Mark Brown Custom AR-15 Bolt Carrier Carbon Gun Cleaning Scraper

[Abraham]

Plus - G&G Tools AR-15 Bolt Cleaner and Polisher

Anyone used these items and consider them worth the price?

$24.99 and $27.77 respectively.

Or, are there other similar tools for cleaning AR's that're lower in cost.

Thanks!

[ABNAK]

The Mark Brown one, IMO, isn't worth a damn.

The G&G one is kinda cool as you can slide a piece of scratchy pad into the slit and it gets way back in the carrier pretty well.

The best fitting (and by that token also the best at scraping) I have used is the one that came on my MOACKS. You can actually use it and then tap the carrier face down and little flecks of carbon will fall out.

[MistWolf]

I don't use a scraper on my rifle and even after 3k rounds, it still functions fine.

Before plunking your money down on a scraper, do a for threads about scraping carbon from the tail of the bolt and the damage it can do.

A coating of carbon on bolt tail is normal. It is, after all, the rifle's piston. But it builds up only to a certain point and doesn't get any thicker. Keeping the bolt tail oiled also helps wash away excess carbon.

Use that money to buy an extra box of ammo and another magazine

[Grand58742]

I don't use a scraper on my rifle and even after 3k rounds, it still functions fine.

Before plunking your money down on a scraper, do a for threads about scraping carbon from the tail of the bolt and the damage it can do.

A coating of carbon on bolt tail is normal. It is, after all, the rifle's piston. But it builds up only to a certain point and doesn't get any thicker. Keeping the bolt tail oiled also helps wash away excess carbon.

Use that money to buy an extra box of ammo and another magazine

Unfortunately some of us folks have those anal arms rooms attendants and end up with white glove inspections on a dry weapon even though the original manual for the M16 stated the inspection process shouldn't be that harsh. While I know what needs to be cleaned and oiled to make a rifle run, try explaining that to a little pissant E-3 who signs off on the paperwork that says if it's cleaned or not.

(for the record, they don't even inspect me anymore after I put one on blast and sign off the appropriate paperwork...something to be said about being "that" old grumpy NCO)

Anyway, if the OP feels the need for a specialized tool, I would recommend the High Sierra Group CAT tool:

http://www.primaryarms.com/High_Sier..._C_p/catm4.htm

Works pretty well for taking off carbon in some of the harder to get at spots.

[MistWolf]

Unfortunately some of us folks have those anal arms rooms attendants...

True enough. But it's one thing to put up with the institutionally imposed insanity to keep one's job- it's quite another for the insanity to be self-imposed!

[Grand58742]

True enough. But it's one thing to put up with the institutionally imposed insanity to keep one's job- it's quite another for the insanity to be self-imposed!

Minor thread drift, but you should have seen the look on their faces when I whipped out a Boresnake, bottle of Windex, CAT and a bottle of 5W-40 synthetic motor oil as part of my cleaning kit.

It was like I was using alien medical instruments to perform brain surgery. Especially the oil. "You can't put THAT on there! It'll make it blow up or something!"

I genuinely have tried to educate the younger troops over my twenty years, but I'm falling behind in combating the institutional insanity as you call it.

[Iraqgunz]

None of those tools are necessary or worth it. I put Froglube on the bolt tail and allow it to soak. Then I use an old bore brush. Other than that I don't worry about it.

[ALCOAR]

None of those tools necessary or worth it. I put Froglube on the bolt tail and allow it to soak. Then I use an old bore brush. Other than that I don't worry about it.

I've been doing it that exact way for years now...however in my case I always soak the bolts in a M-pro7/Hoppes Elite solution. Works perfect without ever risking damage to the bolt tail.

[Abraham]

Thanks all - most appreciated.

The reviews (elsewhere) were mixed.

[ABNAK]

Anyway, if the OP feels the need for a specialized tool, I would recommend the High Sierra Group CAT tool:

http://www.primaryarms.com/High_Sier..._C_p/catm4.htm

Works pretty well for taking off carbon in some of the harder to get at spots.

As I've noted above, I like the CAT-M4 tool. I've seen it peel carbon off the bolt tail like peeling a mini (black and rotten ) apple!