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Do you enjoy gun cleaning?

Do you enjoy cleaning your guns?

  • Yes! 👍

    Votes: 27 65.9%

  • No! 👎

    Votes: 14 34.1%

  • What’s cleaning a gun? 🤷🏻‍♂️

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    41
  • Poll closed .
I don't mind it. It was drilled into me to clean after a range session. My feeling is cleaning/fresh lube gives me an opportunity to inspect for anything obvious that could lead to an eventual failure. It's a continual bonding experience on a tool that I trust my life with.
 
Enjoy? i never thought about it
I do it as part of the range day post operational inspections. Its the aircraft guy in me. fly it, land and inspect for next flight, so its ready to go. vice get to range and its not ready

i enjoy range time, so i must by default enjoy the post range cleaning/inspection, because i am anticipating the next range day and cleaning them again
it is a bit relaxing but not that much, i still need a strong coffee during
 
Yes, too a point, then it starts to get monotonous.

One nice thing with modern pistols and modern ammo, cleaning is less critical than it used to be.
My FFL/Local Gun Shop owner is a big Glock Fan and says he hasn't cleaned his Glock because he is making it a personal challenge to see how dirty he can get it till it fails. Last time I checked, it hadn't failed yet.

So lately I cheat, I've been cleaning with Simple Green and Denatured Alcohol to clean.

One warning on Simple Green it supposed to be bad for aluminum, if it stays on it. I don't use it on my AR's with nooks and cranny's to trap the Simple Green. And when I do use Simply Green I flush it away with the denatured alcohol.

And I soaked a slide in Simple Green to degrease it for Cerakoting, decided to wait a couple more days to actual do the project and left the slide soak in the simple green for several days, when I pulled the slide out, a tiny bit of rust had started on the slide. Simple green does have water in it.

One other thing I have found with some of the coated metal on guns, especially the PVD coating, if it gets too dry dirty will smear on the surface and be difficult to get it all off. Wiping it down in oil usually works, but what I have been doing and it works really well on PVD coated surfaces, wipe the exterior down with WD-40. Yep, WD-40 that you're not supposed to use with guns, its a mild solvent that leaves behind a dry lube coat. It works great in some circumstances and the pistol doesn't leave an oily wet appearance either. I've heard the WD-40 can be bad for wood, but then again so is gun oil, so I am careful with my 1911 with wood grips.
 
simple green is bad for alum because it causes hydrogen embrittlement. the D-limonene used in its formulation attacks hydrogen in the metal and causes it to become weak over time. this is why they say rinse, rinse and rinse again if you use any citric acid based cleaners. not sure how it effects firearms as much as it does alum castings and sheet metal
 
powerboatr said:
simple green is bad for alum because it causes hydrogen embrittlement. the D-limonene used in its formulation attacks hydrogen in the metal and causes it to become weak over time. this is why they say rinse, rinse and rinse again if you use any citric acid based cleaners. not sure how it effects firearms as much as it does alum castings and sheet metal
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Its banned for aircraft for exactly that reason. I have never had a problem using it on car engines that have lots of aluminum, but of course I also rinse it off thoroughly with a garden hose, so no simple green remains behind.

There are some other degreasers I have used on car engines that immediately discolored the aluminum intake manifold, it appeared to only do cosmetic damage, but I'm sure what I most likely saw was the hydrogen imbrittlement I have read about.

My impression is the Simple Green has to be in contact with the aluminum for a while to cause damage. Cause I have used it on aluminum (not in aviation) and never had any sign of damage, of course I also rinse it thoroughly to flush it away. I won't use it on AR's and recommend against it for anyone else to use on an AR. Cause if you don't get all the Simple Green out damage can occur, and the AR not only being mostly aluminum also has lots of deep pin recess's and nooks and crannies to trap that simple green that you won't get out.

That is why I started to use Denatured alcohol, so if I use simple green on the steel and plastic of my pistols, that I don't want to flush with water, I flush it with Denatured alcohol. So the simple green is great at lifting carbon and pretty good at degreasing. The denatured alcohol not only flushes away the simple green, it finishes any degreasing.

Of course I found out on my PVD coated slides, the alcohol dries out the surface so bad, that any trace dirt on the surface shows up as a noticeable smear. And then have to wipe them down with oil or WD-40 (exterior surface only) and that leaves the surface moist enough to get that proper apperance.

And I have found out, leave simple green on steel long enough it can cause rust as well.
 
This is why the military only authorizes cleaning with CLP. Despite there being so many other products and procedures that could make cleaning quicker and easier. CLP for cleaning works, it just takes longer and a lot more work, but its full proof, no way to screw it up. That's the military attitude, if there is a way to screw it up, a Soldier, Marine, Sailor, Airman will screw it up. Cleaning with CLP is foolproof, but they have to work twice as hard, make work twice as hard. :ROFLMAO:

Cleaning firearms with Simple Green and/or denatured alcohol works, quite well, but it is also really easy to screw it up....
 
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RickAnderson said:
This is why the military only authorizes cleaning with CLP. Despite there being so many other products and procedures that could make cleaning quicker and easier. CLP for cleaning works, it just takes longer and a lot more work, but its full proof, no way to screw it up. That's the military attitude, if there is a way to screw it up, a Soldier, Marine, Sailor, Airman will screw it up. Cleaning with CLP is foolproof, but they have to work twice as hard, make work twice as hard. :ROFLMAO:

Cleaning firearms with Simple Green and/or denatured alcohol works, quite well, but it is also really easy to screw it up....
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I decided to try out CLP recently and I was pleasantly surprised.

As for cleaning guns, I kind of think it's overrated. I don't rush home and clean whatever I just had at the range, I clean when I'm good and ready. Lately cleaning my guns has evolved into what article of clothing have I ruined this time.
 
i cannot say i ever "enjoyed" it, it's a part of the sport/hobby to keep your equipment maintained and ready for the next time.

(would a baseball player never check his bat after a game for cracks? or his glove for a broken lace?)

precautions should be taken as well when gun cleaning, making sure the weapon is empty, and NO ammo nearby, maybe wearing latex gloves, and safety glasses. maybe some ventilation as well.
 
powerboatr said:
Enjoy? i never thought about it
I do it as part of the range day post operational inspections. Its the aircraft guy in me. fly it, land and inspect for next flight, so its ready to go. vice get to range and its not ready

i enjoy range time, so i must by default enjoy the post range cleaning/inspection, because i am anticipating the next range day and cleaning them again
it is a bit relaxing but not that much, i still need a strong coffee during
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For sure black strong coffee
 
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