"Ask the Rabbi" by R. Mermelstein
QUESTION: Dear Rabbi
Mermelstein:
Great service, thanks.
Read your answer to "Best Gun Cleaning Procedure?"
and now am confused. Just bought a custom made .38 Super from a
professional shooter. Asked him about cleaning it and he said to
never clean a gun after each shooting rather only after several hundred
or even one thousand rounds. His answer obviously threw
me. (A bit longer than your suggested every 15 rounds
cleaning.) I asked about fouling and he said not a problem; a
bigger problem is the damage done by cleaning too often no matter how
careful and the lesser cleaning frequency will cause no damage to the
bore, accuracy or any other problem. He shoots several thousand
rounds a week and has been doing it for 25+ years. Anything to
allay my present confusion?
Regards,
James Barton
08 September 2004
ANSWER: Dear Mr. Barton,
You refer to methods of gun cleaning I wrote, found at http://www.gunownersalliance.com/Rabbi_0078.htm
The topic, there, was rifles, not handguns. There are many points on
which the professional shooter and I agree. No handgun, and here we
refer to revolvers or autoloaders, not single-shot pistols chambered
for rifle cartridges as used in hunting and silhouette shooting, needs
cleaning every 15 rounds. Years ago, Skeeter Skelton, writing for
Shooting Times Magazine, put a Colt Gold Cup 1911 pistol through a
grueling test of 5,000 rounds of ball ammo without any cleaning other
than periodic lubrication of the slide. Except for the breakage of one
or two small parts that did not prevent continued functioning, the Gold
Cup passed with flying colors. Again, that was ten cases of ammunition
without a cleaning. It is also true that the less time a cleaning rod
spends inside any barrel the better, but powder, lead or jacket fouling
build up make cleaning a necessary chore if continued flawless function
and accuracy are desired. Failure to clean a firearm over many rounds
will only make the job more difficult once it finally becomes critical
to the accuracy and functioning of the piece. The potential to damage a
piece through cleaning, which is remarkably easy to do, can only be
mitigated by remembering that a finely crafted firearm is not a BBQ
grill. A quality bore cleaning rod kept centered in the barrel and not
allowed to chafe the breech or muzzle is of paramount importance.
Non-corrosive primers, which have been around for the past 80 years,
have eliminated the danger of bore rust. Obviously, if you live in a
locale with air that has a high salt content, like coastal Florida,
rust is a common sight on anything made of iron or steel. The level of
rust prevention required in such an area would be far greater than in a
dry, inland climate with little to no humidity. And there is always the
consideration of salty perspiration from hands on the firearm's
exterior. Even stainless steel, the alloys used for firearms, is only
rust resistant -- not rust proof.
I hope this clarifies what I wrote several years ago. Those guidelines
still stand, and will continue to do so until the end of time. Thanks
for writing.
Sincerely,
R. Mermelstein
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