MILITARIA Gas Tube Pipe Cleaners, 16-inches Long, 50 Pack

Great pipe cleaners and work perfectly for cleaning tight spaces.

I use them in a Pedersoli Sharps rifle 1859 that has been modified.

Not having touched an M-16 since my 70's Marine days, I obviously didn't buy these for cleaning gas tubes. Rather, I use them for cleaning extractor and firing pin channels or anything else on my pistols too small for a Q-tip. For those of us who completely disassemble our 1911's and other pistols to thoroughly clean them, these are a must. Though I use solvent and spray cleaner nozzle brushes to softly scrub out the channels, residue is left behind. These cleaners pick that up. In the firing pin channel they are actually so soft and the cleaner wire so thin that you can run them right out into the chamber getting rid of anything that might build up in the striker hole. 16" too long for a pistol? Once one four or five inch piece is too dirty to use, I just snip it off and go to the next five inches. In the frame of a 1911 and its various parts, there are at least five places where a Q-tip can't go. These pipe cleaners get into all of them. What little lint which rarely, very rarely, might be left behind is quickly removed with a puff of your breath. I highly recommend pistol owners add these to your cleaning product supplies.

The gas tube on an AR does not usually get too dirty, but I still clean it every so often anyway. I do not lube it after cleaning, instead I run some acetone or 99% isopropryl alcohol through it. The acetone or alcohol will completely evaporate leaving no residue. I have heard too many stories about lube just collecting dirt in a gas tube and that they do not necessarily need to be cleaned. I have never had an issue with my technique, and I hate dirty weapons, so I clean it.You can make your own choices (obviously) about clean/don't clean. If you do clean, give some thought to not lubing the tube.

I've only used one of these so far on a carbine length gas system on an ar15 build that is seriously overgassed and it came out really clean. Not sure how often you're supposed to clean your gas tube but it has to be around 5000+ rounds. The rifle build I'm talking about is so overgassed I have an a5h2 buffer, sprinco green spring, and a BCM a5 buffer tube on it and it still ejects at 2 o clock. I'm going to need an a5h4 buffer on it to try and get it to a normal 3-4 o clock ejection pattern. So on a properly gassed build you could probably go without cleaning your gas tube at all. I also ran it into the gas key on the BCG and it seems super clean too. I believe cleaning your chamber is much more important.

Bends when trying to use

I needed some longer cleaners for my churchwardens and these worked absolutely perfectly! The ends of the wires aren't overly sharp (at least on the ones I've used so far) so they don't easily scratch the inside of my stems.

These are terrific for cleaning 1911's and other pistols and rifles. They can get into spots that Q-tips cannot reach. Learned about these from a Hickok45 video on the 1911's. All I can say is try them. On my SKS's where the gas tube attaches to the barrel that little hole you put some cleaner on the ends of these you first can trim them down with siccors so you can make a few from just one. Give them a try.