All posts tagged 22 Caliber

Advanced gun cleaning for the obvious idiots

I don’t read gun boards very much anymore.  I have had good experiences with some of them and I know some people just like to bash the BS that they see, but not talk about the good.   I have met many people from the forums  in the Northeastern United States and found the vast majority to be above average in intelligence and responsibility.   I say this because I just read some of the dumbest stuff about gun cleaning and think that it may be time for some of these people to turn in their firearms due to showing since of being on the lower level of human evolution.

When you are choosing the cleaning tools for your rifle, make sure you match the cleaning brushes and cleaning patches to the caliber you are using.  If you are using a 22 caliber firearm like an AR15, do yourself a favor and use 22 caliber bore snakes.   I know that may not be common knowledge, but there are idiots out there that  may try and jam or pull a 30 caliber bore snake through the barrel, and guess what, it won’t fit.   You can mess a barrel by doing something as stupid like this, but it happens.  I’ve had pistol cleaning patches get stuck, but I was smart enough to dump a bunch of CLP into the barrel to loosen it up and then back it out, there’s your advanced gun cleaning tip of the day.

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Old School vs. New school cleaning

otis gun cleaning kitsotis gun cleaning kitsI have the original bottle of Hoppes gun cleaner that my first 22lr cleaning kit, I’ve kept it as a time capsule as to how long ago it was that I first got into shooting.   I remember the first time I got a cleaning patch stuck in the barrel and when I bent the 3 piece rod and ended up going out and picking up a larger and stronger cleaning rod.    We learn most of our wisdom from trial and error and putting large cleaning patches down the barrel of a 22 caliber rifle is a learning experience.   I’ve only ruined one cleaning rod to date, but I really don’t use them very much anymore.

Bore snakes were really the thing that did in the  use of me using cleaning rods.  Ever since I picked up an my first AR15, which was a Bushmaster XM15E2 with a heavy barrel, I was happy to eliminate a considerable amount of time in gun cleaning.  I was well aware that the direct impingement guns were dirty, but considering how many cleaning patches I went through on just the chamber, I was glad to have a boresnake.  Another step to my collection of gun cleaning supplies were the Otis gun cleaning kits were another step forward for  me because I got the same compactness that the Hoppes bore snake gave me with even more cleaning tools in a tiny case.   I have a cleaning rod for rifles and one that is specific for handguns, but I’m using them less and less in comparison to Otis and boresnakes.

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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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Thorough cleaning of firearms

Otis gun cleaning kitThis 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.

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Cleaning more than one rifle at a time…

Hoppes bore snakesCleaning 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.

The first time I took more than 4 rifles to the range and had to take the time to clean each one of them, I must have spent over 2hrs between cleaning brush changes and constantly running patches through the barrels.  I finally decided to run out and pick up a 22 Cal bore snake and see what they were all about.   I realised immediately that this Hoppes bore snake was really worth the money after I cleaned 3 of my AR15s and 1 Mini 14 rifle in less than half an hour.   The only time I used cleaning patches was to wipe down the bolt carriers.   I still think there is the need to use chamber brushes on the AR15 style rifles, but that isn’t something I would say needs to be done after every firing.   Rogue Elite is selling most of the Hoppes Bore Snakes for under $20 and I promise you’ll eliminate 50% of your cleaning time with them.

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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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How much time are you going to waste on cleaning?

Hoppes boresnakesI’ve had this argument with friends when they were arguing that direct impingement guns weren’t really hard to maintain and that spending another $500 on a piston driven AR15 wasn’t worth the money because you could basically buy another gun for that money.    I’d like to see people use the same argument if someone came out with a car that only needed an oil change every 15,000 miles instead of every 3000 miles.   How many times are you going to have to pull over and drop the car off and wait for a mechanic or waste an hour on a Saturday doing an oil change?  Keep that in mind the next time you go shooting and bring 3 or more rifles with you and then spend all Sunday night cleaning them.   If you could cut your cleaning time by 2/3s and reduce the need for brushes and cleaning patches for $20 would it be worth it?

Even though Hoppes boresnakes have been around for awhile, I still know an awful lot of  people that never used them.   I can guarantee you that these are not a gimmick and Hoppes boresnakes  do an excellent job of cleaning your barrels.   Another thing I often see is people jamming cleaning rods down rifles and unknowingly scratching up the inside of the barrel.   A boresnake takes of less room than traditional guide rods and they are easy to clean.    They are caliber specific so you have to consider picking them up for each caliber.    I really appreciated having mine after cleaning 3 rifles that were all 5.56 chambered and just went from one barrel to then next in seconds.   As long as you take good care of your guns, the brushes on the boresnake will clean your rifle as good as any rod driven brush.

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Speed up the process

Hoppes BoresnakeBoresnakes have been around for a long time, but it still amazes me at the number of people that aren’t aware of them.   The notion of needing a long rod to clean your rifle bore is so out dated.   I guess it’s mostly the guys that operate the AR15 type of firearms that really pay attention to how much time it takes to clean a rifle that they are the ones that don’t want to go through the hassle.   The only way around not needing to clean an AR15 so much is to swap your upper out for a pistol version.

Hoppes boresnakes are easy to store and use.  All you do is drop the metal end down the chamber and putt it out of the barrel at the other end.   If you clean a lot, you will want to wash your boresnake, but you don’t have the mess of cleaning patches that cleaning rods create.   The Hoppes Boresnake will brush and swab your barrel in seconds.   You may want to soak the chamber or barrel with cleaning solvent before you drop the boresnake in, especially if you are cleaning for accuracy.

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