Clean. Use either a liquid or aerosol type cleaner degreaser to remove carbon fouling and pre-existing solvent residue and lubricant. Polish into gunmetal parts. If you lubricate the bore well, buildup will be much less prevalent, and it can clean out with cotton wipes and alike much easier than if you allow for cleaner residue and powder fouling to buildup directly onto the gunmetal.

Lubricate. This is the more important part of CLP (Clean, Lubricate, Protect aka Cleaner, Lubricant, Protectant). Apply lubricating oil to clean, dry gunmetal parts, beginning with the bore. Follow manufacturer’s recommendations, but any moving or exposed parts that experience friction should be treated.

Gun spray, in general, hits parts with a wide pattern, so you can make a mess if you aren’t careful. I recommend that you spray unassembled parts like a barrel or the upper receiver / slide, over a towel, for example.

For precision lubrication, use grease on the rails, and various slow moving parts, and use the lubes with oil consistency for overall surfaces and hard-to-reach parts. You also want to wipe down at the end so that there isn’t excess oil, which will result in drippage into your holster, for example. Avoid that.

WARNING: DO NOT lubricate the firing pin. Stay away from that area.

Protect. Any gun oil will provide some level of protection purely based on being present as a coating on the gunmetal, and a superior lubricant will include a corrosion inhibitor ingredient. They are not all equal. For best results, do not lubricate with a solvated lube. Synthetics are the best choice, and once again, they are not all equal.

Storage. A good lubricant will act as a reliable storage medium. If you are in a high-risk environment where there is humidity if not salty air, store handguns and all firearms in a cool, anti-humidity environment like a gun safe that has a dehumidifier or that include one of those anti-corrosion vapor capsules. For extreme storage, like for survivalists, you may want to do this — pack the pistol in lubricant protectant, place it in a Ziploc bag. Follow that with an air evacuation (suck out the air before sealing completely). Then, wrap it in duct tape and bury it in a sealed container. That means us to the last stage.

Fire-Ready Condition. Un-mothball the handgun when you need it, and it should be in what is known as fire-ready condition. In other words, even after many years, if prepared properly, you should be able to pull that trigger right out of the bag and have a successful discharge.

#handgun #handguns #handguncare #pistol #pistols #pistolcare #guncare #pistolmaintenance #handgunmaintenance #firearm #firearms #gun #guns #clp #firereadycondition