Well looks like you answered the question about the flash so that only leaves the question of cleaning the gun. Why in the world would they tell you not to clean your pistol for 500rds is beon me. Lot of times guns are shipped almost dry of lube. The first thing I do is field strip my new pistol lube and inspect it. After I been to the range I always field strip,lube, and inspect it. Good luck.

Cleaning is over-rated.

When I bought my Glock the guy selling it to me said the same thing. The reason is Glocks come shipped with a copper grease.(newer ones do at least) Did yours come with the copper grease?
He said it's the best not to take it off at first.(cleaning it would remove it) I did this but after the first 200 round session I broke it down. Sorry but I don't listen well. So it my new break in thing. 200 rounds out the box with no failures, then a vigorous cleaning and then it's straight to the hip.

I usually clean it after every range trip.

But if you go shooting 2-3 times a week, just run a bore snake through the barrel for your next session.

But since it's new, just lube it and shoot.

Originally Posted by fattsgalore

Glocks come shipped with a copper grease.(newer ones do at least)

this is true.

i always recommend stripping the gun down to make sure that all the parts are in working order before shooting a new gun.
even if you never cleaned a glock, it will still shoot.
but in order to maintain a gun, it should always be cleaned after use.
if you are going to trust your life with it, you might as well keep it clean.

ole

No way I would buy a new gun and not clean and lube it before shooting, even a Glock. And, I clean after each range session, can't stand to put a gun away dirty.

I was told the same thing buy the gun shop when I bought my 23C. I shot about 25 rounds through it and cleaned everything except the bronze colored grease from the slide. First day of my CCW course I asked the instructor what he would recommend. He said clean it off and get a good gun grease and lube the slide with a small amount.
FWIW, I clean mine after everytime I shoot. A clean gun is a happy gun.

I think any handgun should be cleaned and lubed after every trip to the range. You don't have to swab away the copper colored compound Glock puts on its new pistols. But the carbon should be cleaned off your gun and the minimal lube that a Glock should have replaced. You can get all kinds of strange advice from guys at the gun shops. Some know what they are talking about and some don't. While Glocks are known to function well even when dirty, letting carbon and grit build up on your barrel, extractor, feed ramp, guide rails, and trigger parts makes no sense whatsoever. My brother didn't clean his pair of Buckmark .22s for about 2 months while using them fairly frequently for practice. I made the mistake of agreeing to help him clean the guns. There was carbon build up all over the internals of the gun and we had to work for about 75 minutes to get the critters clean. I think I went through about 50 Q tips and several ounces of cleaner to get the gun I was working on sparkling clean, the way I keep my guns all the time. One of the great chacteristics of Glocks is that they are as simple and easy as handguns get to disassemble and clean, not just for field stripping, but also for detail stripping and cleaning.