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

[SGT_Schultz]

3 hours ago, slavex said:

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. 

I can understand that rigor if the pistol was completely stripped for a deep cleaning.

 

But I can't wrap my head around doing all that after a minor cleaning following a field strip.  If someone can't field strip, clean, reassemble, and function test a pistol and have it work every single time, I don't know what to say.

[KlausN]

Field strip and quick clean after every match. Extractor removal and clean once per year. I also use a dedicated slide stop for larger matches. Detail strip once per year including new hammer spring.  Mag clean when I can feel or hear the sand.

[slavex]

when I clean I detail strip usually these days, lots of lube for thousands of rounds then detail strip, clean, assemble and test before a match. I don't bother with field strip cleaning anymore. 

Edited September 29, 2020 by slavex

[Hansb57]

My guns dont have mood swings.  As I take it out of the bag at the range it doenst think  "Hey, today I'm going to fake a headache and misfire"

There is always a reason. I changed parts and got the wrong combination, a part was worn or broken, I used different ammo, I did something wrong, it's dirty at a critcial place or the enviromental conditons are out of the normal.

I have a Hammerli SP20 in 22lr and I fired 8-9000 CCI SV through it during training with 1 malfunction due to not cocking corrrectly.

You might think that cant be true, CCI SV isnt that realiable. I have no reason to lie or brag about it, it's just my experience.

I shoot 50 rounds a session and clean the critical parts after every 4 sessions. I hardly ever clean the inside of the barrel.

In my opinion you cant dump 1000 rounds thru a gun, dump it in the bag, take it out next week and think it's ok to fully rely on it.

I dont go to a docter who takes a needle out of the garbage can, looks at it and says "it looks sharp and clean, lets use it again"

 

[Foxj66]

I clean my main practice gun every few months normally between 5-10k rounds. I add oil each time I shoot and and only clean it because it gets sluggish or I break something (TRS, Slide stop, ETC). Match gun I will clean every couple of majors so it gets cleaned around every 1k rounds. only change from this is I will clean any gun if I have to shoot in a rain storm.

 

The shadow 2 will run for a long time dirty. 

 

I never push anything other than bullets down my barrels.

[yigal]

33 minutes ago, Foxj66 said:

 

 

The shadow 2 will run for a long time dirty. 

 

I never push anything other than bullets down my barrels.

 .A real man does not clean. It's his wife's job

[Gh0sT]

Averaging 40k a year I'll clean

- One match prior to leaving for a major

- Applying oil every once in awhile

 

Side note: I am also the person that never cleans their mags except when preparing for a major.

 

[belus]

20 hours ago, Gh0sT said:

Side note: I am also the person that never cleans their mags except when preparing for a major.

You must live in a grassy part of Area 2. When I lived near Rio Salado I'd brush my mags after almost every stage. That gravel got everywhere.

The brush is less useful in the mud of south Texas. I more often reach for a rag here.

I'm in the nothing but bullets down the barrel camp.  The pistol gets a little oil before most matches, and a field strip with a tooth brush every 1-2k rounds.

[MHicks]

I clean before big matches. As far as mags, one range I shoot at accumulates fine powder sand in spots.  Sometimes the mag will nearly disappear. My 1911 mags don't need much cleaning but my CZ tac sport extended mags are way more touchy.

[SGT_Schultz]

On 9/28/2020 at 10:35 PM, slavex said:

when I clean I detail strip usually these days, lots of lube for thousands of rounds then detail strip, clean, assemble and test before a match. I don't bother with field strip cleaning anymore. 

 

That makes more sense now

[SGT_Schultz]

On 9/29/2020 at 1:15 AM, Hansb57 said:

In my opinion you cant dump 1000 rounds thru a gun, dump it in the bag, take it out next week and think it's ok to fully rely on it.

 

In my actual experience, you can.  At least with CZs.

[zen_grasshopper]

Same as most of the guys I shoot with.  Match gun gets cleaned before Nats so a few club matches and 6-7 majors, then a full clean.  But if the extractor channel looks really funky between a few matches I will pull the extractor and clean it out, but leave the rest of the gun dirty.  I tend to lube well.  

 

Practice guns, when something breaks or it stops working so usually every 10-15k.  Generally will just spray down with Hoppes Elite, hit it with an electric toothbrush and then blast everything out with carb cleaner and reoil.  Sometime in the winter I will break them down, give it a good cleaning and replace the major wear parts and slap it back together.  

[slavex]

17 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

 

In my actual experience, you can.  At least with CZs.

that is my weekly experience

[Darqusoull13]

On 9/29/2020 at 12:15 AM, Hansb57 said:

 

In my opinion you cant dump 1000 rounds thru a gun, dump it in the bag, take it out next week and think it's ok to fully rely on it.

I dont go to a docter who takes a needle out of the garbage can, looks at it and says "it looks sharp and clean, lets use it again"

 

I buy CZ's specifically because I can shoot a practice session of 1000+ rounds, dump them in a bag, fly to and shoot Nationals, fly home and shoot another local match then put the pistol away until the next match. Do I add oil? Yeah, it's the most effective way to get crud out. Oil in-->oil and crud fly out. 

A pistol is not a needle and we aren't comparing transmission of bloodborne pathogens to cleaning a pistol. 

[regor]

I take the upper off and barrel out of my primary probably every ~3k rounds and wipe the old grease and oil off mating surfaces and reapply. I also scrape away any substantial buildup of gunk in the trigger/trigger bar/sear cage area and anything near the breach face, then reapply oil and grease and put it back together. The last time I did this I also took out the FP and FP spring on my Czechmate and found that the FP spring was broken, so I will probably continue to check that going forward when I do my basic cleans. Only ever do deep cleans if I need to take the gun down for some other reason like swapping a trigger or internal spring. 

 

For mags, I'll brush them after a match if I shoot anywhere dusty/sandy, but most of the ranges I shoot at have gravel or hard packed dirt and mags usually don't get too dirty. When I do brush them I also give them a light external wipe down with oil to keep surface rust away. 

[Desp77]

I'm  a newbie so cleaning right now is a learning experience so i am doing it often

 

 

[WFargo]

I always clean my gun after every training. But I only shoot once a week and the rest is dry fire. 

I just like clean guns and actually kinda like the process of cleaning. 

The only thing I'm a bit bothered with is that I have dots on my Shadows, and I really don't want to 'break' the loctite to take off the dots so I can clean the extractor.... So it's compressed air, solvents and lubes until it fails. 

[PA_USPSA]

I field strip and clean my Shadow 2 after every time I use it.  I clean my magazines after every competition, sometimes during the competition when the ground is sandy.  Since I practice indoors my magazines don't require cleaning after I practice.  I may not need to clean my gun as often as I do, but I know my gun will not be malfunctioning due to it being dirty.  That helps improve my confidence, which helps improve my performance.

[extremist]

On 5/13/2024 at 12:56 PM, PA_USPSA said:

I field strip and clean my Shadow 2 after every time I use it.  I clean my magazines after every competition, sometimes during the competition when the ground is sandy.  Since I practice indoors my magazines don't require cleaning after I practice.  I may not need to clean my gun as often as I do, but I know my gun will not be malfunctioning due to it being dirty.  That helps improve my confidence, which helps improve my performance.

Exactly.  Don't understand why all shooters don't. 

[fbzero]

I lock my slide back and use an oil pen to apply some oil to the barrel and rails, then I pull a bore snake through the barrel and wipe up the feed ramp a bit every 4-5 local matches.  I'll detail clean before a major, or maybe 1 time a year otherwise.  In my experience, there is no real reason to clean them every couple hundred rounds...

[Gh0sT]

Magazines? Never get cleaned unless it touches ‘moon dust’ dirt.

Practice gun rarely gets cleaned, forced only once a year at minimum during the offseason and the only other time is the lead up before Nationals. Just add lube when necessary.

 

From the opposite camp, rarely clean the guns, rarely see problems.

[slavex]

I don't clean because I don't need to. There is no benefit to cleaning the guns after every session. Lube regularly yes, but clean, no. If I did that I'd be cleaning the gun 4 or 5 times a week. That ain't gonna happen. 

[ringram]

As with the experienced guys above.

I only clean when it fails.

OR a few sessions before a match. (Just so it cycles easy and fast)

 

Failing is limited to sticky lockup due to gunk on the barrel hood mainly. Or a few times, mags wont release as the mag channel is full of turd. Sometimes the trigger wont return or does weird stuff.

 

Thats about the limit of the issues. A blast of brake cleaner and more lube is all I do. I have only ever pulled mine totally apart when installing the zero reset dis-connector. Which was years ago now.

 

If the gun fails its because something broke. Extractor or slide lock, barrel bushing gone, frame cracked etc.

 

I have 6 shadow 2's.

Edited May 23 by ringram

[motosapiens]

On 5/23/2024 at 4:17 PM, ringram said:

As with the experienced guys above.

I only clean when it fails.

OR a few sessions before a match. (Just so it cycles easy and fast)

 

Failing is limited to sticky lockup due to gunk on the barrel hood mainly. Or a few times, mags wont release as the mag channel is full of turd. Sometimes the trigger wont return or does weird stuff.

 

hmmm. i probably clean my guns too often but failing is limited to no failures, which makes me happy. i clean whatever gun im shooting before every match. with the cz i clean the extractor approximately every 1000 rds.

 

questions to ask oneself….

how many failures per 1000 rds are acceptable (for me the answer is zero)

how much time, effort, and money did you spend to get to the match?

 

stock glocks run forever without cleaning because they are sloppy and have heavy springs. 

[wwiaftm]

On 7/3/2020 at 12:10 PM, Hansb57 said:

I clean it every 500 rounds but always shoot it 50 rounds before a match.

This… I like to clean it about this often but more importantly I like to run ~50 through it before a match. I consider it to be similar to warming up an engine before a drive.