Cleaning my AR

C

chris in va

New member
I have an embarrassing question about my M&P Sport.

Very little of this gun sees any carbon buildup, except for the 'Hershey's kiss' shaped part of the bolt, and the chamber it sits in.



Is there a specialized brush to scrape the junk out of the chamber? What is the best way to get it off the curved piece on the right? It's very hard, almost like concrete.
 
When I get to cleaning that grimy little nub (about every 600rds or when the mood strikes me), I stand up the bolt in a shotglass with some CLP or other mild cleaning agent in it. Wait 24hrs+, then go at it with one of those gun-toothbrush type deals. I don't worry about getting it spotless, just cleaning off the majority of BBQ-grill deposits that tend to build up over time.

The oriface in the bolt carrier I usually clean with Hoppe's #9 and big patches. Sometimes it gets a brushing with a big-bore brass barrel brush if it's really crusty.
 
There are several ways to clean the carbon off the bolt "tail" and the inside of the bolt carrier.

The fastest ways are:
Buy special carbon removal tools. These cut or scrape the carbon out:

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=19646/Product/AR_15_M16_BOLT_CARRIER_CARBON_SCRAPER

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=31833/Product/AR_15_M16_BOLT_RADIUS_SCRAPER

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=38917/Product/AR_15_M16_AR_STYLE__308_CARBON_REMOVAL_TOOL
(CRT-15 for the AR-15).

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=31857/Product/AR_15_M16_CAT_M4TOOL

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1851/Product/AR_15_M16_AR_STYLE__308_CARRIER_CARBON_SCRAPER
(Number 016 for the AR-15)

The second method is to buy a big jar of Slip 2000 Carbon Cutter. This is a safe chemical that dissolves the carbon by just soaking the part.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=23534/Product/SLIP_2000_SOLVENTS

If you don't have time to fool around with soaking for hours in various solvents like bore solvents and scrubbing with bore brushes, and you want it cleaned fast and without harming the parts, these are the best methods.
 
I have actually had really good luck with using a razor utility knife scraping off the carbon. Scrape off as much as you possibly can by hand before using any chemicals that way the chemicals really have a chance to dig in and do their thing.

I imagine ultrasonic cleaners are probably good at removing the carbon as well, so if you have one maybe poke around and see how well they work on the bolts.
 
Ultrasonic cleaners don't do very well on this type of hard carbon deposits.
Unless you use a solvent that in itself attacks the carbon ultrasonics don't really help much.

Never use a steel scraper to remove carbon unless it's a tool specifically designed for that purpose.
If you scratch the metal with a steel blade, the carbon will adhere to the scratched part even worse and faster.
 
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