What are the odds a .38 will explode, if the bullet gets stuck? Also, what color is carbon build up, and how many shots should I stop at, and clean?

I don't want to risk cleaning it wrong, because it is like mt heart, necessary to survival.

the carbon will be black-gray. bore obstructions are where you have to worry about it kabooming. if you are worried about getting squibs just make sure you pay attention that something actually hits the target(like somehting comes out the barrel)

i am pretty sure you have to clean revolvers more often. Someone can confirm this.

cleaning is just like any other gun but you have to clean multiple chambers. use the copper brush on each chamber with solvent and thenuse patchs to clean off any carbon buld up. do the same to the barrel and then put a lught coat of lube/gunoil in the barrel with a patch.

I am not sure if you lightly coat the revovler chambers with oil so someone will have to verify that. Make sure the bore is cleaned of any obstructions always.

I'll just add that you need to clean the small parts that make the cylinder rotate too. To prevent jams.

Factory new/custom guns are known to kaboom regularly. I've KB'd two guns in my time, one brand new the other a fifty year old nagant. You can't really trust them, they will blow at any time. Cleaning really isn't all that necessary. I've never had a gun jam on me and I never clean mine.

A revolver will probably stop functioning properly before it reaches dangerous levels of filth. The only revolver kBs I've seen involved overloaded ammo or barrel obstructions. To block the barrel with carbon and lead buildup deep enough to cause problems, you're gonna be shooting thousands of rounds, and the gunk on the cylinder face is gonna stop it from spinning well before then.

I'd not use a wire brush at every cleaning, either, unless you're shooting hundreds of rounds every time. Copper fouling is only a major issue in the hottest handguns, and lead should come out with a good solvent and patches. Overcleaning can easily damage your accuracy.

Cleaning really isn't all that necessary. I've never had a gun jam on me and I never clean mine.
What? I loled, avoid this advice.

What? I loled, avoid this advice.




Seriously listen DO clean your weapon. You don't have to do it everyday but you "should" do it after everytime you fire it. Don't forget to lube when you clean your weapon after its been fired!

Since you mentioned .38 I'll guess you are working with a revolver.

If a bullet gets stuck in the bore, and you fire another one behind it, your chances are quite good that that will be the last round you fire out of that gun.

I personally try to clean my guns every time they get dirty, or I shoot them(whether its 1 or 500 rounds) Revolvers arent very forgiving on maitenence, after about 200 rounds you will probobly start to have issues with it. Figure out your own cleaning schedule. It depends on you and what kind of ammo you shoot.

As a general rule, any area that shows signs of friction should be lubed. For modern pistols Ive had very good luck with mil- comm and Wilson Combat's Ultima lube. As for solvents, I use whatever is on sale. Hoppes no 9 and q tips can get you a long way.

Ive only had 1 kb! in over 15 years of shooting, and at least a few hundred thousand rounds. It was a Taurus Millenium and some bad reloads. The mag shot out of the gun, the frame cracked in several places and cut my hand open. There was also something stuck in my eyepro. I realized I was shooting bad reloads when a friend who supplied said gun and ammo said "man, I thought something might be wrong when he put so much powder in it was spilling over the case mouth!" About 5 minutes later he had a similar result with his OIF Beretta 92FS/M9. Except he wasnt wearing eyepro........

With a good gun, good fresh factory ammo and you doing your part to keep it functional, you will probobly never see a gun "blow up" in your hands.

I just use "OUTERS" brand lubricant and solvent for cleaning and lubricating my guns and I have never had a problem. That is the brand they sell at walmart. Outers also makes a "tri-care" lubricant/cleaner/protectant that works fine.

If a bullet gets stuck in the bore, and you fire another one behind it, your chances are quite good that that will be the last round you fire out of that gun.

Or out of any gun.

Or maybe the last time you do anything ever.

Or maybe the last time you do anything ever.

Not really, you may still get to the hospital screaming "mother!" or just making weird gurgling noises...

On the other hand, I've taken to a cleaning routine using a plastic roubd brush, mineral oil, toothrbush to the boltface, rails, and other critical parts, then wipe down with some DW-40, and finally I lube everything back up with High-Temp Lithium Grease with Teflon.
There's also a nice bore polishing paste made by IOSSO that I found useful on old barrels after shooting corrosive ammo through them.

I must be a bit of a lazy bastard. I'll be damned if I am gonna clean my guns every time I shoot them. Unless I have a pretty good blasting session or am shooting prairie dogs, my varmint guns usually go all summer without being cleaned. I think my 870 was cleaned before the last years deer season and I haven't had the time to clean it since I got back from this years deer hunt. Don't get me wrong, if they see rain or snow they get wiped down and oiled so they don't rust. But field stripping and cleaning after only 20 rounds seems like overkill to me. You wouldn't change the oil in your car just because you ran it down to the grocery store.

But field stripping and cleaning after only 20 rounds seems like overkill to me. You wouldn't change the oil in your car just because you ran it down to the grocery store.

If oil wasn't expensive I would but then I have lots of free time haha. But theres a difference, if your car breaks down you out some money, your gun jams when you need it to fire it could cost you your life.

I personally clean my gun EVERY time I fire, I never really use any gun cleaner because I never let the carbon build up enough that it require much more then a little elbow grease and some qtips and such but I do lube em up sometimes.

I shoot about 4 guns regularly, and Ive used a half a bottle of ultima lube in the past 6 months. That comes out to about $4. Not to bad for peace of mind, and keeping your guns in shape for the long run.

Plus, Id rather clean my guns often and spend about 5 minutes doing so, versus waiting for them to gum up and having to scrub crap and soak parts in solvent.

One I shot about 50 rounds thorgh my Desert Warrior, and left in in the closet for 2 weeks while I in the field and came back to a nice lightly pitted barrel. Thats going to cost me about $350 to replace, and a qtip covered in a decent rust protectant would have prevented it.

You can probobly get away with that with a chrome lined barrel though.