How To Perform Proper Handgun Maintenance and Why It Matters

For the past 12-plus years I have carried a handgun almost daily. Whether I was in a work capacity as a Police Officer, CCW as an armed citizen, as a backup weapon while hunting or on the firing line as a competitive shooter, I was carrying some type of handgun. I will admit that prior to my time in Law Enforcement, I never took the cleaning and maintenance of a handgun seriously.

Once I got into Law Enforcement and became an Armorer, I started taking my weapon maintenance more serious. There are several stages of “cleanliness” that a handgun can be categorized into. The following list is from cleanest to dirtiest: White Glove Inspection, Duty Clean, Carry Clean, Range/Match Day Clean, and Neglected.

"White Glove" Clean

Without fancy solvent tank cleaning systems, ultrasonic cleaners or using compressed chemicals like break cleaner, it is hard to get guns “White Glove Clean”.

White Glove Clean usually means no lubricant on the gun which is a bad move for reliability. This also involves a detail strip of the handgun. As an Armorer I do this often, but without the proper training, it can be harder. This type of knowledge of a gun is nice, but not necessary for the proper maintenance of a handgun. White Glove Clean is less functional and more to please the powers that be.

Duty Clean

Duty Clean is an easy level of cleaning that involves wiping off all the carbon and debris, so it visibly looks clean, but is only taken down to the field strip level. For duty clean, one of the more important and often overlooked steps is running something down the bore to remove all the powder residue.  Unless you are in Law Enforcement, this type of clean is not necessary. Besides very few scenarios, fouling and carbon in the barrel of your handgun will never affect its reliability. The clean condition of the bore is used by investigating agencies after Officer involved shootings. This way, all the Officers on scene can present their firearm to be inspected to see if there is any powder residue in the bore. This will confirm or deny if they were a shooter or not. This is not the only way they can tell but it’s a quick and easy way to do so.

Carry Clean

Carry Clean is the type of clean that I think most people can get their guns to with little to no effort, but it takes some knowledge of your handgun. Carry Clean would be used after a range trip, hunting trip or carrying CCW for some amount of time. You should field stripping your gun, wiping off major visible carbon/dirt/debris, properly apply lubricant, putting the gun back together and put it back into the holster. Admittedly, most of my handguns fall into this category with the exception of my duty handgun. In this article, I will focus more on this level of clean.

Before we dive into the Carry Clean, I’ll touch briefly on the last two. Range/Match Clean is a temporary state of dirtiness that is more of the “keep it running” type of clean. This generally means that I will not even take the gun apart but apply some lube in some high-wear areas of the gun in the middle of a range trip or match. Following the range/match, I’ll get the gun back to at least Carry Clean (most of the time). The last level, Neglect, speaks for itself. That is the level of clean (or dirty) that usually results in malfunctions.

Depending on who you talk to (remembering that old saying about opinions), you’ll get varying opinions about what level of clean is necessary. You can make your own conclusions on that but I’m at least going to give you my opinion. I will also give you my “why” behind my reason. My optimum level of "clean" depends on who you are and what your need for the gun is.

Practicality

For most people, that will fall in the Carry Clean category. These are people who are serious about carrying a handgun and will need that gun to respond accordingly if pressed into action immediately. That can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For some people, that might be a bet that they made with their buddy that would require a gun not to malfunction at the range. For others, that might mean that they have established an imminent threat to their life or the lives of others, and that gun needs to come out of some form of carry/concealment and be pressed into a life-or-death situation.

For the longest time, I used to over-clean and spend a lot of time cleaning. As I got older and had more responsibilities that occupied my time, I wanted to get my guns into the most efficient type of clean in the quickest amount of time. If cleaning becomes a chore and eats up a lot of time, people will either stop shooting or stop cleaning altogether. I’ve seen it get to the point where guys do not want to shoot their duty handgun on the range because they don’t want to clean it to “Duty Clean” levels.

This type of attitude towards using and cleaning a gun doesn’t help anyone. It’s prudent for you to learn your firearm and to know what level of clean will keep it running reliably. Some guns require higher levels of clean. I’ve seen Glocks run for thousands of rounds with no maintenance besides a small amount of lube from time to time. I’ve also seen really expensive 1911 handguns jam up after a couple hundred rounds. Those are two totally different types of handguns but without a doubt require a different level of maintenance.

Prioritize

For me, I’d rather see people spend more time shooting and less time cleaning. Refer to your owner’s manual or a reputable media publication on how to properly field strip your handgun. Become intimately familiar with your weapon system. Most of the time, it is very easy to field strip a handgun. That should take you less than 30 seconds.

Find your lubrication points which are often found in your manual. They will also be apparent when you wipe off the carbon and you see where there is finish rubbed off your firearm. Where the finish is worn, that is a good spot to apply a small drop of lubrication. That usually means there is some type of metal-to-metal contact. As a point of clarification, I usually will just dab some oil onto my fingers and just rub my fingers onto the area needing lubrication. This leaves a slight shine to the surface but keeps things from being over-lubricated.

Over lubrication can be a bad thing because it can run into areas that you don’t desire lubrication and it can attract debris like dirt and lint. With a light film of lube on high-wear parts of the gun, it will make it easier to just wipe off the carbon and dust. Wiping the gun down and cleaning some of the carbon build-up should take you less than 5 minutes. If you need to scrape at some stubborn carbon buildup or use a Q-Tip to get into the small spaces, this could take a little longer. Lubrication and reassembly should take less than a couple of minutes. This entire process should only take someone 5 or so minutes per gun. The more you do this the better and more efficient you will get.

This is why I like the Carry Clean so much for most people. It is fast, easy, and requires little to no special equipment. It also takes minimal knowledge or training. Most importantly, it is not the “chore” most people think of when they think about cleaning their handguns. Always remember the rules of firearm safety. Always ensure your handgun is unloaded and ammunition is off the table when working on a handgun. Have fun, be safe and do not be afraid to shoot your gun now that cleaning isn’t a hassle.

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