Cleaning Schedule

[hump]

I clean mine before every match. It just seems like the right thing to do 

[TCB]

Hmmm...so a buddy at work found out I hadn't ever had my 1911 fully apart and that I almost never clean it. He offered to take it all the way down just to see what was going on.

It was pretty filthy...we found a few things of interest. The pin that holds the mainspring housing on was sheared in the middle and the plunger that contacts the slide stop was totally peaned flat on the end. Luckily we had replacement parts on hand...and we're able to replace both pieces.

I'd been noticing that the trigger was starting to feel a little gritty and after a thourough cleaning and a little light polishing with Mother's it is now much crisper. 

Prior to this it has never had more than a basic field strip and was just shy of 13K when we broke it down. There were areas of large amounts of built up carbon caked up that fell off easily and was the consistency of a thick slurry/paste. I apply lube liberaly and the muck that was built up inside came off easily with no more than a gentle scrub with some cleaner and a nylon brush.

I had experienced no cleaning related malfunctions prior to this cleaning (a couple ammo related here and there). The pistol pretty much runs like a top (Wilson CQB). It's loosened up a bit over the years (slide to frame) but remains pretty tight as far as barrel fit goes. 

Overall I'm still not going to clean it until I start to feel the grit in the trigger return. The difference after cleaning was pretty dramatic and did improve performance. Once I find out how many rounds that takes I'll start breaking it down prior to that as part of a routine maintenance and inspect parts for breakage & unusual wear. 

Again, not recommending this cleaning schedule to anyone, just a data point on a pistol used exclusively for gaming. Weapons that may be needed for "social work" or duty weapons should be kept in fighting condition.  

There might be something to this cleaning thing...