Cleaning and Up Keep

[CAPTAIN KOOLAID]

I like know how offened does everyone clean there weapons?
I clean mine every 2 to 3 weeks unless I happen to worked a ship, then I clean them right after I get home.

[JSam21]

I clean after everytime I go shooting. If I haven't shot I will clean it at least once a month with a good wipe down before everytime it goes in the holster.

[DeputyJ]

I clean my duty weapon, a Glock 17, after every range session (which is at least once a month). I clean my Glock 36 once a month as well because I sometimes carry it off duty.

Stay Safe

[Bill Warnock]

I still follow the Air Force model, clean on the day of shooting and three consecutive days thereafter. If I soon go to the range, say about two weeks, I take a different handgun. I practice with different handguns on different outings. In between times, the pellet handgun gets a workout.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

I still follow the Air Force model, clean on the day of shooting and three consecutive days thereafter. If I soon go to the range, say about two weeks, I take a different handgun. I practice with different handguns on different outings. In between times, the pellet handgun gets a workout.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

When I was in LE, I happened to wind up with two duty weapons when I moved from a department where you bought your own to a department that supplied the weapon. This gave me the luxury of following something very similar to your protocol, Bill, because I didn't have to carry the same weapon I'd just been using on the range that day.

[Bill Warnock]

SecTrainer, I kid you not, you should see the awful stuff I pull out of a barrel on the second day. The start of the third day shows fouling still present and at the end of the session, clean patches. The handgun goes back into active service after all of that.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

SecTrainer, I kid you not, you should see the awful stuff I pull out of a barrel on the second day. The start of the third day shows fouling still present and at the end of the session, clean patches. The handgun goes back into active service after all of that.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

I believe it, because I've seen it also. The only way I found to shorten the cycle was to leave a length of cotton soaked in Hoppe's #9 in the barrel overnight and then I could usually get clean patches on the second day. Sometimes I've had to use Sweets as well, but I prefer the milder solvent and it should suffice if cleaning is done religiously. I always use a bronze brush and soak it in mineral spirits after use to clean it.

The problem with a duty weapon is that you can't leave oil in the barrel as you can do with a firearm you only shoot occasionally(always removing the oil before shooting, of course), so I ran a patch or two with Hoppe's followed by a dry one through my duty weapon every night and you could always see a faint difference between them, proving that you only have to carry a weapon to get it dirty.

[Bill Warnock]

Thank you SecTrainer. I have felt like the lone voice crying out in the desert, your weapon gets dirty simply by carrying in a holster. Getting normal dirt in the atmosphere and lets not talk about springtime pollen! The unclean weapon is a violation of one of the "Ten Commandments of Security and Law Enforcement" and folks have been killed just because their weapon was dirty.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[N. A. Corbier]

Not to mention its next to your body, and will attract moisture.

[Bill Warnock]

Not to mention its next to your body, and will attract moisture.
Thank you Nathan, good point!
There was a police officer I knew some 45-years ago who stated in his 18-years on the force he never had to fire his service revolver. He said he took pride in the fact he had never taken it out of its holster. That jurisdiction had range weapons the officers used to qualify with so he never fired the weapon he carried while on duty.
They never had a guard mount or inspection where the weapons were examined by their leadership.
One evening the officer had to draw his weapon and when he attempted to pull the trigger in a life and death situation, the hammer was frozen. In the era before protective armor, he only had his uniform coat and white shirt for protection. The shooter ran from the scene after shooting the officer. He died and when his "supervisor" tried to open the action, the cylinder release button on the S&W M&P did not budge.
The handgun was inoperable. The barrel was corroded. The revolver was soaked in solvent for two days before anything would move. When they removed the bullets they had to be cleaned and would not fire in the rangemaster's .38. The primers and powder were fouled. Needless to say the gun was destroyed in a nearby city forge.
That was a life altering experience for all of us. The leadership finally got around to shift inspections of both men and equipment. Many of the firearms had "green" matter in the bores. From that day forward, officers used their issued firearms when going to the range and were supervised when cleaning them. They closed the barn door after the horse trotted off!
A lot of the men had military police backgounds but forgot that training when leadership did not conduct guardmount, holding only shift briefings.
Thanks for jogging the memory Nathan.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

The handgun was inoperable. The barrel was corroded. The revolver was soaked in solvent for two days before anything would move. When they removed the bullets they had to be cleaned and would not fire in the rangemaster's .38....
Bill

Well, that's bad, but how crazy is it that a rangemaster would load these bullets into another weapon and attempt to fire them? :eek:

[Bill Warnock]

Well, that's bad, but how crazy is it that a rangemaster would load these bullets into another weapon and attempt to fire them? :eek:
Sec Trainer, the Chief then was, as he said, pressured by the county fathers to see if the bullets were fireable. I guess it never entered anyone's mind to send them to a ballistics lab.
The trigger was pulled twice on each round. You have got to wonder what would have happened if a round or two were slow cookers?
Forty-five years is a long time ago and I seriously doubt if that would ever happen again. At least I hope it never happens again.
I some times wonder about some of these "fly-by-night" security companies and their issued ammunition, at least from the tenor of the wording of some of the posts I've read thus far.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

I some times wonder about some of these "fly-by-night" security companies and their issued ammunition, at least from the tenor of the wording of some of the posts I've read thus far.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Maybe it's a good thing some of them don't even issue ammunition!

Actually, of course, the most dangerous thing in the world - on many levels - is an "empty" gun. They'll either get shot by themselves (thinking it's empty), their kid will shoot a friend (ditto), or they'll get shot on the job by some perp who will naturally assume it's loaded.

This is such a STUPID idea (pardon me....STUPID idea) that you might as well just shoot your guard applicants during their initial interviews. That way you can make a nice clean job of it and save someone else the trouble.

I wouldn't carry - or keep an "empty" gun around the house - if you paid me, with the exception of the hunting rifles that I only use seasonally.

[Ron Jessee]

sheesh. A single press check or wheel spin goes a long way. I don't clean my weapons without the action being open unless I strip them down completely. I've heard of guys shooting themselves while cleaning their guns a lot of times and honestly- are they just once -overing the outside steel and furniture? you can't even have a round chambered when you clan the important stuff.

[ValleyOne]

Inspected prior to shift, clean when needed, like after the range.

Never even thought about the three day routine, will have to try that, it can't hurt and should only help...

Thanks

[Bill Warnock]

Inspected prior to shift, clean when needed, like after the range.

Never even thought about the three day routine, will have to try that, it can't hurt and should only help...

Thanks
ValleyOne it will absolutely knock your socks off the second day and the start of the third day you'll wonder, "When will it ever end?" The better you take care of your duty weapon the better it will take care of you. Trite but true.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[N. A. Corbier]

Plus, if you use Hoppes, you'll have that wonderful smell for three days. :)

[Bill Warnock]

Plus, if you use Hoppes, you'll have that wonderful smell for three days. :)
Nathan Hoppes smells a lot better than embalming fluid. Of course, if you are on a slab, it really won't matter will it?
I have rubber gloves and perform the tasks in the garage.
I remember my dad telling me when he was in the horse cavalry in the 1920s and early 1930s, the officers would add an ounce or two of bore cleaner to their coffee in the morning. Back then the alcohol in the cleaner was of the fermented kind.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[N. A. Corbier]

Compared to half the solvents, I would gladly wear Hoppes #9 as aftershave.

[SecTrainer]

Compared to half the solvents, I would gladly wear Hoppes #9 as aftershave.

Goodun! :D :D :D

[doulos Christou]

I carry a Rossi .38. It is incredibly easy to clean a revolver so I have adopted the 3-day manner posted earlier. I found a ton of crap today, day 2, after putting 500 rds. downrange just a few days ago. Can't imagine what it will look like after it gets some field time. I just bought the gun and was doing the initial break-in, I always put at least 500 rds. FMJ down the barrel before any JHP comes near my weapon.

[Bill Warnock]

I carry a Rossi .38. It is incredibly easy to clean a revolver so I have adopted the 3-day manner posted earlier. I found a ton of crap today, day 2, after putting 500 rds. downrange just a few days ago. Can't imagine what it will look like after it gets some field time. I just bought the gun and was doing the initial break-in, I always put at least 500 rds. FMJ down the barrel before any JHP comes near my weapon.
Dougo, make sure you take yoke from the frame and disassemble the cylinder you would be surprised at the filings, powder residue and dirt in that assembly.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Bill Warnock]

Food for thought. SecTrainer reminded me of something I should have remembered but didn't. See what age does to you!
"...it takes less than a half-millimeter's thickness of sludge in a barrel to hand the shooter a very nasty surprise when they pull the trigger on that weapon. You're talking clearances on the order of a hair's breadth, not the width of a barn door!"
Colleagues that places emphasis on the necessity of strict cleaning discipline. To fail to do so means the possibility of a barrel bursting with the attendant danger that implies or a totally inoperative gun.
Thanks SecTrainer for that insight.
Enjoy the day,
Bill