How to Clean a Semi-Automatic Handgun

Video Transcript

"We're here to talk a little how to clean a semi-automatic handgun, now. This particular handgun is a Springfield XD 9mm semi-automatic handgun. First thing you do is make it safe. Make sure it's unloaded. On a handgun, semi-auto, remove the magazine first. As you keep it pointed in a safe direction, set the magazine aside. Open the action, look inside, make sure that there are no cartridges in there. Any ammunition that might be sitting around, go put it in the next room, just for safety's sake. First thing you have to do with a semi-automatic is break it down into its component parts enough for field stripping. This particular gun has a lever on the side that you move up. Pointing it safe, you use the lever that frees the slide to go forward. Pull the trigger and remove the slide from the receiver. That's finished. This is the recoil spring. It's a captive spring, so there's no worry about this particular one flying all over the room. On a different gun, you may need to be careful that this doesn't take off on you. Push up and back on the barrel, and the barrel comes out. What you have here, ready to clean, is the receiver, the main portion of the gun. You have the barrel, the recoil spring, and the slide. In this particular gun, that's the four main component parts for field stripping. Okay, now that we have it broken down in its component parts, we can begin to clean. I like to start with the barrel. Give it a pretty good once over. Make sure that there's nothing looks like it's overly worn that wasn't worn before. We'll start off with a handgun cleaning rod, a nice short rod, has a patch holder on the end. You want to put a proper size patch right into that patch holder. Dip it into the solvent. From the breach end, begin, hold it by the handle, and push it all the way through and all the way back. All the way through and all the way back a couple of times. And it's generally going to come out filthy. Discard it. At that point, I like to take that off, put the appropriate size brass brush on, dip it back in the solvent, back to the breach back end of the barrel. Push it all the way through and all the way back. And in this case, I'd usually do this about a dozen times. What this does, it helps loosen any powder fouling, any lead, any copper that's stuck in your bore. Once you've done that, set this little guy aside. We're going to go to your hand brush. That takes cleaning solvent on the hand brush. You can start on the slide. You want to clean the grooves on both sides of the slide. Brush them out very thoroughly, all the way inside this portion of the slide here, to clean out all the powder fouling. And you want to clean your breach face. This is called the breach face. This is where the back end of the cartridge case sits when it's fired. Clean this very, very well. Brush it real good. If you need more solvent, be free with it. Brush it out, all over inside the slide. And then, get yourself a cloth, wipe it all out real good, get it nice and clean, take a good look at it. After that, go to the receiver. Same procedure for the receiver. Solvent on your brush, down these grooves on the side. You can drop this down if you want to on this particular gun. All over inside that receiver. Any place that it's dirty, fouled, clean it off. Then use your cloth; wipe it out. You can use Q-tips, but be careful, because they frequently leave little pieces of cotton. You don't want them in there. If you want to clean your brush, I like to use gun scrubber, especially if I'm outside. This stuff stinks. So be careful doing it inside. You have to have a real understanding wife. Spray that brush off. It keeps it very, very clean. Then you can go back in the solvent, brush this well, clean it with the cloth, you're done. Time to put it back together. A little bit of lubricant along the sides, both here and here. I like to put a little on the barrel and back here where the action part is. Drop the barrel back in like that. Take this particular captive spring, fit it right into place. Make sure the grooves line up. Before I do that, flip this guy back up into the up position on this gun. Slide it all the way to the rear, lock it back, and drop this down. It is ready. Make sure that it works properly. Cleaning your magazine, just a short blurb. You can take most of these apart. Don't use solvents or oils on these to lube them. Clean them, leave them dry. Solvents and lubricants can cause damage to your ammo. Once this is done, back in place. Keep it pointed safe. Finger off the trigger, make sure it locks back. And on this particular gun, it has a tough finish. So you don't even need to wipe it down. It's ready to go. If it's your defensive gun, load your magazine, pop it in place, and put it where you keep it for defense."