Cleaning and lubricating
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The older Tenifer and newer melonite treatment on the metal means it will be rust free. You could store it till the day you die with out putting a protective oil layer on it and it still will not rust.
I have owned Glocks for two decades now and have never, not a once put oil on any metal surface and have yet to have any rust form anywhere on one. Even on them 100F days with my EDC and constantly sweating on it.
I have owned Glocks for two decades now and have never, not a once put oil on any metal surface and have yet to have any rust form anywhere on one. Even on them 100F days with my EDC and constantly sweating on it.
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The only time I ever lube the bore is as part of cleaning: I do not use bore brushes or bore snakes, I use ultrasonics which means rinsing in water then blow-dry. I then lightly lube a cleaning patch, run it down the bore and follow it with dry, clean patches until they come out spotless. Just a thought....
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I do it for corrosion protection, I'll run an oiled patch down the bore, let the oil soak into the metal for a few minutes, then run a couple of clean dry patches through the bore to pick up the excess oil.
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Read post 5.
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Ultrasonics
Could you tell us more about this particular unit, why you picked it and what other companies you may have researched, and provide a link for everyone here.
Thanks...
Happysniper1
Could you tell us more about this particular unit, why you picked it and what other companies you may have researched, and provide a link for everyone here.
Thanks...
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I found surface rust in the firing pin channels and slide cover plate grooves of both of my slides, one made in 2005 with the shiny black slide finish and the other made in 2009 with the matte black slide finish. After cleaning the rust out, I now oil the internal areas of the slides then wipe them dry. I haven't seen a single spot of rust since then.
Tenifer doesn't mean it's rust proof, it's just an added level of resistance.
Tenifer doesn't mean it's rust proof, it's just an added level of resistance.
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I was thinking about creating a thread detailing (with pictures) what I do and how I do it, today or tomorrow, after the range (so I have both gun and cases to clean!)
Long and short of it: ultrasonics work by creating (from the transducers built into the bottom of the cleaning tank) supersonic sound waves in the cleaning media (usually water, sometimes with cleaning agents added) that make millions of microscopic bubbles form on the water surface in contact with whatever you are cleaning. Called "cavitation" the continuously-forming bubbles form and burst at a fantastic rate, and the water that rushes in to fill the space occupied by the now-burst bubble provide the scrubbing action. The cavitation action is so small and so fast that you cannot see it with the naked eye. All you will notice is that the object being cleaned looks kinda out-of-focus, and in many cases the "filth" coming off of the object will just look like the smear of ink dissolving in the water.
Most manuals call for distilled water. I use tap water, since our house has a filtration system anyway.
Sometimes, cleaning agents are added. Mostly, these agents help break up the waters' surface tension, which enhances the cavitation effect. Other times, cleaning agents help dissolve oils and grease. Don't use anything with ammonia on soft metals like brass, you can dissolve the brass. Don't use anything with overly acidic additives (like a lot of lime/lemon/orange liquid dishwashing cleaners with anything that says "acid" in the ingredients list), it will dissolve metals faster. Personally, I like the Hornady Gun Cleaning Solution, mixed per instructions with water for cleaning guns and components, and the Hornady Brass Cleaning Solution, mixed per instructions with water for cleaning brass as the first step in reloading.
The u/s cleaners I have and use have various warnings about not putting your hands or fingers into the solution while the machine is running. Apparently, the ultrasonic waves conduct thru blood as well (a liquid, right?) and have undesireable effects on bone and tissue. Not wanting to end up with jellified fingers, I have never personally tried it, nor do I know anyone who has, nor do I know of any instance when injury has resulted. Does not mean it hasn't happened before.
I use the 2.5L u/s cleaner from Harbor Freight ($75 available here: http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html) Yes, I know I know, if WallyWorld is king of made in china, Harbor Freight is queen. But it does the job. Not well, nor as quickly as others, but at about 1/10 the cost of my other gizmo.
I also use the Crest Powersonic ($775 available here: http://www.sonicsonline.com/cp500-crest-powersonic-ultrasonic-cleaner.html) but for my demo I will use the cheaper one (since not many will be able to afford this monster).
Cleaning is easy as 1-2-3. Detail-stripping is highly recommended, especially for a first-time cleaning or for really dirty handguns, because then the crud comes off, it needs a place to go in order to get it out of the part....gravity pulls it down, but... Anyway, detail-strip, then put water into the cleaning tank, adding whatever cleaning agents you want, plug it in, put the parts in, turn it on (they all have timers, usually an 8-minute max, to prevent the transducers from frying). At the end of the cleaning cycle, turn the parts over, repeat. At the end of that cycle, inspect. If it is still dirty, repeat. With the Harbor Freight unit, you need to repeat a lot. With the Crest unit, one 8-minute cycle per side of say a slide and frame will do the job.
Take the parts out, immediately rinse in hot running tap water (heated parts dry faster). Then blow everything out with an air compressor. I have mine set to 100psi, and blow out structured components (slides, frames, magazine tubes, etc, not needed on springs and things you can immediately wipe dry), just be careful not to drop anythig or blow tiny springs and detent pins you have overlooked!
When done, there is not a single drop of lubrication anywhere on the metal. It is bone-dry. Any added lubricant or anti-rust materials are gone. Rust is your first and immediate enemy. I lube everything down (with Gun Butter) and wipe all the excess off. Then I reassemble and lube as per instructions.
It does not damage polymer frames and parts. It will cause wood grips to expand, warp, and break. It will not loosen screws you did not remove beforehand.
In my experience, it can affect paint markings, like sight dots and the red dot on safeties. I have had all 3 dots on my XD-9 vanish, but has not affected any of my other handguns. I have had a Trituim pellet burst on the nightsights of my Beretta 92G. But that's it.
I do not scrub the bores, I do not need to scrub any other parts for cleaning. For the bores, I run an oiled patch thru and follow-up with clean patches (and a full-diameter jag tip) until the patches come out clean. I do this twice.
And that's it!
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By the way, the Crest Powersonic also has a lubricant bath that is more efficient that surface oiling, but after I used up the first jug of the stuff, I never reordered.
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Excellent Youtube video of cleaning a revolver with the Harbor Freight u/s cleaner:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MA11_e1G1c[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MA11_e1G1c[/ame]
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Can't say the same for me. The rear slide guides rusted up pretty badly on my first G-23 because I didn't clean them often enough. Body salts and sweat can get to just about anything given the right amount time.
During the summer months here in SC I clean my EDC about Bi-weekly. I also now wear a holster with a sweat guard on it too, that really helps.
Holster is made by Sidearmor.
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I have heard of that. Its not normal.
I have owned alot of Glocks in my time. I have seen and fired even more. I have never in my life seen one in person where the nickle plating on the rails thats over the copper plating to make the nickle stick better wear off and cause rust. Yes it happens but it is very very rare. If it were me i would send it back and have Gaston fix it.
I never lube my Glocks, mever have and i fired 800-900 rounds a week for 7 years from a G17L that never seen a drop of oil anywhere on the pistol and the nickle never wore off that i seen.
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Well, maybe you need to discuss that with the engineers and Gaston himself.
Most have a strong desire to state otherwise... I put a lot of faith into what a manufacture tells me to do with their product. I mean, after all; they spent a lot of money on the research and development.
I'm sure they have a good reason for stating six drops of oil is good. But then again they do show how the product can be abused and continue to function.
So, maybe I should store my Glock guns, uncleaned and frozen in a block of dirty water.
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We all know oil traps carbon. The more you oil the more it traps. The more carbon thickened oil you have the more it grinds into the metal parts. To prevent that from happening you have to clean more often. Carbon blows out when there is no oil to gather it up.Well, maybe you need to discuss that with the engineers and Gaston himself.
Most have a strong desire to state otherwise... I put a lot of faith into what a manufacture tells me to do with their product. I mean, after all; they spent a lot of money on the research and development.
I'm sure they have a good reason for stating six drops of oil is good. But then again they do show how the product can be abused and continue to function.
So, maybe I should store my Glock guns, uncleaned and frozen in a block of dirty water.
At work we never lube the M14s for use in moondust powder sand at work. I bet SA also says to lube that firearm, infact i know they do. They work perfect dry and the way we learned to run them dry was becse the lightest of grease coating collected too much gunk.
Sure a match grade 1911 NEEDS lube, but a Glock dont. I have put unreal amounts down range through my personaly owned Glocks and have never lubed them.
OTOH i have seen regularly lubed glocks gather oil in the striker channel over time where it traps and holds brass shavings, carbon, lint, dust and so on. It stops them dead in their tracks and we see my glock wont shoot threads places like here because of it. I have twice in my life also seen chunks of gobbed up brass work loose and get between the barrel hood and slide. Failure to go into battery failire.
Nothing wrong at all cleaning them, but dont over lube and ninety percent of shooters over lube and dont even know it. Seen it on the range and at shoots too many times over the past 20 years with glocks.
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The nickel plating on the frame rails was only added a few years ago. Early Glocks had bare steel frame rails. My G23 with prefix GEA has bare steel frame rails, my G27 with NRR prefix has nickel plated.
My G23 with bare steel frame rails had a spot of rust form on one of the frame rails. I scrubbed it off with Hoppe's #9 and a phosphor bronze brush, and I now coat the frame rails with Ballistol oil and I haven't seen the rust return.
Even with the nickel plated frame rails, the nickel plating and copper plating will eventually wear off to reveal bare steel in some areas.
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I have read that they started nickle plating them in 2005. I have two pre 05 Glocks and the blueing i have here will not blue the rails. That means one of two things. The rails are nickle plated (they have that grey nickle plated look to them) or stainless steel. They aint regular old carbon steel.
Maybe a bad batch of stainless or very corrosive sweat. Not everyone sweats as corrosive the same. Maybe my body juices are more gun friendly. Whatever the rails are made of they dont readily oxidize.
The front rails on my G37 are so darn shiney in two spots though it looks like it might be stainless, even then the blue will not darken it.
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