Gas Tube cleaning/maintenance

[lalakai]

i'll admit, it's been a day and an age since i've completely stripped an M16 down, and when i did, it was with the hand guards that simply popped off, giving you easy access to the gas tube. but for the life of me, i can't remember removing the gas tube, to clean it. Was talking with a person who had just rotated back from Afghanistan and he was saying they cleaned their weapons everyday, including the gas tube.

my concern with the M4 that i'm building, is that i'll be using the LaRue hand rails which i think are rather securily mounted and not casually removed. if this is the case, how accessible will the gas tube be, for normal cleaning? hopefully someone has experience with this and can share it. thanks.

[JoshNC]

Absolutely not necessary to clean the gas tube. The are only a handful of reasons to remove the gas tube: a) if you are replacing it, b) when replacing the barrel, c) when installing a free-float handguard that requires removal/re-installation of the gas tube

[markm]

including the gas tube.

He/they may have meant cleaning the exterior of the portion of the gas tube that stick in the upper receiver.

Anything beyond that would be excessively time consuming and flat dumb.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Absolutely not necessary to clean the gas tube. The are only a handful of reasons to remove the gas tube: a) if you are replacing it, b) when replacing the barrel, c) when installing a free-float handguard that requires removal/re-installation of the gas tube

What this gentleman wrote. No need to clean it. Have not cleaned the ones in either my work ARs or the M4 I carried when deployed.

[lalakai]

[QUOTE=demigod;200385]He/they may have meant cleaning the exterior of the portion of the gas tube that stick in the upper receiver.QUOTE]

distinct possibility. when we were talking about the M4's they used, he said reliability wasn't an issue as long as you cleaned the weapon every day, including gas tube. maybe he meant just running a pipe cleaner as far in as you could, from the BCG side. Makes me rest a bit easier, not having to consider getting at the tube for complete removal.

he was disgusted when the army stopped issuing their original cleaning/lube agent and went with a cheaper downgrade.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Don't jack with your gas tube! You run the risk of bending it (which means the gas key won't properly engage) or leaving some of your pipe cleaner or whatever foreign object you stick into it (which means the gun won't run at all).

[lalakai]

Don't jack with your gas tube! You run the risk of bending it (which means the gas key won't properly engage) or leaving some of your pipe cleaner or whatever foreign object you stick into it (which means the gun won't run at all).

:o i think the vote is in....................keep my hands off the gas tube and don't dick with it or else i'm asking for a world of problems.

thanks everyone. helped me avoid some headaches.

[Iraqgunz]

Unless you are using some type of carbon cutting cleaner and you soak the gas tube in it, running a pipe cleaner will do nothing but waste your valuable time.

[Eric]

[ maybe he meant just running a pipe cleaner as far in as you could, from the BCG side. Step away from the pipe cleaner!
You're more likely to induce a problem than prevent one. Although I hate the term, the gas tube is essentially self cleaning. Don't stick things inside it. If you're so inclined you can blast some brake cleaner through it.

[variablebinary]

I never clean the gas tube. I barely clean my AR15 at all.