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Cleaning New Guns

wmg1299

wmg1299

Professional
While I'm not panic-buying like many of our countrymen, I am always looking for a good deal. I picked up a couple Stevens shotguns so the family would have something cheap to shoot during our next trip to the land (assuming target birdshot starts showing up on shelves again). I had some time on my hands, so I read the entire user manual. Nowhere in the manual does the manufacturer advise new owners to clean the gun prior to the first shooting. I looked through a few other manuals in my collection and saw that Glock does instruct new owners to clean the firearm before shooting, but the Springfield 911 manual doesn't mention the subject.

It has been drilled into my head since I started shooting that you always clean a new gun before you shoot it. If this is what we are supposed to do, why isn't it mentioned in all user manuals? Are certain guns not meant to be cleaned prior to the first shooting session?
 
A standard field strip is all that's needed to clean off storage/shipment fluids/material and then relube, unless you've bought a firearm packed in cosmo.

A full detailed strip & reassemble isn't needed unless you like to have fun, or find out that you can't put it back together again. With a full-strip and reassemble if you have a part or two left over then something is wrong.

My LGS tell me its common for newbies to bring in a box of gun parts when they try to take the thing apart to clean then can't put it back together again.

My .02
 
I was always taught to clean a new gun before shooting it. It was always just the standard field strip Tayln mentioned, but I was told you needed to get any of the packing oil/grease removed and replaced with gun oil. My most recent surgery is a reminder of how old I'm getting. I realized that I received this advice decades ago and just kept going with it. The fact that an initial cleaning is not suggested in many new user manuals had me wondering if modern firearms are shipped with better oils than in the past, and are intended to be shot right out of the box.
 
wmg1299 said:
I was always taught to clean a new gun before shooting it. It was always just the standard field strip Tayln mentioned, but I was told you needed to get any of the packing oil/grease removed and replaced with gun oil. My most recent surgery is a reminder of how old I'm getting. I realized that I received this advice decades ago and just kept going with it. The fact that an initial cleaning is not suggested in many new user manuals had me wondering if modern firearms are shipped with better oils than in the past, and are intended to be shot right out of the box.
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My last 1911 & other handguns have had a light oil right of of the box, with no grease.
 
wmg1299 said:
While I'm not panic-buying like many of our countrymen, I am always looking for a good deal. I picked up a couple Stevens shotguns so the family would have something cheap to shoot during our next trip to the land (assuming target birdshot starts showing up on shelves again). I had some time on my hands, so I read the entire user manual. Nowhere in the manual does the manufacturer advise new owners to clean the gun prior to the first shooting. I looked through a few other manuals in my collection and saw that Glock does instruct new owners to clean the firearm before shooting, but the Springfield 911 manual doesn't mention the subject.

It has been drilled into my head since I started shooting that you always clean a new gun before you shoot it. If this is what we are supposed to do, why isn't it mentioned in all user manuals? Are certain guns not meant to be cleaned prior to the first shooting session?
Click to expand...
I can tell you when I brought my new XDs .45 home a few years ago , I treated it like I do all new guns. I took it apart to clean and lube correctly. Since it was my very first striker fired handgun , I pulled the striker and was very glad I did. The striker channel was full of heavy oil or light grease. I got it all cleaned out and don't know that it would have caused any problems with shooting the gun but I didn't like the looks of things.

I have always and will always take a new gun to me , new or used , down and give it a good cleaning.
 
Every gun I get or have have gotten I take it apart and clean it and every patch that has been through the barrel has some carbon or fouling on it as well as the breech face. These firearms are coming off the line one after another, at least at Glock they are and they are not getting the “attention to detail” in oil/grease I would do. They do, however receive oil or packing grease not so much for the end user to not have to not break it down and clean it but if it were to sit on the shelf in the gun store.

It should be recommended to break down, not detail strip, your firearm not only to familiarize yourself with said firearm but to visually inspect it for any defects and to make sure it is properly lubed. I am on the side that I enjoy cleaning firearms, it was instilled in my head.

As for oil over grease I use both as they are both great in their own essence. Oil on moving parts and grease on sliding parts. We have discussed the many great oils and greases that are offered today.
 
There’s only 1 new gun that I didn’t clean before shooting; that was my Les Baer, and that’s because it was shipped with a heavier lube they wanted you to use for break-in...they actually said not to clean it until you’d put at least 200 rounds through it, up to 500...I think I broke down and cleaned it at around 250-300, as I’d had over 100 trouble-free rounds through it at that point.

Otherwise, new guns get field stripped and cleaned; used guns get field stripped and cleaned if they need it (which, 9 out of 10 times, they do...).
 
HansGruber said:
Otherwise, new guns get field stripped and cleaned; used guns get field stripped and cleaned if they need it (which, 9 out of 10 times, they do...).
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I have yet to purchase a used gun that had been cleaned to anything close to my standards. This always seems odd to me because I clean my guns almost immediately when I get home from shooting. It would drive me crazy to just throw a dirty gun back in my safe. If my kids ever inherit a dirty gun from me, it means I either died in a gunfight or in an accident on the way home from the range.
 
New Colt's 1911s are pretty dry when shipped and usually need to be lubed. In today's world it's a good idea to disassemble a new gun and inspect it carefully for factory defects that may have been missed by quality control before going out the door. I break down each new gun and inspect and oil it before I shoot it and after I shoot it.
 
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