Maybe I should explain. I’m a gun writer. I’m not a solider. I have firearms that I clean regularly, and those that I consider “control groups" in a long-running experiment. I’ve got a GLOCK 17 that I’ve put more than 20,000 rounds through that I haven’t ever cleaned. This far into its lifespan, I can feel a little hitch in the trigger, but that’s it. The gun still goes bang.
I do own some guns that I maintain regularly. One is a 1911 built by Colt in 1913. It shoots well, but I don’t shoot it often. I do check in on it monthly, and make sure it stays oiled.
For this piece, though, I want to look at the guns you carry every day.
There are two schools of thought on this question. The first group cleans obsessively. There’s no such thing as “too clean.” If you shoot your gun, you clean it when you are finished. If you don’t shoot your gun, you clean it anyhow, at regular intervals, just because you should.
Let me be clear on this. I’m a big old hypocrite on this matter. The GLOCK 19 I mentioned earlier is part of my every day carry kit. While I don’t carry it concealed, much, it is a go-to gun. I really should clean it, but I’m curious now about when it is going to fail. So I don’t. But I take it with me everywhere I go, and I shoot the snot out of it. I'm not a GLOCK guy, but I understand why people love their GLOCKS.
I do clean my Kel-Tec P3AT. This little mouse gun rides in my front right pocket most of the time. I keep it in a Recluse holster, and loaded with LeHigh Defense ammo, and I love the humble little underpowered thing. For my shorts-and-a-t-shirt lifestyle, it is often the only gun I carry.
And here it is for its annual cleaning. I’m seeing two things here. The first is a bit of rust. It has been hotter than hell in Arkansas this summer, and I’m sweating more than usual. That rust is a showstopper. It has to go. The conclusion here is that I need to be cleaning more often.
The second thing I’m seeing is some ugly crap on the top round in my spare mag. This gets us onto a second topic: how often should you rotate your ammo? But I loaded this round normally, fired it, and the P3AT took it in and spit it out with no problem.
The answer to our original question is one you’ll find out through experience. How often should you clean? When your gun needs it, clean it. GLOCKS can take more abuse than most tight-fitting 1911s. If you live in a more corrosive environment, like on the coast, clean more often. Clean when you shoot, for sure, but compulsively clean your carry guns. It would be embarrassing, and potentially deadly, if you locked up on some sort of gooped up pocket lint.
