Owning a gun can be an expensive investment and if not properly taken care of can become damaged or worse unrepairable. Therefore, gun owners purchase gun cleaning kits to keep their firearms clean, oiled, and well maintained. However, the question always gets asked, can you over clean your gun? Especially considering most manufacturers recommend cleaning your firearms after shooting and when storing.
The quick answer is yes, you can over clean your gun. Especially if you don’t use quality products when cleaning your firearms. So, as to not confuse you when it comes to not cleaning enough or cleaning too much, we have put together some tips and advice for cleaning your firearms.
Use The Best Gun Cleaning Solvents –
When you first pick out a firearm the manufacturer usually gives you a cleaning solvent included in the kit. However, most of the time these solvents are generic and aren’t made of the high-quality ingredients that help break down dirt, gunpowder, and fouling. So, when you go to clean your gun with low-quality solvents you think you are doing a proper cleaning, however, in reality, you are missing a lot of the build-up that can be left behind when shooting your rifle, shotgun, or handguns.
Doing a simple search for the best solvent or CLP can be overwhelming. You more than likely will get results for more than a dozen solvent brands all claiming to be the best. This is why we have taken the liberty and compiled the best gun cleaning solvents. By selecting top of the line solvents you can be sure that you won’t damage your gun while cleaning your firearm after shooting.
Use The Best Bore Snakes –
Owning bore snakes have become quite common for experienced gun owners. However, when you first get a firearm the most common cleaning kit you will find has an inexpensive cleaning rod included. Usually, the rod is a multiple piece design made of brass, nylon, or aluminum. However, every gun owner should utilize bore cleaning snakes. They can speed up the process of cleaning by a tenfold, but most importantly they allow you to clean the bore of your gun after each use.
Honestly, pulling out the cleaning rod for a deep cleaning after each use as a novice can seem time-consuming, whereas, using a bore snake can help anyone get used to cleaning their firearm. Now a bore snake will not get the same deep cleaning effect a good cleaning rod will do. However, a bore snake will make sure you are at least cleaning your gun after each use and prevent any rust or corrosion from happening.
Use The Best Gun Cleaning Vise –
One of the best devices when it comes to preventing damaging your firearm while cleaning is a gun cleaning vise. Having a vise allows you to properly secure your firearm while bore cleaning with a gun cleaning rod or doing any routine maintenance. Rifling and crown damage is the two most common bore issues when over cleaning your firearm. Therefore, when utilizing a vise a cleaning rod can be inserted into the bore without damaging the crown of the barrel.
Gun cleaning vises also provide a fixed location for your firearm when disassembling for cleaning. There are many horror stories out there of gun owners removing the barrel or bolt carrier and dropping it on a hard surface and permanently damaging their gun.
Use The Best Cleaning Surfaces –
In addition to preventing those horror stories of dropping any gun parts, or worse yet losing a key spring. Gun cleaning mats are perfect for the job, providing a clean, soft, and organized surface. Most of the cleaning mats on the market are made of a non-scratch surface that allows you to place your firearm on them knowing you won’t damage or nic the metal of your gun. They can also be a little less expensive the gun cleaning vises and much easier to bring with to the shooting range, in the event you need to take your gun down to clean it.
A simple tip to providing a cheap cleaning surface is to use a towel or blanket in the event you haven’t invested in a quality gun cleaning mat. This way when cleaning your firearm after each shooting session you’ll be sure to know that when you set it down you won’t damage the crown or chamber when working on a hard surface.
Use The Best Gun Cleaning Rod –
The last step in making sure you won’t damage your firearm with over cleaning it is to use a one-piece cleaning rod. Most cleaning rods are made of carbon fiber making them resistant to chemicals and they also won’t damage the rifling of your barrel. One piece rods tend to not flex while cleaning bore, preventing the rod from sliding scratching or scoring the inside of the barrel. There is even gun cleaning bore guides that guide the cleaning rod into the center of the barrel making sure the crown will never be damaged.
A quality cleaning rod is an upgrade from any multi-piece cleaning rod that is offered in cleaning kits. When planning on cleaning your gun often, make sure you invest in a cleaning rod that will last after multiple uses. Most importantly not damage any surface of your gun.
