how offen to clean AR gas tube?

JTF, you're not suppose to clean it so I wouldn't recommend it.

But if you really want to, do not put any cleaning fluids into it. Only use something dry and small in diameter. I would say something along the lines of a pipe-cleaner but those can be kind of brittle and may leave behind tufts of the fiber crap, which could cause problems.
 
Never. If you have a .22lr conversion kit you should run a few .223's after you finish shooting .22lrs to clean the tube.
But a dedicated .223 should never need to have the gas tube cleaned.
 
Since I use foaming bore cleaner I shoot some Break Free Powder Blast down the gas tube to ensure none of the foam goes up the tube and dries.

Before I started using the foam I never did anything with the gas tube.
 
never, not even sure how you could really get it perfectly clean. maybe the post above me i guess.
 
I have the book called:
The m16/ar15 rifle-a shooters and collectors guide by joe poyer.
it says you are supposed to clean it every now and then. says to use cleaning solution and pay attention to the front end were there might be build up.

i like the idea of changeing it every once inawile would make more sence to me.
 
NorCalDustin said:
Unless something odd happened... I'd probably never clean it.

I however might replace it if i noticed surface rust...
Click to expand...

its stainless not much chance of that.

as posted above, clean the carbon of the outside where it gors into the gas key, look for damage but other then that change evey 10k
bbb
 
badboybeeson said:
its stainless not much chance of that.

as posted above, clean the carbon of the outside where it gors into the gas key, look for damage but other then that change evey 10k
bbb
Click to expand...
A friend of mine has issues with his guns getting rust spots even after a day at his beach house... Of course that's an uncommon situation. Mehh

Your right though... Stainless rusting is unlikely.
 
The only time I saw a gas tube fail was on the urban ops course on a C7A2. I don't know how many rounds the rifle must have fired before the course (tens of thousands I'm guessing) but the thousands of rounds we sent down the pipe every day for weeks on end cost us one gas tube.

Happened on one of 40 guns, all were subjected to the same treatment. Took the weapon techs a minute to swap a new one in and she was ready to rock and roll again.

Edit: To the OP: I don't believe it is necessary to clean a gas tube. The direct gas impingement blows all obstructions out by itself.
 
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