I like cleaning my AR. I can get just about place I need to. One area I'm having trouble with is one end of the bolt carrier. Not the end where you use the Otis cleaning tool, but the other side. If I look into there I see some build up carbon that I just can't get to. A wire brush won't fit and it is a tight fit. What I need is some kind of brush with the bristles on the end of the brush itself to stick down this carrier and just start twisting the brush to clean as much the carbon as it can. Is there anything like that out there at all? Preferably brass, don't want to scratch anything up. Not sure if that area was overlooked by the cleaning companies or what, but it does leave carbon build up on every range day. The picture in this post is the area I can clean with the Otis tool. It is the other side that I can't get into. Went to Lowes, Home Depot, trying to think outside the box to even make a tool.  Any ideas or is anyone as OCD as this?

 

 

These tools should be all you need for the BCG: 

http://americanshootingjournal.com/coolest-ar-15-bolt-cleaning-tools/#06jldzr3

I’m contemplating an ultrasonic... jus set and forget 

If it really bothers you use carb cleaner.  Remember the gas pressure is pretty high there so you can't get a significant build up.

I've only been shooting M16s/M4s/ARS fir almost 50 years so what can I know?

42 minutes ago, Zeke said:

I’m contemplating an ultrasonic... jus set and forget 

The US cleaners are a waste of money. We have one at work and I hate it. It's more work than just cleaning it yourself. 

OP - If it takes you longer than 10 minutes to clean your carbine, you are doing it wrong.

Too much cleaning can actually wear parts. Don't stress over it, you don't have to make it inspection presentable. 

Break it down, wipe it off, inspect for wear, snake the barrel, lube it, and put it back together.

16 minutes ago, High Exposure said:

The US cleaners are a waste of money. We have one at work and I hate it. It's more work than just cleaning it yourself. 

OP - If it takes you longer than 10 minutes to clean your carbine, you are doing it wrong.

Too much cleaning can actually wear parts. Don't stress over it, you don't have to make it inspection presentable. 

Break it down, wipe it off, inspect for wear, snake the barrel, lube it, and put it back together.

What part of US cleaner frustrates you soo much?

They are messy, chemicals you have to dispose of, you still have to prep the parts and wipe them down. When you are done you need to blow the dry, then make sure you lube them properly.

Too much work for a firearm you are using regularly. Maybe if you are restoring old neglected guns they have a place but to clean your beater AR or your favorite training guns it is overkill.

35 minutes ago, High Exposure said:

They are messy, chemicals you have to dispose of, you still have to prep the parts and wipe them down. When you are done you need to blow the dry, then make sure you lube them properly.

Too much work for a firearm you are using regularly. Maybe if you are restoring old neglected guns they have a place but to clean your beater AR or your favorite training guns it is overkill.

Idk, can use for brass and motor parts. Multi tasker..

too each his own

Your time is better spent shooting than worrying about getting every last speck out of that area. 

If the firing pin rattles in your clean bolt its fine.  

I suggest you blow it out with 30,000psi or so of hot gas

pew pew plates is right. If your firing pin moves fine, there's nothing to get bent out of shape over. 

I'm with HE, if you are using it regularly, you have to keep perspective and not go nuts doing what doesn't need doing. 

If I'm putting it up in the safe for a while, it's gotten wet, that's a different story. I also detail strip and clean once a year for things that get used a lot. 

 

I'm not a fan of detail stripping. There is no need for it IMO. I carried the same M16 for the last six months in Vietnam.  That rifle did not get babied.  Underwater numerous times, immersed in slime, dust, and whatever else you can think of.  Washed out the lower with solvent a few times.  Never detail stripped and it ran fine.

How dirty do you think you'd get yours?

JMO

Sonic cleaner easy to use, just a capful of solution in water, run the cycle a few times, brush, rinse, a turn in the dryer, lube, assemble.  I spend a lot less time scrubbing than I used too.  Not every time but often enough to keep it manageable.

3 hours ago, GRIZ said:

I'm not a fan of detail stripping. There is no need for it IMO. I carried the same M16 for the last six months in Vietnam.  That rifle did not get babied.  Underwater numerous times, immersed in slime, dust, and whatever else you can think of.  Washed out the lower with solvent a few times.  Never detail stripped and it ran fine.

How dirty do you think you'd get yours?

JMO

First, I didn't say ar, I said anything, so it goes beyond my AR. 

For the AR(s), since I'm running an aggressive brake, doing gas flow restriction at the gas key, and shooting nearly 100% reloads using ramshot TAC. It gets frickin gnarly in there, and the gnarly is mostly carbon build up, which can become very rock like. Staying ahead of the stalagtites of rock hard cabron is worth the annual effort and seems sufficient.  Beyond that, some of it is quality of life: re-grease the buffer spring for volume control, a bit of moly grease in the right places on the trigger group to keep it smooth. Not strictly necessary, but I like the way it keeps the rifle behaving and once a year seems to keep it running that way. Some of it is just so things are clean enough I can make sure they aren't in the process of breaking. Clean up stuff so I can see if the gas tube or gas key are earing excessively or unevenly. Make sure the buffer retaining pin looks ok and isn't beginning to crack, make sure the gas key isn't working loose, firing pin isn't peening, the cotter pin isn't getting ready to die, make sure no cracks are developing in the lugs of the bolt, no cracks in the bolt body, nothing building up under the extractor. Make sure my o ring in there isn't coming apart, make sure the buffer spring hasn't shortened too much. etc. 

But you gotta clean it to inspect it. 

The rest of the year? I add oil regularly, and hose it out a little bit with solvent and apply new lube every 1000 rounds or so. 

Also your version of detail strip and mine may differ. Everything with a roll pin stays where it is. mostly it is bcg and bolt disassembly, remove trigger group, unpack the buffer extension. No dicking around with the inside of the gas tube or the gas block. If shooting it won't clear it out, me and a giant pipe cleaner aren't going to help things. 

 

22 minutes ago, raz-0 said:

First, I didn't say ar, I said anything, so it goes beyond my AR. 

For the AR(s), since I'm running an aggressive brake, doing gas flow restriction at the gas key, and shooting nearly 100% reloads using ramshot TAC. It gets frickin gnarly in there, and the gnarly is mostly carbon build up, which can become very rock like. Staying ahead of the stalagtites of rock hard cabron is worth the annual effort and seems sufficient.  Beyond that, some of it is quality of life: re-grease the buffer spring for volume control, a bit of moly grease in the right places on the trigger group to keep it smooth. Not strictly necessary, but I like the way it keeps the rifle behaving and once a year seems to keep it running that way. Some of it is just so things are clean enough I can make sure they aren't in the process of breaking. Clean up stuff so I can see if the gas tube or gas key are earing excessively or unevenly. Make sure the buffer retaining pin looks ok and isn't beginning to crack, make sure the gas key isn't working loose, firing pin isn't peening, the cotter pin isn't getting ready to die, make sure no cracks are developing in the lugs of the bolt, no cracks in the bolt body, nothing building up under the extractor. Make sure my o ring in there isn't coming apart, make sure the buffer spring hasn't shortened too much. etc. 

But you gotta clean it to inspect it. 

The rest of the year? I add oil regularly, and hose it out a little bit with solvent and apply new lube every 1000 rounds or so. 

Also your version of detail strip and mine may differ. Everything with a roll pin stays where it is. mostly it is bcg and bolt disassembly, remove trigger group, unpack the buffer extension. No dicking around with the inside of the gas tube or the gas block. If shooting it won't clear it out, me and a giant pipe cleaner aren't going to help things. 

 

Sounds to me you do a field strip.

Most people call a complete disassembly of the gun a detail strip.  No need for that unless the gun is broken.

If you did a field strip more often it wouldn't get so gnarly.

4 minutes ago, GRIZ said:

Sounds to me you do a field strip.

Most people call a complete disassembly of the gun a detail strip.  No need for that unless the gun is broken.

If you did a field strip more often it wouldn't get so gnarly.

Most definitions I've seen of field stripping something exclude things like disassembly of the bolt, removal of a trigger group, etc. It's one of those ill definied things. Out in the field, I would ever do more than pull the bcg, take the bolt out of the bcg, and hose things out with come CLP.  

I can be cleaning shit or shooting. I'd rather be shooting. If it weren't for shooting TAC, every 1k rounds wouldn't be that gnarly. TAC is just dirty as shit. But it's relatively temperature stable, and meters like a dream. 

5 minutes ago, raz-0 said:

Most definitions I've seen of field stripping something exclude things like disassembly of the bolt, removal of a trigger group, etc. It's one of those ill definied things. Out in the field, I would ever do more than pull the bcg, take the bolt out of the bcg, and hose things out with come CLP.  

I can be cleaning shit or shooting. I'd rather be shooting. If it weren't for shooting TAC, every 1k rounds wouldn't be that gnarly. TAC is just dirty as shit. But it's relatively temperature stable, and meters like a dream. 

Whatever floats your boat.

10 hours ago, Parker said:

These tools should be all you need for the BCG: 

http://americanshootingjournal.com/coolest-ar-15-bolt-cleaning-tools/#06jldzr3

I think those may do it. Actually I just really need the tool with the black handle but seems to be discontinued. Ebay actually had the rest of them which I'll order little by little. $50 for a small cleaning tool is expensive but well worth it. Love the AR so much I want to buy a nice 22 model for wasting bullets. Thanks, I'll check the rest of this thread. 

 

8 hours ago, GRIZ said:

If it really bothers you use carb cleaner.  Remember the gas pressure is pretty high there so you can't get a significant build up.

I've only been shooting M16s/M4s/ARS fir almost 50 years so what can I know?

Carb cleaner work better than bore/gun cleaner? I do all the work on my own car and certainly have cans of carb cleaner. Thanks, next time I'll try that. It evaporates fast so im not worried about fouling or contamination. 

8 hours ago, High Exposure said:

The US cleaners are a waste of money. We have one at work and I hate it. It's more work than just cleaning it yourself. 

OP - If it takes you longer than 10 minutes to clean your carbine, you are doing it wrong.

Too much cleaning can actually wear parts. Don't stress over it, you don't have to make it inspection presentable. 

Break it down, wipe it off, inspect for wear, snake the barrel, lube it, and put it back together.

Remember, this is my first AR15 so everytime I use it and clean it I get better and better. I exclusively use the Sage and Baker bore cleaner. Two good pulls that takes 3 minutes and the bore is shiney new again. Takes me 10 minutes to clean the other parts so I am doing good with time. I clean my handguns in about 3 minutes. Keep them clean all the time then they are very easy to clean again. 

18 minutes ago, MichaelDiggs said:

Carb cleaner work better than bore/gun cleaner? I do all the work on my own car and certainly have cans of carb cleaner. Thanks, next time I'll try that. It evaporates fast so im not worried about fouling or contamination. 

Carb or throttle body cleaner dissolves carbon well.  Better that most bore cleaners IMO.

Try Dri-Slide for internal lube.  It's old tech but nothing sticks to it. 

On 12/7/2017 at 7:43 PM, GRIZ said:

Carb or throttle body cleaner dissolves carbon well.  Better that most bore cleaners IMO.

Try Dri-Slide for internal lube.  It's old tech but nothing sticks to it. 

I did buy some good lube and cleaners a while back. I'll try to use them all up before I spend more cash on chemicals. What I have found out that works really good is that nano dry spray. Sprays on all wet and then dries up but keeps a good slippery film there and adheres to pretty much anything I've tried. Here is what it is, in case interested. I'm sure most have seen it.

http://a.co/hdjtlDe