Disassembly and Cleaning

While some pistols are more tolerant of neglect than others, not caring for a “tool” intended to preserve your life is foolish. People tend to depend on firearms when they need them most. And a neglected firearm is much more likely to fail than one that is properly maintained.

Cleaning Kit You're going to need to purchase a good gun cleaning kit. Here again, the market is flooded with cheap, popular, and often incomplete gun cleaning kits. The most common “corner” they cut is either leaving out a Rifled Jag or including a cheap plastic (rather than a brass) “Rifled Jag”.

Forget about the brand names. They’re often the worst. Many firearms SMEs recommend the gun cleaning kits made by Shooter's Choice. Their products are all high quality, complete (typically even including a brass “Rifled Jag”), surprisingly inexpensive, and made in the . The ONLY negative comment I have about the Shooter's Choice gun cleaning kits is that they include a small bottle of CLP… which many serious gun owners simply throw away (read: "The Problem with "CLP-Type" Gun Lubricants"). Alternatively, Winchester gun cleaning kits are good and inexpensive - but typically manufactured in .

As an add-on, MANY people LOVE the “Breakthrough Clean Technologies” BATTLE ROPES™ (aka “Bore Snakes”) because the cloth portion can be disconnected from the brushes portion so that the cloth portion can be washed (e.g., in a washing machine or dish washing machine). Unfortunately, they're made in .

<note tip>Far too many people procrastinate over cleaning their pistols - due to the monotony and time required. HOWEVER, a popular shortcut to improve efficiency is to disassemble your pistol (which is usually very quick), and place the parts in a small tub filled with mineral spirits (a mild solvent). Allow the parts to soak for about 20 or 30 minutes while you attend something else. After soaking, a quick wipe down should do a decent job of removing the vast majority of debris.</note>

<note warning>DO NOT add oil/lubricant to your pistol without cleaning it. Some lazy people think this is a temporary “fix” until they have time to properly clean it later. Instead, all this does is create a lapping compound within your pistil to facilitate its wear and deterioration.</note>

Disassembly While revolvers don't really require any disassembly (and therefore are generally the easiest to maintain) most pistols are simple to quickly disassemble - often with no tools required.

For example, Glock pistols are quickly disassembled into only 4 parts. And the 1911 only takes a few seconds longer (as it breaks down to 8 parts).

While you can try to decipher how to disassemble your pistol using the manufacturer's manual, most people quickly find an online video to show them the process… which usually also includes the cleaning process.

3 - Now that you have a cleaning kit AND an Instructor, you're going to need to know how and where to clean and Lubricate your firearm. There are generally 4 products commonly used: solvent, oil, grease, and a combination product called CLP (Cleaner, Lubricant & Protectant) - be sure to read: "The Problem with "CLP-Type" Gun Lubricants". Perhaps it's obvious that you would want to use a good solvent to actually clean your firearm. Then you would oil some parts - while placing grease anywhere there is metal on metal contact. The problem with CLP is that the “protectant” could harden over time. So if your firearm isn't used very often, the protectant may need to be removed and your firearm cleaned before use. Of course, the Internet is rife with opinions on this topic. So ask your Instructor what they recommend for your specific gun.

<note>PS, While not all of their products are made in the USA, every gun-owner should have Breakthrough® Military-Grade Solvent (which is made in the ).</note>

<note warning>Solvents typically contain carcinogens. So purchase some nitrile gloves to wear when cleaning your firearm(s).</note>