Can Cleaning Ever Be Exciting?

Cleaning is an essential part of firearms ownership. Unfortunately, the joys of disassembly and cleaning your guns may wear off. Here are different methods of firearms cleaning to make your life a little more interesting:

Safety first!

Before cleaning, always make sure your firearm is unloaded and that there is no ammunition nearby. Make sure any magazines in the area are empty as well. Always work in a well-ventilated area, away from open flames or sparks. And don't forget your safety glasses and some nitrile gloves.

Snakes

Another method to clean your firearms is cleaning them after every shooting session using a snake! No, not those kinds of snakes. A bore snake! Bore snakes are handy little tools come in all sorts of calibers and are just cotton tubes with brushes built into them. They're great for cleaning.

The good thing about them is, you don’t need to disassemble your firearms and it’s a faster way of cleaning. Soak the top end in some solvent and pull it through the barrel. Often when the powder is fresh and still warm, it will come out with little to no issues. A couple of pulls through the bore and it should be nice and ready for your next shot.

Our very own cleaning kit! Recommended by Jamesan.

Traditional Cleaning

Most of us already know about the traditional and most commonly used way of cleaning firearms - complete disassembly. It involves supplies like bore brushes, cleaning solvent, etc. But some people like to repurpose cotton swabs, wipes, toothbrushes and other kinds of commonly used cleaning items as well.

This method can get a little tedious and there could be more room for mistakes, so, here’s two tips:

Take a picture: as you disassemble your firearm for cleaning, take pictures at various stages so you know how things are supposed to fit together and what things looked like before you started taking things out.

Warranty: make sure to check your firearm’s warranty information and only disassemble your firearms up until where the warranty is still valid and not void.

Ultrasonic Cleaning

There’s many more modern methods of firearms cleaning available like using ultrasonic cleaners. Ultrasonic cleaners easily clean hard-to-reach areas of a gun and dislodge stubborn grime without using manual force, through the use of high-frequency sound waves.

The firearm is put into a cleaning solvent and ultrasonic frequencies are then passed through the solvent. This method helps prevent damage to the delicate parts of a gun by elimination rough manual scrubbing. It is time-efficient but it could be a bit costly to use it frequently.

Steam Cleaning

This method doesn't employ the use of cleaning solvents. You can use steam cleaners to remove fouling and grime from your firearms. Steam helps to loosen debris without the use of harsh chemicals which potentially extend the life of your firearms.

You would still need to manually get to every nook and cranny of your firearms. And disassembly might still be needed. And if you don’t completely get rid of the water, it might accelerate rust and corrosion. We would recommend you to stay away from this method but it is technically an option.

Electrochemical Cleaning

This method best suits old firearms. It helps remove rust and corrosion by passing a mild electric current through an electrolyte solution which your firearm needs to be placed in.

It helps remove buildup without the use of manual pressure but you still need to be cautious about using this method on firearms where the internal components might get damaged.

Always check the manufacturer's guidelines to make sure it's safe.

There are many methods you can use to clean your firearms but the best method for your firearm depends on what you're looking to achieve. You can have some fun with it and play some music in the background while going the traditional way. Or you can leave it to the modern method and use that time for one of your other hobbies. The choice is yours!

It is still always a good idea to assess each firearm individually and determine what way suits it best. Remember, proper maintenance is key to enjoying your firearms safely, and it doesn't have to be hard.