Ok I’m not a pistol guy, lethal at very long distances with a rifle but up til a handful of years ago I used to tell folks I couldn’t shoot my way out of wet paper bag with a pistol. I have a very nice 70’s series .45 ACP rebuilt with a bunch of Wilson combat pats. Minus the slide and frame, it’s all Wilson. I have taken a couple pistol courses since and shoot pretty darn good now. This is also my carry weapon.
I’ve always given the gun a simple cleaning by removing the slide and barrel after a trip to the range. I’ve never given the weapon a thorough cleaning by breaking it totally down. To be honest I was afraid once a part I’d have left over parts when I put it back together! I decided the other day to break it completely down to and see what was under the hood…so to speak.
The break down was pretty simple with exception of the mag release and firing pin. Thank goodness for YouTube know how video’s. Once apart every component got a thorough cleaning and degreasing. I recently heard alot of good press on a cleaning /lubricant called FireClean, so I thought my .45 would be a perfect choice to try it out! As it stated it really loosened up and removed carbon. Once all the parts were cleaned and degreased I applied a generous application of FireClean and let the parts sit overnight. In the morning I wiped off the excess oil from the components and sat in front of my computer watching a video on to reassemble. Twenty some odd minutes later the pistol was back together and with no extra parts!
Now I know something like this is old hat to most of you, but to me it was an adventure and to be honest was fairly easy and very educational. My goal is to break it down for a thorough cleaning yearly. And yes, I bookmarked the how to video’s!
I’ve always given the gun a simple cleaning by removing the slide and barrel after a trip to the range. I’ve never given the weapon a thorough cleaning by breaking it totally down. To be honest I was afraid once a part I’d have left over parts when I put it back together! I decided the other day to break it completely down to and see what was under the hood…so to speak.
The break down was pretty simple with exception of the mag release and firing pin. Thank goodness for YouTube know how video’s. Once apart every component got a thorough cleaning and degreasing. I recently heard alot of good press on a cleaning /lubricant called FireClean, so I thought my .45 would be a perfect choice to try it out! As it stated it really loosened up and removed carbon. Once all the parts were cleaned and degreased I applied a generous application of FireClean and let the parts sit overnight. In the morning I wiped off the excess oil from the components and sat in front of my computer watching a video on to reassemble. Twenty some odd minutes later the pistol was back together and with no extra parts!
Now I know something like this is old hat to most of you, but to me it was an adventure and to be honest was fairly easy and very educational. My goal is to break it down for a thorough cleaning yearly. And yes, I bookmarked the how to video’s!
