What is the advice on cleaning the gas tube on Smith AR15 Sport 2 ?

Loooong pipe cleaners

__________________
SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Advice on cleaning the gas tube? Don't. There is no need and you'll most likely do more harm than good if you try jamming anything in there.

this - no need to clean gas tube

__________________
Steve

Everything about a firearm needs cleaning at some time or another. Ditrina nailed it in Post No. 2. You might not have to swab out that gas tube every time you clean and lube your semi-auto, but twice a year is just good insurance. That product offered by Amazon works and works well. ......

Never cleaned the inside of the gas tube while in the military. Simply wiped down the outside. The tech manual does not call for cleaning of the gas tube. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B20V...t?pref=2&pli=1

Just shoot it. If a clogged gas tube ever was to become a problem, you can purchase a new gas tube for less than the pipe cleaners.

If you feel the need to clean the gas tube, give it a squirt of brake or carb cleaner. It will knock out some of the carbon without the chance of getting a pipe cleaner stuck in the tube.

My two pennies...

I never cleaned a gas tube.

Carbine gas systems with 16in barrels are typically overgassed. If anything, a bit of carbon probably helps rather than hurts.

One of the best things I did to my rifle is to purposely clog the gas system with an adjustable gas block.

Nothing there to clean

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

My personal experience; I've had some of those long pipe cleaners for the purpose of swabbing the gas tube for 25+ years and have never felt the need to use them (military, LE or civilian)

Ah, would that be the same tech manual that taught the VN GI's that their new M-16s didn't need to be cleaned internally? Thought so. .......

From June 2010... no, don't think so.

ETA: Note all the changes that the military made over the years to improve the platform... some necessary to circumvent mistakes they made, some were legitimate improvements... point being that they have made the platform very reliable with their changes, yet cleaning the gas tube is not one of the recommendations!

The early fouling issues were caused by the Army Quartermaster Corps deviating from design specs on powder. To save pennies, the QMs allowed use of a different powder (extruded, vs ball IIRC) which fouled gas tube, carrier key, etc and introduced malfunctions.

AFA cleaning the gas tube--it sees well over 20,000 PSI with each round fired. It's fine, leave it be.

Either ya do or ya don't

Your choice..
Ford vs Chevy
.357 vs .44
9mm vs .38

__________________
SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

My AR's have never missed a lick and I've never cleaned a gas tube.......Its a non issue.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

The outside of the gas tube, the portion that extends into the Carrier Key, needs to be cleaned. This area:



The carbon that deposits here is abrasive. Failing to clean it will eventually lead to premature wearing of the end of the gas tube. When it ends up looking like the below pic, intermittent short stroking and failure to feed issues will appear.



I personally changed this tube out to solve intermittent short stroking/failure to feed issues in a departmental Colt M4 at about to 10,000 round mark.

The good news is if you choose to not clean it, a new gas tube is about a $20 fix.

Edit to add: Cleaning the interior of the gas tube, while comforting to some, is an exercise in futility IMHO. The gas pressure in the tube during the firing cycle is so high, whatever in in the tube.....is coming out.

1. The gas tube cleans itself. The heat of the combustion gasses burns off most of the crud in there.

2. If you feel the need to clean your gas tube, spray some non chlorinated brake cleaner through it.

I've never had to clean a gas tube on either of the AR-15's I've owned. Out of curiosity I have sprayed non chlorinated brake cleaner through one to see what would flush out. Honestly, nothing really flushed out. IMO if you ever have an issue with a gas tube that you can't remedy by flushing out the tube, replace the tube. It's stupid simple to do and the part costs anywhere between $8 - $15.

__________________
-John

The 8 years I was in the ARMY we never cleaned the gas tube.
What CQB27 stated in his reply is the only area/part we cleaned. I still do the same now to my AR-15's.

I suspect those who think cleaning the gas tube is advisable haven't actually ever assembled a gas block and tube. Because if they had they would know that the port in the gas block and the corresponding hole in the gas tube for that port is about 1/2 the inside diameter of the gas tube. Meaning those pipe cleaners won't accomplish anything at all except possibly deposit some shed materials in the smaller port to the gas block.

Bottomline is this, don't waste your time with those pipe cleaners. In the event your gas system truly needs cleaning (unlikely below 10K rounds) you'll have to start by removing the gas block from the barrel, then removing the pin retaining the gas tube in the gas block, and finally working the gas tube out of the gas block. Once that is done you can then use a dental pick on whichever port has been blocked by debris shed from cheap Russian budget ammo and then re-assemble everything. Personally if I were putting that much work into a barrel that is likely nearly worn out I would just purchase a new barrel, gas block, and gas tube and throw the old parts in the trash. Because I can assure you that the tip of that old gas tube is well worn and likely leaking and due for replacement along with the barrel.

If you're at that point, don't forget a new bolt to go along with that new barrel and chamber.

__________________
-John

It doesn't require cleaning. I would not stick anything down that gas tube for any reason.

This is an excellent point. Typically if your shooting copper jacketed ammunition you can expect to see the accuracy of the barrel to start degrading at about the 10,000 round point. Now, a bolt may last for 20,000 rounds or even more but if a bolt fails during firing it's going to send the bolt carrier into the buffer tube at a rather high velocity. In addition there will be a lot of small shrapnel from the burst case exiting the ejection port. At best that means a very sore shoulder and at worst it might mean a trip to the ER and possibly some surgery. Balance the cost of a trip to the ER with what a new bolt costs and it's a no brainer, a new bolt is peanuts in comparison to just the cost of two tylenol tablets and an hour in the ER.

I have some pipe cleaner type gas tube cleaners just in case but honestly, I don't anticipate ever needing to use them. Chances are, by the time it becomes necessary, the barrel will be getting changed out.

As stated by a few people already the inside of the gas tube is 'self-cleaning', don't attempt to clean the inside of it.

IF you Insist on cleaning the gas tube, spray with CLP and then use Compressed Gas Duster... you know, the 10oz. can of compressed air that you use to clean your computer key board. I also use this to clean around the bolt area but...don't blow the grime into the bolt and use sparingly to blow the grime out of the bolt and other areas.

Just my 2 cents.

Well, except that the Quartermaster Corps doesn't do ammunition.
It was the Ordinance Corps that miss specked the powder .
Picky, picky. I know.

__________________
CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

As a unit armorer responsible for 198 M16s this is what I did to keep the guns from fouling when shooting hundreds of rounds of blanks. Break-Free was just being adopted by the US Army. It made cleaning the bolts much easer and actually took the unit IGs from the mid 50s (before I was assigned the job) to the high 90s (three months after I had the job).
Now that Break-Free is available in a pressurized can I just give the gas tube and the bolt key a little squirt before I shoot and when I am cleaning the weapon to put it away.
CLP is your friend.