Let me start by saying this is what “I” do, each person has their own ways; but based on a conversation yesterday, I’m offering this up for comments/criticism… OBTW, it was the Airdales against the SWOs and the Army…
How often do you take care of your EDCs???
Daily, weekly, monthly, 12th of never???
Do you have a plan? A vague thought? When ever your remember it? Or it gets too dirty to shoot anymore?
Being an old fart, and growing up with blued/wood furniture guns I’m ‘paranoid’ about rust. Any time it rains/gun gets wet, it gets wiped down at the minimum.
Weekly (Sunday night), I bore snake the gun, lube the rails and wipe it down with a silicon cloth. I also change out mags (both in the gun and the spare), unloading the old and loading new. I also (now) check for primer strikes, condition of the rounds (set back), and wipe down and condition check the holster and belt too.
Monthly first weekend of the month, (if I haven’t shot in the interim), full cleaning, function check, dry fire practice with a Laserlyte from various carrys (belt, with/without jacket, ankle).
Why? Because I want my tools to WORK! Everybody hears about the cop or F-I-B who shows up for qualification with the gun corroded into the holster…
Also, being an ex-aviator, we were always taught attention to detail!!! Cause if you didn’t the probablility was you’d end up DEAD!
And maintenance is a routine operation in the aviation world.
Now that the pistol is clean, what about the light? How long since you’ve wiped it down? Changed the batteries? Made sure it works???
Now I will tell you I consider electronics as nothing more than holders for dead batteries (too many years of cheap military goose neck flashlights and strobes that seemed to fail in the first 30 seconds)…
I figured I use my EDC flashlights on an average of 10 minutes a week, for a variety of reasons. So every three months, I change the battery(s); this is to save me from the dead battery syndrome, and if worst comes to worst I’m going to have at least a ‘half’ charge as the worst case average.
And knives??? Same questions, but since I’m lazy, go over to EIA’s blog HERE, on care and feeding of knives… He lays it out well, and with options.
Ammo? How old IS that ammo in your EDC? The worst I’ve seen was my own family, my uncle left me a 1917, and I picked it up in the mid-90s from his wife. It was still loaded!!! And the ammo, you might ask? WCC 1943!!!
So that ammo had been in the gun for 50 years! We did go ‘test’ it, and it fired, but I swear one round just barely made it out of the barrel! It hit the ground about 2 feet in front of the target!!!
Last but not least, I try to shoot both mags of carry ammo at least once a quarter through both the primary carry and the BUG. That forces me to cycle through ammo on a fairly routine basis!
What did I miss? Or what do you do differently???
Comments/criticism???
How often do you take care of your EDCs???
Daily, weekly, monthly, 12th of never???
Do you have a plan? A vague thought? When ever your remember it? Or it gets too dirty to shoot anymore?
Being an old fart, and growing up with blued/wood furniture guns I’m ‘paranoid’ about rust. Any time it rains/gun gets wet, it gets wiped down at the minimum.
Weekly (Sunday night), I bore snake the gun, lube the rails and wipe it down with a silicon cloth. I also change out mags (both in the gun and the spare), unloading the old and loading new. I also (now) check for primer strikes, condition of the rounds (set back), and wipe down and condition check the holster and belt too.
Monthly first weekend of the month, (if I haven’t shot in the interim), full cleaning, function check, dry fire practice with a Laserlyte from various carrys (belt, with/without jacket, ankle).
Why? Because I want my tools to WORK! Everybody hears about the cop or F-I-B who shows up for qualification with the gun corroded into the holster…
Also, being an ex-aviator, we were always taught attention to detail!!! Cause if you didn’t the probablility was you’d end up DEAD!
And maintenance is a routine operation in the aviation world.
Now that the pistol is clean, what about the light? How long since you’ve wiped it down? Changed the batteries? Made sure it works???
Now I will tell you I consider electronics as nothing more than holders for dead batteries (too many years of cheap military goose neck flashlights and strobes that seemed to fail in the first 30 seconds)…
I figured I use my EDC flashlights on an average of 10 minutes a week, for a variety of reasons. So every three months, I change the battery(s); this is to save me from the dead battery syndrome, and if worst comes to worst I’m going to have at least a ‘half’ charge as the worst case average.
And knives??? Same questions, but since I’m lazy, go over to EIA’s blog HERE, on care and feeding of knives… He lays it out well, and with options.
Ammo? How old IS that ammo in your EDC? The worst I’ve seen was my own family, my uncle left me a 1917, and I picked it up in the mid-90s from his wife. It was still loaded!!! And the ammo, you might ask? WCC 1943!!!
So that ammo had been in the gun for 50 years! We did go ‘test’ it, and it fired, but I swear one round just barely made it out of the barrel! It hit the ground about 2 feet in front of the target!!!
Last but not least, I try to shoot both mags of carry ammo at least once a quarter through both the primary carry and the BUG. That forces me to cycle through ammo on a fairly routine basis!
What did I miss? Or what do you do differently???
Comments/criticism???
You are doing better than almost everyone, and certainly better than me.
My carry pistol gets wiped down about once a week, and every time I do ‘sweaty carry’. Usually with a Tuff Cloth. Roughly every two weeks it will get stripped down on the kitchen counter and wiped down internally with the same cloth. Tuff Cloth lubrication properties are good enough to keep my G-30 ticking along smoothly.
(I once bought a fellows .22 carry pistol, a walther style Iver Johnson. I KNEW he carried it daily for years. It failed the first time I tried to fire it. Taking it apart, I found the internals tightly packed with a decades worth of pocket lint. Not an open spot left in the pistol. I never forgot that.)
The Glocks bore gets examined when I wipe it down, but seldom scrubbed unless it shows a reason.
The magazines are usually untouched between range visits, but I shoot both main and spare up every time I go to the range to shoot pistol. If it’s not a planned visit for ‘pistol time’ at the range, then it’s the back yard, and that’s (sadly) about once every two months.
Practice draw? I only use one holster, and one position, and I practice my draw every single time I carry. That includes activating the internal laser and coming to stance on target.
The light…. a 300 lumin LED with a strobe feature. I work automotive, and the light is in my pocket daily, and gets used multiple times a day. I kill a set of 123’s just about weekly… mostly from loaning it to the techs who leave it on. I have a backup LED light in the car, and another in the house. They get batteries every few months or so.
Knife… again, used almost daily. It gets wiped down when I am in the mood, but sharpened every week or two. I simply lay it amongst my chef knives which get steeled weekly at the least. Every few months it gets the whole treatment with a stone set and angle gauge.
Now….. I need to go shoot a few magazines from the Glock. Thanks for reminding me 🙂
I don’t change out the ammo in the mags, especially the spare mag so as to save the springs. Springs wear out when they are compressed and decompressed but not when left under compression.
As for light primer strikes and setback, I check that too and make sure that the round put back in the chamber is not a round that was in there previously.
I see no reason to switch out modern ammo every six months. You should be able to go for years.
When I go to the range about once a month, the first set I fire is whatever I’ve been carrying around in the magazine for the past month.
Sometimes it goes two months between range trips.
I do cycle the ammo in the magazine to avoid setback. That one’s bitten me before. Wow!
Great post! I suspect many military guys just take it for granted that the “PMs” get done. PMIs were/are done for a reason – they save your ass!
Only thing I add is a change of my small BIC lighter from my Juice carry pouch every 3 months. Left over from my days of teaching wilderness survival but still there. I encourage everyone to carry 3 ways to start a fire on their person as part of their EDC.
And even with proper care and feeding, I have had a flashlight go belly up just when I needed it – hence a small backup for that as well.
We may be old but just because we’re parinoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t gunnin’ for us!!
Enjoy the day sir!!
Carteach- Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Andy- I didn’t know that, I was ‘taught’ that spings would “take a set” if left compressed for long periods. Gotta go research that one! Thanks!
MSgt- Good point, and yeah that DOES happen!
eia- Since I still smoke, I’ve got ONE lighter, but didn’t think about a backup… sigh…
Stainless steel pocket auto (Kahr 9).
For an experiment, I didn’t clean it for a year, shooting occasionally.
Like MsgtB. “rotate stock”, shoot what in the mag, except the hollow points once a year.
Always fired.
Cleaned it, some pocket lint (pocket holster), but looked good as new
when done.
I don’t have the disposable income to target with JHP, but when I have, I haven’t seen the results vary from ball at the range at distances I’d be comfortable shooting at.
I agree with Andy about spring compression, but if you really want to preserve them, never use them. Using them seems to empty them quickly.
Definitions please:
Primer strike
set back
BUG
Check flashlight operation weekly, batteries changed every 3 to 6 months depending on usage.
Check ease of opening knife one handed daily, use a few times a week, check edge/sharpen every 2 to 4 weeks depending on usage.
No lighter, will add to “to-get” list.
Also check BOB at least quarterly for appropriate seasonal contents and batteries.
Not nearly as often as I should. Thanks for the reminder.
I love the tale of the ‘inspection’ wherein the watch commander looks down the barrel of the service revolver and comments, “There’s a spider living in here – and he has hash marks on his sleeve!”
gfa
Ed- Good points, thanks.
Joey- Done 🙂
GFA- LOL
I wipe the dust/fuzz off of all moving parts weekly, as well as swabbing the barrel with a bore brush for the same reason. Oil the slide every couple of weeks, and change the magazines every couple of months.
Fortunately, sweat & humidity aren’t issues here.
Rev- Your problem is the nine layers of clothes…LOL
See, I was planning on being lazy today but I read this and realized it’s the beginning of the month and time to do the scheduled cleanings.
Everything got torn down (including my wife’s shotgun and pistols) wiped down, oiled and inspected.
So, thanks for what would have been an unproductive day of lazing about and making me do something with myself.
Oh, and the carry knives got taken apart, cleaned and oiled.
Instinct- Glad it was a ‘friendly’ reminder 🙂