CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CLEANING AND MAINTAINING YOUR GUNS

A gun is useless if it doesn’t work, and it’s definitely no good to you if it gets stolen. In this chapter, we’ll talk about cleaning, maintaining, and securing your weapons to make sure they are secured and safe to operate.

Materials for Cleaning and Maintenance

If you’re a first-time gun buyer, you will need to have some basic cleaning and maintenance equipment. Below is a list of some core essentials I recommend.

Cleaner, Lubricant, Protectant (CLP)

Once you’ve removed the layer of carbon grime and other fouling with a solvent, you then need to use a CLP to properly protect and lubricate all the moving parts. There are many CLP brands on the market, but I also use FrogLube for my CLP. It works even better if you apply a heat source, such as a hair dryer, as the heat will help FrogLube permeate the pores in the metal. FrogLube is also 100 percent biodegradable and otherwise environmentally friendly. A FrogLube rep demonstrated this point to me by taking a chunk of the paste and shoving it into his teeth—a pretty impressive demonstration, considering many other CLPs are toxic. Frog­Lube was developed by a U.S. Navy SEAL and is used by hundreds and thousands of troops, law enforcement officers, and regular shooters all around the world. I always make sure to have FrogLube with me.

I use FrogLube, which comes in a paste or liquid and in different sizes, to clean and lube all of my firearms.

Solvent

Solvent is used to break down the carbon fouling that builds up in the barrel, the action, and other parts of the gun. There are many solvent brands on the market, but I’ve found FrogLube works great.

A Cleaning Mat

When cleaning your gun, you’ll be dealing with solvent, CLP, carbon, and other muck, so you need a good-size cleaning mat to protect the surface on which you’re doing the cleaning.

Otis Cleaning Kit

Otis makes great cleaning kits that have everything you need: bore brushes, cleaning patches, and other goodies. You’ll need to make sure the brushes are sized to the calibers you require. The kit comes with instructions on how to clean pistols, rifles, and shotguns. You can get up to six uses per Otis cleaning patch, which is nice.

Punch Kit and Spare Parts

Depending on what kind of firearm you own, you may want to have some spare parts around in case you need to fix something quickly. Common parts to have on hand are springs, firing pins, and screws. The list is pared down to get you started. There are plenty of other specialized items that you may possibly need, and I recommend looking into that when you buy your gun if you’re not sure what they are.

How to Clean Your Firearm

Before cleaning, make sure to do the following:

• Remove all ammunition from the area.
• Wear safety glasses to protect yourself from flying springs, caustic fluids, and other dangers.

Once your cleaning area is prepared, take the following basic cleaning steps:

1. Make sure your firearm is completely unloaded. Do a visual and manual chamber check where you look at and feel the empty chamber.
2. If possible, engage the safety.
3. Depending on the type of firearm you are cleaning, you’ll have varying takedown steps. For semiauto pistols, you’ll want to separate the slide from the frame and separate the barrel, slide, and springs. For shotguns, you typically just open the action, which is also true for most bolt and break-action rifles. But for many semiauto rifles, such as an AR-15, you’ll need to separate the lower and upper receivers and remove the bolt carrier assembly.

   

   A Glock 30S pistol disassembled for cleaning. From top to bottom: slide, barrel, guide rod and spring, frame.

4. Insert a patch into the patch attachment. Soak the patch with CLP and run it two or three times through the barrel, going from chamber to muzzle each time. If you go the other way, you’ll bring more debris into the chamber instead of away from it. Let it sit for 2–3 minutes to let the solvent break down any carbon fouling.
5. While you’re waiting, switch out the patch attachment for a brush. You’ll run the brush through the barrel, breech end first, then out toward the muzzle two to three times. The brush will help scrape off carbon deposits.
6. Put the patch attachment back on and throw on a fresh cotton patch. This time, load it up with CLP and run it through two or three times until you stop seeing black fouling on the patches. If you’re using Otis patches, they are designed to be used six times before needing to throw them out. Other patches are generally designed for one pass before discarding them.
7. Run one or two dry patches through the barrel until they come out dry. You may not get patches to come out completely clean, which is generally fine.

Other parts of the firearm, such as the slide on a semiautomatic, will also require cleaning. For these parts, you’ll need a brush to get in those tight spaces. Start off with some solvent and brush away. Wipe the gun off with a cloth and then apply a light coating of CLP. Many weapons do not require a lot of CLP on the friction parts, and overlubricating can cause jams and malfunctions. Read your gun’s instruction manual to see what the manufacturer recommends with respect to the amount of CLP you should use.

If you’re cleaning a rifle or shotgun, there may be other parts you will need to clean. On an AR-15, the chamber is one area to focus on, as is the bolt carrier assembly. If you have a tube-fed pump or semiauto shotgun, you should occasionally check the tube for any built-up dirt or grime that could affect the feeding.

Magazines also need to be cleaned from time to time, depending on your shooting environment. If you shoot primarily at an indoor range, you will probably not have to worry about cleaning your mags very often. But if you shoot outdoors, where your mags are getting dropped in dirt, dust, mud, and sand, then you should make mag cleaning a part of your routine.

Magazine cleaning is straightforward: Disassemble the magazine. Take a magazine cleaning brush and run it through. Wipe off any grime on the follower and springs. Reassemble the magazine.

Generally speaking, you should not worry about removing the trigger assembly for cleaning. I do recommend cleaning the area as best as you can with the trigger assembly in place. However, if you have trigger problems with your firearm, you may want to remove and inspect the trigger assembly. Firearms are generally designed for do-it-yourself maintenance, and plenty of instructional videos and websites are available for all popular firearms. If you’re not comfortable doing the work yourself, contact a reputable gunsmith.

Once you have cleaned all of the parts, reassemble your firearm and make sure you perform three or four function checks, such as racking the action and dry-firing the gun.