I clean my pistols and mags every time I shoot them. I disassemble the mags, clean well, and reassemble. Guess I'm just AR about clean mags.

Originally Posted by Wizard1500

I clean my pistols and mags every time I shoot them. I disassemble the mags, clean well, and reassemble. Guess I'm just AR about clean mags.

Almost afraid to ask but how often do you shoot your pistols?

I know there are identical twins but I wonder if there is opposite twins, in this case you might be Mike's long lost opposite twin. Someone call Oprah.

Rarely.

My Ruger mags have not yet given me the faintest inking of a problem, but then again all three of them are practically new.

I'm cautious about lubing the magazines up; from what I've heard/read the oil can get into the cartridge and kill the charge. I store at least one loaded mag (my PD rounds) and a squib while unloading those is the last thing I want. So, I disassemble and wipe them down every couple of weeks, but I do not lube them. The follower is plastic so there's no metal-on-metal contact there anyway.

My gun is brand new...so I have not cleaned the mags yet.

What kind of lube should I use on the inside of the mags? I just got my first gun and being that I love taking stuff apart, I plan on cleaning them every time I clean my gun (after every shooting). I have a cleaning kit but should I use the oil on the inside of the mags?

Originally Posted by fivehourfrenzy

What kind of lube should I use on the inside of the mags? I just got my first gun and being that I love taking stuff apart, I plan on cleaning them every time I clean my gun (after every shooting). I have a cleaning kit but should I use the oil on the inside of the mags?

Like I said, oil in a mag should be kept to the absolute minimum if it's needed at all. A plastic follower should need very little at all once broken in.

If you need lube (metal follower, older well-worn mag), look for thick stuff and spread it sparingly. If there's some means available to you to lubricate the follower without the lube getting all over the inside of the mag, I'd recommend that. Failing that, a thick, waxlike grease would probably be your best bet as, applied sparingly, there is little chance it will penetrate the cartridges.

There's a really simple grease that can be had for a buck a tube and it'll last a while. It can be found practically anywhere; Chap-stick. Use just a little on the follower, and it'll fill any pores or grooves in the follower to lubricate well without running all over the inside of the mag. In the music world, guitarists and bassists use it all the time on the part of the strings that are bent over the nut and under the string tree on the headstock; works like a charm, and I can't see any good reason why it wouldn't work in a magazine.

My Sigma wasn't staying open after the last round. So I tore the mags down and wiped everything down (douched as I like to say). A very light spray of WD-40 and reassemble. I clean them every few hundred rounds or so now.

A CLEAN MAG IS A HAPPY MAG

I'm a relative newbie to the gun world. I've got a Taurus PT111 9mm. I've wondered about cleaning the magazine, but have been unable to find any directions on the internet. Anybody know of a website, or can you tell me here, the proper way to clean the magazine? I never think to ask about it when I'm at the range.

Thanks

Whenever I think they need it.

since you brought it up ...
I cleaned them yesterday...

I had Hay, Hay seed and dirt in Most of them...

it ain't easy bein a farmer !!

BUT , THANKS FOR REMINDING ME

No set schedule for me, but when I think they need it.

What is this cleaning you speak of? Never heard of it.

I clean handguns after I shoot them. I clean mags when I clean my handguns. If you clean your handguns to decrease the chance of failure, then there's no excuse to neglect the mags! They play a vital role in the operation of a weapon, so their condition should be accounted for just as much as the weapon itself! Besides, it only takes a couple minutes to clean a mag.

Speaking of mag cleaning, I recently discovered applying a thin coat of oil on the INSIDE of the mag is ideal. Previous to my discovery, I simply used a light amount Hoppe's on a cloth wad to get out all the crap and left it at that, but no more!

Even a tiny amount of leftover cleaning solvent can react with the brass casings and the copper jackets. I pulled out a loaded handgun from my safe for inspection (i.e. I wanted to handle it because I remembered how cool it was) and noticed the ammo was somewhat sticky. Wiping them down produced substantial quantities of copperII chloride dihydrate, or "the funky green-blue stuff." This means the bullet and casing were reacting to the Hoppe's and thus losing mass. This is not a good thing when you're talking about ammo.

I wipe down any exposed parts to my magazines when I clean the pistol. I rarely dismantle the mag. Years ago I was buying some very dirty reloads & cleaned my mags after several hundred rounds. I've never had any problems with my mags.

I clean my mags after everytime I shoot it when I clean my gun.I am extreamly anal rententive when it comes to cleaning my mags.Every time I clean my gun my mags don't go into my gun until they are perfectly clean & they don't have any finger prints on them when they are put in the gun.I spray a little gun cleaner on a rag & wipe all of the finger prints off of them & then put them in my gun.It doesn't matter if I haven't droped them or anything else they just get clean like my gun.I clean my gun so why wouldn't I clean my mags as well??

I clean my mags after every IDPA shoot as I drop them in the grass, dirt, and sometimes wet Red Clay. If I drop in wet clay, I do not use those mags in the following stages, no sence in introducing the clay when not necessary, have plenty of spare mags.

To clean them I break them down, both the 96 and 92 mags break down easily and identically. I use a 12 ga. swab wet with bore cleaner then follow with clean dry swab to remove the cleaner and debris left, and finally use another 12ga. swab with a small amount of Kel Pure silicone sprayed on for lubrication and assurance of proper opeation. I find that the Beretta followers really like the Silicone spray and never fail.

The only mag issue I've ever had is with a factory 10 round mag for the 96 which had been dropped on a concrete floor and somehow caused the mag to deform and made it impossible to insert. Not a cleaning issue.

I clean my semi-auto's mags each time I strip the weapon for cleaning -which happens to be after each day at the range or every few weeks regardless. I might be a touch anally-retentive, I admit.