The gun maintenance task you always put off

[Alan]

Mine is "deep cleaning my AR's bolt carrier group". I know I should do it more often, but disassembly, scrubbing all those tiny parts, getting carbon out of every crevice, it's tedious! I do it eventually, just not as often as I should. The gun runs fine enough that I keep procrastinating on the deep clean. I am not proud of it, just being honest.

 

[Daven11]

Detail cleaning always becomes tomorrow’s problem, especially when the rifle keeps running fine anyway.

 

[Rimfire Fanatic]

It’s really important to keep an AR spotless. My son has told me that guys in his unit had malfunctions from carbon build up after a longer engagement where they were resupplied and had to keep shooting. Luckily, most firefights don’t last too long.

I hate cleaning the gas tubes. As you can’t really use cleaner in them and expect to get all of it out of the tube. You gotta snake that stinking pipe cleaner up there multiple times, and if you do shoot a little cleaner up it, you have to wait for the residual to evaporate after you’ve cleaned the snot out of it with the pipe cleaners, or else the residual can detonate in the tube.

As far as the bolt goes, I clean it after every range session. I will soak it in chemicals and brush it off. I also use the pipe cleaners for the gas holes.