Thorough cleaning of firearms
This past weekend I got to test out an Otis gun cleaning kit. I was issued the LEO deluxe cleaning kit and was amazed at how much stuff this thing had in it. I’ve been using bore snakes for several years now and I have been pretty happy with how much time they have relieved me of when it comes to cleaning. I have a few rifles that I spend more time with when it comes to cleaning the barrels with and every once in awhile I still dig out my rifle cleaning rod to clean them. I was listening to a discussion with a LEO that was the PD sharp shooter and he mentioned some issues with using bore snakes. I was a little sketical when I first heard him talk about it because I was always very happy with my previous cleaning methods.
The Hoppes bore snake is much faster to use than a cleaning rod, brush and patch system, but If you need to do some serious chamber cleaning, especially on an AR15, you’re still going to have to use something else. The Otis gun cleaning systems best advantage is that it is small and compact and basically does everything that a cleaning kit should do and will fit in your pocket. There are always advantages and disadvantages to various cleaning methods, but gun maintenance is important for those are deployed. Bore snakes can be hard to repackage once they get lubed up and you’ll have to do your own research on how to pack one up and bring it with you. The Otis gun cleaning kit is already organized and compact, and depending on the cleaning system you use, you may be able to clean pistols, rifles and shotguns with the Deluxe Law Enforcement cleaning system. I say again, the real benefit of the Otis gun cleaning kit is it can be as thorough as a traditional kit, but far more compact and mobile.
Cleaning more than one rifle at a time can be a really pain in the neck. Depending on the number of calibers you are using, you’ll have to change each brush you use, each punch, and each cleaning patch to properly clean your rifle or pistols. I never really felt the need to change from a traditonal rifle rod to any fancy gun cleaning kits for a long time. Some of these gun cleaning kits look very nice, but the reality is there are several cleaning kits out there that have made traditional gun cleaning obsolete. Granted, I will have to say that I do have a few friends that sweat that they still need to use their cleaning rods to clean bolt action sub-moa rifles, because Otis gun cleaning kits and bore snakes aren’t 100%. I’ll have to leave that up to personal choice, but I don’t see it.
I realize there is still a place for using cleaning rods to clean out the barrels of a rifle or pistol, and that running a white cleaning patch through a firearms and having it come out just as white is something that tells us our job is done. Gun cleaning has gotten easier over the years. If you are cleaning your firearms after each use, there is no need to be sitting there for hours and soaking your rifles in this cleaner and that cleaner and they running through the routine 2x’s. Gun lubrication has taken long strides in practically eliminating the need for having to use more than 2 gun cleaning liquids. The really issue I see is in having a lubrication that also has preservatives to help protect metal from rust. I have some friends that use Mobil 1 for all of there AR15 lubrication, but Mobil 1 doesn’t protect a firearm as well as BreakFree CLP does.