Okay,
Two days passed after my first trip to the range and I finally got my Slide Glide in from Brian Enos' website. I figured it was time to clean and lube. I hope I didn't do any harm by waiting til Thursday to clean after shooting Monday afternoon. I don't believe we put more than 40 or so rounds through our M&P9.
Okay ... Here's what I did, tell me if it's wrong or if I missed anything.
Fieldstripped and squirted a small amount of CLP into the removed barrel with my finger on the crown. Placed another finger on the breech and allowed the CLP to roll around inside the barrel for a moment and then let it drain through the crown. (Yes, the rifling was still there!
)
Sprayed a little CLP on the brass brush and proceed to run it through the barrel from the breech, back and forth, turning the barrel a lttle after each stroke.
Removed brush from rod and put on patch puller. Pulled one patch with CLP on it back and forth through the barrel, twisting the rod as I went, to get the patch to contact as much of the barrel as possible. Removed patch from puller while it was extended through the crown.
Ran two more dry patches through in the same fashion. The second dry patch hard barely any residue on it, so I considered it fairly clean.
Noticed a soft "mop" attachment and figured "What the hell" and gently ran it through the barrel several times. Inside of the barrel appeared shiny when looking through from breech to crown.
Took used patches with CLP still on them and proceeded to use them to clean the inside of the slide. Also used paper towels with CLP drippings from earlier cleaning to go over the slide inside and out. Dried the slide with the remaining clean/dry portions of the paper towel.
Using "cheap brush" purchased from Brian Enos' website, applied very small amount of slide glide to the outside of the barrel -- just like a light film, not "goopy" (possibly erroring on the side of too little).
Replaced barrel in slide and continued to coat all "points of contact" where I had observed paint removed from metal to metal contact inside the slide. Areas covered included the channel where the slide guides ride, the upraised center of the slide behind the little lever that I'm assuming cocks the striker (that area had the most missing paint), and around the little silver button on the slide, (is that the firing safety?) that gets pushed in.
I also lightly coated the guide rod and spring with slide glide as well and put it back in place. On the frame I coated the slide guides, top and bottom, a little more heavily and a piece of metal that is in the center of frame between the piece the takedown switch rotates and the trigger area. Not sure what that is, but it appears to be just a hunk of metal that was exhibiting quite a bit of wear.
Basically, if it was shiny and there was paint missing, I coated it with the slide glide.
I put the slide back on the frame, reset the take down switch, inserted a mag to return the seer deactivation lever to normal, and dry fired a couple of times.
Wiped down the outside of the slide with a dry paper towel (yeah, I need to get some shop rags), and racked the slide a few times. Frankly, I don't feel any difference from before ... thinking that the slide glide would suddenly make the slide pull easier or improve the trigger experience, but that's probably just wishful thinking.
I hear the slide glide is a good product, cuts down on cleaning (figuring I'll just have to brush and clean the barrel next few times until I'm ready to re-apply slide glide again) and increases the longevity of the handgun. Perhaps I'm not using enough? At any rate, I thought I'd start small and build up if necessary. There wasn't any excess being forced out anywhere that I could see, so I'm hoping I did the job right.
Please keep the criticism mild ... remember, I'm new! But I can certainly use any tips or suggestions you have to offer.
Many Thanks!
Cet.
