How to Clean Your Gun the Right Way
Ready to learn how to clean your gun? It’s something every gun owner should know to prolong the life of the weapon and ensure its reliability and accuracy. Plus, learning how to clean your gun the right way is important so that you can do it without causing injury to yourself or others.
1. Prepare the Area
First, choose a well-lit, well-ventilated area. Make sure your table is sturdy so the gun can’t slip out from under you as you clean it. Ideally, you should clean your gun in a garage; the kitchen is a poor choice because of all the contaminants you’ll be cleaning off your gun, and because of the gun grease and cleaner smell.
2. Make Sure Your Gun is Unloaded
This goes without saying, but it’s best to say it. Make sure you’ve removed all loose ammo and magazines, and check, double-check, and triple check that you don’t have a round in the chamber after you’ve removed the magazine.
3. Take the Gun Apart
Use your owner’s manual the first few times, labeling parts if you need to so that you remember what goes where. Thankfully, most guns are relatively simple, so this should not be a difficult or complicated process.
4. Start With the Bore
Use a patch holder, cotton patches, and a cleaning rod to soak the bore. Do not bang the cleaning rod against the muzzle; using a muzzle guard will keep this from happening. Your last step in cleaning out the bore will be to soak a patch in a solvent and push it through the bore to come out the other end.
If you are using the gun right away, don’t coat the inside of the bore with oil, but if it’s going back in the safe, the oil will help keep it in good condition.