Hey guys, I am kinda a gun fanatic, I just got a 226 navy, 226 model.  Anyways, I just got it and want to make sure I do not damage it, and I forgot to purchase a 9mm cleaning kit for it.  So, before I fire it I need to find a few things.  I believe I need a 9mm bore cleaning kit (do they sell these as kits?) and whatever else I am unsure of.  Any help would be apreciated, I am already loving the ergonomics and design of this weapon, clean and slick like my bushmaster.  

PS> please forgive me for being a newbie, its my first handgun and I am excited.  

So for the first time I should run a cleaning solvent through there to get the grease out of the barell, run cotton path through to clean out, and then fire it dry?  

btw- I am going into westpoint this year.  I guess I was a little hasty on my screen name but I couldn't think of anything else that would describe me well enough.  I have been accepted completely, and I am going there for beast this summer.  

Field strip, brush through barrel, I use Break Free, then patches with CLP, to clean it up.  Some dry patches until they come out clean.  One last patch with CLP.

Clean the slide grooves and the ones on the frame. Clean slide.  Clean recoil spring and guide rod. Toothbrush is good for this. Clean breech face.  I use CLP for all of this.  

Wipe down with rag. I buy the 25 pack of mechanics rags from VIP. 5 or 6 bucks.

Then lube, there are many schools of thought here. I use the method I read in "The Gun Digest Book of The Sig Sauer" by Massad Ayoob

I use Hoppe's #9 oil. A drop on the slide and frame grooves, spread a drop on the recoil spring spread around with fingers. Assemble pistol.  With slide locked back, put a drop of oil on top of barrel, where the smiley is, same for guide rod.  A drop on the top of pistol where slide goes against top of barrel, and a drop on the top of the hammer where the slide contacts it.  Vigorously operate slide back and forth to spread oil.  Then wipe off excess.

About once a month (I shoot a lot outside in all kinds of weather) I use CLP on all exposed metal parts, let sit then wipe off.  

Like I said before, there are many techniques to cleaning you pistol.  And many substances to use.  I'm sure in West Point, they may have their own methods.

take apart the mags, and get the packing goop off of the insides.

It won't be your last; Sigs are great guns!

Quoted: Cleaning kits usually do not have specific brushes, etc. in them, but may state on the packaging that they are for ".38-45" or similar calibers to differentiate them from .22 rimfire kits, etc. Get a good bronze bristle .38 / 9mm caliber brush, and a double ended "toothbrush" as used with the AR rifles...

What I did was just supplemented my Army cleaning kit with the 9mm tools that it doesn't initially come with (it's normally a 5.56 / 7.62 cleaning kit).  I picked up one of the 9mm cleaning rods (about the same size rod as one of the M16 rods, but it has a ring on one end, and a slot on the other for inserting cleaning patches, plus the threaded hole in that same end), and I also bought a 9mm wire bristle brush at a surplus store.  Make sure you check the 9mm brush to ensure it screws in to the end of the cleaning rod.  It will of course also work in the m16 cleaning rods, but I find the rod with the ring on the end to be much easier to use than the T-handle M16 rod.

The 9mm tools will come in handy when you're eventually issued an M9 also (unfortunately totally inferior to your P226!).  Enjoy your Sig!

Dave

Quoted: So for the first time I should run a cleaning solvent through there to get the grease out of the barell, run cotton path through to clean out, and then fire it dry?   btw- I am going into westpoint this year.  I guess I was a little hasty on my screen name but I couldn't think of anything else that would describe me well enough.  I have been accepted completely, and I am going there for beast this summer.

Congrats on being accepted...however, be forewarned: you won't be able to bring the Sig with you into NY. NY gun laws suck for that..you need a NYS pistol permit just to own it there.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

I grew up right next to West Point, in Cornwall. You probably won't have any free time for a while there But, if you want to know where some decent gun stores are and where some good public/private ranges are, let me know. I bet WP has it's own range so you won't be lacking for that...

I don't know about the rules that the point has, but state-law wise, the handgun would be verboten, and rifles and such, if they are in evil baby killer configuration, need to be pre-ban, made in 1994 or earlier.

I still have a bunch of pre-ban stuff I need to sell back to NY, now that I've moved out of there..

So I should remove the goop on the inside of the gun?  Like remove ALL of the grease, using a solvent and then re apply gun oil?  



Yeah so far all I know is I will get to shoot preety much whatever I want up there.  I can't bring it but they have anything and everything, readily accesable.  I will just leave it with my dad down here in good ol' Texas where the second amendment still means more than most places.  

Quoted: So I should remove the goop on the inside of the gun?  Like remove ALL of the grease, using a solvent and then re apply gun oil?   Yeah so far all I know is I will get to shoot preety much whatever I want up there.  I can't bring it but they have anything and everything, readily accesable.  I will just leave it with my dad down here in good ol' Texas where the second amendment still means more than most places.

For the grease, yep...wipe it all out, maybe hit it with some carb or brake cleaner (BE CAREFUL! They can melt your grips!), or some other degreaser, wipe it all out so it's dry...then re-apply some CLP or some other good gun oil to it, wiping it down with that. You don't want the thing to be soggy with oil, but you don't want it to be totally dry, either.  I keep my 228 fairly well oiled on the frame/slide rails, as well as a little dab on the locking block and on the barrel, where it meets the front of the slide. My 228 is my carry weapon, and thats all it needs to be a reliable piece.

Good, that the place lets you go to the range and whatnot There's a couple gunstores within 30 minutes of there, if you decide you want to browse what the locals have to offer. Remember that you CAN buy rifles/shotguns in NY, but not handguns...yes, even if you are an out-of-state resident.

There's Woodbury Commons not far from there, too (world's largest outdoor mall), not to mention some spetacular scenery and hiking/camping, if you like that. The hunting's damn good, too.

I just wish NY was more like most of the counties away from NYC..but oh well.

God luck, and have fun there!

Thanks for the info.  I just got back from the range right now, It turns out at like 15 yards I have a 4 inch group...about that with a stray 1 or 2.  My friend was there (He lives at the range...literally his house is parked next to it) and he told me I was using too much of my finger and tilting the gun..so I started using my fingertip but my grip was thrown off and instead of firing precisely, I got more wild but at least it wasnt all in the bottom left corner anymore heh.  Just going to need to practice more.  

Also, I have 1 question for you guys.  I read it says to leave a very thin coating of oil in the barell by way of patch with a drop or two on it...what do you guys think of this and the affect it has on accuracy, or even if it is safe?  I fired it like this because I read it in the manual but I am hoping I didn't interpret it wrong and fire it funky.  

Besides my inacuracy (but ok precision I guess) I was thoroughly impressed with it.  Fired fast and balanced very nicely, and it is a very ergonomic pistol.  NO misfires at all and I severely limp wristed a whole clip to see if I could make it happen.  Cool pistol, I hope the m9 I will eventually get shoots somewhat like this.    

Also, on the guns part, they have an armory there where you can store your hunting rifles and such...so I guess I will ask my parents to bring my bushmaster or 7mag up there for me, because I have been told its ok but I will have to make sure later.  On handguns, I have yet to ask but I will definitely do so.  The coolest thing is they have a gun club that shoots all the time, with guns rangeing from full auto "grease guns" to full auto m14s and alot of world war 2 era machine guns and such.  Sounds like so much fun hug.gif

Quoted: Thanks for the info.  I just got back from the range right now, It turns out at like 15 yards I have a 4 inch group...about that with a stray 1 or 2.  My friend was there (He lives at the range...literally his house is parked next to it) and he told me I was using too much of my finger and tilting the gun..so I started using my fingertip but my grip was thrown off and instead of firing precisely, I got more wild but at least it wasnt all in the bottom left corner anymore heh.  Just going to need to practice more.   Also, I have 1 question for you guys.  I read it says to leave a very thin coating of oil in the barell by way of patch with a drop or two on it...what do you guys think of this and the affect it has on accuracy, or even if it is safe?  I fired it like this because I read it in the manual but I am hoping I didn't interpret it wrong and fire it funky.   Besides my inacuracy (but ok precision I guess) I was thoroughly impressed with it.  Fired fast and balanced very nicely, and it is a very ergonomic pistol.  NO misfires at all and I severely limp wristed a whole clip to see if I could make it happen.  Cool pistol, I hope the m9 I will eventually get shoots somewhat like this.     Also, on the guns part, they have an armory there where you can store your hunting rifles and such...so I guess I will ask my parents to bring my bushmaster or 7mag up there for me, because I have been told its ok but I will have to make sure later.  On handguns, I have yet to ask but I will definitely do so.  The coolest thing is they have a gun club that shoots all the time, with guns rangeing from full auto "grease guns" to full auto m14s and alot of world war 2 era machine guns and such.  Sounds like so much fun

Holy crap guy, just put some clp on the thing and shoot it.  I could be off my rocker but there's no in-depth science to it.

Congrats on getting into west point.  

I like the M9 alot, you've probably seen that from my other posts.  However, I've never fired a sig and I'm over here investigating because everyone is raving over them.  I would probably like one.  Dang, I'll have to rent one sometime.

Well, only thing I am comfused on is if I should fire with the barell dry or lightly lubricated...I have heard conflicting things.  I did fire it by the way, was nice.  

Technically, doesnt matter...though if you were a match shooter going at it with the likes of...well, robots? Then I'd wipe the barrel down with a clean patch before shooting.

The thin coat of oil is to prevent corrosion, etc...the barrel is plain steel; I don't believe they are chrome-lined. So, always, when cleaning, leave the barrel with running a damp or wet patch of oil through the bore, to stave off corrosion. DON'T SATURATE, but a nice damp or wet cloth will be ok. You don't want to be able to turn the barrel over and see drops run, in other words.

That's fine...don't worry about that. Me, I just keep the weapon standing on it's barrel for the night after I clean it...it'll clear any excess oil out, run it off onto the rag I prop it on.

It'll be fine, don't worry

If you’re shooting a sniper rifle and there’s oil in the bore, it can throw off your first round.

Not really an issue with SIG handguns.

As already mentioned, a light coat of oil is fine (and the bore could rust on you if you don’t oil it).  Just don’t overdo it and get a lot of oil around your cartridges, esp. near the primer in the back, since it could conceivably kill the round.

The preservative on a new SIG should be removed and replaced by a quality lubricant.  Note though that SIG does put some grease (TW-25, I believe) on the firing mechanism (visible when removing the right grip).  I’d leave that alone.

Incidentally, suggest you clean the barrel from the rear.

Also note as a follow-up to 3ACR_Scout’s post above, the military uses rods and brushes with 8X36 threads while commercial rods and brushes use 8X32.

Mixing the two can be really confusing.  If a brush goes about half way on the rod and gets stuck, you’ve got mis-matched threads.  Adapters are available – though it’s better to just stay with one thread or the other.

Thanks you guys cleared up alot of stuff for me.  

Don't worry, I will be a benevolent leader, gotta earn respect can't beat people into it!  It's those asshole officers that give the military a bad rep, in my opinion.  

Quoted: It's those asshole officers that give the military a bad rep, in my opinion.

Just think, you're on your way to becoming one





If you get up there and get a little lost, wonder where to find things, etc..drop me a note. Stewart Airfield isn't but 15 or so miles away, and while they're Marines, I know a few there who'll hook you up with local places to shoot off-base, etc.