Considering how incredibly easy it is to strip the AK down to nothing, there's no reason not to field strip it and clean it down completely. Just take it down, give it a generous soaking in CLP, swab the barrel a few times, and go to work on the gas tube and action with a toothbrush. It takes a whopping 5 minutes to clean that rifle.
I've never cleaned it from the breech. The cleaning tools on the rifle are designed to clean it from the muzzle, and they do a fine job at it. The chromed barrel stays pretty clean, so I don't have to go after it with more than the included nylon brush, and I've only needed that once. Usually 3 patches and it's spotless. I also like to use pipe cleaners on the gas port, seems to work better than the little tool.
I've never cleaned it from the breech. The cleaning tools on the rifle are designed to clean it from the muzzle, and they do a fine job at it. The chromed barrel stays pretty clean, so I don't have to go after it with more than the included nylon brush, and I've only needed that once. Usually 3 patches and it's spotless. I also like to use pipe cleaners on the gas port, seems to work better than the little tool.
