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What guns require the least maintenance?
- Thread starter kalash
- Start date
When I first started shooting, I would clean any and every gun I shot even a box of ammo thru. After a while, I would only clean something if I shot say 250 rounds, then it was 500 rounds, then it was 1000 rounds, you get the picture. These days, I might clean something if it looks really, really dirty and I have no idea when I might have cleaned it last.
The exceptions are the very few firearms I have that I consider "high end" which get at least a quick cleaning within a day or so of firing. Of course anything with a blued finish will get wiped down and at least oiled after every use and anything stainless gets ignored.![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
Of course I'm sure we all keep our carry guns a little cleaner than the range only guns.
The exceptions are the very few firearms I have that I consider "high end" which get at least a quick cleaning within a day or so of firing. Of course anything with a blued finish will get wiped down and at least oiled after every use and anything stainless gets ignored.
Of course I'm sure we all keep our carry guns a little cleaner than the range only guns.
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Truth is we don't!
Give this thread a few hours and as usual for this topic someone will be on saying how not cleaning a fire arm after each use means we don't care for the tools we trust our lives with and how we are irresponsible gun owners. My usual response to that is that if you feel the need to clean a gun every timt you shoot it then you don't shoot that much. If cleaning was necessary every range trip I'd never go to the range. I shoot about 3 times a week.......I don't have time for all that cleaning nonsense.
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For me it depends ...the 1911 that gets cast lead and a light smidgen of 231, well,.... it does get a little sooty....after 5 or six rounds. The 1911 derivative that gets nothing but
high pressure Vitha and jacketed stays really really really clean, .....as in you pretty much wipe it off once in a while because you think you should.
I'm too fat, old and tired to drag either one of them through the mud.
high pressure Vitha and jacketed stays really really really clean, .....as in you pretty much wipe it off once in a while because you think you should.
I'm too fat, old and tired to drag either one of them through the mud.
Back when I started shooting we just beat the shit out of my friend's 10/22 carbine constantly and it just ran and ran and ran.... there were obvious preferences to ammo though, but very little maintenance required to keep it going. More often than not the magazines failed before the gun did.
-Mike
Surface treatment of oil to stop rust and remove toxic handoff. Likewise through the bore is usually all that's needed unless you shot enough rounds for carbon or copper fouling to really build up or used corrosive ammo.
I've never put anyone on ignore , but I'm not that touchy.Oh good, another addition to my ignore list
Slotheadslim
NES Member
I have a Smith and Wesson Model 41, 22 LR, that I ran throughout the entire bullseye pistol match season this year with cleaning it only once. And of course after I cleaned it is the only time it ever jammed in a match. I use CCI standard and it runs great. I learned not to mess with it or just mess with it in the off-season.
I’d agree with others that my H&Ks and my Glock 43 are probably my most reliable. Usually I clean everything after a couple of range trips which is just fine for me.
I’d agree with others that my H&Ks and my Glock 43 are probably my most reliable. Usually I clean everything after a couple of range trips which is just fine for me.
My dad has a Remington 1100 that he bought when I was a little kid. He’s hunted birds and deer with it every year. It has its first failure about 3 years ago. I’m 43. I fixed it for him (o ring gave up). It had the worst filth inside it. Deer hair, what I assume was old blood, mud, oil, etc. He would occasionally spray it with WD-40. This was all the maintenance it ever received. Fairly amazing.
M60
NES Member
Yeah and I bet that even with all the dirt, it's still good for minute of mattress. lol. Sorry. just messing with you.
I've noticed that my two 17HMR bolt guns, CZ 455 and CZ 457, are super duper clean shooting. Never seen any other guns shoot that clean. On the other end of the spectrum would be my Hi-Point 995TS. That thing's filthy after 20 rounds. I don't like cleaning it, so I stopped recently. We'll see how it goes. But I wouldn't say it was trouble free. Mine was never all that reliable to begin with, though it's been pretty good since it came back from the factory. I don't actually think I need to be cleaning my lever guns. Can't imagine they would start malfunctioning if they got real dirty.
- Glock 21
- S&W 627, 686, 19, 13
- Marlin 1892 Lever
- Mossberg 500
- Remington 870
- Ruger 10/22
It must be true because R. Lee Ermey himself told me you never have to clean one.
My sks has double fired 3 times on the range. Never went full auto on me but it did slam fire those 3 times and fired two rounds.
Tore down the bolt and cleaned the firing pin channel and problem solved. That's why I consider an SkS a gun that does need to be cleaned often.
cockpitbob
NES Member
Unless the gun has no carbon steel at all, I'll never know. I only have one psychosis/phobia; rust. Besides, I have a strong appreciation for good mechanical designs and craftsmanship and can't let myself neglect my guns.
That said, I really admire Kalashnikov's design that functions so well with tolerances desperately loose enough to ignore being dropping it in the mud.
That said, I really admire Kalashnikov's design that functions so well with tolerances desperately loose enough to ignore being dropping it in the mud.
dcmdon
NES Member
Speaking of reliability. Here's another reason I don't clean my carry guns very often.
After I've taken it apart ,cleaned it and reassembled it, I want to shoot it to confirm that everything is good.
I can't do that with my carry gun if I clean it at home.
So about every 6 months I bring my cleaning stuff to the range, shoot the guns, clean them and then shoot them.
Now I KNOW.
Not that there are a lot of ways to put a Glock or a Kahr back together wrong, but it happens. When I took the Glock armorers class we learned a series of steps to confirm function after reassembly, but still I'd like to actually shoot it.
