do i need to need to clean the gas tube on my ar-15?
Russ is on to something. Peanut butter works ok but its kind of messy. Maple syrup smells better when the gas tube heats up. I drop a length of monofilament fishing line through the gas tube, tie the end to a q-tip, dip the q-tip in the maple syrup, and pull it back through. Repeat until the tube is clean.
I have fired thousands of rounds through an AR and have never cleaned the gas tube. The hot gases from firing it seem to do a good job of keeping it open. I have cleaned them right at the receiver end with solvent and a q tip, but that's it.
I've never seen an AR malfunction from a dirty gas tube. That said, if you're cleaning your AR anyway, it's not really out of the way, so why not clean it? And, if you use the rifle for any kind of personal defense, the answer should be obvious.
I wouldn`t mess with it if were mine. Gas tubes will not get all that dirty after many rounds, And, if it does get really dirty it will not cycle and if it does not cycle then replacing it is the cheapest way to go if you value your time. Gas tubes are made of stainless steel(some are nickel-boron coated) or inconel and all are very corrosion resistant so a squirt of Berryman B-12 or brake cleaner down the tube will get it clean enough. Just remember the excess will go out the barrel. If you can afford an inconel gas tube then cleaning is the best option but stainless steel ones are less than $15 or half that in some places.
Not really! However, I do know some AR15 users who will put, something like 10 or 12 thousand rounds through an AR; and, then, they'll remove the gas tube (or gas tube and front sight assembly) and let it soak in a tray of powder solvent for a day, or two, before finally draining it and blowing it out with a can of compressed air from either a computer or auto parts store. (Only the lucky ones have compressors!) In the alternative you can — again only on rare occasions — use a can of non-chlorinated carburetor or brake cleaner in order to do the same thing. Just stick the long plastic tube that comes with one of these cans inside the gas tube and blast away! All this being said: It's only rarely necessary to clean an AR gas tube because, in a way, every time you fire an AR the gas tube, pretty much, cleans itself — OK!
