All posts tagged rifle cleaning

Road trips and cleaning firearms

I was never one to jump on the bandwagon that it should  be necessary for someone in the military to break their M16 down every day and clean it.   I always thought that if the gun needed that much attention, they really should think about a new design.   The real reason the military does this for many soldiers is basically to keep everyone occupied and give them something to do.   I don’t think even an M16 needs to be cleaned more than 2 or 3 times a week, even in dirty conditions.   I’m sure that it some situations you are better off keeping  your chamber hatch closed and not opening to clean it when the air is full of sand and will just attach itself to the gun lube on your  bolt.   We sell a lot of Otis gun cleaning kits to the military for a reason though.   Everything you could want to clean a pistol or rifle is in a small compact case.

I personally find using rifle cleaning rods to be easier and for some reason I feel like I am getting a thorough cleaning.   Bore snakes work very well, but I have found them to become real messy to use if they are being used often.   You have to put them back in the clear case they came with and sometimes I feel it’s easier and cleaner to toss out dirty cleaning patches instead of putting the filthy boresnake back in it’s patch.   Bore snakes are easy to clean if you want to toss them in a wash machine, but this isn’t practical if you are on a road trip.   Otis gun cleaning kits, depending on which you purchase, should have just about every tool and brush you need to clean your firearm.   I did jam a patch in a rifle once and i did have to resort to using a cleaning rod to unjam it, but after I got the right method for “taking a pinch on the patch” and not using too much of it for a smaller caliber, I got the job done.   Otis has plenty of videos you can watch before you buy a cleaning kit if you think the kits are a little overwhelming.

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Beware of over cleaning

I admit that I have been called a perfectionist.  I have several years experience in working in the music industry and in that line of work, only the best work gets noticed.   When it comes to maintaining a car, you can waste a lot of time working on things that aren’t going to increase your mileage or prevent it from getting hit by another car.   Although many of us like to take our favorite firearms out of the safe from time to time, and wipe them down and look everything over, there can be a point where shoving a cleaning rod down a barrel too often will cause excessive wear and tear.

In a Carbine course, we got a good lecture on some of the BS that people are claiming about the amount of maintenance the AR15 direct impingement guns need.   The reality is that they sure as heck do need to be cleaned more than any other semi-auto military rifle, but not as much as  some people claim.  The reasons the military makes soldiers do this so often is to basically just keep them occupied.   Keeping the gun lubricated and putting a few drops where it’s needed is all we  had to do while running a Carbine course and not a single one of us had an issue.  Be careful about how much you use your gun cleaning supplies on your firearms, but also, make sure you have the right tools for the firearm.   There are some neat cleaning brushes and tools that you can get from Otis gun cleaning kits and they will help you get into the areas that are hard to reach.

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Gun cleaning should be easier

hoppes boresnake 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.

I’ve been talking to some of my friends about the issue of gun cleaning equipment.  One of them told me that he only owned a few rifles and there wasn’t a need for getting any fancy gun cleaning kits.   I asked  him how he cleaned his lever action rifles and he said it was a pain to clean because he had to clean it from the muzzle end unlike his bolt action.   I explained to him that Hoppes boresnakes cost less than $20 and he could run it through his lever action in seconds and not have to worry about cleaning patches ect.  I clean my hunting rifles even if I don’t fire them.  Ever since the time I brought a couple guns with me on a hunting trip, didn’t get anything, came home and put them back in the safe and then took them out 3 months later and found rust all over them, I’ve paid close attention to the gun cleaning equipment I use.

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Extended range time, with shortened cleaning time

gun cleaning suppliesOne pass loosens large particles, scrubs out the remaining residue with a bronze brush, then swabs it all spotless with a cleaning area 160X larger than a standard patch. Add a few drops your favorite gun or Hoppes Elite and your guns ready for storage. The bore snake is caliber specific so make sure you get the correct one for your pistol, rifle or shotgun. You will also notice your gun cleaning time will be cut in half or more. I’ve cleaned more than 4 firearms in an hour, from AKs, FALs, M1A, Mini 14s and AR15 rifles all will accept the use of the Hoppes boresnake.

Hoppes Boresnakes will cut your cleaning time in half . There’s no need to worry about storing cleaning rides and worrying about bending or breaking them. The BoreSnake is also easier to use with some types of semi-autos. The Ruger Mini 14 is a classic example of this. Most firearms can be cleaned from the breach forward, but something like a Mini 14 can not due to the design of the bolt carrier. A bore snake can easily be inserted into the breach of a Mini 14 or Mini 30 and cleaned properly. The bore snake can also easily be stored and does not take up any room.  We can guarantee the Hoppes boresnake will become one of your favorite gun cleaning supplies.

 

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