Prepper101: Understanding The Need & How To Clean Your Firearm

Gun Cleaning

Prepper forums seem to have a lot of posts on guns, and prepper novels always have gun fights, so it is safe to say preppers have an interest in firearms. I’ve made several posts here about firearms and ammunition, and Salty does what I feel are excellent gun reviews.

Despite all that interest, you’ll rarely see a post on a prepper forum about gun cleaning. This is unfortunate because, I suspect many preppers who have stocked plenty of firearms and ammo will run out of cleaning supplies quickly in a long running disaster.

Those of us who go to a range regularly understand that if a gun isn’t clean, it is just a matter of time before it malfunctions, or corrosion sets in. What I think is missed in our prepper thinking is that cleaning supplies run out, and after doomsday you may be giving your firearms a workout. In other words, we may underestimate the amount of cleaning required, and hence the cleaning supplies required.

Training

Training is the big driver of increased firearms use. It takes a lot of shooting to bring someone who has never handled firearms previously up to speed. Cleaning needs to take place to keep the firearms functional for the next training session.

While you may feel you and your MAG are trained, what about all of the MAG’s family members? A majority of Americans do not own or use firearms on a regular basis today. You probably have several people in your family who are untrained, or minimally trained, in firearms use.

Even if your family is thoroughly in tune with American “gun culture”, you almost certainly have children who are not yet trained, or family members who are 2^nd Amendment supporters, but haven’t fired a gun in years.

Many of us live in “blue” states, and are finding it increasingly difficult to get to a range, or even a gun store. There are entire major cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, and others that have completely eliminated all such facilities within their boundaries. I fully expect that my entire MAG will require significant firearms training post-SHTF.

Make sure that cleaning is done by everyone, not just a select few. Disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly is part of learning that particular firearm’s operation.

Post-apocalyptic Dirt

Once SHTF you are going to have a problem keeping anything clean, including guns. In a world where it is difficult to clean and temperatures are uncooperative, dirt will permeate. Go on a sufficiently long camping trip and you’ll see what I mean. In the north, make that winter camping. Despite this challenge, our firearms still need to be kept clean and lubricated to work properly.

AR-15 cleaning kit, store in A2 buttstock

Supplies

One first step is to have a firearm specific cleaning kit for each firearm. A firearm specific kit will have brushes in the right sizes and a minimum supply of everything else required to clean the firearm. For instance, the kit above for an AR-15 can be resupplied with patches and a supply of cleaner, lubricant, protectant (CLP, regardless of brand) and be adequate to clean an AR indefinitely. If you have a different choice than an AR-15 for your long gun, you will want something different. For instance, I am partial to bore snakes for rifle barrels, so I like to have a bore snake for each rifle.

Bore snake

You will also need a supply of patches unless you are willing to spend a lot of time cutting up old T-shirts to acquire the patches you need.

For a pistol you need essentially the same supplies, plus a short rod for cleaning the barrel. I like the Glock rods, which are a relatively simple plastic rod, capable of holding brushes or patches. They are cheap, and work great on almost any semi-automatic pistol.

Patches

Once you have your basic kits for each firearm, you can stock up all the items needed to replace the contents as they get used over time.

You will also need cleaners and lubricants. There are several products that combine cleaning and lubricating in a single product. These are the simplest way to stock up, but if you have weapons that you like to run “dry”, then a separate cleaning only product is a good idea.

Generally speaking… 

Generally cleaning kits provide a minimal amount of a combined cleaner and lubricant, but you’ll want a substantial supply on hand for the apocalypse, or the next mass shooting induced buying panic. ☹

Don’t forget a needle oiler for getting lubricant on to specific spots required on your firearm.

If you are going to store firearms for a long time, particularly if you are going to cache them, you’ll want to use a protectant such as Cosmoline. (Cosmoline is a brand name.) Most protectants are a nuisance to remove because the whole point is for the protectant to stay on the firearm to protect it. If it comes off easily it can’t do its job. If you do store a firearm coated with a protectant, be sure to store cleaning supplies with it for the time it comes out of storage.

How to Clean Your Firearm

I can’t really give you a step by step cleaning instruction for every firearm out there, but the basic steps are the same regardless of the type of firearm. There are a few specialty cleaning items for specific firearms, but you’ll be able to clean most firearms with the cleaning supplies described above.

To clean a firearm, you essentially need to partially disassemble the firearm, also known as “field stripping”, clean the individual parts, reassemble the firearm, lubricating as appropriate along the way.

How the disassembly and reassembly is done differs from one type of firearm to the next, but you can find an online video on how to perform the task for virtually any firearm. (Given the current disruption caused by YouTube, try the manufacturers site, or simply do a search to find the right video.)

For common firearms you may find a dozen videos. Learn to clean your firearms now, because after SHTF, the Internet may not be available. 😊 Post-SHTF you can teach others if you know how to do the cleaning yourself. Manuals tend not to be as convenient as videos, but having printed manuals for each firearm is a good idea.

Summary

Buying a package of patches, or a can of Ballistol, is not as much fun as a new firearm, or even a box of ammunition, but if you want your firearms to not only protect you, but protect you during a long running disaster, you probably want to stock up on cleaning supplies prior to SHTF.