Do you guys normally clean your gas tube cylinder

Do you guys normally clean your gas tube cylinder?

Thanks

Spray CLP in there, and pull through a ripped or cut segment of an old T-shirt. Repeat as needed. I've also used the shotgun cleaning attachments, but old T-shirt bits are cheaper and work just as well.

Thanks brother......

I just tried your advise and my gas tube is now completly clean.

I use a worn 20 gauge brush in there.

Always, I use the Old T-Shirt method too. I just cleaned my Poly-Tech and Arsenal.

I've used an old worn 12 ga. bore snake. It works great, easy and quick.

20 gauge bore snake here.

I do the 20 gauge brush and I wipe down the barrel just below the rsb beneath the lower handguard.

I've never cleaned my gas tubes on any of my AKs yet. They are filthy, but part of the beauty of the AK gas system is that the piston is self cleaning. When the carbon builds up too much, the gas piston scrapes the excess carbon off. My oldest AK has had about 2500-3000 rounds through it with no failures and no gas tube cleaning.

EDIT to add that I don't shoot corrosive ammo through my AKs.

using corrosive ammo, yes
production ammo, no

Originally Posted By Shrike37: I've never cleaned my gas tubes on any of my AKs yet. They are filthy, but part of the beauty of the AK gas system is that the piston is self cleaning. When the carbon builds up too much, the gas piston scrapes the excess carbon off. My oldest AK has had about 2500-3000 rounds through it with no failures and no gas tube cleaning.

I always use CLP or a foaming bore cleaner and a brush in mine, but the fact you have gone that many rounds with out cleaning is further reason why the AK is one of the best battle rifles ever made. Try that routine on some other rifles, bet it don't work out so well.

Originally Posted By TacticalOpsAR: using corrosive ammo, yes production ammo, no

+1

I clean the gas tube every time I clean the rifle. Annually or 2K shots, whichever comes first.

CLP, bore snakes, and I get in there with an old toothbrush where I can.

I have cleaned it but I don't do it on a regular basis.

I just take a pile fo the dirt patches I have and shove them through with a stubby cleainig rod a few times. It cleans it up pretty decent. I used to use some CLP, but it seemed to attract more crud the next time I went shooting, so now I just run the patches dry.

I figure if it is dirty it should be cleaned. Anytime someone says 'self cleaning' and I still find crud...well, you get what I mean.

I use a worn 12 gage brush on the gas tube and gas block. BSW

Yuppers

I used and old 12 gauge brush then a 45 cal jag with three patches on it, repeat till clean

I'm sorry did you just say AK and clean in the same sentence?

Just when I first bought it. Sometimes I spray lube in there just for fun to watch it smoke when I take it shooting.

Originally Posted By GeorgiaBII: I'm sorry did you just say AK and clean in the same sentence?

Corrosive ammo?

BSW

If I clean anything, it's the bas tube and gas block, especially after corrosive ammo. I use Sweet's 7.62 cleaner.

Call me a neat freak but I clean the gas tube with a 20ga. brush then inside the RSB with an old tooth brush and CLP every time the rifle goes to the range. 'course I usually put somewhere between 150 to 300 rds. through it while at the range....Love my Otis cleaning kit. No danger of screwing up the muzzle crown.

Originally Posted By 56type: Call me a neat freak but I clean the gas tube with a 20ga. brush then inside the RSB with an old tooth brush and CLP every time the rifle goes to the range. 'course I usually put somewhere between 150 to 300 rds. through it while at the range....Love my Otis cleaning kit. No danger of screwing up the muzzle crown.

300 rounds will mess up an ak kind of like 5 minutes in a tanning bed will give you skin cancer.

Unless you are using corrosive ammunition, there should be no reason to clean it under 2,000rnds at a time in my opinion. Putting CLP in the gas block can cause carbon deposit build up on the piston as well as cylinder, so its not something that I would recomend to someone unless they are using corrosive ammo or live in a humid environment. I've handled and shot a bring back AK that had over 25,000 rounds in it since 1982, I inspected the gas port for obstruction, there was none. My .02

Originally Posted By expvideo: Originally Posted By 56type: Call me a neat freak but I clean the gas tube with a 20ga. brush then inside the RSB with an old tooth brush and CLP every time the rifle goes to the range. 'course I usually put somewhere between 150 to 300 rds. through it while at the range....Love my Otis cleaning kit. No danger of screwing up the muzzle crown. 300 rounds will mess up an ak kind of like 5 minutes in a tanning bed will give you skin cancer.

Yea and dirty weapon might fail. Im amazed that people dont clean their weapons after using them,even AKs, the gas tube on a AK is its weak link. I had a polytech aks that I bought and the previous owner never cleaned the gas tube ...because you know its a AK..after cleaning it was so pitted that the metal was so thin you could put your finger through it. After replacing the gas tube it was a safe weapon.

Originally Posted By rljones: Originally Posted By expvideo: Originally Posted By 56type: Call me a neat freak but I clean the gas tube with a 20ga. brush then inside the RSB with an old tooth brush and CLP every time the rifle goes to the range. 'course I usually put somewhere between 150 to 300 rds. through it while at the range....Love my Otis cleaning kit. No danger of screwing up the muzzle crown. 300 rounds will mess up an ak kind of like 5 minutes in a tanning bed will give you skin cancer. Yea and dirty weapon might fail. Im amazed that people dont clean their weapons after using them,even AKs, the gas tube on a AK is its weak link. I had a polytech aks that I bought and the previous owner never cleaned the gas tube ...because you know its a AK..after cleaning it was so pitted that the metal was so thin you could put your finger through it. After replacing the gas tube it was a safe weapon.

Sounds like someone was using corrosive ammo and failed to clean it. I had a Polytech Underfolder that was used by the Gulf Coast and the previous owner was a retired Vet. The rifle had corrosive ammo run thru it and looked like it had not been cleaned in years. The bore and gas tube were fubar, but the rifle still functioned.

New Saiga rifle owner here, and I just cleaned my rifle today. Granted, my last range trip was over the weekend, but I cleaned my gas tube as well. I picked up the habit of cleaning guns after any amount of firing when I owned a Ruger 22/45 .22 pistol, and that was 3 guns ago. :D Besides is cleaning a firearm really that horrible? I never had a problem with it, personally. To each his/her own, somethingsomething about a cow...

ok, wait... we're talking about the gas TUBE here... the part that can come off that the piston shaft sits in... not the part that is pinned to the barrel where the port first comes out of the barrel, right?

why in the hell would you clean that thing?

When was the last time you ran something down your AR gas tube??? Case Closed

Maybe you oughta take a look inside an AK gas tube some time after putting 1500-2000 rounds through it.

You know how all that carbon and shit gets on AR-15 bolts/carriers because of the DGI system? Well, on an AK, that gas is kept inside the gas tube (and maybe a little gets around the piston to the RSB/receiver, but not much). That means all that carbon and fouling and shit stays inside the gas block/gas tube.


And pipe cleaners aren't just for smokers, ya know.

And don't forget, a lot of AK shooters use corrosive ammo––which mandates cleaning as soon as possible to remove rust and pit-causing salts left over from the primer.

Case open. Apple vs Orange.

The AR gas tube is much smaller in diameter and gets hotter and runs much higher pressure gas thru it. The pressure in the AK gas tube is far lower and when the gas expands into the tube, it cools (boyles law anyone) and deposits carbon.

you can run the ak forever and not clean the gas tube....
corrosive, non-corrosive...doesn't matter. just knock the bolt carrier loose. and run an oily shoelace through the bore. just ask these guys.

At least the dipstick that's smoking practices good trigger discipline and has the safety on. The AK looks like it hasn't been cleaned EVER. Hey, I wonderif smoker-boy used the hot barrel to light his cig?

I wonder how well those rifles function away from a still camera? A lot of the pick-ups in Iraq seem to have had numerous issues.

Of course, the top one isn't an AK at all.

my buddy emailed me from methelam, afghanistan and said that the rockets, mortars, and the 40 year old ak's continue to fire at our guys with no problems. all be it they are in the desert with little to no rust, the guns "erode" instead of corrode. the sand is brutal.

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