Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Oh That's NEAT!

Chance reviews a compact cleaning kit for on-the-spot cleaning.

I'm one of those guys Chance and Caleb like to give grief - I have this thing about cleaning my guns. After each range trip, I'll fire up an episode of "The Simpsons" on Hulu, sit down at the kitchen table (amply covered with towels, mind you; I won't make THAT mistake twice...) with the guns of the day, and scrub away all the dirt, grime, and accumulated garf from shooting. I've tried to go without cleaning; for T&E guns I consider it a necessity to let them get real dirty to see how non-OCD folks might experience things (i.e. let it get so dirty it starts having issues).

But I love having me a big ol' box of cleaning supplies. Now, in my range bag I've got a handful of commone bore brushes and a small box of patches as well as a cheap bottle of solvent and a bottle of oil. For 99% of my applications this is fine, but they're strewn about the range bag (it's actually a nylon tool bag and the cleaning stuff is in the outside pockets. Don't put cleaning supplies inside your range bag. Trust me on this). The kit that Chance reviews looks like it could take the place of all the miscellaneous cleaning stuff tucked in various pockets.

My only gripe with the review is that he didn't post it earlier so I could put it on my Christmas list!

That is all

7 comments:

Garrett Lee said...

You can get through cleaning your weapons during one episode of Simpsons? Wow... Normally it takes me hours and hours. Of course, that's probably because I shoot:

Kar98K - corrosive surplus ammo
G98/22 - same corrosive surplus ammo
M91/30 - also corrosive surplus ammo
CZ-52 - more corrosive surplus ammo
VZ-52 - yet more corrosive surplus ammo, and in a gas-operated system, too...

Maybe that's why.

TOTWTYTR said...

I put together essentially the same components in a small plastic storage container for my AR 15. I also have a tackle box full of cleaning supplies.

After a range session, there is nothing I like more than to sit at a table at the club, light up a cigar, and clean my firearms whilst smoking.

In the nice weather of course.

Dave H said...

Now that's compact. I wish I had an AR so I could get one. (Not really. I'm not a black gun fan. But that is a nice little kit.)

If you want a compact kit that'll cover most calibers, Check out Otis Technology. Their tactical (i.e. black) cleaning kit is a zippered canvas pouch a bit smaller than a CD wallet, with all the parts you need to clean .17 to .45 and the common shotgun gauges. It even includes a tube of their solvent/lube. I added a few cotton swabs to mine, and I'm going to cut down a toothbrush so it'll fit the case too.

They make a .223/5.56 specific kit too, but it's a little bulkier than the Dewey kit. But for an extra $15 and 1/2" thickness the multi-caliber kit is worth it.

Glenn B said...

You clean your guns on the kitchen table?!?! Yikes is all I can say. Not because you may make a mess that the boss (she who must be obeyed) might bitch about but because you probably also prepare food ast the kitchen table and probably eat there too. All of that other crap, the solvents, the oils, the powder residues, the lead residues and so on are just too much of a risk for me to do something like that. Then again, I did not usually use gloves when I cleaned my guns (bad habit from days of old)but I did wash my hands thoroughly with both GoJo and Dawn and a scrubbrush among other things. Now I often wear gloves when I remember them.

Mostly I was endangering myself by not wearing gloves. By using the kitchen table, there is a chance it endangers anyone else who may later use the table. I clean my guns in the basement and sometimes in the yard (but mostly inside because I do not need a neighbor calling the cops on me for doing it in my yard). That way I keep the crap in the basement. I had it pounded into my head atquarterly qualifications over about the last 7 to 10 years about being careful about where we transfer the crud after shooting and I guess it sank in. Heck not only would they tell us not to clean guns on things like the kitchen table but they told us to consider changing clothes before entering the house after a long range day. Too bad they did not also hammer us about wearing gloves.

Just a friendly bit of advice, you may want to reconsider where you clean your guns.

All the best,
GB

Roger said...

An inexpensive fishing tackle box from WalMart works very well for a range box and a cleaning equipment box. If the compartments are too small, a dremel or Xacto will solve the problem.

Ed said...

Dave H wrote "I'm going to cut down a toothbrush so it'll fit the case too."

Otis Technology has a brush tip that will screw into one of their rod handles that will fit in their kits. They sell them separately and in some of their kits. See the blue nylon "Short A/P Brush":
http://www.otisgun.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=9EF324155C6648B4B49C0F0FEACF8A28
or
http://www.otisgun.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=87807C345FBF4B3A8164DE7F41C2621E

Dave H said...

Ed: Thanks! That first brush is perfect. I didn't realize they had those.