How often to do a detailed cleaning?

[alnitak]

Just wondering what you guys do here. For example, how often do you take the breech bolt completely apart? Or, remove the cartridge guide, carrier spring, etc? Any need to do those things at all under normal conditions?

[AJMD429]

On a blackpowder gun, after each session. Everything else, maybe once every ten years if I just get curious about what all them little parts are, and want to see if I can lose-and-replace a couple...

Maybe also if I get out in a rainstorm and get soaked, or the time I fell face (and gun) down in a 4" deep mud-puddle so the whole gun got 'mudded'. One reason I prefer box-magazine leverguns.

[Malamute]

Remove cartridge guides in a 94? Never. Check screws for tight and leave alone. Once taken out, they can be hard to get back in and tightened correctly.

I acquired an extremely hard used 94 made in the late 20's. It was a ranch gun in Az. It was one of the roughest 94's I've ever seen, besides the other gun the guy had from the same ranch. The butt stock was so bad I threw it away and used a really bad one (broken and hillbilly repaired with epoxy and screws) for an upgrade. The mag tube was damaged and shortened a few inches, the magazine spring was literally worn through in a couple places and spliced back together with sewing thread some time in the distant past. The action felt like it had mud in it, but still functioned. I detail stripped it and cleaned it well. That was in the 80's. I haven't really detail stripped it since, other than puling the bolt once to get a really good chamber cleaning a couple years ago. This is my truck gun and bad weather walking gun. I doubt it will need to be detail stripped/cleaned again in my lifetime. It gets toothbrushed out inside once in a while (once or twice a year?). That seems to be about all it needs to stay going other than a small amount of oil now and then, and cleaning the bore once or twice a year.

I used to shoot black in an original 86 and a Colt SAA. I never detail stripped them because of shooting black, it just wasn't much of a problem. I cleaned the bore and what I could reach with rags ands toothbrush and they ran fine for the couple years I shot black in them. The shell case keeps most of the fouling in the barrel, what gets in the action cleans up easily with basic cleaning without taking them apart.

[alnitak]

Yeah, I should have specified a Win 94 in my original post...no BP. Sometimes I can't help but "tinker", but more often that not seems better to leave well enough alone, spray the outside, bush and wipe down and be done with it.

[Malamute]

I understand the tinkering part. When I was younger, I took most of my guns apart just out of curiosity. I still do it with some, and just to know how, and understand how they work, but in actual use, there isn't much need to take a 94 apart. The one chamber cleaning I did when I took the bolt out was a sticky case and an old gun. It cleaned up fine. I guess I could clean them a little more often, but they always seem to work alright for the most part,....

[QCI Winchesters]

Not very often, I think maybe once a decade might be okay. Even my SAA that gets shot almost exclusively with black powder, only gets detail stripped once a year. Sometimes it is pretty dirty inside, but the fouling has never done any harm. Same with my '73, I used to detail strip it yearly, but the .38WCF seals the chamber so well, the guts stay pretty clean. No more dirt than smokeless loads. My '94's get a full strip and cleaning when I first buy them, and they are good to go. Never touch the insides again unless I have to take it apart for repairs.