You just put over a thousand rounds through your weapon and now it is time for that all-important cleaning. You have watched a bunch of videos on breaking down your weapon and feel confident that you can handle this simple task of cleaning. I know you have heard this a hundred times, but I must say it. Treat every gun as if it is loaded.
Always ensure that your weapon is unloaded.
You have set up all your cleaning supplies laying out every tool like a surgeon in an operating room and your gun is the patient you are about to perform surgery on.
First thing you want do is remove your magazine.
You will then lock the slide back ejecting any unspent round.
Once you have ensured that your gun is completely unloaded, you will then proceed to break it down according to your owner’s manual. Keep in mind not all guns’ breakdown the same way.
You will thoroughly inspect your gun once you have broken it down.
There is no correct order in how you clean the pieces once you have the gun apart.
You will spray cleaning fluid on all the pieces.
You let the cleaning fluid soak in and loosen up the carbon build up.
Use the wire brush on the inside of the barrel.
You want to take care when cleaning the parts in the lower receiver. Depending on your gun, some of these pieces can be very fragile and break or bend easily. Keep in mind this is not a race, so take your time when doing this for the first time. A clean gun works best so be thorough in your cleaning.
You will dry the inside of the barrel with a swath of cloth that comes in your cleaning kit.
You will use the soft brush on the lower receiver.
After you thoroughly clean your gun, you will then take a soft rag and wipe down the outside of your gun. Wipe away any excess cleaning fluid. You may believe that you are done and are ready to put your gun back together. There is one more step in this process and it is just as important as cleaning your gun. That is oiling your gun. Remember you have a lot of metal on metal parts that are sliding against each other. You really want these parts to be well lubricated so that they work properly.
Ensure you oil all the metal parts.
Do not worry about the excess oil, you can wipe that off your gun once you have put it completely back together. Reassembly is just putting all the pieces back in the opposite order that you took everything apart in.
Always Treat every gun as if it is Loaded.
Once you have put your gun back together, you can wipe it down one final time. Wiping away any excess oil with a soft rag. Now you are ready to perform a function check of the weapon. Do not load the gun or place the magazine back into the gun at this current time. You will rack it several times, ensuring that everything is working properly.
Ensure that the gun is empty.
Rack the gun in a safe direction.
Dry fire the gun in a safe direction.
Repeat.
You have just completed the function check of your gun. You can now store it away until you are ready to go to the range again. The first time you clean your gun will seem like a long and tedious chore, but once you get used to doing this necessary job it will become easier and you will get quicker at. On a side note, always try to wipe your weapon down, to help keep down the buildup of dirt and dust that can accumulate on your gun. Hopefully, you will find this insightful as well as helpful in maintaining your firearm. Weather you carry it everyday or you just take it out once in awhile to shoot at the range, or you have it for home protection. Remember a clean gun will function like you need it to every time as opposed to a dirty gun.