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I have heard different things about this. Some say there is 1000s of psi in the gas tube and it will not gunk up. Other say you should clean the gas tube periodically. There are extra long pipe cleaners available at Midway, Cheaper Than Dirt, and other places. The AR15/M16 cleaning instructions I have seen never say anything about cleaning out the gas tube. Is this something we need to do?
Frank White from Compass Lake Engineering says it is entirely unnecessary.
I've been using them for years in the military and I'm sure if it was something we needed to do, I would have heard about it.
Don't try to clean it! Check the end that enters the bolt carrier for wear, but if the rifle is running, don't mess with the tube. If its not running, then just replace it- they're cheap.
I ran one through the tube expecting all kinds of crap to come out.......nothing, clean as a whistle. This is about as necessary as that stupid tool to remove front handguards. Or many "special" AR tools in armorers kits....just a bunch of cheap screwdrivers and punches that you can buy anywhere.
Never cleaned one. Ever. And i've shot ARs since 1990 and had one issued to me first in 1996, then in 2005-2008.
If it's that messed up, it needs an armorer-level tube replacement.
When I was an armorer Back when the A2's were issued we could requistion pipe cleaners designed to clean the gas tubes, they were about 2 foot long. I had a pack of the with the NSN stored some place in my house, but can't seam to find them. I never came across an extremly dirty tube anyway.
Plus, the pipe cleaners can leave fibers in the tube that melt and make it worse than it was. Oils can carbonize in the tube. There is something you can do if it bugs you that there is a place on the gun you can't oil - just blast the spray from a can of brake cleaner down the tube. It'll run out of the barrel. Put a light film of preservative in the barrel after this. But don't stick any pipe cleaners in the gas tube. Save them for the gas port in your AK!
Sounds like a good idea to me. Brake cleaner has a 1001 uses.
The only time I have cleaned a gas tube is after a few thousand rounds of .22lr. Brake/carb clean does the trick.