Being a gun owner means observing a lot of important habits—especially when it comes to keeping your firearm clean and fully functional. Proper gun cleaning is a staple of gun ownership and needs to be taken as seriously as any other good habit, which means getting yourself up to date on what it means to properly clean a gun.
Now, you can walk into just about any gun shop in Olathe, KS and find a firearm cleaning kit, but that won’t be enough. It takes a keen understanding of how to clean a gun to ensure you’re working with a finely tuned firearm that’s not going to suffer the consequences of improper care. Take a look at some of the essential protocols that proper gun cleaning encompasses:
- When cleaning your gun, it’s imperative that you clean in the direction that the gun operates—namely from the breach to the muzzle. This is important for a number of reasons. For starters, when you fire a gun, powder residue becomes prevalent in the barrel—if you clean backwards, you could push this residue and other debris into the chamber or receiver! If debris gets caught in the chamber, you’re going to raise the chances of a misfire or jamming, which is a situation any gun owner wants to avoid.
- When cleaning the barrel, don’t let the tip or the rod of your cleaning utensils rub the bore. The bore is very precise in firearms and scratching it or adding foreign marks to the barrel can impact accuracy. Also, never run a brush in the barrel because it can push dirt and other debris back down the barrel and cause it to drop into the receiver.
- Lubrication is absolutely essential when cleaning a gun and can be the difference between a fully functional firearm and one that encounters mechanical failures. Be sure to lubricate as your owners manual dictates—over lubricating can cause debris buildups, while under lubricating can have dry fire implications.
- Using a luster cloth—a pre-treated piece of flannel cloth that includes silicone lubricant—wipe down the exterior of your gun gently. This will remove the acid buildups that can be caused by your skin and will give your firearm a clean look to go with its clean function.
Be sure to clean your gun after every use—even skipping a single outing could result in costly debris buildups that cause harm to your firearm’s functionality! Gun cleaning can be performed in a minimal amount of time and has tremendous benefits for your gun and whoever is firing it.
If you’re unsure of how to clean your gun or want to get more information about cleaning products that are of a superior quality, be sure to visit a gun shop in Olathe, KS and speak to the professionals. With a few questions and some information about your gun, a pro can put you on the path to exceptional gun maintenance, leaving you with a firearm that’s fully functional for the lifetime that you own it!