Cleaning barrels under handguard/rail?

[Member 34319]

How often do you all disassemble a railed rifle or pistol to clean the barrel surfaces under it?

If you don't, what if anything do you do to try and clean it?

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[Red98422]

How often do you all disassemble a railed rifle or pistol to clean the barrel surfaces under it?

If you don't, what if anything do you do to try and clean it?

I'm kinda a special case as I live in salt water, but I take mind down all the way at least once a month but usually twice monthly regardless of if I actually shoot them.

 

[Kyrsen]

I make good use of compressed air made for computers to clean areas of a gun that are hard to reach. It's pretty useful. Not as thorough as a teardown, though, obviously.

 

[Koda]

How often do you all disassemble a railed rifle or pistol to clean the barrel surfaces under it?

If you don't, what if anything do you do to try and clean it?

What is a railed rifle or pistol? Im guessing you mean an AR style with a picatinny forearm.. in that case, never unless Im in the mood to re-zero or some other compelling reason.
If It came to it I have a pancake air compressor or Id dedicate some time with a bunch of qtips... I dunno. I always wondered about the carbon buildup around the gas block and decided to just ignore it. I just cant imagine rezeroing my BUIS every cleaning.

 

[Member 53328]

Never. I'm not crawling through mud anymore.

 

[cigars]

Dishwasher, top rack, no soap.

 

[Red98422]

This has to be the only thread in history that makes me seem OCD Lol, no worries I'll just be over here oiling up my gas block...if you know what I mean

 

[Member 34319]

Suppression has made two of mine particularly dirty under the rail. One has a full length 15" rail. And I don't really want to remove it. I'll give it a go with some spray and an air compressor! Both barrels are salt nitride processed, though that does a decent job protecting against rust, that does not mean it won't...

 

[Rkangel]

I didn't like re-zeroing every time, so I just hooked them to a sinker and dragged them behind my boat. Unfortunately the line broke and that's what lead to the accident...

But if you don't want to take that risk, dishwasher or ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[Koda]

Is there a good solvent brand that can be sprayed in there and maybe let it soak overnight then spray off again and air dry?

At some point I want to replace the handguard and planned on give it a good cleanup there but then same delimma. I wonder if there is a good grease that can be applied that wont melt off when the bbl gets hot.

 

[Flopsweat]

Is there a good solvent brand that can be sprayed in there and maybe let it soak overnight then spray off again and air dry?

At some point I want to replace the handguard and planned on give it a good cleanup there but then same delimma. I wonder if there is a good grease that can be applied that wont melt off when the bbl gets hot.

I used to clean every gun meticulously before I put it away. That got old after a while and now I do the minimum necessary to assure the gun will not rust and will run a few hundred rounds the next time I take it out. Some guns get a thorough cleaning each time because they may not see use again for months or years. Some guns get the bore, bolt and carrier/slide done and that's it. Some, like a .22 bolt action, may go right back in the safe it I'm going to use it again soon.

Jerry Miculek uses contact cleaner on his AR's. Sprays it down the barrel and it comes out everywhere. If you try this do it outside though, because it will make a mess and it's not good to breathe that stuff. He recommends that you test it on metal components first to assure it won't mar the finish. I'm planning of trying that myself soon. It looks like I could clean about 4 AR's in the time I normally take to do one.