Here is the scenario:

You are awoken at 3:00 a.m. by your spouse shaking your arm, breathing heavily. They whisper in a frantic voice about the sound of breaking glass that woke them just moments before coming from the kitchen. You say a few calming words and instruct them to call police and stay quiet. You then reach into the top drawer of your nightstand and grab your trusty pistol and head slowly out the bedroom doorway and making your way down the hall, careful to stay quiet. Just before reaching the stairs you hear the sound of men talking below and the clamoring of cabinets opening and closing. A quick glance down to the other end of the upstairs hallway confirms that your seven year old's door is still shut and it does not appear that they went down for a midnight snack. Your heart starts pounding as the adrenaline starts pulsing through your veins and you creep towards the top of the stairs "cutting the pie" as it was put in your training class. Step by step you make your way to the bottom. After a quick glance around the corner your worst fears are confirmed, two men are rooting through your kitchen and living room area. After taking a few deep breaths and remind yourself of how much you have trained for something such as this you walk around the corner towards the kitchen and get that perfect sight picture on the first subject. You announce your presence, that police are on the way, and for him to get on the ground. No sooner do you finish the sentence the man quickly drops his hand to his side and grips onto a dark object that has the silhouette of a pistol. You immediately squeeze the trigger of your pistol as you've done thousands of times before but instead of a "BOOM" you hear the horrifying sound of "click." Your trusty pistol of all these years has just done what you trusted it to never do... failed.

While this is just a scenario, a few minutes after each session at the range and every four to six weeks of sitting in the safe can help keep it just that...a scenario. One of my dear friends has been a gunsmith for more years than I can count, and over the course of our friendship I have heard time and time again, that 90% of all issues he comes across are a direct or indirect result of improper cleaning. Cleaning your gun should be something as routine to you as changing the oil in your car or going to the dentist. It is important with all of your guns, even more so with those that you trust your life with, to know not only how to properly clean them but how to properly care for them as well, there is a difference. Proper cleaning involves basic disassembly "field stripping" at a minimum, and removing all residue and debris; while proper care involves things such as not leaving them for months on end under the dusty seat of your farm truck without the slightest thought of a drop of oil.

Steps of Proper Cleaning:

Because this article is focusing primarily on concealed carry weapons it is written under the presumption
that you have taken some sort of firearm safety class and you are familiar with how to unload the weapon
and ensure that it is safe. And as every firearm article written in the past twenty years begins: Make
sure that your firearm is unloaded, no magazine, and no spare round that somehow got left in the
chamber. If you are unsure of how this is properly done, read your owners manual or contact a gunsmith
before continuing. And something that isn't given enough mention is to make sure that the work area
you are in is well ventalated. The same chemicals that work so well at dissolving lead and residue can
become toxic if proper precautions are not taken.

Step 1: Disassemble Your Firearm

In order to keep this article one of reasonable size I cannot explain the proper field stripping procedure
for every pistol available, this must be left to you. While there are literally hundreds of pistols suitable
for everyday concealed carry, most will have the same basic parts that are likely covered in gunpowder
residue or dust: Slide, Frame, Barrel, Recoil Spring, Firing pin/spring. Thus we will be focusing primarily
on these areas.Once you have your pistol disassembled into the basic parts, lay them out on top of an
abosorbant towel or mat which will catch any excess solvent and oil.

Step 2: Cleaning the Barrel

The interior of the barrel is where most of the action takes place. As such, it's one of the most important
areas to clean properly and the most labor intensive. The layer of material left in the barrel after shooting
sessions can reduce the pistol's accuracy and corrode the barrel. To begin, attach a bore brush to the
cleaning rod. Apply solvent to the brush and push it back and forth through the bore of the barrel several
times. It's a good idea to clean and add solvent to the brush once or twice more as you work. Avoid
dipping the bore brush directly into the solvent bottle, since this will foul the solvent. Instead, pour solvent onto the brush over a
clean container, and then use the solvent in the container to treat patches and rags.Once the bore of the barrel is thoroughly
scrubbed, attach a patch with a patch holder or jag to the cleaning rod and run the patch through the barrel. The first patch will
be quite dirty, and will need to be replaced. Run patches through the bore until they start to come out of the barrel looking
relatively clean. Use a light to check the barrel bore. If you still see fouling stuck to the interior of the barrel, then run the brush
and solvent again, followed by more patches. Once you have removed all of the visible fouling with the bore brush, then run a
patch or two treated with solvent through the barrel to remove any loose particles. Follow this with dry patches until they come
out looking clean. Finally, run a clean patch treated with a little gun oil or lubricant through the bore. This thin layer of oil will
protect the bore from moisture. This process is only conducted once for semi-autos, since you only have the barrel to clean.
Revolvers, on the other hand, have one long barrel and five or six chambers in the cylinder. Each chamber should be brushed
and patched like the barrel.

Step 3: Cleaning the Frame and Various Parts

Use your brush, with some solvent, to scrub the other parts of the gun, and then use a rag to wipe off the solvent and residue.
Be thorough in your inspection of the pistol. If something looks dirty, it is. Check the nooks and crannies for a buildup of fouling.
For semi-autos, pay close attention to cleaning the slide's interior grooves, under the ejector and the contact points between the
slide and the frame. For revolvers, keep an eye out for build up around the forcing cone, the face of the cylinder and the cylinder
ratchet. For double-action revolvers, don't forget to check under the ejector star as well.
It's not necessary to get the gun dripping wet with solvent. A little goes a long way. How much cleaning attention is needed, and
where it should be directed, depends on the gun and how much it has been shot. Just like your work with the patches, if you rub
an area with a clean cloth or swab and it comes away smudged, more cleaning is required. Wipe the pistol clean of all solvents
before lubricating.

Step 4: Lubricate The Handgun

The lubrication points differ from pistol to pistol. In general, semi-autos need lubricant where the various parts rub against each
other as the action cycles. Revolvers need only a little lubrication. Single-actions need some on the cylinder pin and ratchet,
while double-actions need some on the ejector rod and cylinder ratchet. The key is not to over lubricate. Too much will only
serve to attract and hold gun fouling.

Step 5: Finishing Up

Now it's time to reassemble the pistol. Once it's all back together, cycle the action a few times to spread the lubricant evenly and to make sure everything is working correctly. If any lubricant oozes out of joints, wipe it off with a rag.
To preserve and protect the exterior finish of the gun, it needs a light coating of preservative. This is especially true of guns with a blued finish. Apply a little gun oil or metal preservative to a clean rag and wipe down the outer surfaces of the pistol. You can also purchase pre-treated cloths for this purpose. Think of it as giving your car a quick coat of wax before parking it in the garage. Place the pistol in its designated locking container, clean up the work area, and then wash up with soap and cool water.