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Competitors - How often do you clean your CZ’s?


Stafford

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I commonly clean any of my pistols after every range session or match. However, if I only put 50-100 rounds through a pistol, CZ or other, at a range session, I may wait until I’ve put 250-300 rounds through them before cleaning. But, that’s definitely the high end on me waiting to clean any pistol. Several months ago, I saw this video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5JejE-_yY

 

I really enjoy his videos on competitive shooting. And while I wouldn’t follow his guidelines on cleaning, it made me think that my guns are cleaned way more often than needed. And if you believe some of the posts on Glocktalk, some people never clean their Glocks. Or at least go many thousand rounds between cleanings.

 

My main competition pistol, a Shadow 2, is currently being cleaned after every other shooting session. I’m experimenting with my back-up pistol, a SP-01. I’ve gone over 500 rounds at this point without cleaning. But, I have added some lube prior to each range session as described in Humble’s video above. 

 

So, for those of you that compete regularly, and spend a lot of time shooting, dry firing, and probably reloading, how often do you clean your CZ competition pistols?

Edited by Stafford
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Over the last few years shooting CZs I'd basically only clean mine a few times a year, usually before a major match. If I had some sort of issue at practice I might also clean it, most commonly a really gunky extractor channel. This is shooting 15-20k rounds a year.

When I first started owning guns I too would clean them after every range trip. This was drilled into me by my Grandpa growing up. Not that big a deal when you only shoot a few times a year. Once I started competing seriously that went out the window.

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I clean mine when they start to jam. As stated above, it is usually a gunky extractor channel. I do oil the slide rails and barrel bushing and slide stop after each use.

Edited by hal1955
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You just reminded me I haven't cleaned mine since last range trip. I clean after every trip but I wad under the impression it was too prevent rust etc. That's not the case?

 

When I first started shooting I didnt clean anything and after a few months my shotgun, mags, even various ar15 parts had surface rust. And that is in a safe with the necessary accessories.

 

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I clean my 97 when it starts either looking dirty or feeling gritty. Probably not more than 500 rounds between cleanings.  I do like to take the opportunity to inspect for wear and issues. Like Hansb57, I want to shoot it a bit after a thorough cleaning, to establish confidence before a match that it is going to run like it should. I get higher round counts between cleanings on my Sig, like 1000 - 1500, but that is not due to any sort of reliability issue, it's just that I fire a lot more rounds of 9mm in practice than I can comfortably fire of .45 ACP. After 2-3 weeks, I start feeling guilty, and give all the guns a good scrub. 😛

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If you read a wealth of information regarding Brian Enos’ product “Slide Glide” there is some discussion in the matter of cleaning. A point that I took away is the fact that carbon is itself a lubricant. We have products like anti seize that are made from graphite which is carbon and is a lubricant. This being said, I still clean my firearms but not because if carbon buildup...mainly from dust, dirt, and brass shavings in the breach areas of all my guns. I have gone thousands of rounds in a Glock without cleaning but do clean my CZs more often because I love them and find that cleaning them is therapeutic for me....but is really not necessary. I have rarely had a failure that I would associate with a cleanliness issue.


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Maybe every 3-4 matches.... and that's a BIG maybe. And my "cleaning" usually consists of blasting some gun scrubber into the action, giving a vigorous shake, wiping any visible gunk off with an old T shirt, then liberally squirting some ALG Go Juice into the sear assembly and ALG 0000 Grease into the rails. I probably disassemble the slide and clean the extractor and FP channel once per year.  That's really it. I'd rather be shooting than cleaning, and my [non existent] cleaning regimen does not appear to have any negative effect whatsoever.

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I typically put some oil on the rails before matches and then every couple months I’ll take off the upper and wipe out the old grease and gunk and reapply oil/grease. I almost never run patches down the barrel though. 

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Like the video I clean very seldom, but lube regularly. My match gun (Shadow 2 Orange) I clean more than my practice gun, maybe 2500 rounds or so vs 5000+. My practice gun and previous match gun were both Arcore frames (Nitride) with no polycoat, and cleaning them is super easy, a cloth and some mild cleaner was all that was needed. The polycoat frames need a bit more work though. If it's been raining and the gun got wet I'll soak with wd40 and wipe down, then relube. 

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Pre Match maintenance routine:

Visual inspection of major components, check grip screws are tight, pins are flush. Remove slide and barrel, Wipe down barrel and slide, visual inspection of extractor, reapply lube and back together it goes. It really only takes 3-5 min before I put it in the bag, and gives me a little piece of mind that I did my part and my gun should run. 
 

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About every 500-700. I am a little more careful with my CO Shadows than with my Production Shadows because properly cleaning under the extractor with a former is a pain in the ass. So I squirt some gunscrubber there, brush a little, blow with a compressed air hoping that it will prevent me being forced to remove the optic one day. Dunno if it is gonna make a difference though.

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8 hours ago, YVK said:

About every 500-700. I am a little more careful with my CO Shadows than with my Production Shadows because properly cleaning under the extractor with a former is a pain in the ass. So I squirt some gunscrubber there, brush a little, blow with a compressed air hoping that it will prevent me being forced to remove the optic one day. Dunno if it is gonna make a difference though.

i have removed my optic a few times , once to clean behind the extractor, twice to shoot iron sights. The optic goes back on easily and went back to almost perfect zero at 25m. 

 

 

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I add lube frequently, but don't do any sort of cleaning before 3-5k rounds. At that point, it's a quick wipe down. I do a detail strip and cleaning once per year. 

 

If I tear the guns down for any sort of repair, I'll also clean at that point. 

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I commonly clean any of my pistols after every range session or match. However, if I only put 50-100 rounds through a pistol, CZ or other, at a range session, I may wait until I’ve put 250-300 rounds through them before cleaning. But, that’s definitely the high end on me waiting to clean any pistol. Several months ago, I saw this video:

 
I really enjoy his videos on competitive shooting. And while I wouldn’t follow his guidelines on cleaning, it made me think that my guns are cleaned way more often than needed. And if you believe some of the posts on Glocktalk, some people never clean their Glocks. Or at least go many thousand rounds between cleanings.
 
My main competition pistol, a Shadow 2, is currently being cleaned after every other shooting session. I’m experimenting with my back-up pistol, a SP-01. I’ve gone over 500 rounds at this point without cleaning. But, I have added some lube prior to each range session as described in Humble’s video above. 
 
So, for those of you that compete regularly, and spend a lot of time shooting, dry firing, and probably reloading, how often do you clean your CZ competition pistols?

68k+ thru my SP01. Dry bore snake thru barrel 2-3 times every 200-400 rnds. Field strip and clean power residue off slide, barrel, and receiver, oil and reassemble approx. every 1-2k rnds. Complete tear down and clean maybe every 12-18 months. Keep oiled frequently but don’t use too much.


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I commonly clean any of my pistols after every range session or match. However, if I only put 50-100 rounds through a pistol, CZ or other, at a range session, I may wait until I’ve put 250-300 rounds through them before cleaning. But, that’s definitely the high end on me waiting to clean any pistol. Several months ago, I saw this video:

 
I really enjoy his videos on competitive shooting. And while I wouldn’t follow his guidelines on cleaning, it made me think that my guns are cleaned way more often than needed. And if you believe some of the posts on Glocktalk, some people never clean their Glocks. Or at least go many thousand rounds between cleanings.
 
My main competition pistol, a Shadow 2, is currently being cleaned after every other shooting session. I’m experimenting with my back-up pistol, a SP-01. I’ve gone over 500 rounds at this point without cleaning. But, I have added some lube prior to each range session as described in Humble’s video above. 
 
So, for those of you that compete regularly, and spend a lot of time shooting, dry firing, and probably reloading, how often do you clean your CZ competition pistols?

68k+ thru my SP01. Dry bore snake thru barrel 2-3 times every 200-400 rnds. Field strip and clean power residue off slide, barrel, and receiver, oil and reassemble approx. every 1-2k rnds. Complete tear down and clean maybe every 12-18 months. Keep oiled frequently but don’t use too much.


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On 7/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, hal1955 said:

I clean mine when they start to jam. As stated above, it is usually a gunky extractor channel. I do oil the slide rails and barrel bushing and slide stop after each use.

 

I do that for every new gun before I will carry it.  

 

Otherwise I give mine a chamber / bore brush, extractor pic / clean before any match and lube it. 

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On 7/3/2020 at 8:45 AM, robchavous said:

When I first started owning guns I too would clean them after every range trip. This was drilled into me by my Grandpa growing up. Not that big a deal when you only shoot a few times a year. Once I started competing seriously that went out the window.
 

 

This

 

Looking at my pistol records, I clean on average at about 1100 - 1200 round intervals.  Sometimes I've gone as far as 2200 - 2500 rounds between cleanings.  I haven't had a single stoppage yet.  That's for a P-09 and a P-10F.

 

A few drops of lubrication where it's needed every 500 - 1000 rounds is all it takes.

 

Cleaning after every single use is a waste of time and money.  Plus I don't care to expose myself to cleaning products any more than I need to.

 

 

Edited by SGT_Schultz
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On 7/3/2020 at 8:39 AM, Stafford said:

I really enjoy his videos on competitive shooting. And while I wouldn’t follow his guidelines on cleaning, it made me think that my guns are cleaned way more often than needed. And if you believe some of the posts on Glocktalk, some people never clean their Glocks. Or at least go many thousand rounds between cleanings.

 

He certainly knows more about pistol maintenance than you do.

 

The tales of Glocks going many thousands of rounds between cleanings without failures are not internet brag.  And Glocks aren't the only ones that can do that on a regular basis.

Edited by SGT_Schultz
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19 hours ago, hal1955 said:

i have removed my optic a few times , once to clean behind the extractor, twice to shoot iron sights. The optic goes back on easily and went back to almost perfect zero at 25m. 

 

 

 Depends on the attachment system. I removed/reinstalled several different optics on different slides. Most went ok, the last one I had to send the slide back to CZC. I couldn't drive the pin through the slide and plate, which is what their design requires, without binding extractor into immobility. 

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1 hour ago, YVK said:

 Depends on the attachment system. I removed/reinstalled several different optics on different slides. Most went ok, the last one I had to send the slide back to CZC. I couldn't drive the pin through the slide and plate, which is what their design requires, without binding extractor into immobility. 

Mine is the S2 with the factory optic plate. I took the plate off to get to the extractor. No problems.

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  • 2 months later...

will they work without cleaning for a while?  sure.  a lot of this comes down to personal preference and opinion.  I think best practice of most people would be to show your gun some love before any big match.  I personally like to clean sort of frequently because it just pains me to have stuff caked on there badly, and that 1 cleaning after 1000+ rounds is so dreadful...  I have 2 guns 1 is spotless pretty much all the time (match gun), and practice a little more abused - target 350-750 rounds between cleanings.  I want to go more, but I just baby my stuff and I feel like a kitten dies when I see all that caked on black in there.  

 

I know many shooters who go thousands without cleaning.  highest I've ever heard is 8000-9000+ reliably.  that's insane.  

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One thing I try to avoid is taking a newly cleaned gun into a match. I always want to make sure it's been to the range and well tested before hand, and not the morning of at a practice bay either. Preferably before leaving for the match if traveling, so that if there is anything I've done wrong, or a part is broken that I haven't noticed, I can discover that before the first beep of the timer and have time to fix and move on. 

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