do you guys clean your gun before matches

[No.343]

I think most competitive shooters have an idea of what they can get away with. I know that my M2 starts to hiccup around 500 rounds. So, I know that if I shot a big match and have a couple of practice session under my belt that I better clean before a match. I clean my 625 when it looks so disgusting that I can't stand the way it looks anymore. I haven't seen a round count where it fails. I've put 2k rounds through it between cleanings. My AR always runs, but I do not clean it before a match. I clean it, go to the range to verify zeroes and go to the match. I've heard too many stories from high power shooters about clean bores shooting a little off. I said all that to say that you have to know your gun.

 

[Rod Snell]

Realistically, I clean my practice gun and two practice mags once a week even if I shoot every day, and sometimes the round count gets rather high.
Presumably that's the gun I'll use at the club match, so I time the cleaning to be a day or two before the match.

Now if I'm driving to a sanctioned match, the gun is going to be clean before I start.

Maybe its my military background, but I just don't understand people who act like cleaning a gun is a major problem and carry on like they are getting a root canal at the dentist. The typical combat tupperware takes 10 or 15 minutes to clean--unless it has sat for weeks and all that black fluffy stuff has turned to stone!

 

[imhntn]

I will practice for a long time with my CZ without cleaning but I usually clean before a match due to the feel of the trigger in double action. It gets kind of creepy when the gun is real dirty and makes it harder to get the first shot off accurately.

 

[LightningCrash]

(Thats my M&P, My STI I have to clean every 5-600 rds or so. I dont know who those guys are on Enos that claim 3K rounds without a malfunction. Those guns like to be clean.)

What powder? If you're getting malfs on Titegroup at 500rds you may have bigger problems.

 

[Chris_Andersen]

What powder? If you're getting malfs on Titegroup at 500rds you may have bigger problems.

I do usually run Titegroup. I done several stints without cleaning to see how long it takes to get a malfunction, and that is usually 700-900 rds. I have an Edge, and a Trojan, and they both have about the same tolerance for getting dirty. I try and clean them at 5-600 to stay away from that.

Of course my definition of a malfuction is ANYTHING short of perfect operation. They will certainly shoot long past that round count if you dont mind a couple of FTF, FTE's due to a dirty chamber etc. here and there.

 

[Glocktogo]

I clean my match Glocks between 800-1200 rounds. If I have less than 400 rounds through it before a match, I just add a few drops of lube and go shoot. The only match I clean for specifically is the Nationals.

 

[John Zane]

I clean my match Glocks between 800-1200 rounds. If I have less than 400 rounds through it before a match, I just add a few drops of lube and go shoot. The only match I clean for specifically is the Nationals.

I call BS. I have seen you guns and know how you are. I used to clean mine every match. Now I clean them every few matches. Unless it is GTG's revolver then I dont even clean it before I give it back because he will just clean it again. HaHa

 

[mmchambers06]

"Wait for it to malfunction"... Are you serious?...Please don't wait for a potentially dangerous situation to arise just because you don't feel the need to properly take care of your weapon.

Spoken like a true Kimber owner. You obviously have little faith in your pistol(s), I do. A "dirty gun" M&P malfunction is generally a dead trigger and requires nothing more than a rack-bang. Come out to Mcloud on Sunday for SC and you can examine first-hand how potentially dangerous it is.

Fortunately, it has been quite some time since anyone was attacked by cardboard or steel and was seriously harmed.

Yes, but they do look at me wrong occasionally...

In all fairness, he was refferring to his competition weapon, not his defense weapon.

We're in the competition forum, after all.

I think most competitive shooters have an idea of what they can get away with...I said all that to say that you have to know your gun.

I would never show up to a major match with a gun that had not been cleaned in 2,500 rounds, but a club match? You bet. Mitch, Rusty and I plan on shooting 3 matches this weekend. There is absolutely no way I'm going to clean between each. I have better things to do with my Saturday night.

You gotta know where your gear fails, because gunfights are never EVER in ideal conditions! I compete, but I also carry every day and train with my carry weapon (which is...you got it, an M&P, the same platform I compete with). I want malfunction clearance to be something I do subconsciously, and the only way to get there is with practice. Malfunction clearance in a match is a pretty damn good simulation, IMO.

Again, this is one guy's opinion. There is a lot of more qualified advice out there, some of it in this thread. I do it my way and I've tried to explain why - it's yours to take or leave.

 

[Shadowrider]

I've shot my M&P until the loaded chamber indicator hole was totally clogged and the crud was oozing out of the barrel hood. Gun still ran and I have no idea how many rounds it had on it. A whole bunch because I use WST powder in my cast bullet loads and it's pretty clean burning. If you are using plated or jacketed bullets I'm sure I could run at least 8000 and probably much more. All lead bullets are just dirty, but WST powder mitigates that to a non-issue for all practical purposes. I have had more than a few striker reset failures but those were not related to cleanliness in my case and it's fixed now.

Now days I just do what Mitch does. I usually run a bore snake through the barrel a few times and hit all the lube points with CLP before each match or range session. I would say I detail strip and clean about every 5000 rounds.

 

[WhiteyMacD]

Not exactly competition, but you get the idea...

Point being, there is such a thing as over-maintenance.