Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we discussed what to do when encountering the police. Ironically, I was pulled over just two days after the article went live. We ended up talking about the article and had a relatively good talk about people who carry around police. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to learn more. This week I want to talk about cleaning guns and equipment to ensure everything is in perfect working order. Simply cleaning and inspecting your gear can alert you to any potential problems. Let’s take a closer look at carry gun cleaning and maintenance.

Concealed Carry Corner @ TFB:

• Concealed Carry Corner: What To Do Around Police
• Concealed Carry Corner: Top Options for Summer Carry
• Concealed Carry Corner: Convenient Summer Carry Methods
• Concealed Carry Corner: Items To Consider When Carrying

Cleaning Your Carry Gun

When it comes to cleaning your carry gun, it can be a chore that gets pushed off way longer than it really should. We go on with our daily life and grab our carry guns without thinking about the last time it’s been thoroughly cleaned. When it comes to cleaning your firearms, I typically say every 3-6 months should be a minimum for a firearm you depend on to keep you safe. During the summer months, when temperatures reach the mid-90s and higher, sweat and dirt tend to become even more of a problem since the humidity and extra moisture from your body tend to collect on the gun.

This can do everything from collect debris in your handgun to cause surface rust if the moisture and sweat aren’t cleaned off in the proper amount of time. If it’s been an especially hot summer, I will usually clean my handgun once every month just to make sure I cleaned anything corrosive or harmful off the finish and keep my gun in the best shape possible. Things happen and sometimes you will develop spot rust which doesn’t affect the performance of your firearm but can make it just look rougher than it really is internally. Again, putting something like CLP on it and then lubricating the gun can help fight off the spot rust from coming back or expanding on the slide.

Clean Your Magazines

One aspect we oftentimes forget is taking care of the actual magazines and making sure they are free of debris. Whether it’s lint, dirt, or moisture, having dirty magazines can be just as harmful as when your gun is dirty. Magazines are one of the most important factors in having a reliable firearm, but almost no one takes the time to disassemble them and clean the surfaces to ensure the best performance possible. I will typically disassemble the magazines completely to make sure the spring, follower, and magazine bodies are cleaned out.

Having a small can of compressed air to clean the body out is one of the easiest ways to clean out dirt and debris. Taking a cloth to the springs and follower is all you really need to do. Spraying with CLP before reassembling the magazine will help ensure rust and corrosion will keep away with time. It may seem like a really simple thing, but cleaning your magazine can have a big impact on reliability especially if you carry the same magazines year after year.

Holster Choice and Cleaning

There are really two schools of thought when it comes to holster choice in the summer months. Some will decide to carry a minimalistic holster to have the least amount of bulk possible in their waistband. The other set of people will carry a holster with a full sweat guard in hopes of keeping moisture and sweat off their guns with a higher holster guard. Both thoughts have advantages but it’s important to be honest with yourself on what’s most important. For me personally, it’s the comfort when carrying in hot weather all day will win out over carrying a larger sweat guard, but that’s just my personal choice.

Ammo Rotation

Another severely neglected aspect of carrying concealed is the fact individuals will carry their self-defense rounds for months and even years past their effective time span. Ammo doesn’t have an expiration date but over time with enough moisture as well as loading and unloading, it can start to become questionable. Bullet setback is a real problem when you unload and reload your firearm either at the end of the day if you have children or if you unload the handgun for regular cleaning. Given enough reps and time, the bullet can be pushed back into the casing causing some serious issues if fired.

In the grand scheme of things, self-defense rounds are some of the cheapest things to pick up compared to other maintenance parts on your handgun. A box will cost you anywhere from $15-35 in most cases and you’ll have the peace of mind knowing the carry ammo in your magazine is as reliable as you can get. Typically, I will try to replace my ammo every 6-12 months depending on how much I carry the particular handgun. If you live in a warmer part of the country where it’s usually hot all year round, you may want to bump that time frame up to every 3-6 months just to be safe.

Overall Thoughts

Talking about the latest and greatest carry handgun or gear is always a really enjoyable time, but maintaining your everyday carry gun is even more important than looking at what’s new on the market. Taking care of your gun ensures it fires every single time you need it to and while it’s easy to push off buying new ammo and cleaning your gun, you will want it in the best possible shape if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation where you need a gun for self-defense. If you take care of your gear, it will return the favor by taking care of you in a dangerous situation.

Let me know what you guys think about cleaning your handguns and ammo rotations. Do you think these are adequate times to replace certain things or do you think you have more time than I am saying? Let me know what your thoughts are down in the comments below. If you have questions about carrying concealed or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Concealed Carry Corner.

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