The Firearm Guide: Your Guide to Firearm Maintenance

Are you looking to keep your beloved firearms in top-notch condition? Lets walk you through essential tips and tricks to ensure your firearms stay functional.

After all, you wouldn't not change your car's oil, right?

...right?

Gather Your Supplies

It doesn't take much to keep your firearm clean. In fact, you can probably go into most gun shops and spend about $20 bucks on a cleaning kit and it'll do the job just fine.

Whether it's pre-bought, or you want to make your own, your cleaning kit should comprise of the following:

• Small rags or cloths. You can cut up some old t-shirts or use napkins. It doesn't have to be fancy.

• A bore brush. The bore is your barrel, specifically the hole bored into your barrel where the projectile comes out of. Make sure you find a bore brush that fits the ammunition size of your firearm, else you'll have a hard time cleaning out your barrel. It shouldn't feel like it's stuck, but you should make sure it touches the walls of the bore enough to scrape stuff out of it.

  • You can also make one yourself by using a small enough bristle pad or equivalent and some durable string.

• Cleaner, Lubricant, and Protectant (CLP). A must-have for cleaning and lubricating your firearm. Ensure that you only use about a drop of CLP at a time. You don't want to drench it like you would clean something with water.

• Pipe Cleaners or a small brush. If your bore brush doesn't fit enough of the small grooves in your firearm for you to use it for more than just your bore, invest in a bundle of pipe cleaners or a small bristle brush in order to dig into all the recesses.

See, you really don't need a whole lot. Just have the equipment to wet (CLP, not water), brush, wipe, and lubricate your firearm.

Cleaning Your Firearm

First things first, ensure your firearm is cleared. But you already did that when you picked it up - right?

Next, you want to disassemble your firearm. Make sure you keep all the parts in a organized space where they won't get lost. Having a small cup can be useful here for pins, springs, and the like. Your owner's manual should have a guide for either 'field stripping' or fully disassembling your weapon.

I recommend doing the next steps one part at a time. For springs and the like, you really don't need to get crazy. Just do what makes sense - if there's sand, dirt, and/or carbon built up on a part, then target that.

Now, take a small drop of CLP and wet an area you want to clean. CLP is generally incredibly oily and a small amount, like 1-2 drops, goes a long way.

Next, brush down all the carbon and any other gunk that might have built up on the part you're cleaning. Remember, the more you clean now is the less you have to clean when you go shooting again.

When you're cleaning your barrel, take your bore brush or equivalent and run it through the barrel a bunch of times until you think it's good. Try and run it through the barrel the same way each time so you're constantly pushing all the gunk in one direction on the off chance some of it takes a few strokes to get out. I recommend wetting a small cloth with CLP and running it through the barrel once first, brushing it out, and then running a dry cloth through it a few times. "One wet, two dry"

Once you've gone through and cleaned your part(s), take one of your cloths, or use your finger, and dab 1-2 drops of CLP on it. Next, smooth out a very light coat of CLP onto any areas where there's metal-on-metal contact. You don't have to coat the entire firearm, but the majority of the inside should have a light coat. Feel free to wipe it with a cloth to get any excess CLP off.

Now that you've done your cleaning and wiping off, go ahead and reassemble your firearm.

Next, as a good rule of thumb, always conduct a quick functions check of your firearm to ensure that your safety, as well as all of your firing modes, work properly.

And that's it! The process is kind of relaxing in my opinion, and it's always good to take a look at how your firearm operates in case there's ever an issue with it.

Service Regularly!

I won't outline some six-month service schedule for you or anything, but it's important that you try and maintain your firearm as often as possible.

Whether you fire it regularly, or not, try and follow these guidelines:

• Conduct frequent wipe downs and inspections. Nothing crazy, just field strip and wipe down your firearm every, or every other, shooting session. This lets you also take a look at the different components and ensure nothing is broken which might cause some kind of failure in the future.

• Keep your firearm dry. I'm not talking about your light layer of CLP, but I am talking about water. Keep your firearm in a dry place to prevent rust and corrosion, and if it gets wet make sure you wipe it dry before storing it. Moisture is one of the biggest enemies of firearms.

• Finally, follow manufacturer guidelines: Always refer to the manufacturer's manual for specific maintenance instructions. You don't want to break anything, do you?
  

Whether you're a seasoned or beginner enthusiast, maintenance is critical in ensuring that your firearm continues to work as intended. Failure to do so could result in a decreased life expectancy of your firearm, or, in serious cases, cause a catastrophic failure which may injure you or others.

And here at The Firearm Guide, we like to know that you're out there safe. So stick around and arm yourself with more practical knowledge, and let us know how we're doing.