How far do you strip?

[dyerwatcher]

Your pistols. Many manuals state not going further than the basic field strip. What about pistols that are a couple of years old with a lot of use? I had a Model 92 years ago and had some light primer strikes. I tried to flush out the firing pin assembly the best I could with gun scrubber. It worked, but I shoot my Sigs quite often and feel I should take down completely for cleaning. Any direction? Thanks

 

[1911ly]

I would see if there are any youtube videos. I would watch several different ones. Some are great some are pretty vague. you can find vid's on just about anything.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

The only handguns that I've detail stripped have been a Walther P22 and a Ruger 22/45.

Gonna do an M&P soon enough, though...

In general, for MY shooting "lifestyle" - a good cleaning from a field-strip level is plenty.

If I shot a whole heck of a lot more, I may start a 1x/yr program. Not only to look for wear on the itty bits, but to replace the regularly used ones (slide stop spring being one)

-J-

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

The only handguns that I've detail stripped have been a Walther P22 and a Ruger 22/45.

Gonna do an M&P soon enough, though...

In general, for MY shooting "lifestyle" - a good cleaning from a field-strip level is plenty.

If I shot a whole heck of a lot more, I may start a 1x/yr program. Not only to look for wear on the itty bits, but to replace the regularly used ones (slide stop spring being one)

-J-

J pretty much explained how I feel about this, but I'll add that if it's a used gun I'll detail strip and look over all the innerds.

 

[Kev]

 

[88E30M50]

It really depends on teh gun. For my 1911s, I tend to do a complete take down once in a while to make sure everything is clean and lubed properly. It's also fun. With my CZs, I do a field strip for cleaning and only do a complete tear down when doing some work to them. Right now, I have my compact taken completely apart and am waiting on parts from CGW. I think the hammer strut, mag release and slide stop retainer are the only parts left together. A complete CZ tear down is not fun, but the results of new parts always is.

I don't take my Glocks completely apart that often. It's easy to do, but I don't want the frame holes to loosen up at all, so they only get taken apart for part replacement. More often than not, I just run a bore snake through them and wipe the rest down after a range trip.

A couple of years ago, I took apart my father's Marlin semi-auto. It had never been taken apart for cleaning and has been shot since the 1970s. It sure felt a lot better when cleaned and lubed.

The short answer is that most of my pistols get field stripped and that's all for cleaning. 1911s are different, so they get a bit more love. Glocks a bit less I guess.

 

[partyboy6686]

I completely disassemble my 1911's and Ruger revolvers for cleaning. But I wouldn't attempt to take my CZ completely apart for cleaning.

 

[88E30M50]

Complete disassembly of a CZ is not something that should be attempted unless someone has either training or some other experience behind them. I've taken several CZ's down completely and just replaced a bunch of parts in my compact today. Sure enough, when pulling the trigger out, I forgot to hold my hand over the frame and when the last bit of the trigger pin came free, the trigger spring bolted for freedom too. I heard it hit somewhere in the room behind me near a different work bench. Fortunately, I was replacing the trigger, spring and a bunch of other parts, so no loss there. The biggest problem with CZ disassembly is the staked lifter and mag release springs. You need to re-stake the screw during reassembly or it will work loose.

Complete tear down of a 1911 is something most shooters can handle but a CZ should be handled by someone that knows their way around inside of one. I can disassemble and reassemble my 1911s every day and they will not suffer for it, but if I try to do that with my CZs or Glocks, sooner or later, they will be worse for it.

 

[LANShark42]

Depends on how long we've been dating...

 

[Sylvain]

 

[USMC-Johnson]

had to tear down a sig p226 DAK the other day to clean it. Absolutely dirtiest weapon i've cleaned. With that said its not terribly complicated and pretty intuitive if you look at them.

 

[churchmouse]

Field strip clean after 100 rds. on my 1911's. Total tear down/clean/inspect/lube when time or use dictates.

 

[churchmouse]

Darn French guy's......

 

[Leo]

I do not take any more of any firearm apart than I have to. By "have to" I mean what it takes to clean the barrel and remove anything that will inhibit proper function. I really do not get too excited if there is some crud buildup that does not touch or interfere with moving parts. I never disasemble the trigger/safety out of a 1911 frame unless I am doing a trigger job or changing parts. Maybe once a year I pull the safety out and spray everything down with whatever spray can gun cleaner was on sale. A couple toothpick drops of oil and a toothpick drop of gunslick on the sear face, and I am good for another year (maybe 2000 rounds.
Revolvers are the same way, pull the cylinder and clean it and the barrel. If the sideplate is off a smith & wesson, I am doing a trigger polish.

In 1998 I bought a new Beretta O/U trapgun. I shot 15,000 rounds per year on the record books for three years without ever taking the stock off to clean the triggers. A Kreighoff shooter (who pays the yearly $350 charge for the "annual" factory cleaning) kept giving me grief about how critical that was. I was only cleaning the barrels. I pulled the stock after well over 50,000 rounds and the factory yellow grease was still on every place it needed to be and was clean. I didn't mess with it. I put the stock back on and shot it leagues with it until 2007, never touching it. It still looked and shot like new.

I never clean, just to clean. Some people spend hours getting every microscopic spec out, and scientifically lubing every point with the latest magic lube. That is fine too. The firearms hobby has many different faces. Some collect, some swap and trade, some shoot, some clean and polish, some customize. The definition of a hobby is something you enjoy doing. If cleaning is your bag, bless you, clean away!