the chamber.
It’s a good idea to find an uncluttered table or counter top to clean your weapon. Place an old towel on the work surface to catch the grime, drops of oil and dirty gun parts. Don’t do your cleaning chores on your wooden dining room table. Solvents can penetrate a simple towel and eat the finish of the table underneath.
Disassembly
You don’t need to completely disassemble a handgun, specifically a semi-auto, to properly clean it. Leave that to a gunsmith. You’ll only need to “field strip” the gun into its basic parts to get at the dirt. Instruction manuals that come with new guns will have step-by-step disassembly and reassembly instructions.
If disassembly instruction seem too daunting, take your handgun to a local gun shop and ask for help. A revolver is quite a bit simpler. A double-action revolver doesn’t require any disassembly to clean, and a single-action revolver just requires the cylinder pin be pulled and the cylinder removed from the frame.
Let’s get clean!
Screw on the slotted-tip cleaning jag to your cleaning rod and pull a patch half way through. Douse it with cleaning solvent and run it through the bore several times to get it saturated with cleaner. A semi-auto’s barrel can be cleaned from the chamber end when it’s removed from the gun, while a revolver will be cleaned from the muzzle. Also, run a wet patch through each revolver cylinder chamber. Let it sit for a few minutes. After a short wait, run a dry patch down the bore to remove loosened carbon. Repeat this a three or four times.
This process will remove most of the easy-to-remove carbon, but copper and lead fouling require a bit more elbow grease. Every time a bullet is fired it leaves traces of lead or copper behind that are “ironed” into the microscopic pits inside the barrel. This will require alternating between copper and lead solvents if both types of ammunition are fired.
A good practice is to run a wet patch down the bore, switch to a bronze or Nylon brush and work it up and down the bore. One stroke for every shot fired isn’t unreasonable, and reapply more solvent to the brush to keep it wet. Give the solvents time to complete their chemical break-down process within the barrel (and chambers on a revolver), and follow up with a dry patch to remove loosened fouling. Run another wet patch down the bore, followed by one or two more dry patches. You will notice that subsequent wet and dry patches will come out with less and less black or green fouling. Copper solvent leaves green deposits on patches as it does its work. When a patch wet with copper solvent comes out without turning, no copper remains in the barrel. Revolvers get a bit more attention, since each chamber gets dirty.
Once the bore and chambers are clean, move on to the rest of the gun. Carbon builds up on the face of the cylinder and the beginning of the barrel, or “forcing cone,” so wipe solvent with a wet patch over these areas.
The inside of a semi-auto’s slide will need some attention to remove carbon, as well as the feed ramp inside the frame. As each bullet gets pushed from the magazine it deposits lead or copper on the feed ramp.
Now that the grime from firing is removed from the internal workings of your handgun, use a cloth to apply a light coating of gun oil over the outside metal surfaces. This will also remove any sweat and body oils that contain rust-causing salt. An oily cloth is the last thing that should touch a clean gun. Take a dry cloth and remove as much of the oil as possible If you are going to carry your firearm immediately.
Once you get the hang of cleaning your firearm, it should only take a few minutes of maintenance after each shooting session. Take care of your weapon and it will take care of you.
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