I am curious what you guys are using to clean the tails of your bolts and inside the carriers.

I have one AR that is my current go to rifle and I can't seem to get the carbon completely off of the bolt tail or outside of the carrier when the tail contacts the carrier. I applied Otis Carbon Cleaner and let it sit for a bit and then tried to scrape the carbon out with the Otis Bone tool and it got a decent amount off but did not seem to take all of it off.

Is there a solvent that you guys are using to soak the parts in overnight? I have heard Mineral Spirits. Anyone using this?

What scraper are you guys using? I saw the G&G tools and they look decent. It looks like they are using green Scotch Brite Pads in conjunction with the tool.

I want to get the bolt and carrier completely clean so I can properly apply the FireClean and see how well it actually preforms.

If you want it that clean you will have to soak it in a petroleum-based solvent like kerosene/diesel, mineral spirits, or acetone.

I don't buy scraper tools, I just use a spent brass .45ACP cartridge to scrape the tail after I soak it.  For inside the carrier I use an old bore brush.  But there are plenty of dedicated tools out there if you're so inclined.  Good luck.

Odorless mineral spirits and Break Free CLP mixture to soak the bolt, carrier and associated parts, while the rest of the rifle gets cleaned. What little scraping is necessary after the soak, gets handled with a homemade scraper made from an old section of cheap aluminum cleaning rod.

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The bolt I'll run over with q tips and clp, after long range sessions and much fouling I soak the carrier in simple green overnight which usually knocks out all off the shit I can't get to with my large hands and fingers.

You can also crush a spent 556 casing to use as a low cost scraper. I've done that with great results as well.

I don't mind spending money or an actual good scraper as long as it works. I was kinda disappointed in the OTIS tool.

I will have to try soaking them both in mineral spirits over night and then scraping them with the OTIS tool.

SELF LIMITING , no reason to stress about getting every spec off of it. But if you are OCD I just use a spent casing to scrape it off. I use nothing but Mil Comm products, they bond to the surface of the metal and act like teflon on a skillet. The more you use it the slicker it gets and stuff just doesn't stick like it use to. Mil Comm isn't cheap but quality seldom is.  

NCH

In the military we would take our bolts in the shower and scrub them with a tooth brush with some dawn soap.

Makes quick work of cleaning it.  Im a huge fan of using mobile 1 synthetic for lubing the bolt.  I can not find any other method I think works better.  The carbon just doesnt stick with that oil.

Try some Bore Tech C4. The stuff works wonders!

If it doesn't come off with a tooth brush and CLP then it stays on.

I sell high end ultrasonic cleaners. Not like the shitty harbor freight ones (some are over $50,000) and I have a demo unit that I get to take some with me. I just throw everything in there for 5 minutes and everything comes out spotless.

For a good cleaning on my nickel boron BCG I take it completely apart, soak it in a mix of Hoppes 9 and or CLP.





Then I wipe the bolt carrier and bolt down and apply Mothers mag polish liberally. Let sit for a while and wipe it all down with a clean washcloth.





For the inside of the carrier I take a cleaning rod with a big bore brush on a drill and that makes quick work of the carbon inside. To finish , Ill us a smaller brush with a piece of cloth wrapped around it and work the inside of the BC.





Yes it may be overkill but my shit looks brand new after 3k rounds.

 

cup, water, dawn soap, old tooth brush.  

Scrub it like your scrubbing your teeth.  Youll hit every nook and cranny.  Real heavy stuff, let the bcg soak for 15 mins.  

Once scrubbed, rinse under water.  Pat/air dry, re luge with a light coat of mobile 1 synthetic and a cheap medicine dropper.  

One clean bcg with minimal effort.

Try it once.  If it doesnt work awesome and make life easier, then Ill shoot my dick off with the dirtiest BCG AR I have to really make it count.  Deal?  Thats how much of a believe I am.

Failzero says not to use Hoppes #9.

Yep that's right, Hoppes may stain the nickel plating if left on too long.

Not sure of the fail zero process but generally nickel plating is applied to a base layer of copper.  Hoppe#9 is a copper solvent.  Ask the guys who used Hoppes on their nickel plated guns how it worked out over time.  This maybe a non issue for Fail Zero or the nickel boron coatings in general.  But I doubt they are worried about staining it, but anything is possible.  

 

Try the Cat M4 too.  I have the Otis Tool and I'm not so sure it works that well.  It may scrape off some large dried carbon deposits but it's not going to get the fine carbon that's embedded into the metal inside the Bolt.  And the inside of my Bolt is Chrome Lined.  I can see the carbon (dark black covering the shiny Chrome) inside the Bolt Carrier.   I find that area very hard to reach and clean even after I clean the Bolt Carrier with my ultra sonic cleaner for three cycles of 480 seconds each.  That's the longest time my cleaner allows on it's internal timer. And the manual said to wait for it to cool down after three sessions.   The last time I ran the ultra sonic cleaner three times and let it rest for 15 minutes and then ran it another three sessions.  I'm using Hornady Brass Cleaning Solution. 1 ounce diluted in 40 ounces of Distilled Water.  The Ultra Sonic Cleaner is from Harbor Freight and it cost about $80.  I've tried adding a couple of sprays from a spray bottle of simply Green to the Hornady Brass Cleaner Solution and the Di water but the inside chrome part of the Bolt Carrier is still hard to get white glove clean.  The carbon sticks to the Chrome even.  

I've not tried soaking it for long periods of time yet.  I should try that sometimes with some different  non chlorinated brake cleaner or mineral spirits and see if that works.

I've used new clean pipe cleaner and long sticks with q tip cotton on the end to clean the inside of the Bolt Carrier where the hot gases enter into the BC area.

That is a tough area to reach and clean thoroughly.  Luckily the AR 15 will still function even if you can't get the last tiny bit of carbon out of the metals pores.  

I should give M Pro7 cleaning solution a try in this area and let is soak over night to see how that works.

The one's from Harbor Freight is what I got.  But the girl that sold it to me said that I could bring it back in two years with the warranty they sold me and get a brand new one.   So I guess for 80 bucks I will get about 4 years of usage out of it at the min.  

I could have paid more for a better unit with better transducers but I went with the one from Harbor Freight.

I've seen these used in the optical shop where they use them to clean parts on eye glasses.  And I've seen them used in a laboratory at the University.  The work pretty good for cleaning stuff.

Blast it with gun scrubber, then I throw on some hoppes and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then I use an Otis BONE to scrape everything away