Do you want to know the best-kept secret of the professional gunsmith? No deep learning, no years of practice, just one little thing to keep in mind: Ninety percent of the handguns that show up for work simply need a good thorough cleaning and proper lubrication, and their “problems” were solved. And the rest of the problems? Most of them could have been avoided with one good cleaning each year after hunting season. In fact, it was the lack of cleaning on the part of hunters that drove me out of general commercial gunsmithing. It got to the point where I just couldn’t stand the thought of another season spent hosing the gunk out of an endless parade of Remington 1100s and 742s. At that time I was working on nearly a thousand firearms a year, and I could count on seeing a couple of hundred 742/7400 and 1100/11-87 Remingtons in each pre-season rush. Yes, the money was good, but not if it drove me to drink. I now clean only my own firearms, and am much happier for it.
Rusted surface that requires re-bluing? Cleaning it after the rainstorm the last day of hunting season should have prevented that.
Broken extractor? Maybe, if the chamber hadn’t gotten so crusty that the extractor was stressed, it never would have broken.
Failure to feed in an auto? Groups getting so large that scores are dropping off? Scrub out the pistol, keep the bore clean and these problems won’t occur.
For the author’s advice and instruction on the best way to clean your pistols and revolvers, purchase Gunsmithing Pistols and Revolvers from Gun Tests.
