Notes on Firearm Cleaning

Some good ideas on cleaning firearms. And not-so-smart ones...

Here are some notes on cleaning firearms. We’ll start with what doesn’t work.

The military’s mania for surgically clean guns led some personnel in my unit to the discovery that oven cleaner took carbon right off the gun. Along with bluing and Parkerizing and anodizing...

When I ETS’d (retired) that mania was mostly a holdover from the Vietnam-era soldiers, who learned it from the WWII/Korea era, who learned it when primers were corrosive, who learned it from WWI, on back through the blackpowder era, and probably all the way to the Revolution.

We knew even back then that excessive cleaning caused more problems than dirtiness. Even though we knew better, few acted on that knowledge and continued to scrape and strip weapons dry. I once saw a simple-minded trainee return with a bolt carrier group that looked like it had been chromed, after he’d been told to “get all the black stuff off”. Knowing better and doing better aren’t always the same thing.

Armies that used mostly pull-through cleaning systems tended to have badly worn crowns that destroyed accuracy. The Swiss taught that two soldiers should work together, with one pulling and the other keeping the cord centered to avoid muzzle wear.

A cleaning rod that flexes from fitting too tightly can cause the same problem, and can damage the chamber and lede when feeding from the chamber end, just as much as it can damage the crown when cleaning from the muzzle.

The military could get with the program with a video that everyone has to watch in basic designed to assist in teaching soliders to better use and care for their weapons. Production quality doesn’t need to be better than YouTube personalities, as wizz-bang is not needed when all one is sending is hard knowledge.

For example, a how-to on breaking down and clean the standard-issue M4 carbine. Include some information that are likely common-knowledge for those who actually deal with firearms on a regular basis but too many in the military don’t know: always run your brushes and patches from the chamber to the muzzle; you don’t have to scrape every last bit of carbon off; make sure all your components are free of fractures, cracks, and deformation; weapons should NOT be white-glove clean and your little finger swipe in the action should pick up a little residue from a light coat of lube in storage. This video by the AMU might work, if we could get everyone to watch it.

My favorite statement in that video is to “not remove your Parkerizing” which is hilariously oxymoronic to anyone who has served. Often, the demand from Command is the weapon is perfectly clean which often leads to the removal of finish through excessive scraping/cleaning.

Despite my hazing of Army, they do have some good pieces of information, like the proper lubrication points on the weapon system. Too often, soldiers just douse the bolt carrier in CLP on the range because they’re stored bone dry. None of this is good.

Those who learned “the Army way” and are interested in cleaning their weapons smarter, see the video below.

Filthy 14

Pat Rogers of EAG Tactical had a school-owned AR-15 that labeled was stock number 14. “Filthy 14” was a loaner for classes that they purposely did not clean or even maintain. The only maintenance was to keep it lubed. In the article, EAG had 31,165 rounds through it and they reported later it was over 40,000.

Lesson learned: Quality guns will run perfectly fine even if dirty provided they remain adequately lubricated.

"We have run a number of guns [AR-15 rifles] to over 15,000 rounds without cleaning—or malfunctions—as long as they were kept well lubricated.

My background of belonging to a tribe where weapons cleaning approached Jesuit-like fanaticism caused me to once believe that the AR must be spotlessly, white-glove clean in order for it to run. We know that is patently false, and in fact the overzealous cleaning regimen—clean for three days in a row, use of scrapers on the BCG, attaching chamber and bore brushes to drills, etc.—is harmful to the guns.

If you are carrying a gun for real, you need to be looking at it every 5,000 rounds or so. But if your cleaning takes more than 10 to 15 minutes, you are wasting your time on nonsense."

https://bravocompanyusa.com/content/Filthy%2014%20bravo_swat_10.pdf

Later reporting after the article was published

https://www.ar15.com/forums/industry/Filthy_14_is_now_over_40_000_rounds/138-196990/

Filthy 14 has 42,770 rounds downrange as of today. If we get volunteers at [our next class] it will have another 1,500 rounds on it.

Actually it is semi clean. It was so bad that it was contaminating other guns in the armory, so we actually cleaned it several thousand rounds ago.

I was surprised at the longevity. Note that we haven't put a gage in it. Crane says that is wrong 60% of the time anyway. FN gives barrel life on the SCAR-L (a CHF bbl) as 20,000. I have a tad over 20k on my SCAR and it is still shooting well.

In the past, I dumped uppers on my personal guns at the 12k -15k mark. I'll salvage rails and sights, but otherwise the upper receiver, bolt and barrel go away.
On the T&E guns we normally try for 20,000.

There is also no doubt that SLiP 2000 EWL was a big reason. We run what could be considered a harsh schedule, so that is a wash.