Cleaning ARs

[jawn]

I'm sort of running my own little torture test on my 11.5" SBR which has a BCM BFH upper and BCM BCG. I've got about 1500 rounds through it, 600 of those suppressed. Haven't cleaned it yet. It has sat for up to 2 months without being shot, I just add a couple drops of Slip 2k about every 500 rounds. I cleaned the barrel after running half a mag through it when I first got it, I think I've run a boresnake through it twice.

My plan is to shoot it until it stops. Then I'll inspect all the components (including the barrel with a borescope) and see how much wear & tear I'm getting and what if anything has broken. I went shooting with my dad and brother the other day at the NRA HQ and posted an approximate 6-7" group standing, offhand, pretty quickly at 50 yds with my Aimpoint. Good enough for what I'm using it for... I will sit down at some point and put it on a sandbag and see what sort of accuracy I'm getting with it. But for about 1500 rounds through the barrel with no cleaning I think that's pretty decent.

I let my Big-Ass M4™ go until about 1000 rounds and it had a nice, black Slip2000 sludge going. All of it wiped off fairly cleanly with just a rag. Very little actual carbon build-up. The key to keeping a good AR15 running is just proper lubrication. It's not rocket science. It's really my second easiest gun to clean, behind my Glock.

 

[niftyvt]

If I shoot a lot of wolf I make sure to give the chamber a once over. Other than that I just wipe it down. Every so often I will look down the barrel and if it looks nasty I will run a few patches through it. Basically, I am cheap and cleaning supplies are expensive.

I give everything (gear included) a thorough cleaning and inspection before and after any classes I may take or any days where I get to go to a range to actually train. Sometimes I still skimp on the cleaning part, the inspection it’s the important part in my opinion.

 

[smokey]

That's sort of a ridiculous statement.

That being said, I do clean mine every time I shoot it. Thoroughly. I'm not an expert...but I think the whole "overcleaning your gun will damage it" is largely a myth. I mean, you have guys in the army and marine corps taking drills and putting chamber brushes on them and cleaning that way. Hell yes, that's going to cause damage. Things like that, definitely.

But if all you're doing is running a bronze brush/patches through your bore and using a chamber brush properly, I find it hard to believe you're going to damage your gun, even if you did it twice a day every day. I mean, how is a bronze brush going to damage your bore when copper going 3k fps (I think) through your bore doesn't hurt it?

That being said I had an interesting problem the other day. Hoppes elite down the bore, bronze brush, patches through until clean. But then I sprayed a patch with hoppes elite and ran it down, and it was dirty again. So...I kept running patches until clean. Tried another wet patch. Dirty again!! So I soak the bore in hoppes elite and let it sit for half an hour. Push patches through until totally clean. Take a patch, put some hoppes elite on there, and run it through....DIRTY. What the hell is going on?

Whats goingon is you're not using wipe out, so the bore is still fouled. You could also be depositing bronze brush on to your patches...solvents designed to cut copper also work on bronze.

 

[KMK1862]

That's sort of a ridiculous statement.

That being said, I do clean mine every time I shoot it. Thoroughly. I'm not an expert...but I think the whole "overcleaning your gun will damage it" is largely a myth. I mean, you have guys in the army and marine corps taking drills and putting chamber brushes on them and cleaning that way. Hell yes, that's going to cause damage. Things like that, definitely.

But if all you're doing is running a bronze brush/patches through your bore and using a chamber brush properly, I find it hard to believe you're going to damage your gun, even if you did it twice a day every day. I mean, how is a bronze brush going to damage your bore when copper going 3k fps (I think) through your bore doesn't hurt it?

That being said I had an interesting problem the other day. Hoppes elite down the bore, bronze brush, patches through until clean. But then I sprayed a patch with hoppes elite and ran it down, and it was dirty again. So...I kept running patches until clean. Tried another wet patch. Dirty again!! So I soak the bore in hoppes elite and let it sit for half an hour. Push patches through until totally clean. Take a patch, put some hoppes elite on there, and run it through....DIRTY. What the hell is going on?

I don't believe in over or under cleaning. I believe in proper and improper cleaning.

Anything going down the barrel is going to cause wear, whether a bullet, a quality rod, or a cheap segmented rod. Same thing with rod attachments.

I'm not expert, but my guess is that an improper cleaning does the most damage to the throat/chamber or the muzzle crown.

Give Wipe-Out a try, see if that helps your dirty patch situation.

 

[Caudizle]

Yeah definitely after rain, I shot in the rain once and every little unfinished piece or metal got surface rust. Surface rust is easily removed, but before you go out spray some CLP on the exposed areas (when your lubing up might as well).

As for regular cleaning, I snake the barrel after every shoot, and use wipeout every couple hundred rounds. Also I've noticed after using wipeout my barrel is so much easier to clean.

~Scott

 

[Rivera]

after every range trip

 

[erwos]

I used to be uptight about it. Now? Maybe once every 1000 rounds, and that's just getting the important stuff (barrel, chamber, BCG). Even shooting Russian ammo, it just doesn't get that dirty.

My .22LR upper, on the other hand, required more frequent cleaning, probably every 500 rounds. I actually got it so dirty at one point that it stopped cycling, a first for any of my guns.

 

[huesmann]

That being said I had an interesting problem the other day. Hoppes elite down the bore, bronze brush, patches through until clean. But then I sprayed a patch with hoppes elite and ran it down, and it was dirty again. So...I kept running patches until clean. Tried another wet patch. Dirty again!! So I soak the bore in hoppes elite and let it sit for half an hour. Push patches through until totally clean. Take a patch, put some hoppes elite on there, and run it through....DIRTY. What the hell is going on?

Your bore is dissolving!

 

[the Javid]

Because metal is pouros(not sure if I'm spelling that right but I'm just a dumb grunt so what do you expect?) carbon tends to leech into the metal. When you put solvents in they also leech into the metal and break up carbon. The patches you are using are only able to wipe away the solvent/carbon mixture that is on the surface of the metal. I remember cleaning the Sugar, Honey, and Ice Tea out of my weapon in basic training and then putting a liberal layer of CLP(clean,lubricate, and protect/ it's the standard issue weapon cure all) on all the parts that move. Well the DS pulls my weapon out of the rack and inspects it. After the weapon turned his hands blacker than a chalk board he made my entire body very tired. So apparently the CLP had soaked into the metal and drew all the carbon to the surface. I learned to use baby wipes and Q-tips to clean my old musket(the M-16A4 they issued me was so beat up that when you shook it parts rattled) and only lube it just before firing it.

 

[upacreek]

3 times after every shoot

 

[LJPete]

I started out cleaning after every visit to the range. I still try to do that but lately it seems like I clean my AR after no more than 3 visits. If time permits, I still fall back to after every trip. Personally, I just enjoy cleaning my guns. I find it quite relaxing.

 

[Maryland Hunter]

That's sort of a ridiculous statement.

That being said, I do clean mine every time I shoot it. Thoroughly. I'm not an expert...but I think the whole "overcleaning your gun will damage it" is largely a myth. I mean, you have guys in the army and marine corps taking drills and putting chamber brushes on them and cleaning that way. Hell yes, that's going to cause damage. Things like that, definitely.

But if all you're doing is running a bronze brush/patches through your bore and using a chamber brush properly, I find it hard to believe you're going to damage your gun, even if you did it twice a day every day. I mean, how is a bronze brush going to damage your bore when copper going 3k fps (I think) through your bore doesn't hurt it?

That being said I had an interesting problem the other day. Hoppes elite down the bore, bronze brush, patches through until clean. But then I sprayed a patch with hoppes elite and ran it down, and it was dirty again. So...I kept running patches until clean. Tried another wet patch. Dirty again!! So I soak the bore in hoppes elite and let it sit for half an hour. Push patches through until totally clean. Take a patch, put some hoppes elite on there, and run it through....DIRTY. What the hell is going on?

The Hoppes Elite (re-branded M-Pro7) is getting down deep and removing embedded carbon. It just takes a while. While Wipe Out is good, and I use it quite regularly, I found that the Hoppes Elite is a bit better at carbon removal, and will still pull some out, even after several applications of Wipe Out. Just don't leave it in too long, as it doesn't have any lube in it. It won't harm the barrel, but it does remove all traces of oil. It also does't clean any better if left in longer than 5 minutes.

As far as the overcleaning goes, I think it applies more to improper cleaning and the damage that it can cause over time. Those who vigorously scrub the barrel, not using bore or muzzle guides, cheap or improper sized cleaning rods, and leaving the harsh cleaners in too long, are going to cause premature wear on the firearm, no doubt about it. Proper cleaning on the other hand, is not going to cause any problems, IMO.

MH

 

[the Javid]

I'm curious as to how harmful running a bore snake through the barrel is. I know the bristles are copper or brass and the chromed steel in the barrel is massively harder than the bristles in the bore snake. But I don't think repeated metal on metal scrapage is good either way. I could be wrong though after all I am just a dumb grunt.

 

[smores]

I'm curious as to how harmful running a bore snake through the barrel is. I know the bristles are copper or brass and the chromed steel in the barrel is massively harder than the bristles in the bore snake. But I don't think repeated metal on metal scrapage is good either way. I could be wrong though after all I am just a dumb grunt.

Boresnake/Otis cleaning systems are the least harmful. The Otis will give you a better cleaning. In terms of ease of maintenance and keeping your bore mostly clean, these work the best. Of course you can get a bore guide and one-piece Dewey rod, but you can't roll it up and stick it in your stock, range bag or other compact space.

The damage in cleaning barrels comes from using uncoated metal cleaning rods, which pick up debris or get scratched/burred and can damage the rifling, or worse yet the crown. The steel GI segmented cleaning rods (issued in the military, and shipped with Colt and other AR-15s) are the worst offenders. The segments never line up, which gives you stiff, steel shoulders which can ruin a crown in short order.

 

[antco]

I inspect and lube my AR15's but have yet to clean them or put anything down their bores.

My 10/22's tend to get a little crappy after ~1k rounds so they get a light cleaning, a ~5 patches down the bore and more lube.

My AK47 gets the same treatment as my AR15's.

My TacOps R700 takes ~35 rounds to settle back down after cleaning the bore so I have now adopted an inspect and lube only program with it. Still too early in the program to see how long it takes for accuracy to drop due to fouling. It is apparent that it does not like having a clean bore.

In my youth I was taught to clean clean clean every surface after every outing. This included scrubbing the bore after every outing. I have since shied away from this theory and now run my guns dirty but wet. Red synthetic grease and AMSOIL 15w-40 oil (my truck uses it) keep everything wet and slippery like it should be.