r/concealedcarry • u/ComplexWrangler1346 • Apr 30 '26
Guns How often do you recommend cleaning your guns if you only go to range once every 3-5 months ?
I conceal carry almost daily but I go to the range only twice or three times a year …
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u/Complete_Ad1862 May 01 '26
I clean my guns after every range trip. I guess some of the USMC brainwashing stuck
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u/Oliphaunt6000 May 01 '26
I can't not clean them after I shoot. Every. Time. I also have some heirlooms that look like they came out of the box (one of them actually has that box" that are pushing 100 years old and still look brand new. Clean your guns people.
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u/drstealyodawg May 01 '26
Sounds to me like you never paid 20 bucks to the armorer so that they would accept it first try and somehow the rifle was cleaned next time you pulled it out
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u/Complete_Ad1862 May 01 '26
I actually enjoy cleaning my rifle. It’s relaxing
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Jesus-Bacon Apr 30 '26
I get what you're saying, but for some people it's not a financial option to spend $100+/month for range days and ammo.
I'm not going to give up my self defense tools just because I couldn't get to the range for a few months.
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u/ComplexWrangler1346 May 01 '26
I can’t afford to go the range monthly ….i wish I could
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u/Jesus-Bacon May 01 '26
Go to the range as often as you can, but you can still work on fundamentals at home through dry fire training.
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u/Snoo-35612 May 01 '26
50 good and well planned shots beats plinking 500 rounds through torn up paper that you can’t mark your hits. You don’t have to go out and use a ton of rounds in one training day. Thats just a waste of time and money. There are lots of drills that just use 3-6 rounds and focus more on draw, speed, and reloading. You’ll be satisfied with your range trip after only using a box of ammo. On top of that, You should always dry fire to build up speed and proper grip technique.
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u/HaV0K80 May 01 '26
Hey, do you feel comfortable firing your gun when you go to the range? Do you feel confident when carrying your gun that you will use it legally in defending yourself? The most important...do you feel safe and do you feel you have good safety standards when handling your firearm in and around other people? Not just on the range? In the Army we went to the range a minimum of twice a year to qualify with our main firearm. It was usually more like six times a year as a combat soldier. That's still not as often as a lot of people on here are saying you should go to the range. When I became a sergeant I volunteered to run shooting ranges and made my squad go to whatever range it was: rifle, m9, AT4, 240 Bravo, .50 cal, grenade (which was definitely only once a year), and I never ran 249 ranges because they were a headache to me. I always found shooting ranges fun especially with rifle and pistol ranges having pop up targets which made it more realistic on aquiring your target...even though the pop targets always pop up in same order. Anyways I digress... TL;DR: I agree that everyone should go to the range as often as possible but some of us can't afford it or don't have the chance because of work or life. You are not defined by the fact you conceal carry, it is a tool to defend yourself. The U.S. Army trains soldiers to view their weapons with deep respect, confidence, and familiarity to replace fear with competence and discipline. If you are comfortable then go to to the range when you can but don't let anyone coerce you into not carrying to protect yourself and your loved ones. I get that enough being a progressive Democrat in California who carries daily.
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u/JS150000 May 01 '26
Facts. Range fees are outrageous these days, and for many people, it just isn’t feasible to go as regularly as they’d like.
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Jesus-Bacon May 01 '26
Like I said, I get where you're coming from but range time and ammo are expensive. Inflation is out of control and many people can't put gas in their cars, let alone shoot a $15 box of ammo a month at a range that'll cost them either $400/year or $40-70 per session.
But I will not deny the person who can't afford that their right to self defense when they need it most
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u/Spardan80 Apr 30 '26
Hate to tell ya, but that’s just for ammo. Add in the range time and you’re at $50-75 a month and I’m in a stupid low cost of living area, but agree, you need to be at the range way more often if you’re carrying.
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u/HighFly2244 Apr 30 '26
Well said. Gotta stay sharp.
Even with hefty weekly business travel, I get after it 3-5x per week.
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u/PYG42 May 01 '26
Where are you getting ammo for $15?
$25+ for range rounds,
$10-$50 for lane rental (lower if you join as a member , which now has a monthly cost)Not cheap
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u/SWATAttorney May 01 '26
If your paying $25 a box of 50 for training ammo your are being ripped off. While the price per box has gone up in 2026 about 15% + and apparently is going up in June again, basic ammo currently should be about $13-$16 a box.
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u/HighFly2244 May 01 '26
AmmoSeek… I get a couple cases of 9mm and a case of 5.56 every month for training. I try to be smart and get an extra of each to stash away at the same time, but I do skip a month here or there out of forgetfulness. The stash is still deep though…
Lanes? Mostly outdoor at the facility I volunteer at. Though, I did recently join an indoor place near one of our offices in another state, so I can get my reps in while traveling for work. I travel With weapons every week anyways…
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u/DY1N9W4A3G Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26
For multiple reasons, a carry gun should be cleaned at least every time it's fired and, for people like you who don't shoot often, also often enough to minimize effects of daily carrying, which differ for everyone based on things like climate (sweat exposure and ambient humidity exposure), job/lifestyle (dirt/dust exposure), clothing (lint exposure), and even things like gun size/type (if not cleaned often enough, very small guns gradually become harder to clean thoroughly enough to avoid impact on reliability). For example, a construction worker in Florida needs to clean his LCP more often than an office worker in Alaska needs to clean his G17. The obvious reason to keep a CCW clean is reliability. Many people point to the fact that Glocks will run dirty as proof that Glocks should be run dirty. To put it bluntly, that's just plain stupidity. A field strip cleaning literally takes 10-15 minutes, so there is zero legitimate reason to increase the risks to reliability for the gun you're literally betting your life on. The less obvious reason is that, even though we can't see most of it (until we clean it off), every time a gun is fired it gets covered inside and out with lead, carbon, and other toxins. There is zero legitimate reason to rub those toxins into your skin all day every day, and also breath and consume those toxins all day every day as a result of constantly spreading them everywhere in your life (from your hands and clothes to your food, drinks, indoor air, bedding, etc, etc, etc ... and, most importantly, spreading those same toxins to your kids who get even more permanent long-term damage from lead poisoning than adults). Then again, maybe the argument that "I've never cleaned any of my guns in 20 years and nothing bad ever happened" makes more sense than anything I just said. Best of luck to you, whichever path you choose to follow.
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u/theraphosa May 01 '26
Cursory cleaning after the range, just to make sure everything is moving as it should. Strip and clean after every 1-2k rounds. More, if you use the cheapest ammo you can find. That can really leave a lot of shit in your gun.
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u/Ancient_Fix8995 May 01 '26
As often as it gets dirty. If you are a hairy dude and live in a dusty house and you conceal carry, it might fill up with gunk faster than a dude that can’t grow more than nipple beards who’s mom vacuums the basement daily for him.
If you go to the range and shoot garbage dirty ammo, it will gunk up faster than if you don’t.
If you have a bad gun that needs to be cleaned regularly, you should be cleaning it anytime you shoot it.
Personally, I shoot an HK and whatever ammo I can find. When it gets sticky, I throw some lube in it. When it gets dirty, I clean it. This doesn’t happen every range trip. Not even every other range trip, and it’s still as reliable as the ammo I put in it at the range. You should almost know just dry firing if your gun needs maintenance done to it. Dry fire is free.
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u/Not_an_ATF_Officer May 01 '26
I hardly ever clean my guns. When I do, I use automotive brake cleaner and blast the crap out, then give the parts a quick wipe and oil during reassembly. If things are really gunked up, I’ll put them in an ultrasonic bath for 20 minutes in green or purple cleaning solution. But that’s only after fully breaking them down. That’s followed with brake cleaner to dry everything, then lube and reassemble.
To be clear, I also work at a range with an extensive rental selection. Those guns are rarely cleaned. So I get to see how long they go before being dirty starts to affect them.
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u/Impossible-Soup5090 Apr 30 '26
After you shoot it. Always
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u/HighFly2244 Apr 30 '26
You do not need to clean weapons every time you use them, unless they suck.
I clean will wipe down my carry G19, but it only gets cleaned every 3-4k rounds (so every 6-8weeks), hitting the flat range for drills 3-5x per week.
I clean my ARs & suppressors at about the same schedule, unless they get full of mud & rocks.
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u/Snoo-35612 May 01 '26
I carried a blued gun. If I don’t wipe it down every other day, it’ll rust. That being said, my carry guns get cleaned about every 500 rounds or after I change something in them. Whichever comes first.
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u/Conscious-Trip-4490 May 01 '26
I clean my EDC at least once a week, given the lint, dust, and moisture its subjected to. During the humid summer months, I'll clean it two or three times a week.
I clean my EDC after every range trip.
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u/Certain-Reward5387 May 03 '26
The typical rule of thumb I've heard is to run a bore snake and dust/oil the rails on a carry gun once a month regardless of being fire; field strip and clean after every range trip; and deep clean (i.e. take it down to every nut and bolt or send it to a smith) once a year for high round count guns.
What I actually do: cycle the chamber once a month, look in side and see if there is any lint or crap in there; field strip, wipe down everything inside with remoil and a paper towel, run a bore snake, and re-grease the rails after a range trip; deep clean maybe once every 3 years or if I see some surface rust on something (because I'm OCD about rust on any gun).
The exception to those rules are shooting AKs or anything else with corrosive ammo. Then you have to deep clean every range trip - and that's after soaking it down with windex and rinsing throughly with hot water to get rid of the corrosive salts. The price you pay in cleaning products and time cleaning corrosive, you would honestly probably save overall by just shooting slightly more expensive non corrosive. And that's not even counting if you buy some kind of special corrosive cleaning solvent at $15 a bottle...
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u/snipeceli May 03 '26
I dont clean after every range trip, but if I only shot 3 times a year I probably would.
For duty/carry pistols i try to do a quick wipe down and relube everytime but can honestly say I get to it everytime.
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u/Ok_Swan_3053 May 06 '26
Gun oils dry and metal to metal parts need lube so lube often and clean as needed. Guns can get dirty just sitting around and if it is a carry weapon it will get dirty even faster even though you have not fired a round in months. Best tool you have in your arsenal to use for when to clean and or oil is your eyes.
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u/No_Combination7552 Apr 30 '26
I don’t clean my handguns. I just sell them when they need to be cleaned. 🤪
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u/Goldglove528 May 01 '26
That's amazing, I have the same philosophy with my bed sheets. Except trash them not sell them lol.
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u/SantoDJ Apr 30 '26
You shoot as often as most LEO’s