All posts tagged Gun cleaning

Keeping your guns clean and preventing rust

There has  been much improvement in synthetic lubrication in recent years and I’m hoping that the older toxic gun cleaning materials that I have in my home will eventually get used up and cleaned out.  I’m not going to push Green Energy or some environmental issues on  you, but I have often wondered if I should have been more cautious in the way I cleaned some of my guns and my exposure to some of it.   I’m aware that good ventilation is important, but there are many times when I have attempted to use gloves while cleaning, but it’s very hard to get some parts back into place when you are  using them.

There was a time when I had large containers of Hoppes gun cleaning liquids and those were some of the harshest.  I’ve moved towards using Break Free CLP for most of my gun cleaning, but in recent years I have been using Mobil One synthetic oil for most of my lubrication.  Gun cleaning supplies are becoming easier to use and the old cleaning rods of the past can become your newest rack queen.   I use pistol cleaning rods fairly often, but I rarely use my one piece cleaning rod and mostly use Otis gun cleaning kits or boresnakes for my semi-auto rifles.   The less you have to touch your firearms or the dirty gun patches or cleaning brushes the better you’ll be.   Long exposures to toxic materials does catch up to you.

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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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5.45×39 is still cheaper than 5.56

Just a reminder to all of you that forgot about that fact that 5.45×39 ammo is still cheaper than any of the 5.56 .   I have heard a lot of good things from our customers that have picked up the Smith & Wesson 5.45×39 upper, but I’m still not sold on it’s combat worthness.   Something about the direct impingement being dirt enough and how much worse is it going to get with that type of ammo?  One defense I’d have to make of the notion that semi-auto guns jam because they are dirty is something that I have never witnessed.   I have witnessed several handgun and AR15 malfunctions due to lack of lubrication, but I don’t know how much sludge you’re really going to end up  having if you put 1000rds through a 5.45×39 DI upper.

LWRC has recently put an AR15 upper that I am seriously considering to optain, as a matter of fact, Rogue Elite has just signed off on the papers to become a parts dealer for LWRC.   If you think having a piston driven gun means the gun is more reliable, well, I think you’ll get some pretty headed debates, but if you make the decision to pick  up any of the AR15 complete upper receievers that are piston driven, you will defanitely notice your gun is easy to clean and won’t take up 1/4 as much as you use to.   If you are a serious shooter, I would think that is worth spending the extra money for a piston conversion kit or a new piston upper.

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Practical and tactical should go hand in hand

Although I am a big fan of battle rifles and prefer to carry a gun bigger than an M4, if I gotta carry ammo on my person and it’s not being carried in the trunk of my car, I’ll gladly take the smaller caliber.    The M1 Garand is a great and powerful weapon, but combat is at a much faster pace and being able to suppress a target with small arms is as important as neutralizing it.  If you are a weekend warrior and are considering taking a Carbine Class, even though your training will take place in the Course, you should do research on gear and accessories before you walk in the door.

 

I always try to sit in on training courses whenever I can although I wish I had the time to actually take more classes.   I’ve written on several occassions that one of my greatest joys of watching classes is watching all of the gear fall off or fail a student and watching their slow evolution of losing gear along the way.   Theirs nothing wrong with being a tactical accessory junky, but if you have to carry an M4 all day like i’ve had to, you’ll quickly learn that lightweight, means a happy person.  There seems to be a big craze getting tactical gear with the quad rails even though most people don’t need them, and then having to go out and get rail covers, when a simple stock would have lightend the gun by a few pounds.

 

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