Doesn't anybody clean a firearm prior to selling ?

[Bookworm]

Picked up a Service-Six in .38 today. The weapon looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. Not just dusty from sitting on the nightstand, but rode hard and put up wet dirty. Shoot 100 rounds and stick it in the safe dirty.
Come to think, the last 6 or 7 firearms I went to inspect for possible purchase had not been recently cleaned. *** ?

I would be embarrassed to fetch a weapon out of the safe, and hand it to someone dirty like that. Too, if I were trying to sell something, I would want to make it look as nice as possible.

You wouldn't try to sell a car without at least running it through the automatic wash, and waving a vacuum nozzle thru it, right ?

Gunshows, private FTF, doesn't seem to matter. I purchase a firearm, and spend 2 hours cleaning it when I get home.

Doesn't anybody clean these things ?

[dualityofman]

I got a Glock 19 on a trade once that was absolutely filthy, but usually I get them at least decently clean.

Im pretty particular about mine - I'll strip em down to the pins to give it a good cleaning and lube before passing it to someone, Id hate for someone to want something to shoot that day and its clogged up with copper fouling and unburnt powder

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[JSnover]

I've bought.plenty of dirty guns. Makes me wonder if the seller was trying to hide a bad bore but I always got lucky. The worst was a salt and pepper Garand but it shot well enough.

[runfiverun]

Guilty.
I have some that ain't ever been cleaned.
maybe a little oil here and there but cleaned...no.

[shoot-n-lead]

I don't even clean the one's I am keeping...sho ain't gonna clean da one's I is sellin'.

[garym1a2]

I do, plus I normally clean after shooting.

[WILCO]

Gunshows, private FTF, doesn't seem to matter. I purchase a firearm, and spend 2 hours cleaning it when I get home.

No sense in complaining if you know what you're getting.
Hope you at least worked the cleaning effort into the final price of purchase.

[bubba.50]

to give a little hint of my philosophy, a friend loaned me his 30-06 one year to deer hunt with. nothin' really wrong with it but i noticed a couple palm-prints startin' to turn brown so i took some 3in1 oil and 0000 steel wool to it & it shined right up so i went over the whole barrel/action. the stock finish was okay nut lookin' a bit shabby so i took some B/C stock sheen & conditioner on a soft rag to it & shined that up also.7 buffed

when i took it back he got a look on his face & kinda shook his head. i asked is somethin' wrong & he said "no, I'm just ashamed of myself. I loaned a man a gun & he brought it back in better shape than when i gave it to him".

[fatelk]

I sold a Colt Mk Iv Series 80 several years ago. I thoroughly cleaned and lubed it. The buyer was impressed and bought it quick. Then again maybe I sold it too cheap. I don't generally sell guns and thought that $700 with some nice extras was getting good money for it...

Otherwise for guns that just get shot at the range I generally only clean them when they need it. I know some guys clean every time they shoot a gun and are very adamant about it, but that's not me.


Gunshows, private FTF, doesn't seem to matter. I purchase a firearm, and spend 2 hours cleaning it when I get home.

Funny, I think that's one of the things about buying a new gun that I enjoy the most: figuring out how it comes apart, then spending a couple hours detail cleaning. Especially if it's an old surplus gun of some kind that's been sitting in a forgotten warehouse somewhere for half a century caked in cosmoline. I love the smell of cosmoline. :)

Dang, now I'm feeling bad because I can't buy guns anymore. Other financial obligations now, maybe when the kids are grown, if you can still buy them at all then.

[Omega]

My last trade I cleaned mine, and it looks like the one I got in returned was clean too. I don't always clean them as good as I should after a range day or after hunting for the day but will usually clean them before I put them in the safe.

[Sean357]

Every gun I've sold has been torn down and cleaned and lubed as needed and assembled and ops checked. Makes the buyer less likely to try and haggle as there's nothing to complain about, but mostly because I can't stand the thought of selling a dirty gun.

Every single gun I've bought has been dirty and in need of some TLC. Granted I would have torn them down anyway, but still.



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[w5pv]

I blow mine down with low pressure air and then use a mixture of Ben's Red and Kroil then wipe as clean as I can get it without tearing it down and then use a very light coating of Microlube from Kroil

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I've bought.plenty of dirty guns. Makes me wonder if the seller was trying to hide a bad bore but I always got lucky. The worst was a salt and pepper Garand but it shot well enough.

Yes, exactly. There is no red light signal like "Bore should clean up to very good."

[6bg6ga]

Down right amazing another missing post. I commented on here last night only to find my post missing so I will repeat it. I traded in a Sig Tac Pak I bought new and only ran 100-150 rounds thru it. I always kept the gun immaculately clean and oiled. I liked the gun but hated the 6-7 lb trigger that an armoror told me couldn't be modified because of the trigger make up was different in a Sig from other standard 1911's. I was told that because the gun was so clean and they didn't have to clean it there may be something I was trying to hide. I remarked with take the whole gun apart and inspect it. So, it would seem to me that gun shops seem to like dirty guns because it proves to them the gun was being used and is working correctly.

[marlin39a]

I would rather buy a dirty firearm, than a clean one. You can get them cheaper when dirty.

[Screwbolts]

We all have different standards of how to keep store trade firearms, I don't pass judgment on any for whatever they choose, Clean, dirty. What is the universal standard of what makes a fire arm dirty, Oh, there isn't one. There is just ones opinion or personal standard.


My firearms are in my ready to use condition. That has always worked for me.

Ken

[FISH4BUGS]

I once bought a late 50's era 4 screw S&W Model 28 357 magnum 6" blued. Diamond grips numbered to the gun. Filthy and a bit blue worn. I determined that it was someone's duty gun based on the wear pattern. It looked like it was never cleaned and rarely fired. It was cheap because it was dirty. I took a chance that bore was good, and it was perfect. Not a lot of corrosive primers in 38/357.
Many hours of cleaning later the gun cleaned up well, is still going strong. Blue wear on the high points, thinning a bit overall with holster wear on both sides of the barrel and the cylinder, but mechanically perfect.
I shoot it a LOT! 357's are H&G #51 with 5.0 gr WW231. Nice light 357 loads. Give me a dirty gun anytime. I'll negotiate the price down because you didn't take the time to clean it.
I will always clean a gun of mine if I sell or trade it, otherwise it gets cleaned about every third or fourth range session or so....except for the bedside guns. Those are spotless.

[square butte]

I once was looking at a nice old S & W 32-20 in a shop that I frequent. The bore was dirty - kind of dusty looking. I asked the shop owner if I could push a patch down the bore so I could see better what the condition was. He said nope. That's what I said too. What did I learn there?

[DerekP Houston]

My firearms are in my ready to use condition. That has always worked for me.

Ken

Thats my philosphy as well. Depending on the gun that may mean cleaning it every trip or every few trips. Since I joined here there's always a load or 2 I am tinkering with and want to test out. These guns are brought to the range and maybe a dozen shots each. To me that is negligible and I just check for leading in the barrel. The rest get a good workout and therefore a good cleaning.

Almost every gun I have gotten needed a thorough cleaning regardless of source.

[Bookworm]

No sense in complaining if you know what you're getting.
Hope you at least worked the cleaning effort into the final price of purchase.

Not really complaining, as much as commenting. I guess everybody is different, but for me, I want this piece of machinery to be in the best condition possible when I reach for it.
Mostly I would be embarrassed to hand over a firearm in that condition. Detritus packed in the corners of the frame, not even a dry patch shoved through the bore. Trying to sell a dirty weapon, to me, tells me something of the way the owner minds his firearms in general.

I view cleaning as a time to look over the general condition of a firearm, much the same as when I change the oil in a car I spend a few minutes looking at the underside of it too. Check the ball-joints, axle boots, etc.
I don't necessarily mind it, I just think it's something that should be done. And my old Drill Sargent did too, in spades.

And yes, I try to add (subtract?) overall condition into the formula when viewing a possible purchase. A well-kept anything is worth more than a pile of garbage.

[Lloyd Smale]

id rather buy one that isn't. At least you can see if it fouls heavily and still runs with a bit of filth that's going to be there the first time I shoot it anyway. My buddy whos the local dealer laughs at me. He said most of my trade ins look like they just came from the range and many times have.

[dragon813gt]

What is "selling a firearm"? This concept is foreign to me ;)

[Bookworm]

What is "selling a firearm"? This concept is foreign to me ;)

It's getting that way with me too. I commented to SWMBO the other day that I wasn't selling any more. She said "Good...".

I have traded a few off, like the .410 break-action NEF that went into the trade for a Ruger .44 Carbine. That 410 had been sitting in the safe for 20 years, paid $45 for it at a gun show in 1993, came with 2 boxes of shells. I tried to GIVE the .410 to my brother-in-law, who has an 8-year old son - he didn't even want it.
I think I got a good use out of it.

And I did run a wet/dry patch down the bore before I took it to the trade table.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I bought a supposedly as new unfired Ruger number 1 .475 linebaugh that showed up with a shiny scratch in the reciever a big ding in the stock and another in the forend and factory scope rings awol. If It was new unfired it sure had gotten alot of safe rash! turned me off to gun broker for good!

[Bookworm]

Surprised nobody has asked for pics of the Service-Six. Here goes anyway -
168634 168635
168636 168637
After cleaning, of course.

[gnostic]

I seldom clean my guns as I don't shoot corrosive ammunition. I do wipe them down at home with WD40 to remove dirt that would otherwise get on my hands and clothes. I think needless cleaning and disassembly does more harm than good. I've never, in the 60 years I've owned guns, seen a gun rust or become unreliable from burnt powder etc. Chip McCormick say to clean, then fire a couple hundred rounds to test functioning.

[blackthorn]

On my 17th birthday an old neighbor gave me a single shot Savage .22. He told me the extractor was broken and he was tired of using his jackknife to get the fired cases out. I took it home and started cleaning it and to my surprise found so much accumulated dirt under the extractor that it would no longer pull the empties out! I still have that rifle and 60 years later, after I don't know how many thousands of rounds that old gun still works just fine. More on point, I clean my guns when I see they need it. I would, however never sell a firearm that was dirty.

[Char-Gar]

I consider regular cleaning and lubrication was normal gun care. I consider the failure to give a gun normal care as gun abuse. Folks who try to sell or trade filthy guns are just lazy in my estimation and they downgrade the value of their firearm in the process.

I have seen many filthy firearms for sale. If the filth is enough to mask potential problems, I won't buy it, unless I have given it a quick clean before hand. I have never and will never buy or trade for a firearm that I hope will be OK after a cleaning. I must be certain of the condition before the deal is done. Most gun shops don't object to me doing some cleaning so I can inspect the firearm. Those that do object, don't get my business.

[Char-Gar]

I seldom clean my guns as I don't shoot corrosive ammunition. I do wipe them down at home with WD40 to remove dirt that would otherwise get on my hands and clothes. I think needless cleaning and disassembly does more harm than good. I've never, in the 60 years I've owned guns, seen a gun rust or become unreliable from burnt powder etc. Chip McCormick say to clean, then fire a couple hundred rounds to test functioning.

If firearms are not cleaned they will sooner or later malfunction. If they malfunction at the wrong time, you could be a dead man. Keep WD-40 away from guns ad it will creep and kill primers and powder charges. Regular gun care will not damage firearms if done correctly.

I have been around guns for a very long time and have never damaged a gun by proper cleaning. Guns can be and have been damaged by improper cleaning.

[Char-Gar]

gun is mechanical thing and reqire maintain cleaning allow you to check for ware and damage parts for replacement if needed. people who no clean gun are lazy and their is more bad to happen from dirty gun than from cleaning gun

Amen!

[45workhorse]

What is "selling a firearm"? This concept is foreign to me ;)
If I like the gun to buy it, why the heck sell it...

[Outpost75]

When we would have dirty used guns come into the shop, it was routine to add an additional $25 cleaning and inspection charge to be taken off the sellers net, after deducting the usual 15% commission, because cleaning is necessary to conduct a thorough gunsmith and safety inspection before a used gun would be put out for sale. If sellers were unwilling to do that we would tell them to take their goods elsewhere.

Dirty guns hide defects, and no shop wants to take a hit on them and tick off customers. Ultrasonic cleaner is good investment if you deal in used guns.

[Petrol & Powder]

The cleaning of firearms after use was beaten into me at a young age and to this day I cannot put a dirty gun away.
Some unscrupulous sellers will use dirt to mask a problem. Savvy buyers can spot this but many buyers are ignorant and the ploy works.


Now, I know a guy that is an incredible marksman and he possesses more skill than I could ever hope to have. He cleans his guns when they malfunction and then just enough to get them back in action! It drives me nuts but it works for him. I once watched him shoot an old Ruger Red Label to the point that it would no longer eject empties when opened. He opened the action, plucked the empty hulls out, sprayed WD-40 on the ejectors until the oil ran out of the muzzles, loaded two live shells and went back to breaking targets. I just cringed and offered to clean the gun for him when we were done shooting. He politely declined my offer. :grin:

[higgins]

I wouldn't buy any rifle or handgun chambered for a military cartridge, U.S. or foreign, without inspecting a clean dry bore. It hasn't been that long ago, just a few years really, that even imported .30/06 surplus with corrosive primers was readily available. Add to that foreign 9x19, corrosive U.S.-made.45acp from WWII imported from former soviet union countries. Add to the mix gun sellers who don't know squat about corrosive ammo or how to clean properly after firing it, and it's too risky to not inspect closely.

[Mik]

Interesting to see how many differences of opinion gun guys have on this, I've heard everything from "only clean when you start to have malfunctions" to cleaning mid range session.

Personally, my theory has always been "if you shoot it, clean it".

To me, not cleaning your gun after shooting it is a bit like not making your bed in the morning - practically, it probably doesn't change much, but not doing it makes me feel a bit sloppy.

[gnostic]

If firearms are not cleaned they will sooner or later malfunction. If they malfunction at the wrong time, you could be a dead man. Keep WD-40 away from guns ad it will creep and kill primers and powder charges. Regular gun care will not damage firearms if done correctly.

I have been around guns for a very long time and have never damaged a gun by proper cleaning. Guns can be and have been damaged by improper cleaning.

I shoot almost every day and haven't seen any problems arise in the last 20 or 30 years. I actually haven't had a bad primer for as long as I can remember. It's just a different strokes sort of thing...

[Minerat]

What is "selling a firearm"? This concept is foreign to me ;)
Me Too, I had to buy another safe.

They don't go in the safe dirty. Even if it is 1 shot. That was the way I was raised and the way my grandson is being taught.

[Char-Gar]

I was working in a Houston area gunship in the mid60s and have several HPD officers bring revolvers in they because they would not fire. It due to the fact they sprayed their revolvers with WD 40 killing the round in the cylinder. Shortly thereafter HPD banned the use of W.d 40 by their officers.

[Lloyd Smale]

I fall in the middle. I surely don't clean a gun every time I shoot it or id spend more time cleaning guns then shooting. I don't let them go till they wont function either. I have no set in stone rule. When I think it needs cleaning it gets cleaned. Usually let 10 or 20 get to that point and put aside a day just to clean guns. Just so you know I have a number of high dollar custom five and six guns and even they aren't kept in a sterilized show case. there shot just like the others and cleaned once in a while when I feel its needed. Handguns shooting cast bullets RARELY have there barrels cleaned. That said I don't keep a gun that leads up either. But don't think I'm going to spend 2 hours cleaning the bore of a 3006 that's been shot 5 times before I trade it either. Wipe it down and bring it to the shop. If they told me they were going to charge me for cleaning it or take money off because 5 rounds down the barrel id walk out in a second. They know me and they know if I have a gun 1. its a shooter because I don't keep inaccurate guns and 2. they wont find a spec of rust on it anywhere. That's good enough for me and for them. Lazy? Anyone that knows me knows better. I just have better things to do then waste time cleaning a gun that doesn't need it. I don't wipe down the motor in my pickup or jeep everytime I use it either.
Interesting to see how many differences of opinion gun guys have on this, I've heard everything from "only clean when you start to have malfunctions" to cleaning mid range session.

Personally, my theory has always been "if you shoot it, clean it".

To me, not cleaning your gun after shooting it is a bit like not making your bed in the morning - practically, it probably doesn't change much, but not doing it makes me feel a bit sloppy.

[jcwit]

I've bought gunsmiths specials at gunshows that were dirty.

Come to find out the only thing wrong with them was the extractor was so dirty there was dirt in the hook and it was unable to grip the shell casing.

Cleaned the extractor and it worked, cleaned the whole gun and it worked fantastic.

[Petrol & Powder]

I was working in a Houston area gunship in the mid60s and have several HPD officers bring revolvers in they because they would not fire. It due to the fact they sprayed their revolvers with WD 40 killing the round in the cylinder. Shortly thereafter HPD banned the use of W.d 40 by their officers.

FOR THE RECORD - I CAN'T STAND WD-40 ! It has no place around firearms in my opinion but I've seen plenty of people use it.
I've also witnessed live cartridges that were turned into duds with too much oil and often it was WD-40.

[fatelk]

I once was looking at a nice old S & W 32-20 in a shop that I frequent. The bore was dirty - kind of dusty looking. I asked the shop owner if I could push a patch down the bore so I could see better what the condition was. He said nope. That's what I said too. What did I learn there?

I don't know how many dirty bores I've seem on hunting rifles in the used racks at gun shops. I don't know why they don't take a few minutes to push a patch through the bore before putting them out. Actually, maybe I do. You and I both may not be wiling to buy a pig in a poke, but the average guy doesn't care, or even really know how to look at a bore for damage.

Twice in the last few months I've had friends show me hunting rifles they've had for decades. As a force of habit I look at the bore. "How does it shoot?" I asked both times.
"Fine" was the answer both times.
"Do you know that your bore is badly rusted and pitted?"
"What?? Looked fine to me?!?"
Both of these guys are serious lifelong hunters who have been handling firearms literally all their lives.

I've seen enough pitted bores on hunting rifles here in the Pacific Northwest to know that you have to run at least an oily patch down the bore every single time that rifle is out in the woods, whether it was fired or not.

As to WD40: I use it for a very limited purpose. It cuts through carbon fouling quickly. I won't leave it in a gun though, as it dries into a sticky lacquer. A friend once asked me to look at her Rem model 7 that would sometimes fire when chambering a round, without pulling the trigger. Turns out that long-congealed WD40 from last year's "cleaning" was gumming up the infamous Remington trigger. It worked great when cleaned up.

I was looking at a nice old Remington 700 a few years ago from a shop. The bore was dirty and something looked odd, so I asked if they could run a patch through the bore. They said it's just dirty and should clean up fine, but reluctantly pushed a patch, then a brush followed by a patch when it didn't clean up. They said "See, it's fine", while I looked at a frosted barrel with a bulge near the muzzle. I pointed out the pits and bulge, and they wanted that thing out of their shop ASAP, took my lower offer in a hurry. Worked for me, since I really only wanted the action.


I will always clean a gun of mine if I sell or trade it, otherwise it gets cleaned about every third or fourth range session or so....except for the bedside guns. Those are spotless.
+1 :)

[EMC45]

Recently got 2 S&W revolvers for $425 OTD. Model 10 and Model 67. The Model 10 was filthy with broken fake elk Franzite grips. Both were duty guns and had some wear. The 67 had to go back to Smith due to the firing pin bushing falling out. The 10 cleaned up nice. I know I got the deal I did because of being filthy.

[gnostic]

I was working in a Houston area gunship in the mid60s and have several HPD officers bring revolvers in they because they would not fire. It due to the fact they sprayed their revolvers with WD 40 killing the round in the cylinder. Shortly thereafter HPD banned the use of W.d 40 by their officers.

I don't spray my handguns with anything. I wipe down with a cloth that has a squirt of solvent to remove crud. Anyone that'd spray ammo with anything is brain-dead...

[Lloyd Smale]

I would think it would take a pretty brain dead police officer to spray his gun with wd40 without first unloading it! They should have gotten rid of stupid instead of banning wd40.
I was working in a Houston area gunship in the mid60s and have several HPD officers bring revolvers in they because they would not fire. It due to the fact they sprayed their revolvers with WD 40 killing the round in the cylinder. Shortly thereafter HPD banned the use of W.d 40 by their officers.

[DerekP Houston]

I don't spray my handguns with anything. I wipe down with a cloth that has a squirt of solvent to remove crud. Anyone that'd spray ammo with anything is brain-dead...

I was curious who the hell cleans their guns with live ammo in the chamber!

[Rick Hodges]

I'm of the opinion that there are a lot of people who have no idea how to clean a gun..."wipe it down with an oily rag and call it good." I knew a gunsmith who said cleaning guns was a high percentage of and very profitable part of his business.

[nicholst55]

Yes, exactly. There is no red light signal like "Bore should clean up to very good."

I've had sellers (usually at gun shows) tell me 'I'm selling it as a collectible, not as a shooter.' to try to justify an uncleaned bore. If he won't let me run a boresnake through the bore, I won't buy it. It seems like every muzzle loader I've seen on a used rack has a rusty bore, and I won't even look at them.

Then again, I had a friend who assured me that his .30-30 had a 'shot-out' bore on it, and he was going to buy a new rifle. I asked to look at it, and the bore was absolutely filthy and badly copper-fouled. When I asked him how he cleaned it, he said that he wiped the outside down with an oily rag, and that was all. I wore out three new bore brushes and even used some JB Bore Paste on it - and a lot of solvent and patches. I told him to go shoot it again, from a rest, after I cleaned it. He couldn't believe how well the gun shot! I explained to him how he needed to clean it in the future, and he got that deer in the headlights look. Probably a waste of time and effort on my part.

[djgoings]

A few years ago I purchased an older S&W Model 27 that appeared to be in very good condition. After getting it home and giving it a good cleaning, I was disappointed. The face of the cyclinder looked fine when I purchased it because it was all black with powder residue. Once I cleaned the residue from the cyclinder face it revealed light file scratch marks. Litterally someone had lightly filed the face. My guess is they didn't feel like spending the time to clean it. It is stricly cosmetic but still bugs the heck out of me. Had the gun been cleaned when I first looked at it, the scratches would have been obvious and I never would have purchased it.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive seen some pretty at first glance well cleaned guns that were about half cold blue too. So just because its clean doesn't mean someones not trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
A few years ago I purchased an older S&W Model 27 that appeared to be in very good condition. After getting it home and giving it a good cleaning, I was disappointed. The face of the cyclinder looked fine when I purchased it because it was all black with powder residue. Once I cleaned the residue from the cyclinder face it revealed light file scratch marks. Litterally someone had lightly filed the face. My guess is they didn't feel like spending the time to clean it. It is stricly cosmetic but still bugs the heck out of me. Had the gun been cleaned when I first looked at it, the scratches would have been obvious and I never would have purchased it.

[Tenbender]

Some people buy'em to use. Others buy'em to look at !

[BD]

There's no telling with used guns. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes the dog pees on your foot before you realize you're standing in the wrong spot. I'm a little suspicious of guns that are "superficially" clean. I once bought a Monson Dan Wesson 715 that looked real clean and shiny, but came with no box and no wrench, so it was priced pretty reasonable. The cylinder would barely turn and I had a bear of a time getting the barrel nut off to clean it up for real. It didn't shoot for beans. Apparently it had been cleaned from the bore for years, and the cylinder face had never been cleaned at all. A real cleaning and a new barrel fixed it right up. I had $400 in it with the new barrel till I was done and I still own it. Shoots much better than I can hold and has beautiful deep purple blueing.
I bought a Husky swede 1914 M96 for $150 from a small gun shop in northern Maine that had a bore like a sewer pipe. Really ugly, no rifling visible at all. I was attracted to it by the Swedish coin in the wrist that was covering up the head of a wood screw that "repaired" the cracked wrist. I cut 6" off the barrel, re-crowned it, ran my homemade "foul out" rig on it a few times, and epoxy bedded it into a $50 ramline plastic stock with the barrel floated. Two trips to the range with hand loads and it was shooting in the .2s and .3s with a 10X scope, ($350 in it at that point), so I set it up scout style with the little Leupold scout scope and it's my truck gun to this day. Oh, and I got $300 for the gold Kroner :)

[Lloyd Smale]

bought a 223 Mossberg single shot once from my buddys shop that I cracked open and looked down the bore and it was clean and appeared to be nice and shiny. Took it home and it shot like ****. 10 shots and it looked like a copper pipe inside. It took me a couple hours to clean it back up to return it. In that case I'm sure the owner cleaned it real good to dump it. If it would have been left fouled I would have known to not bother.

[TenTea]

When your rifle looks like this...

168836

but you want it to look like this...

168837

A good juicing with WD40, followed by a thorough blow with 90 psi compressed air a few minutes later, is a great remedy for sloughing off the worst crud.
Then, a man may undertake a *normal* cleaning without a hazmat suit and gloves. :kidding:

*ps: Any solvent that works on powder residue and carbon would work as well as WD40 in this procedure.

Cheaper by the gallon and works for me.

[Bookworm]

TenTea -
That first pic reminds me of basic training. We were on a night- training exercise, with the M16A1 (that will tell you how long ago that was) blank adapters clamped to the barrel. You know, the red steel box thing, with the thumbscrew to tighten it up.
Anyway, we finished the exercise, the Drill Sargeants instructed us to shoot up the remaining bazillion or so blanks that were leftover.
That's about what the chambers looked like afterwards. But we didn't have WD-40, or compressed air to clean with.
We had toothbrushes and toilet paper, and toothpicks swiped from the chowhall. And that solvent in the green pint cans.

And the rest of the night, til 4am, to get 'em clean....

[tygar]

Picked up a Service-Six in .38 today. The weapon looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. Not just dusty from sitting on the nightstand, but rode hard and put up wet dirty. Shoot 100 rounds and stick it in the safe dirty.
Come to think, the last 6 or 7 firearms I went to inspect for possible purchase had not been recently cleaned. *** ?

I would be embarrassed to fetch a weapon out of the safe, and hand it to someone dirty like that. Too, if I were trying to sell something, I would want to make it look as nice as possible.

You wouldn't try to sell a car without at least running it through the automatic wash, and waving a vacuum nozzle thru it, right ?

Gunshows, private FTF, doesn't seem to matter. I purchase a firearm, and spend 2 hours cleaning it when I get home.

Doesn't anybody clean these things ?

LOL I just picked up a Marlin (JM) 375 Win, I bought on GB. It was stone mint on the blue & only a couple dings in the fore stock. I opened the lever & stuck my light in the receiver & the dam thing was dirty! Not horrible, but not how one would expect a really nice rifle to look. I'll be stripping it tomorrow & will shoot it - then I will CLEAN it. LOL can't believe it either.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've noticed this as far back as the 70's, and on most purchases, and not only private party purchases, but dealers too. What? How much ya gonna add to the price for cleani'n it? Crud-balls...

Then, I do run into some that are immaculate. My last private purchase, an Ithaca M-37 Magnum made in 1982 looked perfectly new and unfired, but without box and paperwork.

[reddog81]

i consider myself lucky if I pick up a used gun and the only thing it needs is a cleaning.

My last purchase was a Colt Woodsman from an online auction. The pics were blurry, but all the auction photos were pretty bad so I didn't think anything of it. It turns out the front sight had been replaced and the barrel was reblued. You couldn't tell from the photos but it was the first thing I noticed upon opening the box. For some reason someone decided the stock front sight need to replaced and drilled and tapped the barrel so they could added a screw on sight. Whoever did the job must not have known what they were doing because that front sight comes loose after a couple of shots.

[dualsport]

Guilty.
I have some that ain't ever been cleaned.
maybe a little oil here and there but cleaned...no.
I'm jealous. I'm a compulsive cleaner. Can't stop.