Caleb has some advice on gun cleaning. The condensed version is don't do it until it gets real nasty, just lube it up and go. That advice is fine and dandy, most of the time. Allow me however to relate a tale of my buddy's 1911 I recently looked over.
My buddy is a relatively new gun owner. He just bought his first rifle last week. He has owned a Para 1911 in 9mm for around 8 months or so. It has had FTE problems since he purchased it, but in the last month it had gotten really bad. He was convinced that he needed to replace the extractor. Since this gun is equipped with their Power Extractor, he was all set to send it to a gun smith to have it sleeved and a standard extractor put in, MSRP $100.
I asked if I could take a look, mostly out of curiosity. I stripped it and the thing was coated in lubricant. My initial cleaning involved wiping off lubricant with a clean cloth. I checked the extractor and it appeared to be operating just fine. Next I got out the trusty flashlight and looked down the barrel. The chamber was copper colored and filled with schmutz.
A little bit of this magical concoction from Hoppes, some break cleaner on the action and reapplication of a SMALL bit of lubricant, and the gun is off to the races.
The moral of the story is this. It is fine to minimize cleaning of your guns (as long as you are shooting non-corrosive ammo). If you practice this however, it may end up biting you in the ass one day. I like to keep them clean, lube them a little, and inspect them a lot.
2 years ago
I agree with your point on this. Not cleaning your weapon is fine if you're shooting it alot, or know what to look for if and when it starts acting 'funky'
ReplyDeleteTell your buddy that if he ever as any problems out of a Para to just call them. They have taken care of me VERY well, paid for shipping, covered my extractor replacement, and even replaced my recoil springs.