Went shooting today with my son-in-law and his not yet gun owner brother and a couple handguns would not reliably eject spent cartridges. After inspection and thought, I concluded the problem was that neither gun had been fired in some months, and therefore not lubed. Friction on dry metals surfaces prevents the slide from doing a proper motion. Lubing all semiautos is now on the recurring calendar.
We cleaned guns together as a learning experience. My son-in-law's brother being an engineer was very interested in how they work. My son-in-law's ultra cheap .22 bolt action, bought in college had never been cleaned. You can imagine what we found.
Or perhaps use a high quality grease like Tetra's? I've heard greases can cause problems in dusty conditions, but that hasn't been a problem for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do a thorough cleaning, I detail strip, degrease, spray every surface with Tetra Spray (which at minimum gets all surfaces covered a hydrophobic and slick coating of polytetrafluoroethylene (AKA Teflon™) particles quite a bit smaller than those in CLP), then lightly grease surfaces that slide past each other, and use Tetra oil for where I need penetration.
With this regime a 1911 can go for years, sitting in a gun rag, or carried, with occasional minimum firing, or even after putting several hundred rounds through it early in that period (although after such treatment I always clean my carry weapon).
Over lubing is a big problem in semi-autos, so you have to be careful.
ReplyDeleteI clean and then lube my firearms after all practice sessions. I also oil the firearms once a year: gun oil on metal and wood oil on the stocks. Standard maintenance.
ReplyDelete