Okay to shoot and not clean for a couple of days?

[UpandComer]

My dad is flying in on Saturday and we're going to range together then, but I sort of got the urge to go today and was wondering: If I went out and shot 200 rounds today, would I be okay not cleaning the Five-seveN until Saturday? I know most people clean their guns within a few hours of shooting, but how long can you go before "the time has passed" staying within the safety zone? Hours? Days? A week?

[jmz5]

It will be fine. You won't get any crud buildup after 200 rounds.

[Vortec MAX]

I sure hope it's OK, or most of my guns will have been damaged. I seldom have time to clean my guns right away. Sometimes I take them out and shoot them several weeks in a row without cleaning them. My poor AR has had 200 rounds through it over the last 2 or 3 months and I haven't cleaned it yet.

Mike

[buckett]

Mine would be damaged too if that weren't ok. Depending on what I have going on, I sometimes leave a gun uncleaned for a while if I just don't have time to clean it or I'm going to be taking it out again in the next couple days. I've left some unclean for a couple of months. And they've been perfectly fine.

Also, not that I condone it, but I know a few people that flat out don't clean their guns, and they haven't had problems, but I wouldn't reccommend this.

[Vortec MAX]

In days long since passed, primers had a corrosive chemical in them. It WAS important to clean your guns immediately after firing when those type of primers where still in use. I suspect this is the origin of the "myth" that not immediately cleaning a gun will harm it.

The new primers are non-corrosive. Letting your guns sit after firing them should not hurt them.

Mike

[blueorison]

HAHAHA DUDE CLEAN YOUR GUNS? HAHAHAH

You don't needa clean the FsN! LOL.

600 rounds with no cleaning and it will go 2000 without it, just add a touch of lube on the rails.

The powder burns so nicely there isn't crap all over your gun, just little gold specks.

I don't ever clean my guns, only my .22's and the bore of my AR.

AR's do NOT need to be cleaned under 1000 rounds at all. Unless you have a crappy AR.

I shoot competitions each month that put hundreds down my barrel each time and there is no need to clean it. Cleaning is for OCD people like the F class bench rest shooters that shoot one, clean one, then sit there for hours waiting for the HUNDRED YARD wind to kick down. *shakes head*

[UpandComer]

Thanks, guys! Makes me feel better about the whole cleaning thing. I always figured you had to jump on it within a matter of hours after shooting. Good to know you can go quite a bit longer without loosing any sleep over it.

[UpandComer]

In days long since passed, primers had a corrosive chemical in them. It WAS important to clean your guns immediately after firing when those type of primers where still in use. I suspect this is the origin of the "myth" that not immediately cleaning a gun will harm it.

The new primers are non-corrosive. Letting your guns sit after firing them should not hurt them.

Mike

Good to know! Probably where my thinking came from!

[PainKillaX]

I usually clean after each trip, since I never know when I'll get to go out again. Then again, I -may- have left my Mossberg for months after firing countless rounds accumulated over...30 years or so from my buddies farm. I said what the hell, it's a shotgun right :laugh: To be fair, I've also seen what happens if you don't clean and oil your guns occasionally (read: your damn chamber won't close because everything is gunked up). All this said, 200 rounds is nothing to the FsN. It'll take more effort to strip it then it will to clean it...

[User42]

Ditto on the doesn't matter advice. You definitely want to clean and lube it when you first buy it, but it would take a lot of rounds to actually make it jam. It's easier to clean when its still warm, but as long as you aren't shooting old corrosive ammo you won't damage anything. Do clean your carry guns though, a jam in a self defense setting would be bad.

[jmz5]

I normally clean my AR's when I get home, I hate to see carbon buildup on the tail of the bolt.

[fzr confused]

like said above you will be fine without cleaning it this time...but i also say its a good idea to hit up the range before your dad goes and blow through a few hundred rounds for fun and function. nothing worse/more embarrassing IMHO than getting a nice new toy and having your friend/family member whoever shoot it and it has a FTF or FTE ya know? especially if its from one of the "1911 or nothing" guys....after 200 rounds it should be broken in enough that it fires flawlessly, which it will more than likely function perfectly from round 0, but you just never know.

[Never Enough]

Hey Blue, What are those gold specks ? noticed them on my 5.7 could you explain ? and don't tell me its magic gold dust. LOL

[f3rr37]

Hey Blue, What are those gold specks ? noticed them on my 5.7 could you explain ? and don't tell me its magic gold dust. LOL

Brass, collect it all into a small container so that you can sell it as scrap.

[blueorison]

Hey Blue, What are those gold specks ? noticed them on my 5.7 could you explain ? and don't tell me its magic gold dust. LOL

^ what Fuzzy said. They're just little brass specks. They won't hurt anything.

[Cyberfly]

Unless you're shooting Wolf ammunition or old Russian stuff that sometimes hits the gun shows. Then you'll want to clean your guns immediately after shooting.
Otherwise you may never get them clean again.
At least, that has been my experience.

[GONRA]

GONRA thought original question was limited to cleaning
5.7x28 FN pistols. All 5.7x28FN ammo should have noncorrosive primers so can get away with REALLY SLOPPY cleaning habits,
when guns are stored in a dry (DEHUMIDIFIED) enviroment.

This means a REAL DEHUMIDIFIER that
REMOVES WATER FROM THE AIR,
needs a drain to dump the water, etc.

Electrically heated rods are NOT DEHUMIDIFIERS!!!
They slighty increase the local temperature,
thus slightly decrease the relative humidity.
Trust this at your own risk.....
"Sounds nice. Can't be depended on."

Now this topic seems to have expanded a bit,
to guns in general.
Tons of corrosive primed surplus ammo are around.
Much corrosive ammo is sold as "non corrosive".
>> Do NOT trust gun show guys or media advertisiers! <<
>> They will lie like crazy to sell their product! <<
>> When informed their ammo is OBVIOUSLY CORRISIVE <<
>> they might change their ad to "MILDLY CORROSIVE" <<
>> which really means "CORROSIVE" fellas!!!!! <<

Commie chrome lined barrels hide this fact,
don't rust soon with corrosive ammo,
thus fool a lot of gun nuts, but eventually they too corrode.

When shootin' unknown, surplus ammo,
be SURE to clean your barrel bore with HOT WATER
as soon as possible to dissolve and WASH OUT the
POTASSIUM CHLORIDE primer combustion product
before it rusts the bore, gas system, bolt face, etc.

You can swab the bore with all sorts of other stuff,
but only HOT WATER will definately doit.

Many gun nuts have very carefully devised tests
to determine if the ammo has corrosive primers.
GONRA has been doing my tests for years,
(not as elaborate as others have suggested however)
with ammo in my junque pyle,
but am STILL not confident with the results.

Hope to improve this, gain confidence.
Its a real challange.

Until you master this to your satisfaction,
BE SURE TO cleanout the bore with HOT WATER
when shootin' suspect / unproven ammo.

[PainKillaX]

Frickin love reading GONRA's posts.

Washing it out makes sense but is there something that will neutralize corrosive what-nots for later cleaning?
Edit: Did my own search, found ammonia. Does this work for all corrosive ammos?

[UpandComer]

GONRA thought original question was limited to cleaning
5.7x28 FN pistols. All 5.7x28FN ammo should have noncorrosive primers so can get away with REALLY SLOPPY cleaning habits,
when guns are stored in a dry (DEHUMIDIFIED) enviroment.

This means a REAL DEHUMIDIFIER that
REMOVES WATER FROM THE AIR,
needs a drain to dump the water, etc.

Electrically heated rods are NOT DEHUMIDIFIERS!!!
They slighty increase the local temperature,
thus slightly decrease the relative humidity.
Trust this at your own risk.....
"Sounds nice. Can't be depended on."

Now this topic seems to have expanded a bit,
to guns in general.
Tons of corrosive primed surplus ammo are around.
Much corrosive ammo is sold as "non corrosive".
>> Do NOT trust gun show guys or media advertisiers! <<
>> They will lie like crazy to sell their product! <<
>> When informed their ammo is OBVIOUSLY CORRISIVE <<
>> they might change their ad to "MILDLY CORROSIVE" <<
>> which really means "CORROSIVE" fellas!!!!! <<

Commie chrome lined barrels hide this fact,
don't rust soon with corrosive ammo,
thus fool a lot of gun nuts, but eventually they too corrode.

When shootin' unknown, surplus ammo,
be SURE to clean your barrel bore with HOT WATER
as soon as possible to dissolve and WASH OUT the
POTASSIUM CHLORIDE primer combustion product
before it rusts the bore, gas system, bolt face, etc.

You can swab the bore with all sorts of other stuff,
but only HOT WATER will definately doit.

Many gun nuts have very carefully devised tests
to determine if the ammo has corrosive primers.
GONRA has been doing my tests for years,
(not as elaborate as others have suggested however)
with ammo in my junque pyle,
but am STILL not confident with the results.

Hope to improve this, gain confidence.
Its a real challange.

Until you master this to your satisfaction,
BE SURE TO cleanout the bore with HOT WATER
when shootin' suspect / unproven ammo.

Interesting. Okay, but with the FN 5.7 ammo, it's safe right? No need to rinse the barrel with hot water?

[PainKillaX]

Any 5.7x28 ammunition will be fine since, to my knowledge, no round chambered for it has ever been manufactured with corrosive primers. Shoot it and enjoy.