AWPOO!

[EssOne]

Like most gun enthusiasts who own an AR 15, I've read all the rules of maintenance and cleaning, and taken the time to learn them and abide by them...............well almost. Remember the rule about never trying to clean out the gas key with a Q-Tip? Well heck, I've not only never used a Q-Tip to clean out a gas key, I've always thought they were pretty useless and I didn't even know I owned any of the durn thangs. BUT, it seems that yesterday I was cleaning my AR and came upon some generic Q-Tips with long wooden sticks, so I started experimenting around with cleaning the locking lugs and so on - just to see what they could be used for. Well, they are small diameter Q-Tips, so I sluiced one up with solvent and ran it into the gas key. Boy it worked like a champ, so I ran a second one in and - heh, heh, heh, the stick came out but the cotton head didn't.  AW-POO!! REALLY AW-POO!! :rant:

 

I tried just about everything known to man to get the cotton tip out of the key without success - tapping, tiny hook in a piece of .031 lock wire, air blast from the other end, all of them. By this time I figured Spike's was going to sell a new gas key and some bolts when I decided to try one last desperate thing. I stood the bolt up and filled the key up with oil, then I went out to the garage and looked up a short, very small diameter, sharp, drywall screw. I pushed it into the key until it stopped, then I started pushing and turning the screw with my fingers until it wouldn't turn any more, then I eased it out. Well y'all, I'm luckier than I have any right to be, 'cause the oily cotton tip got all wound up in the screw threads and came right out bigtime. And it didn't damage the key in any way. So if any of you ever decide to get a little stupid (like me) and try a Q-Tip in your gas key, you might try the drywall screw thing to get it out before your buds find out what a dumba.. you are (like me).

 

I think I'm goin' to the casino. :pleased:

 

[Garufa]

One pack of these will last just about forever....http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/bryn-maur-ream-n-klean-pipe-cleaners/ID=prod6021244-product

 

Q-tips are great for some things but once soaked in solvent they have a lifespan of seconds.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Garufa

[btq96r]

I use q-tips in the gas key all the time.  A micro screwdriver from my compuer repair tools work if someting ever gets stuck in there.

[mikegideon]

I use q-tips in the gas key all the time.  A micro screwdriver from my compuer repair tools work if someting ever gets stuck in there.

 

Me too. The trick with them is to allways twist them in the direction they are wrapped.

 

Here's another one... never clean the inside of a gas tube with CLP.

[EssOne]

Well, after this I'm sticking with pipe cleaners.

[chances R]

One pack of these will last just about forever....http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/bryn-maur-ream-n-klean-pipe-cleaners/ID=prod6021244-product

 

Q-tips are great for some things but once soaked in solvent they have a lifespan of seconds.

Yep.......this is the way to go.

[E4 No More]

Never liked pipe cleaners, but I always use 6" medical swabs too. The head is smaller and is glued to the stick. No problem!

[EssOne]

One pack of these will last just about forever....http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/bryn-maur-ream-n-klean-pipe-cleaners/ID=prod6021244-product

 

Q-tips are great for some things but once soaked in solvent they have a lifespan of seconds.

I agree. I've used these pipe cleaners for years and just tried the Q tips for the heck of it.  I found out the hard way that solvent defeats the glue and allows the stick to pull out and leave the tip in the key. No Mo.

Edited June 11, 2015 by EssOne

[mikegideon]

I have never cleaned the gas tube on an AR. Yes I have tried but they just do not get dirty enough to cause problems, at least it that I have seen.

 

Moment of idiocy. It's a good way to flash lube your receiver and mag :)

[KKing]

Glad you said that Dolo. I've always looked at it the same way I do the gas tube. There's a whole lot of pressure going through there, I figure it can pretty well take care of itself


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[DWARREN123]

Do not lube gas pistons or tubes. Burnt lube will cause problems.

Got you got it out.

[VERO1]

If drywall screw won't fix it, duct tape will do the job!

[BigK]

Cotton swabs and pipe cleaners are my go-to pistol cleaning tools. 

[rugerla1]

Cotton swabs and pipe cleaners are my go-to pistol cleaning tools.

Same for me.

[EssOne]

I did some research before beginning this thread, and found about the same spread of ideas on the big AR forums as we have seen here. A lot of guys say never use Q-Tips in your gas key, a lot of guys say never use pipe cleaners in your gas key and a lot of guys say never clean your gas key in the first place. I guess great minds travel in the same gutter, heh. Edited June 12, 2015 by EssOne

[Omega]

I have never cleaned the gas tube on an AR. Yes I have tried but they just do not get dirty enough to cause problems, at least it that I have seen.

When we had the M16s, they always had those wooden q-tips and pipe cleaners for us, just no picks, we cut wire hangers and smashed or sharpened the ends to make our own.  We cleaned the gas key with q-tips and the end of the gas tube with pipe cleaners after scraping out the carbon with the "picks" without any issues.  Of course, back then they hadn't quite realized that a rifle was almost always loosing bluing so wouldn't pass the clean swab test easily.  When we used the M16A2 to the M4s, the solvent tank became popular, and the q-tips disappeared, you had to get some from the medics if you were old school.

[Clod Stomper]

1) Why are you cleaning the gas key? Or the gas tube. Don't do that.

2) If you do get a cotton swab stuck in there, I don't think it will require a new key or screws, even if you disassemble it. The old ones should still work fine.

3) The first thing I would do to remove it is fire a couple rounds. I doubt a wad of cotton could last that long.

[Ted S.]

I use Q-tips to clean out the gas key all the time. I never have problems, never lose the tip in the key, and never worry about it. I never use solvents to clean my guns either, unless something wont clean up with oil...and I've never "not" been able to clean every part with just oil.

[dats82]

What's all this talk about cleaning guns?

 

In all seriousness, I think it is overrated.  I bore snake mine every now and then, but I almost never clean the action.  I will clean rimfires a little more frequently as they tend to get a little more gummy.  I was brought up to clean gun every time it was shot, but I have seen nothing that supports reasoning for this to be done.  Keep them lubricated, sure, but as long as your not choosing corrosive ammunition, I cannot see reason to support cleaning one after every few hundred rounds. 

 

Of the ARs I have right now, which I only have a couple, one has been cleaned once in about 3 yrs just out of boredom.  The other was put together last fall, and it has yet to be cleaned.  Either way, I have never cleaned the gas key or tube. 

[graycrait]

If you are using lame old drug store pipe cleaners and swabs you need to change to these.  

 

 

http://www.bearmetalclean.com/

 

http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/brushes-amp-bore-snakes/specialty-cleaning-brushes/super-duty-pipe-cleaners-prod1715.aspx

[EssOne]

No, these are the good stiff, rough ones. I bought six packs yesterday and they're just what I needed. But thanks for being kind enough to pass on the information.

 

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/bryn-maur-ream-n-klean-pipe-cleaners/ID=prod6021244-product

Edited June 14, 2015 by EssOne

[Schadenfreude]

The original story has me flashing back to the early 90's when a guy decided to clean his ears with one of those wooden shaft qtips & it broke off in his ear. The look of sheer terror on his face as he said help holding up the broken stick, someone fished it out with some forceps, no harm done but it cracked me up thinking about it.