Cleaning

[ACC]

Does anyone break down their pistol magazines to clean them? How about striker fired pistols? How far should you break them down for cleaning?

The reason that I am asking because my neighbor took the striker out of his Canik pistol and for the life of me even I can't get it back in.

I have never taken the striker our of my striker fired pistols.

ACC

[ryanmattes]

I do break down pistol mags, maybe once a year or so, spray the parts all down with one-shot, wipe down, reassemble. Depending on what I'm shooting, sometimes they can be pretty dirty. The super-thun lube keeps the spring from binding up and carbon from building up near the mouth.

I've taken the striker out of my Sig P365 once, mostly out of curiosity, and I cleaned it while I had it out. It had a little grime on it, but not much.

Can't help with the reassembly of the Canik, though, I've never taken one apart.

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[Thumbcocker]

+1

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[Winger Ed.]

I clean magazine springs 'once in a great while' since they only travel from safe, to range, gun, and back.
When cleaning pistols and other guns when spending a day at the range- I sort of make an evening of it,
and I do take out the firing pins as part of stripping them.

Oh,,, check on youtube. Search there for 'Canik firing pin removal' or 'Canik slide disassembly'.
I saw about 3 videos on taking the slides apart on those.
I don't have one so I skipped through them, but it does look like there's a trick to putting them back together.

[georgerkahn]

Does anyone break down their pistol magazines to clean them? How about striker fired pistols? How far should you break them down for cleaning?

The reason that I am asking because my neighbor took the striker out of his Canik pistol and for the life of me even I can't get it back in.

I have never taken the striker our of my striker fired pistols.

ACC

I had a gummy M1 carbine mag which I couldn't seem to take apart. Nothing to lose ;) I dropped it into my Hornady ultrasonic cleaner. I did not believe the gunk which came out! Such, I did a second cycle. ASAP afterward -- my fear re rust developing quicker -- I more than sufficiently sprayed it with G96. (I suspect CLP would have worked as well, but I had a can of G96 at hand).
Anyhoos -- this "fixed" the mag, and should I have another need -- I will repeat the procedure.
geo

[charlie b]

I rarely clean mine, but, I don't shoot them much.

If I do the ultrasonic cleaner works fairly well. If they have a bunch of sand in them I take them apart.

[cwtebay]

Yes I do with the magazines for my carry guns. And I do take down my striker fired pistols at least a couple of times per year, mostly for the sweat and grime from carrying.

I had the distinct pleasure of stripping exactly 1 Canik when it was dropped into the bilge water on a fishing trip. I used this video to get it back together.https://youtu.be/WhVwRCHjY6M

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[Sasquatch-1]

I would definitely clean the striker assembly. My daughter has a Ruger SR9c that she carries. She went to the range one day and the gun would not fire using any ammo we had. She took it home and a friend of hers broke down the striker and found the area loaded with sludge that prevented it from hitting the primer. A good cleaning solved all her problems.

[contender1]

In general,, many gunsmiths will tell you they "fix" all kinds of "broken" guns by simply cleaning them. The same goes for magazines. They too need occasional cleaning,, depending upon uses.

USPSA competitors,, always dropping mags on the ground,, need cleaning more often.
Carry mags,, where lint, dirt, etc accumulates in them,, clean occasionally.
Mags that sit in a safe or whatever,, & only get taken out to the range, & placed on a table etc,, can go a lot longer between cleanings.

I tell all my students; "A gun is a mechanical, man-made object. It needs maintenance just like any other similar object. How much depends upon the amount of use."

[alfadan]

Usually just the follower and top inch or so with a solvent patch.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Good questions. I have few striker-fired pistols, rarely shoot them, so I'll address only the magazines. Yes, I do periodically disassemble and clean them although not after every session. I was wondering just the other day about how many shooters don't know how to disassemble a magazine, especially the older original Colt 1911-type magazines.

The disassembly of some of the newer magazines that have a button on the bottom of the floor plate, or the tip of a spring held captive in a notch in the side of are fairly obvious, the floor plate being removed and the spring and follower coming out the bottom with reassembly in reverse order.

The original magazines with the solid floor plate must have the follower depressed about half-way down into the magazine body with a non-marring tool such as a properly shaped toothbrush handle or small wooden dowel. One then inserts an item like a small pin punch through one of the cartridge counting holes in the side of the magazine body capturing the compressed spring. One must be careful not to pass the punch over the top of the follower, it must pass below. Then the magazine is turned upside down and tapped against a table top, lightly so as not to deform the magazine's feed lips. The follower will
separate from the spring and fall to the feed lips from which it can be removed with the fingers. Return the magazine to the upside down position and remove the punch. The spring will expand against the table top and usually force it's way partially out of the magazine body. Remove the spring. Observe how the spring was assembled into the body, as they have a special bend or loop that goes under the front end of the follower. It's only found on the end of the spring that's meant to be the top, and not on the bottom.

Turn the magazine right side up and pour a thimble full of Hoppe's No. 9 into the magazine body. Using a pistol cleaning rod and a dry patch insert the rod into the body and move it around cleaning the interior. Bet the patch will come out black!
Continue until satisfied that it's clean. Reassemble in reverse order, being sure to insert the spring with the follower's loop to the top front. Persistent attempts to assemble the spring improperly will be successful, but you'll just have to do it over again eventually, as if the spring's follower loop is toward the rear of the follower, or the spring is in upside down, you'll experience nothing but jams. Once the spring is oriented properly in the magazine body, compress it well down into the body, capture it with the pin punch, insert the follower. The followers usually are "L" shaped with a tail that inserts down inside the back of the magazine, and some wiggling may be necessary to seat it beneath and past the feed lips. and pull out the punch. Voila! Cleaned and reassembled. This works on all older semi-autos with 1911-type designed magazines.

For the newer shooters. You crusty old timers already knew this.

296668 296669 296670

DG

[poppy42]

The short answer is yes. I was once given a magazine for my Bulgarian Makarov by someone who swore the magazine was broken and would not function. I brought that magazine home and took it apart and what I found was that it was packed with Cosmo lean and never had been cleaned. After a thorough cleaning the magazine function flawlessly. Now I don’t take my mags apart every time I clean my firearms. But I do wipe them down and inspect them for any excess dirt grime sir or any type of foreign objects. Generally once or twice a year ( depending on how often the firearm is fired )I will completely disassemble of magazines and give them a thorough cleaning. I’ve always kind of looked at a magazine like the old weakest link of the chain. Do you know a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You can have the greatest best firearm in the world that functions flawlessly every time it’s called upon. If the magazine is not functioning properly you’re left with nothing more than a very expensive brick in your hand! I know I for one never want to hear the dreaded click instead of bang because of a dirty or faulty magazine.