I recently purchased a Daniel Defense M4 V5 and it seems great.  There is a confusing part of the manual that is really bugging me in regard to cleaning.

There is a note that says, "Avoid contact between the cleaning rod and the muzzle as resultant wear will greatly reduce accuracy.
Then the next cleaning step says, "Attach a cotton flannel patch to the cleaning rod, insert it into the chamber and pass the rod through the barrel.

I'm familiar with a Boresnake, but would like to do more detail cleaning.

What am I missing here? What are they trying to tell me?  I'm not sure how you could use a cleaning rod and not pass it though the muzzle.

Thanks for any help!

Yea, you can't put the cleaning rod through w/o passing it through the muzzle.

You can get a muzzle guide but I just use a pull through type:  boresnake for quick/normal cleaning, the cable type that accepts a patch if I want to go all out.

And don't clean it too frequently and/or aggressively...your rifle will go several thousands rounds w/o needing to be cleaned.

use a bore guide, clean from the chamber end and don't pull the patch/brush back through the barrel.

What they're talking about is cleaning a rifle from the muzzle.
When running a rod down the barrel from the muzzle, unless you use a muzzle guide to prevent the rod from contacting the delicate crown area, the rod can wear or damage it and reduce accuracy.

Since the AR can be cleaned from the chamber end, buy a good quality one-piece polished stainless steel or carbon fiber cleaning rod and a plastic chamber guide.
Clean the bore from the chamber end.
Allowing the rod to exit the muzzle by an inch or so will not damage it because you're not running a flexing, bending rod full length through the muzzle.

You can buy plastic chamber guides that lock into the receiver and these guide the rod into the bore and prevent getting dirty solvent in the receiver.

Another trick to reduce potential wear or damage to the bore is to PULL the rod.
Rods, especially .22 caliber rods are thin and they flex, rubbing the bore.
To prevent this, insert the rod through the chamber and out the muzzle.
Screw the brush or patch holder and patch on the rod, pull it back into the bore then apply a squirt of bore solvent and PULL the rod back out the chamber end.
This will not harm the muzzle and the rod won't flex or bend.

Thanks for all the information.
This is really a great forum!