AR Sponsor
Posted: 2/1/2003 4:24:51 PM EDT
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I've done a bit of research into what products to buy to clean my new AR15 and have come to the conclusion that there are some items that can be recommended for everyone starting out. It took me a while to check all of these out, so hopefully this will serve as a much easier guide than the hodge podge of info I sorted through. Please critique and improve this, as my experience is mainly through compiling opinions, not in extensive use. Sections marked with question marks are areas that I specifically need info on. 1. CLP: The basic cleaner / lube / preservative. Used to clean / lube everything on the rifle (including the bore). This is recommended over grease, usually, being that CLP does the job just fine without the issues of grease trapping debris, accelerating wear, and difficulty in removal. If you clean regularly, it's said that you wont need to use dedicated cleaning solvents until much later in the rifle's lifetime. Recommended products: FP-10 CLP www.fp10.com or Breakfree CLP. Some prefer FP-10 CLP over Breakfree CLP for its nicer smell and increased lubricity. 2. In-field cleaning kit: Cons: Many shy away from solely using military-issue cleaning kits because the rod sections screw together and can scratch the bore at these points. They're normally more flimsy because of the necessity of leaving each of the rod sections unscrewed a couple of turns to allow the patch or brush to track (rotate) in the grooves in the bore. In these kits, the handle is directly linked to the rod, as opposed to dedicated one-piece bore rods with freely-rotating handles. Recommended cleaning is only pulling because when pushing a failure in the rod would cause it to deflect, damaging the side of the bore. The threading in mil-spec kits is 8-36, as opposed to 8-32 on all commercial-type bore rods / brushes. You have to be careful that you match up the threading between your brushes / patch holders and the rod you're using (or will strip the threads / have a failure during cleaning). Pros: With that said, the usefulness of these kits are in emergency / in-field situations and in removing stuck casings / checking for a stuck bullet in the bore. They're very compact and relatively inexpensive. These kits come with: rod sections, handle section, chamber brush, bore brush, patch holder, clp bottle, toothbrush, storage pouch. They are designed to fit in the trapdoor buttstock to always be with the rifle. Because of the non-rotating handle, you can screw the chamber brush onto the rod and have a rigid grip that allows for turning the brush. The "toothbrush" is double-ended, with a short-bristled side and a notch in the long-bristled side. Recommended products: As far as I know, any kit listed as mil-spec will be the same as any other and of decent quality. 3. Bore snake Many people don't trust bore snakes to solely clean their weapon because it's not easy to tell when the bore is fully clean. Their use lies in the ease of use in the field (over military-type cleaning kits). They work by having a fish line of around 2mm woven nylon, with a brass sinker on the end. The fish line is sewn to a bigger shoelace-type material that does the cleaning. The beginning of the actual cleaning material usually has brass bristles sewn in to better clean the bore. CLP is used before or in the brush area. They're used by dropping the sinker in the bore from the breech. Once the sinker comes out the muzzle, the fish line is pulled which drags the boresnake to clean. The soft materials preclude wearing through any of the firearm's metal components. Because boresnakes have such large surface areas and store so compactly, they're great to use in the field or at the range. The general use is every 50-100 rounds of shooting at the range and when back at home, using a one-piece cleaning rod to make sure the bore is clean before storing. Recommended products: I have not heard recommendations one way or the other, as long as the snake has a sinker, brass brushes, and is long enough / wide enough for your firearm. 4. At-home cleaning rod: A long, one-piece rod used to push a patch through the bore from the breech area. These are considered easier and safer (for the bore) to use than mil-spec cleaning kits. The harder the rod, the better (stainless steel / coated), being that debris can get imbedded in softer (brass) rods and end up scratching the bore. Most have handles with ball bearings to allow the patch / brush to easily rotate, following the grooves in the bore. You need to make sure to get a rod that's long enough (30" for a 16" bbl, ??" for a 20" bbl AR15). The length of these rods generally preclude their use in the field. Recommended products: Dewey rods www.deweyrods.com/ seem to be the standard, though others are also favored. 5. Bore guide: Used to keep the rod tracking straight through the bore, to keep from wearing / scratching the bore / crown and to prevent the rod from bending during pushing. Recommended products: Bore Stay Bore Cleaning Guide glocksbr.com/axami/shop.php?grd=62&prd=63, Georgia Precision www.georgiaprecision.com/cats/catarcare.htm, or JP AR Cleaning Rod Guide www.jprifles.com/riflespc.htm. 6. Chamber rod: Bore rods are specifically made to freely rotate and are much too long to clean the chamber. Chamber rods are necessarily shorter and their handles are directly linked with the rod to allow clockwise turning. Mil-spec cleaning kits all come with a bore brush and the non-rotating t-handle allows for an economical chamber brush / rod. Chamber-specific rods allow for greater comfort over the mil-issue ones. Recommended products: Dewey www.deweyrods.com/ or Georga Precision www.georgiaprecision.com/cats/catarcare.htm. 7. Patches: Patches are small squares of fabric that are used to clean the bore when moistened with CLP. They're also used dry to remove excess CLP before firing and can be used in a patch holder as a kind of swab to clean hard to reach areas. Recommended products: Not all patches are created equal, as some aren't very substantial and made of cheap materials. Brownells www.brownells.com carries mil-spec cotton flannel patches. 8. Jags: Jags are used to push a patch though the bore and are said to be better at cleaning than regular patch holders. A patch is centered on the tip, usually. Jags screw onto the end of a cleaning rod. Recommended products: Dewey www.deweyrods.com/ makes jags, (any other recommendations?) 9. Patch holder: A patch holder can be used either by pushing or pulling. The mil-spec cleaning kits come with a patch holder (and not a jag) and are needed because of the recommendation of pulling only. Some one-piece rods also include patch holders. Patch holders are used by threading a patch through, like the eye of a large needle. Patch holders screw onto the end of a cleaning rod. Recommended products: Mil-spec kits and most one-piece bore rods come with patch holders, so additional purchase is unnecessary. Using mil-spec patch holders on one-piece rods will cause a mismatch in threading unless an adaptor is used. Misc: -Pipe cleaners: For general cleaning use, as cotton swabs usually shed their cotton fibers creating a mess. -Rifle cleaning cradle: Some are offered prebuilt, but can be simply made. These increase the ease with which one is able to clean their rifle when at home. I don't think I've left anything out, but if I have, please speak up. Hopefully most people will agree with this list even if they don't use exactly everything, themselves. Thanks. |
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I guess that I'm kind of opinionated, and since my background is LE rather than military, I tend to believe that one should use a quality bore solvent like Hoppe's, Shooter's Choice, etc.. No doubt that CLP (Breakfree or FP10) will clean a military chrome lined bore, but it doesn't have the chemical properties (ie. ammonia) to remove copper fouling from a standard, non-chromed bore. Copper fouling is NOT effectively removed by brush stroking, rather the chemical reaction between the solvent and the residual copper. Not to mention that you will get a first shot flier 100% of the time on a bore cleaned with CLP, due to the residual lubrication that penetrates the pores of the steel. I do agree that a good field expedient sectional cleaning rod is indespensible, and that routine cleaning should be done with a one piece coated Dewey rod, and patch jags. I do endorse Breakfree CLP for all your lubrication needs on the AR. Obviously, not the final word....just my $.02. |
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This is what I use Bore guide Sinclair Bore-Tec cleaning rod Dewery cleaning rod Brownells chamber brush & rod 1.I have been using FP-10, Kroil and J&B compound for cleaning my AR-10 2. Two wet patches with koil 3. One patch dry 4. Wet patch with FP-10 5. Followed by FP-10 wet bronze brush 6. Two patches to clean and dry 7. Followed by spraying gun scrubber or carb. Cleaner down the barrel 8. Drying with a patch 9. Finish With one wet patch with fp-10 10.if the barrel is really dirty I use J&B compound and Koil. On the bolt I scrub with Koil first then dry with gun scrubber or carb.cleaner then lube with FP-10. Although I might switch over to miltec-1 in the future. I keep a fan running in the basement to circulate the air, the other day it stared to slow down so I took it a part and lube it with FP-10 and it took off running like new again.Two days later it slowed down again so I took it apart again and this time I lube it with the free sample from milect-1 and that was three week ago. Richard |
| I love Militec1 as well! As a lube it's great. Now I just wish they could make it protect as well. Sorry, but it fails in that regard. I've seen metal corosion the same day it was coated with the stuff. Some people have combined it with other products for their "protection" properties but I found it just thinned out both. Hmmmmmmmm! |
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