pisgahrifle Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 A guy posted on 1911forum earlier needing advice on cleaning his 1911. So I figured since I didn't have anything else to do I'd send long a few tips, which turned into this..... Sigh..... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I started shooting the practical sports I cleaned that d****d pistol every time I yanked the trigger on it. I had a spiffy little copy of Wilson's "Official 1911 Maintenance Manual," or whatever it's called, that told me I should field strip and clean every couple hundred. (NOTE: This little pamphlet is the best guide to complete stripping that I've come across outside of an adult bookstore) I thought, "that's neat, but I'D never let my pistol go that long between cleanings. Then I got sponsored. Then my practice sessions reached 200 rnds, 2-3 times a week. Cleaning a 1911 2-3 times a week, especially after a practice session after an eight hour workday, is NOT fun. I got to a point where I'd let it go 600 rounds or so and then strip the whole thing down to parts, SCOUR its innards then throw it back together. This worked OK as long as I was shooting lead. I got ahold of some Speer Lawman 185s awhile back that had a loose taper crimp and they didn't fare so well when the gun got dirty. Turns out my sloppy old Colt pistol, much like Colt rifles, has a chamber that errs on the tight side of Brother Browning's original specifications- a bit of fouling in the chamber caused these poorly crimped loads to slow down as the bullet shoulder hit the top of the chamber, and the increased friction fored it back into the case. Which exposed the case mouth to the top of the fouled chamber. Which it then stayed in contact with. Presto! Tap-n-rack practice! As a result of all these experiences, I now do a complete tear down cleaning every 350-450 rounds or so. Simply getting it down to the bones won't necessarily make sure you're cleaning it well, so here's a few tips I've found that cover the spots most folk don't think of. 1. Chamber. OK, Yeah, it's a sore spot for me, but it's an important one. The chamber on an auto loader shouldn't be neglected any more than a revolvers chamber's are, but you see damn few chamber brushes in ACP calibres. Fortunately, Wilson makes one and a tiny little handleto accompany it to boot. Many folk recoil in horror from the idea of getting near their prized slabside with an evil stainless brush, but used properly it's the best tool you can find to rid your pistol of chamber fuling. The trick to using this brush id to go SLOWLY and CONSISTENTLY down into the chamber and back out again. Slowly corkscrew the brush down into the chamber (like 1/16" per 1/4 turn slowly) and make a few slow turns when the hadle contacts the barrel hood. Then back the brush out at the same rate you went in. Go easy and you'll get a clean chamber. Race through it and you'll have a new chamber to replace the one you scored the fire out of. 2. Extractor. Noggy to the fellow who mentioned cleaning the slide recess!!! Lots of folk who recite the same old rote about extractor tension and tuning never bther to clean the pad off, so when they're tuning extractors they're actually working against that concretion that's built up on the pad and in the port. give the entire business end of the extractor (claw, shank and pad) a good scrubbing. Then affix an old .22 brush to a chamber rod and clean the extractor port (and the firing pin hole, if you want to kill two birds with one stone) from the rear of the slide. Soak all these parts with Kroil, scrub with Hoppes, hit with gunscrubber or a similar product, soak with Kroil again and wipe down thoroughly. 3. Breech face. Scrub it as you would the parts mentioned above! Next time you open the slide, take a look at that little arc of corruption at the top of the breech face and around the inside of the slide near the face. All that as wel as the small amount of corruption actually on the breech face causes friction that each round coming into battery has to work against. Using the Kroil-Hoppes combinaton, soak these areas then gently scrub the corruption away with a brass bristled brush. Despite soaking you'll find that the crud in this area is harder to remove than you'd think. It's similiar, however, to the carbon deposits you'll find on an AR bolt- it's baked on, hard to see and tougher than a banty rooster. 4. Trigger Ways. Keeping a good trigger job from wearing away prematurely means keeping abrasive fouling away from the trigger bow. Corruption will be blown down into the frame where it will settle in the recesses of the trigger ways, forming hot spots between the ways and bow. Your frame will not be excessively worn by this, but the softer metal of the trigger cetainly will. This will eventually lead to increased friction between bow and way, leading to you being unhappy because your nice, smooth pull has disappeared, leading your wife's teeth into your rear because of the money you spent on yet another trigger job. Using the teeny end of the military cleaning "toothbrush" you can get into the ways and clean them effectively. Once again, Kroil-Hoppes-Gunscrubber-Kroil. Hitting all your frame recesses in much the same way will assure that the small parts you'e cleaning go back to clean homes. 5. Frame interior. Even if you don't have an extended magwell, you want magazines to slide in and out freely. Cleaning the magwell and frame interior assure that you're magazines are working against clean, smooth surfaces. It also assures that crap from the magwell doesn't get into the trigger ways. Kleenbore makes a brush and swab for this chore, both of which also work for cleaning your magazines (which I recommend doing semi-annually, fall and spring). Alter the Kroil-Hoppes formula here. I usually soak in Kroil, brush, spray down with Birchwood Casey shaeth and them mop down thoroughly. Done properly this leaves a film of lubrication inside the magwell while not leaving enough to draw in excessive dirt and fouling. 6. Small Parts. This is the easy stuff. Take all your small frame and slide parts and dump them in a 50/50 solution of Hoppes and Kroil. Let them sit while you're cleaning everything else. Then, part by part, draw each one out, scrub it off with Gunscrubber, treat with either Kroil or Sheath, and wipe down. Each part then is not only clean but has it's own extremely light film of lube, but once again not enough to draw dirt. Doing this assures that you need very little lubricant in the spots you normally lubricate. Them's me tricks. Insofar as you're barrel is concerned, you've probably got you're own way of doing it which I won't intrude on. I do a preliminary cleaning using a Hoppes-Kroil scrup and wipe down followed with an abrasive cleaning with both JB Bore Cleaner and Polish. I usually leave the barrel with a pass of Kroil since it's the lightest oil I've found that still protects. Do the barrel as you will. Some folk say I over lubricate, some say I don't lube enough. My wife wonders why I have more varieties of lubricants than a Chinese brothel. Anyway, here's what I lube and how much. GREASE- Here defined as Brownell's Action Lube- Moly at it's best. Trigger bow (thin film), disconnector pad (thin film), and just a teeny, tiny, miniscule touch on the ends of the sear spring where it contacts the sear and disconnector. Also, put a touch (I mean a near non-existant one) on the sear and hammer engagement surfaces). OTHER GREASE- Wilson's Ultima-Lube Grease. Sort of like lithium but not quite. Doesn't flake and fall out after it gets good and hot. Inside slide-to-bushing contact area (film), locking lugs (enough to where your barrel hood isn't snowy looking when the gun's not in battery) and on the slide-disconnector contact surface on the bottom of the slide. OIL- Wilson Ultima-Lube. I don't know where they get it, but it's nifty stuff in a nifty little syringe. On the inside of the barel-bushing contact are (thin film), two pinhead-sized spots on the inside of each frame rail and slide rail, and a dab between the mag catch and frame. Put some of this on you fingers and put a thin film on the slide stop, hammer and sear/disconnector pins as well as the safety strut. So that's how I do it. It may seem a bit OCD, but it certainly produces a pretty clean pistol. If you're willing to take the time to do it I know you'll b happy with the result. I do not, by the way, enjoy cleaning guns. However, much like taxes, visiting parents and colon exams after age 50 it's got to be done. Unlike these other things, though, you can eventually have children to do it for you... "No, little Johnny, learning to clean your guns after you shoot is an important part of the learning experience. You're cleaning Daddy's not only to help you learn more, but also because you're not paying rent and I may one day decide to send you to college! Now to the basement with you!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Buff Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 What, no slide glide?????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerT Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I got to the part where you do the complete tear down every 350-450 rounds, and that was all I needed to see. I do a COMPLETE tear down ever 3000-5000 rounds. If I cleaned the gun every 350-450 rounds I would be spending a lot more time cleaning than I am shooting. Slide Glide and a few other top notch lubs, and the gun just runs, and runs, and runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhunter Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 OK, so I'm type A I clean my gear after every outting! Only takes about 10 minutes! And it is a good chance to look it over to see if anything is going bad/wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pisgahrifle Posted February 23, 2005 Author Share Posted February 23, 2005 The big reason I do the complete tear down as often as I do is that for the last season this was my daily carry gun as well. Thus in addition to the 450 it's got probably a month's worth of carry crap in it. I lived in a rural area at the time that was in the middle of a dry spell. Lint+dust+fouling= sloooow to stalling automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I used to be anal about cleaning my guns, Now I add more lube when the slide starts to slow down. My guns work. I guess I adhere to the BE method of cleaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 "Complete teardown" ? You mean these pistols come apart?!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I used to be anal about cleaning my guns, Now I add more lube when the slide starts to slow down. My guns work. I guess I adhere to the BE method of cleaning. Ditto... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Ellis Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I was at the range the other day doing solo practice when I noticed the groups were going to the R/H C zone. WTF? Benched two groups and for once it wasn't me. The front sight could be easily moved with finger pressure and had shifted. Put it where it needed to be and went to the desk in search of Loc-Tite. The guy offered a spray of Gun Scrub to clean the area and I joked that the gun will probably revolt at being cleaned. "Huh?" I clean the top end every 1000 rounds or so and do the bottom a couple times a year. The looks I got were similiar as if I had defiled the Shroud of Turin. As pisgahrifle noted there are reasons to clean often. But for my gun that is not used for carry, a once a month top and twice a year bottom cleaning is sufficient. If I shot jacketed bullets rather than lead I would probably clean the top end even less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Take the top end off and spray with brake cleaner as well as the bottom end...relube with the Magic Oil, reassemble and shoot again...time is 10 minutes...complete teardown when it starts to get gritty in the trigger.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pisgahrifle Posted February 23, 2005 Author Share Posted February 23, 2005 As an aside, all my non-practical shooting friends that shoot three position, highpower or hunt are aghast that I let it go that long between cleanings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 As an aside, all my non-practical shooting friends that shoot three position, highpower or hunt are aghast that I let it go that long between cleanings. Maku Mozo - do not be deluded Well lubed guns last longer, if you constanstly strip the lube out, it doesn't stay where it needs to. No de-greasers ever touch my pistols (excpet the sights to reblue.) A cotton swab is good enough. I'm sure all that cleaning won't hurt them too much though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewRacer Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 When it gets dirty, send it to a gunsmith for work, they will clean it j/k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierruiggi Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I guess I can go either way... Sometimes I don't clean for a 1000 rounds, sometimes I clean after 50... Sometimes I field strip and clean only the barrel, feed ramp and oil the rails, in 15 minutes. Sometimes I detail strip and spend as much as 2 hours cleaning every last millimeter of the pistol. It all depends on my mood rather than the pistol's actual need of cleaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I clean my match guns every 5-7,000 rounds. I don't know for sure because I only do it in moments of weakness. By cleaning I mean tear the frame down, wipe out that lovely black goo, lube and reassemble. To lube the innards I just put a few drops of BreakFree on my fingers and rub it on the pieces-parts. On the top end I inspect the extractor and firing pin tunnels and run a Q-Tip through if there's any gunk visible. Nothing goes through the bore but bullets. A drop of oil on each rail and one under the barrel bushing and it's good to go. But your point about the chamber brush is well taken. I have one and use it when I change the shock-buff (no set schedule there either, just when it starts to get too chewed up and slow the slide a bit). A slow slide is a trigger for "immediate maintenance". The flat area on either side of the feed ramp gets caked with carbon/unburnt powder after a while and starts to slow the cycling of the slide. This seems to happen maybe every 2-3,000 rounds, give or take. I pop the slide stop out, capture the top end in my left hand (no need to disassemble) and rake the top of the frame under the edge of a range table or the edge of a cable spool (lots of 'em at local ranges). The wood is infinitely softer than the frame, but cuts the crap off in a heartbeat. The 3 drops oil and it's back in business. If it won't run dirty I don't want it, and that includes my carry guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 For the love of pete, CLEAN LESS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I "clean" when I start having problems with function. Usually that amounts to a field strip, wipe away crud with paper towel, wipe a again with a baby wipe; relube... done! I typically go a long, long time without doing anything other than adding more lube. Kind of like a beater car that you never change the oil, you just add more. Interesting point: since I switched to Kellube for everything but my carry Para and my ARs, my pistolas have been a LOT cleaner over the same time period or number of rounds as with other lubes. I know this is a Slide Glide Sanctuary, but if you try Kellube, you will probably like it better, your gun will probably run better longer, and you won't have to clean as much muck as often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry White Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 More guns have been worn out by over cleaning than have ever been shot to death.----Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pisgahrifle Posted February 24, 2005 Author Share Posted February 24, 2005 Where do i find this "Kellube"? Does Brownells carry it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I typically go a long, long time without doing anything other than adding more lube. Kind of like a beater car that you never change the oil, you just add more. Agreed! I sometimes tell people it's the crud that keeps my guns so tight and accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Where do i find this "Kellube"? Does Brownells carry it? I believe they do. You can also get it directly from Neil Keller. Kustom Ballistics Here is the URL at Brownells: Kellube at Brownells Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmd Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Cleaning is over rated... I usually clean every 1,000 to 1,500 rounds +/- or when you can hear a "crunchy" sound while racking the slide - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFoley Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Take the top end off and spray with brake cleaner as well as the bottom end...relube with the Magic Oil, reassemble and shoot again...time is 10 minutes...complete teardown when it starts to get gritty in the trigger.... Ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFoley Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 More guns have been worn out by over cleaning than have ever been shot to death.----Larry Right on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I usually clean every 1,000 to 1,500 rounds +/- or when you can hear a "crunchy" sound while racking the slide Amen to that. - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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