Barrel Cleaning Made As Simple As Possible

Let’s say you have one of our Glock or P365 barrels with a modern, advanced coating like black nitride or titanium nitride. These finishes offer superior permanent dry lubricity and resist fouling adhesion, making them easier to clean.

But they still should be periodically cleaned, and after each live fire session is a good place to start. More importantly, while you should clean your slide and trigger assembly as well, the only part you really need to clean after every trip to the range is the barrel since this is where most fouling will accumulate anyway.

So, with no further ado, let’s get right into how to perform a quick and cursory cleaning of your handgun’s barrel.

Safety First: Remove the Slide and Barrel

We won’t offer specifics on firearm disassembly since the steps to do so will vary according to the model of handgun you’re attempting to clean.

However, safety is paramount. Open the action, drop the magazine, and visually and physically inspect the chamber to clear the handgun before you attempt to disassemble it.

Then, remove the slide and barrel, and get out your gun cleaning essentials.

How to Clean It (and Why It Matters)

To clean your Glock of P365 barrel – or any other handgun barrel – you will only need a few basic gun cleaning items:

You will need a clean, clear, well lit space, a cleaning rod, patches, a slotted jag for those patches, an appropriately sized bore brush (determined by barrel caliber), and some cleaning solvent. Hoppe’s No. 9 is a good all-around option. You may also need a nylon or brass cleaning brush, depending on how heavily fouled the feed ramp and area around the chamber are.

Lay your barrel down on your cleaning mat or bench, then take your cleaning rod and thread on the bore brush. Soak this bore brush in your solvent and give it a pass through the bore – from chamber to muzzle, to avoid damaging the muzzle crowning – then give it a few more passes.

This preliminary step will begin to loosen the powder fouling in the bore, and will scrub away some if not all of the copper or lead fouling in the bore as well.

Then, remove the brush and affix the slotted jag. Pass a clean patch through the jag and then soak this patch in solvent, too.

Run it through the bore from chamber to muzzle, and remove the patch. It should be black or nearly black. Thread a new clean (and dry, not solvent-soaked) patch through the slotted jag and pass this through from chamber to muzzle as well.

It also should come out black, or nearly so. Repeat this process with clean, dry jags until they come out completely clean. If, after 5 or 10, they’re still heavily fouled, replace the slotted jag with the bore brush and repeat the first process, as there may still be a lot of fouling in the bore.

Then replace the brush with a fresh patch and continue running them through the bore until they come out completely white, without a trace of fouling left on them.

After you’ve removed all traces of fouling from the bore, run one more fresh patch through in order to make sure any solvent or leftover moisture is removed. There’s no need to oil the inside of a barrel, as not only does oil combine with fouling to create tar (which is exceedingly difficult to remove) but because our barrels are coated and don’t need to be oiled in the first place.

Next, get a nylon or brass gun cleaning brush and take a closer look at the feed ramp and the area around the chamber. If there’s a lot of fouling here, apply some bore solvent and scrub it away with the brush. You can then use some patches or a microfiber rag to remove the solvent and loose fouling, until the chamber end of the barrel is also clean.

This is about as simple as a routine handgun barrel cleaning protocol can be made, but it’s important to keep your barrel clean nonetheless. A very dirty chamber can adversely affect feeding and extraction, and a dirty bore, especially one with a lot of copper or lead fouling, will not shoot as accurately as a barrel that’s been meticulously kept clean.