Thanks for the replies, I do have another question. I was on YouTube watching a guy clean his Sig 229 9mm. This guy took cleaning his Sig to the extreme. He used this stuff call Breaker something; he had 4 different brushes (2 nylon, 1 brass, 1 soft metal), and let stuff soak for hours. Is that the level of cleaning I need to do every time I clean my gun? Or should level of cleaning be considered one a year, kind of like detailing your car?
Wow.
No...I personally do not think you need four brushes to clean a bore....ever.
Then again, depending on how often you shoot, cleaning a handgun once a year could be pretty negligent! Actually, I take that back. Cleaning a gun once a year is negligent regardless of how often you shoot. Your firearm deserves more periodic attention if for no other reason than to prevent rust, or address it in its early stages if it is found. It may not need a bore scrub but a light coat of oil never hurts and it can be done quickly.
My rule of thumb is, if I am going to shoot it, I set aside an hour after shooting to clean it. You're fortunate with a Sig as it's very well-built in regards to cleaning; there are not a whole lot of hard-to-get areas inside the frame and slide.
This is my list of cleaning gear:
-Hoppe's #9
-barrel rod (for the bore brush)
-brass bore brush
-cloth loop attachment to the barrel rod
-Qtips (for the hard-to-get areas, and lubing slide rail guides)
-toothbrush or nylon brush
-Tetra Gun Grease
-RemOil
and my most recent addition to my cleaning arsenal:
-plastic toothpicks/flossers (these things are amazing!!!)
This is my routine:
1) check firearm to make sure it is NOT loaded
2) field strip firearm
3) drybrush barrel with brass bore brush a few times
4) attach cloth loop to rod, insert cloth, soak it with Hoppe's, stick in the barrel (let it sit for the duration of cleaning other firearm parts)
5a) use Hoppe's-soaked cloths to wipe down inside and outside of slide
5b) use Hoppe's-soaked Qtip to get to smaller areas of the slide, especially the slide rails
5c) use plastic toothpicks to get to the "impossible" areas of the slide...the area behind the extractor hook and corners of the breech face are perfect examples...LOTS of caked crud can build up there
5d) wipe down slide with dry cloths once slide-cleanliness is satisfactory
6a) use Hoppe's-soaked cloths to wipe down inside and outside of frame
6b) use Hoppe's-soaked Qtip to get to smaller areas of the frame, especially around the hammer and trigger mechanisms
6c) wipe down frame with dry cloths once frame-cleanliness is satisfactory
7) disassemble mags and wipe down with cloth, use Hoppe's sparingly if at all, on the mags (mags aren't subject to high pressures like the slide, barrel, and frame, thus it's really not needed... also, leaving even trace amounts Hoppe's in loaded mags can cause live ammo's copper and brass to oxidize.... no good!!!)
8a) remove rod from barrel, it's done soaking
8b) attach Hoppe's-soaked bore brush to rod and scrub bore
8c) attach cloth loop with a dry cloth to rod and wipe down bore
8d) repeat 8b and 8c until bore cleanliness is satisfactory
8e) inspect corners and crevaces of the locking block and chamber looking for the same caked crud which collects behind the extactor hook, use a combo of plastic toothpicks, Hoppe's and cloth to remove
9) wipe down all firearm parts to remove Hoppe's
10a) apply gun grease to all metal slide, frame, and barrel contact points (this stuff works VERY well; a little goes a long way)
10b) apply oil to smaller trigger/hammer/striker components (RemOil will spread from the applied surface to other attached surfaces very quickly; one drop on the trigger mechanism and one drop on the hammer mechanism is more than enough...the excess will have to be wiped down after some dry firing).
10c) apply 1-3 drops of oil to a dry cloth and use it to coat the inside and outside of the mags
11) assemble the mags
12) assemble the weapon
13) rack the slide and dryfire the weapon a few times to let the lubes even out within the firearm, and using the cloth from 10c, spread the excess oil from the trigger/hammer areas to apply a light, even coat to all external metal surfaces of the firearm
Once you get into the habit of the routine above, or something similar to it, cleaning a handgun can be done in less than an hour. Obviously this is not an end-all-beat-all guide to cleaning guns (ex: Glock trigger mechanisms are mostly polymer so there's no reason to apply oil to them), but this works very well for me. Maybe I'm obsessive about keeping my firearms clean but they're in great shape and statistically, they have NEVER failed me.